When asked who bought the kits, the toy shop owner said it was mainly parents but only after being ‘pestered’ by their child. John and Mary were buzzing with excitement. What to do next?

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Magician?

2 How might John and Mary use marketing research in the future?

Agotar the Magician

John was an amateur magician, doing the circuit of small clubs and home parties in the North of England. On a show in one such house party, he met Mary, an art graduate and, after a wonderful courtship, they eventually married. Mary was a teacher by profession but always wanted to start her own business. John was making a living of sorts but both realised that they were not earning enough to start a family and have a comfortable life. So they both sat down one evening and decided to combine their talents and form their own business.

John had an idea. He decided to design and market a box of magic tricks for children. But Mary suggested that, as there were a number of these on the market, a box of tricks was not enough; they needed a ‘persona’ so that the child who bought the box could imagine that they had become the actual magician performing the tricks. So Mary, with her designer’s mind, decided to set about designing a set of magician’s clothes to go with the box, a complete magic kit. Although the box and the clothes would sell separately, she realised that ‘cross-selling’ would become a lucrative business with the children. Parents could ‘build up’ the magician’s kit piece by piece, the box of tricks, say for the child’s birthday, and then the magician’s clothes for another landmark event.

John set about making up the box of tricks and instructions and Mary designed the clothes. She found a willing group of home parents who were only too delighted to make a bit of extra money by sewing up the clothes. Both John and Mary provided the artwork for the box of tricks and found an online company which would make up the box for a relatively small price. Soon the couple were ready to launch the concept and make it into a commercial reality. They had no idea what demand for the products may be, or what price to charge. They decided to take a ‘cost plus’ approach to pricing. Now all that remained was the name of the magician and after a lot of soul-searching they decided on the name ‘Agotar’, a suitably mysterious and imposing name. They made up a few boxes and clothes and being rather naïve on how to market the concept and the kits, they persuaded a toy shop in their local market to stock a few kits. To their surprise, the kits sold out in a few short weeks and the toy shop was asking for a lot more stock. When asked who bought the kits, the toy shop owner said it was mainly parents but only after being ‘pestered’ by their child. John and Mary were buzzing with excitement. What to do next?

What consequences might an organization expect to result from the conditions described by the AtTask survey?

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Workers Often Lack Resources to Do Their Jobs

Work flow analysis spells out the human and other resources needed for carrying out well-defined tasks that will meet objectives. Success requires the right people with access to resources including equipment and information. However, research suggests that some of these inputs may be missing at many organizations.

In a survey of more than 500 U.S. workers in different industries, AtTask, a maker of project management software, found that large numbers of workers are struggling to meet objectives on time—if they even know what their objectives are. According to AtTask, 60% of the workers said they are completely overwhelmed or barely meeting deadlines.

Responses to other questions in the survey point to some possible causes. One-third of the workers said they are unable to turn in assignments on time because some resources they need are not available. Even more (about 50%) say their organizations do not have enough people to get all the necessary tasks finished unless people work overtime. More than a third of them say they are only somewhat, a little, or not clear about desired outputs—how their work is measured or how their supervisor defines success.

Questions

What consequences might an organization expect to result from the conditions described by the AtTask survey?

How might an organization use work flow analysis to prevent some of these problems?

Specify the position categories and/or titles for these positions and include what are the credentials or licensures required by these positions in the state in which you live where you proposed facility would be located.

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This Individual Project will be a foundation for the other Individual Projects in this course. You will use the work in Unit 1-4 IPs as a final project to be submitted in Week 5 as a formal Plan for a healthcare facility.

Health care in the United States is changing. A paradigm shift is occurring as more and more health care organizations are reorganizing existing business models from inpatient to outpatient services. That being said, you have been tasked to develop a proposal for the development of a health care facility that is designed to meet the rapidly changing health care needs. Within your proposal, you are required to research and discuss the following:

  • The type of facility you are recommending and the rationale behind your recommendation. For example, if you chose an ambulatory care facility, explain the reasons why this type of facility would be recommended over another type.
  • The type of health care delivery and services that are provided at the facility.
  • The type of staff that will work in the facility. Specify the position categories and/or titles for these positions and include what are the credentials or licensures required by these positions in the state in which you live where you proposed facility would be located.

Note: You should include a minimum of 3 references, properly cited in APA format.

IP 1

Propose a low-cost advertising/promotion/merchandising communication program to support this new program that begins with limited category coverage. 

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You are hired as a consultant to produce a recommendation on a new branding strategy for a private/store brand program for a major regional successful grocery store retailer. NOTE: The retailer has about 100 stores in a 4-state area. The retailer has been doing a wide variety of private label branding for the past 35 years, but the brands have lacked consistency in name, appearance, etc. Research shows a low level of consumer loyalty to the existing private label products, so the retailer is prepared to remove them if a new program that you develop is successful.

The prior pricing strategy on all private label products has been to use a price of 10% below the price of the category leader. This helped generate slightly less than twice the profit per package versus the higher priced national brand.

All existing store brands are capable of achieving an ‘average’ quality rating by consumers. This is acceptable to the retailer, so no change in product content is needed in this project.

The regional retailer wants the new program introduced in a few select categories that are most likely to be accepted by the consumer. Secondary product introductions would result about every 3-4 months in other categories that face higher levels of competition and/or consumer switching resistance. It is estimated that it would take 5 years to get all of the hundreds of private store brands changed.

  1. Propose a single brand name or a variety of names for different product categories.
  2. Propose 5 to 10 product categories that should be initially introduced
  3. Propose a low-cost advertising/promotion/merchandising communication program to support this new program that begins with limited category coverage.
  4. Propose a pricing program relative to the average price of the category leader. Explain the reasoning for the pricing plan.

Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.

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Start by reading and following these instructions:

1. Quickly skim the questions or assignments below and the assignment rubric to help you focus.

2. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.

3. Consider the discussion and any insights you gained from it.

4. Create your Assignment submission and be sure to cite your sources, use APA style as required, check your spelling.

Assignment:

Find a letter to the editor in the New York Times, LA Times, or Wall Street Journal. Use the Toulmin Argument to analyze the letter. Suggest revisions and offer additional evidence

Perform the exercise on page 169 of the textbook that centers on Factcheck.org. In addition to the activity, be sure to explain why you chose the topic you did and whether what you believed to be accurate about that topic turned out to be proven true or false.

Create a list of 3 commonly believed conspiracy theories. Following the examples on page 172 of the textbook, create three versions of each claim in which each version offers more information to help readers judge the merit of the claim.

Write an argument of definition about a term that has suddenly become culturally significant or recently changed in some important way. Either defend the way the term has come to be defined or raise questions about its appropriateness, offensiveness, inaccuracy, and so on.

Phone and Build anything extra for the higher cost of real leather? Explain why or why not.

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Culture Clash

Belinda Lee, the CEO, has requested that your team investigate and report back to her about a recent dispute between three of her direct reports: the VP of manufacturing, the VP of marketing and the VP of product design.

Belinda has asked you to write a memo with your findings and recommendations for how Phone and Build should handle this situation.Gather information about the cultural factors that are in play in this situation, including Managing in a Global Environment and Cross-Cultural Ethical Business Decision Making. You will need to research cross-cultural differences in decision making and recommend a course of action to the CEO. You should start in the UMUC Library.

Back up your responses with information about relevant differences in cultural expectations in China, South Africa, and the United States. In order to support your views, it will be useful to conduct some additional research on cultural differences and their impact on global business transactions.

Managing in a Global Environment

Managing in a global environment presents particularly difficult challenges as well as the potential for significant rewards. A manager must be acutely aware of all possible cultural, linguistic, legal, and ethical issues when managing a diversified workforce. There are many tools available to the international manager for engaging stakeholders, strategizing, and learning about how different cultures do business.

Cross-Cultural Ethical Business Decision Making

Management in the global arena involves addressing unique and difficult issues of culture and morality. Although general ethical frameworks may help you to assess management decisions in a cross-cultural context, some frameworks exist that are specifically tailored to this purpose. These frameworks provide guidance for situations involving conflicting ethical norms and customs of different cultures within the business context.

How an organization addresses unique situations involving ethics and customs will impact its success in the global arena.

ADDRESS IN YOUR MEMO: Ethics of Chinese Supplier –Was the Chinese supplier ethical in shipping more than 300,000 cases made of real leather instead of the requested faux leather material, even though the supplier was not charging Phone and Build anything extra for the higher cost of real leather? Explain why or why not.

Prepare Your Memo

Using your outline and research notes, write a memo for the Belinda, the CEO. Be sure to meet the following requirements:

  • Format your memo following the example linked above, including APA-formatted in-text citations and an APA-formatted reference list (do not format the body of the memo using APA style, just the reference list). See references and citations for details.
  • Include a specific recommendation on what action, if any, the CEO should take based on your analysis and conclusions.
  • Support your conclusion with references to legal principles and laws.
  • The memo should be 1 full  page only
  • answer:Ethics of Chinese Supplier –Was the Chinese supplier ethical in shipping more than 300,000 cases made of real leather instead of the requested faux leather material, even though the supplier was not charging Phone and Build anything extra for the higher cost of real leather? Explain why or why not.

Determine which (if any) of the elements consider the goals and needs of specific stakeholder groups. Write down any examples.

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This Case asks you to begin your strategic analysis of Pepsico by evaluating the company’s mission, vision, values, and goals. observe the following procedure:

  • Step 1: Visit the official website of Pepsico and identify the company’s vision, mission, values, and goals. (Hint: You will need to do some exploring and a certain amount of speculation—as the terms “vision” and “mission” (and sometimes even the term “company goals”) are used interchangeably. Explore the “Who We Are” and “Investors” (and other) links. Also, be sure that you look closely at the most recent Annual Reports.
  • Step 2: Critically evaluate the mission, vision, values, and goals (again, you will likely need to make decisions as to which is which). Use the criteria in the background materials to support your assessment of the quality of the company’s mission, vision, values, and goals.
  • Step 3: Determine which (if any) of the elements consider the goals and needs of specific stakeholder groups. Write down any examples.
  • Step 4: Consider what changes are needed to improve the vision statement, the mission statement, the statement of company values, and the company’s objectives and goals.1. In order to test the effectiveness of the debate of the candidates for the president, researchers randomly contacted 1000 people on the phone. An attempt was made to contact all 1000 one day before the debate and ask their voting intentions. Only 910 were actually reached by phone; 80 out of the 910 people refused to participate. One day after the debate, 810 of the 910 people were reached and again asked their voting intentions. In addition they were asked if they had seen the debate on television. The before-after change of the viewers and non-viewers were compared to conclude which candidate was more effective in the debate.What kind of experimental design is being used? Describe relevant potential extraneous variables in this experiment. Can this experiment design rule out these extraneous variables?

Summarize the evidence used in developing the opportunity statement and recommendation. Describe why each piece of evidence is relevant to patients, the community, and the hospital.

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To prepare:

Read the United General Hospital ICU Expansion Case Study in your Learning Resources and prepare a PowerPoint presentation (16 slides minimum, with no more than 20 slides excluding your references) that will guide the CEO and board of directors to follow the recommendation(s) presented to expand the hospital’s ICU unit. Keep in mind that this presentation would be delivered within a one hour time slot in a board of director’s meeting, whereby you want to allow approximately 2 minutes per slide for presentation delivery and allow time for questions. As you complete the assessment, remember the following:

The presentation should include the elements necessary to effectively communicate the data used to develop the business case.
A specific statement of the clinical and financial data types involved in the business case should be included.
The presentation should provide a clear evidence-based, data-driven recommendation(s) regarding the expansion of the hospital’s ICU.
The presentation should provide an opportunity statement that presents the problem, the recommendation presented to solve the problem, and the multiple options considered.
The presentation should take into account the needs of the community, the patients, the hospital, and investors when researching and presenting your findings.
The presentation should offer alternative methods of data management such as cloud-based storage and the possible use of Application Service Provider (ASP) HIT models.
Your presentation should include the following:

Introduction (5–6 slides)

Explain the importance of evidence-based decision making in health care. Discuss how this evidence applies to patient care outcomes, financial outcomes, competitive advantage, and organizational transparency. Your slides must include:

A definition of evidence-based decision making.
An explanation of the relevance of evidence-based decision making in the health care industry.
A clearly defined the problem you intend to solve through the use of evidence-based decision making.
A description of the types of HIT systems that recommend to support decision making.
Recommendation & Rationale (8–11 slides)

Using the data provided, analyze the current and future state of the ICU. Consider three scenarios for the future state, one without additional beds and two with additional beds. Based on your research and analysis, determine two viable scenarios for bed count and present these scenarios. Use graphics, text, and charts as required.

The slides and presenter notes should include:

An overview of three options for the ICU that you analyzed. The presenter notes should provide a 2- to 3-paragraph analysis of the three options, using academic resources to support your options.
A description of how each option will address the issues in the ICU. The presenter should provide 2- to 3-paragraph detailed explanation of how each option will address the issues in the ICU.
A final recommendation for one of the options and an explanation of why it will maximize the benefits to the hospital, patients, and community.
A detailed rationale justifying your recommendation.
A graphic comparison between the current state of the ICU vs. the remote monitoring ICU implementation in 5 years. The presenter notes should include a detailed explanation of the graphic.
An explanation of the impact of your recommendation on staffing, productivity, competitiveness, and finances, using appropriate qualitative and quantitative data to support your explanation. The presenter notes should include an explanation regarding how the data supports your explanation.
Evidence Evaluation

Knowing that United General’s leadership team focuses on evidence-based decision making, address the following, in 3–4 slides:

Summarize the evidence used in developing the opportunity statement and recommendation.
Describe why each piece of evidence is relevant to patients, the community, and the hospital.
Summarize the analysis used to create the recommendation.
Evaluate the validity and reliability of the data.
Recommend methods to improve the validity and reliability of the data.

What key information did you find in your primary data that could help Netflix make decision about whether they should or should not target demographic ?

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Netflix Uses Technology to Change How we Watch Videos When Netflix was founded in 1997 in the US, the movie rental giant Blockbuster had thousands of stores from coast to coast, filled to the rafters with video cassettes ready for immediate rental to customers. Netflix had a different vision from this well-established, wellfinanced competitor. Looking at the recent development of DVD technology, Netflix saw an opportunity to change the way consumers rent movies. The entrepreneurial built its marketing strategy around the convenience and low cost of renting DVDs by mail, for one low monthly subscription fee. Instead of going to a local store to pick out a movie, subscribers logged onto the Netflix website to browse the DVD offerings and click to rent. Within a day or two, the DVD would arrive in the customer’s mailbox, complete with a self-mailer to return the DVD. And, unlike any other movie rental service, Netflix customers were invited to rate each movie via the Netflix website, after which they’d see recommendations tailored to their individual interests. Fast-forward to the 21st century. Video cassettes are all but obsolete, and Blockbuster, once the dominant brand in movie rentals, is closing down in the US as consumer demand moves to digital distribution for entertainment. In Australia both Blockbuster and Video Ezy still have a brand presence, but their future is uncertain. Both brands have been prompted to reassess their distribution channels. You may notice more DVD rental ‘kiosks’ such as ‘Video Ezy Express’ popping up in convenient locations including outside supermarkets and shopping complexes, in a bid to improve brand reach and accessibility. DVD rental kiosks, like online services, are accessible around the clock and reduce many store costs including wages. In contrast, by completely eliminating the need for brick-and-mortar stores or kiosks, Netflix has minimised its costs and extended its reach to any place that has postal service and Internet access. The company still rents DVDs by mail, but it has also taken advantage of changes in technology to add video streaming on demand. Now customers can stream movies and television programs to computers, television sets, videogame consoles, DVD players, Smartphones and other web-enabled devices. One advantage to the company is that streaming a movie costs Netflix less per customer than paying the postage to deliver and return a DVD to that customer. Netflix made technology a core competency from the very beginning. Because the business has always been web-based, it can electronically monitor customer activity and analyse everything that customers view or click on. With this data, it can fine-tune the website, determine which movies are most popular among which segments, prepare for peak periods of online activity and refine the recommendations it makes based on each individual’s viewing history and interests. The company also uses its technical know-how to be sure the website looks good on any size screen, from a tiny Smartphone to a large-screen television. A few years ago, planning for a significant rise in demand for streaming entertainment, Netflix decided against investing in expanded systems for this purpose. Instead, it arranged for Amazon Web Services to provide the networking power for streaming. Now, on a typicalnight in the US, Netflix streaming occupies up to 20 000 servers in Amazon data centres. Demand is so strong, in fact, that Netflix streaming accounts for about one-third of all internet traffic to North American homes during the evening. The Australian market, however, may pose technological hurdles, as the National Broadband Network is still being rolled out, meaning that accessibility may not be as straightforward as it is in the US. Although Blockbuster and Video Ezy are no longer a competitive threat in their traditional form, Netflix does face competition from Amazon’s own video streaming service ‘Amazon Prime Video’, which will be heading to Australia and New Zealand’s shores in 2017. Other direct competitors include well-established Hulu, YouTube, Nine Entertainment and Fairfax media’s joint-venture Stan, and Foxtel’s movie streaming service Presto. It also competes with other entertainment providers, including cable, satellite and broadcast television. Foxtel, for example, has dramatically reduced its basic cable packages in an effort to retain its share of the market in face of increasing competition from on-demand services. To differentiate itself, Netflix has commissioned exclusive programming such as House of cards, Arrested development, and Orange is the new black. The cost to produce such programs runs to hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet Netflix plans to continue pouring money into exclusive content because of the payoff in positioning, positive publicity and customer retention. In addition, the way Netflix releases its exclusive programming reflects its in-depth knowledge of customer behaviour. The company found, through data analysis, that customers often indulge in ‘binge watching’ for a series they like, viewing episodes one after another in a short time. Based on this research, Netflix launched all 13 episodes of the inaugural season of House of cards at one time, an industry first. Executives gathered at headquarters to monitor the introduction, cheering as thousands of customers streamed episode after episode. By the end of the first weekend, many customers had watched the entire series and shared their excitement via social media, encouraging others to subscribe and watch. When Netflix won multiple Emmy Awards for House of Cards later that year, it was another first – the first time any Internet company had been honoured for the quality of its original programming. One key measure of Netflix’s growth is change in the number of monthly subscribers. In 2015 Netflix had about 70 million subscribers worldwide, of which 26 million were located outside the US. Netflix estimates that by 2020 there will be over 100 million non-US subscribers. Despite the brand only launching in Australia in March 2015, it already has close to 2 million subscribers. Its closest direct competitor Stan has a little over 300 000 subscribers. Keys to Netflix’s successful launch include offering free-trials and access to stripped-back free versions, as well as continued investment in original programming. It appears that streaming is the new broadcasting and ‘on-demand’ spells the demise of scheduled entertainment. Source: Pride, W. M., Ferrell, O.C., Lukas, B.A., Schembri, S., Niininen, O., and Casidy, R. (2018) Marketing Principles, 3rd Ed. Cengage Learning, Australia. Pgs. 100-101.

1:Prepare SWOT analysis from the information given in the case.

2:What key information did you find in your primary data that could help Netflix make decision about whether they should or should not target demographic ?

3: what do you think might be the special factors that influence Netflix consumers’ decision to buy their new products?

4 which segmentation variables might be most useful in segmenting the market for Netflix ?

Explain effective approaches to the broad spectrum of employee relations, including career development, fostering ethical behavior, discipline, labor relations, and dismissals.

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Diverse Workforce

Imagine that you work for a company with an age diverse workforce. You have baby boomers working with millenials. Their backgrounds are different, and how they view work is different. This is causing some friction within the workforce. Before the tension escalates, you need to have a meeting to discuss the issue. Prepare a five to seven (5-7) slide PowerPoint presentation for your staff meeting that addresses this issue and proposes a solution.

Create a five to seven (5-7) slide PowerPoint presentation in which you:

  1. Propose a solution that will relieve friction in your company’s age diverse workforce.
  2. Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
    1. Format the PowerPoint presentation with headings on each slide and at least one (1) relevant graphic (photograph, graph, clip art, etc.). Ensure that the presentation is visually appealing and readable from up to 18 feet away. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
    2. Include a title slide containing the title of the assignment, your name, your professor’s name, the course title, and the date.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

  • Explain effective approaches to the broad spectrum of employee relations, including career development, fostering ethical behavior, discipline, labor relations, and dismissals.
  • Use technology and information resources to research issues in human resource management.
  • Write clearly and concisely about human resource management using proper writing mechanics.