Marjorie Benton

Global business environment

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(2 Writing Assignments 1 Chart)

Competency 1: Competency Assessment

Competency 1

Analyze the needs of organizations within a changing global business environment.

Competency Statement

Using a SWOT analysis, the MBA candidate will be able to evaluate competitive advantage and present a proposal for adapting to changes in the global business environment.

Assessment Overview

Working in business management means taking on responsibility to lead your organization in a variety of situations. Part of that responsibility is understanding where an organization has been and where it’s going. In this course, you will put yourself in the shoes of a manager and use resources to make decisions on where an organization is heading in respect to business needs, organizational structure, leadership strategies, and change management. Some of the information needed will be easy to locate, but other information will take time and effort to find. You may even need to make assumptions based on research. These research and strategizing skills will be useful in your business management career.

In this assessment you will evaluate the strategic needs of a company within a changing global environment.

You will be able to submit this assessment after you’ve completed the Reflection assignments in Modules 1 and 2. There is a Competency 1 – Assessment Submission module that appears in the course after Competency 1 – Module 2: Managerial Planning and Strategy.

Save and upload each part of the assessment as a separate file and title the files so it’s clear to see what part of the assessment they serve. Include your name in your documents on the first page, upper left.

Select a company – (BROOKFIELD PROPERTIES RETAIL) Complete: SWOT Analyses list – to use for the rest of the course (this will sometimes be referred to as “your organization”) and research its history.

Managers at each level of the organization use SWOT analysis to identify strategies that will best position the company to achieve its mission and goals.The first step in a SWOT analysis is to identify and describe an organization’s strengths and weaknesses that characterize the present state of the company. The next step requires managers to identify potential opportunities and threats in the environment that affect the organization in the present or possibly in the future.

When the SWOT analysis is complete, managers begin developing strategies. These strategies should allow the company to attain its goals by taking advantage of opportunities, countering threats, building strengths, and correcting organizational weaknesses.

Congratulations! You’ve been hired as a manager and have been asked to analyze the current status of your organization (the company you selected in Part 1 of this assessment).

 

Review your organization’s SWOT analysis and other available sources to evaluate the strategic needs of the organization within a changing global environment. Complete the Organizational Analysis worksheet for your evaluation.

Respond to the following in a minimum of 500 words:

Consider the four functions of management (e.g., planning, organizing, leading, and controlling).

  • How would you characterize your current or past supervisor’s approach to management?
  • For example, which particular management tasks and roles does this person perform most often?
  • What kinds of management skills does the manager have?
  • How does this approach affect a global environment ?

 

Submit your assignment.

Respond to the following in a minimum of 500 words:

The global business environment is constantly evolving based on the forces in the general and task environment. In order to sustain the company and maintain a competitive foothold, organization leaders must consistently analyze the global environment and adjust their strategy as needed. Managers play an important role in implementing strategies to achieve a company’s mission and goals.

Research a company with stockholder reports available. These reports can usually be found on a company’s website. Use the report to answer the following questions:

  • What is (are) the main industry(ies) in which the company competes?
  • What business-level strategy does the company seem to be pursuing in this industry? Why?
  • What corporate-level strategies is the company pursuing? Why?
  • Have there been any major changes in its strategy recently? Why?
  • Include citations in your response.

Submit your assignment.

Answer preview

To her, planning goes beyond the mere allocation of duties and sub-division of responsibilities. Once she allocates tasks, my supervisor ensures that she regularly checks up on employees to assess their performance (Whetten et al., 2007). Through such an evaluation, the supervisor determines what areas need improvement. She then engages employees intending to help them overcome obstacles that interfere with their ability to undertake their duties effectively. She acts as the conduit of information, relaying information between employees and the company’s top management. She is also tasked with ensuring

[1126 Words]

Global business environment

Marjorie Benton

liquid and illiquid

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I just want you to type your own opinions on your own words without sources, its a discussion. Answer these two related questions in different word files, 2 word files in total about 2-3 paragraphs each one. READ the discussions carefully and type your thoughts and opinions on your own words carefully:

Topics:

1- Discuss why you would expect a difference in the correlation of returns portfolio risk. Specifically, why would you expect low correlation in the rates of return of domestic and foreign securities?

2- Define liquidity and discuss the factors that contribute to it. Give examples of a liquid asset and an illiquid asset, and discuss why they are considered liquid and illiquid.

*note* this is a finance class.

Answer preview

Illiquid assets refer to assets that cannot be easily converted into cash without losing their immediate value. This can be due to the lack of many buyers who have the willingness to purchase the asset. The illiquidity of an asset is also caused by discrepancies between the price that is set by the seller and the bid price that the willing buyer submits. Examples of illiquid assets include capital assets, such as production equipment, vehicles, and real estate, which have a value that makes them difficult to sell when the firm needs cash. The benefit of the liquidity of an asset is that liquidity enables optionality and flexibility, giving the investor the ability to easily convert liquid assets into cash in time of crisis. A key difference between liquid and illiquid assets is that liquid assets can be easily purchased by most investors, regardless of their net worth.

[382 Words]

liquid and illiquid

Marjorie Benton

Business Source Ultimate database

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In the CSU Online Library, using the Business Source Ultimate database, search for and read the article titled “How Barbie Lost her Groove,” by Nash and Duvall (2005). Compose a persuasive response that includes the following elements:

  • Explain why Mattel’s managers were able to slowly change decision making over time and what kinds of cognitive errors contributed.
  • Explain and comment on any factors related to organizational culture and innovation within Mattel’s setting that might have influenced the company to move in a more positive direction.

Your response should be two pages in length, not including the title page or reference page. You are required to cite at least one article from the CSU Online Library (not including the referenced case study article). All sources used must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying in-text citations in the proper APA format

Answer preview

Due to the steep business competition brought in by the toy developer MGA Entertainment, Mattel’s management slowly changed their decision-making with time upon realizing that they were making losses. Nash and Duvall (2005) explain that the company stagnated at $1.5 billion revenue since their rival hit the market four years ago with the Bratz dolls. The Barbie doll’s market share reduced from approximately 75% in the year 2000 to 60% in 2005, yet Bratz’s sales had reached roughly $700 million (Nash, & Duvall, 2005). Bratz’s developers were experiencing a growth rate of at most 45% in 2004. Therefore, with weak market performance, Mattel’s managers had no choice but to change their decision-making to improve sales. Generally, the cognitive error that the company made is, one, the leaders failed to identify the changing demands that clients had in the market. Secondly, they did not pay

[647 Words]

Business Source Ultimate database

Marjorie Benton

Big Data Analytics

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Write a discussion topic on What are the common business problems addressed by Big Data analytics? In the era of Big Data, are we about to witness the end of data warehousing? Why?

Note: Please follow APA 7 format (https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/apa_changes_7th_edition.html) for references and in text citations. Content should be 3-4 paragraphs (about 1 page excluding references).

Answer preview

Another common problem addressed by big data analytics in business is target marketing. Big data analytics provides a way in which businesses address the problem of investing in advertising campaigns that are not effective. By analyzing customer’s point-of-sale transactions and online purchasing trends, big data analytics help businesses to come up with targeted and focused advertising campaigns. Big data analytics also address the problem of understanding the market conditions. By analyzing big data, a business can understand the market conditions better to tailor its products according to the market trends. Big data analytics also addresses the problem of controlling and monitoring a business’s online reputation (Côrte-Real, Oliveira, & Ruivo, 2017). Through sentiment analysis, big data help businesses to understand what the customers are saying about the products.

[375 Words]

Big Data Analytics

Marjorie Benton

Codes of conduct of a large company

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Research the codes of conduct of a large company, such as Microsoft, and a small company in your local community and compare the issues that they cover.Describe the commonalities and differences of content in the codes.Discuss why you think there are differences in the content of the codes.Minimum 500 words

Answer preview

There are several similarities between the code of conduct of Microsoft and Winmark. One common element is integrity. At Microsoft Corporation, employees are expected to uphold honesty and integrity. The six values that guide employee conduct include integrity and honesty, openness and respect, willingness to take on challenges, self-critical, passion for customers, and accountability (Microsoft, n.d). At Winmark, employees are also expected to uphold integrity. All employees are expected to maintain integrity in keeping financial records and other organizational records. Employees at Winmark are also expected to have honest interactions with the government officers as the organization abhors bribery and kickbacks. Another similarity between the code of conduct of the organizations is the reporting of ethical breaches.

[672 Words]

Codes of conduct of a large company

Marjorie Benton

Human resource management in health care

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Fallon, L. F. & McConnell, C. R. (2014). Human resource management in health care: Principles and practices (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Donelson, B. (2018, November 20). Three challenges facing HR pros in health care and beyond. JD Supra. Retrieved from https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/three-challenges…

Invenias Partners. (2017). The changing role of the healthcare chief human resources officer: Current realities and future directions. Chicago, IL: Author. Retrieved from https://www.inveniaspartners.com/cmsAdmin/uploads/…

O’Conner, C. (2019, January 29). Top 10 HR headaches for 2019. JD Supra. Retrieved from https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/top-10-hr-headac…

Webb, P. G. (2019). Managing today’s workforce to meet tomorrow’s challenges. Frontiers of Health Services Management, 35(4), 3-10.

Zillman, C. & Fry, E. (2018, February 16). HR is not your friend. Here’s why. Fortune. Retrieved from https://fortune.com/2018/02/16/microsoft-hr-proble…

Required Media

McCord, P. (2019, February). 8 lessons on building a company people enjoy working for [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/patty_mccord_8_lessons_o…
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 5 minutes.

Discussion: Importance, Functions, and Innovations in Human Resources

Some important benefits that an HR department contributes to an organization are systematization, time management, and personnel efficiency (Maurom, 2017). HR departments handle a variety of functions: hiring and firing employees, training workers, addressing interoffice relationships, and interpreting employment laws (Scott, 2018). Social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have opened up new possibilities for managing internal and external communications for HR departments (SHRM India, 2018).

In this week’s Discussion, you will explain the functions and importance of a HR department. You also will explain how social media and technological innovations have impacted HR.

References
Maurom J. A., (2017, August, 28). Organization: The most important human resources professional skill. Society for Human Resource Management. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-s...

Scott, S. (2018, October 20). Six main functions of a human resource department. Bizfluent. Retrieved from https://bizfluent.com/info-8244762-six-functions-h…

SHRM India (2018, May 2). The Importance of social media in HR. Society for Human Resource Management. Retrieved from https://blog.shrm.org/sasia/blog/the-importance-of…

To prepare for this Discussion:

  • Review the Learning Resources for this week.
    • Focus on reviewing Chapters 1-3 of the Fallon and McConnell (2014) textbook.
  • Consider the functions of the HR departments in organizations where you have worked and think about how the organization would have functioned differently had there been no HR department.

By Day 4

Post a comprehensive response to the following:

  • Explain why an HR department is important.
  • Explain 5 functions an HR department performs.
  • Explain how the role of HR has changed with the upsurge of social media and the continuing advancement of technology.

Support your Discussion and peer responses with in-text citations and references from specific Learning Resources.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings.

 

Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you have learned and/or any insights you have gained as a result of your colleagues’ comments. You are not required to post these final insights.

Answer preview

Social media and technology have necessitated several changes in the HR department. First, communication through the HR department is now internal and external. HR managers can communicate with employees within and out of the office via the internet. Social media has increased the visibility and reliability of the HR department. There is more informal communication between HR managers and employees. As a result, employees are more aware of the department and its ability to assist when needed. Technology has made communication much more comfortable as it is instant within the click of a button (Maurom, 2017). Also, messages can easily flow between the sender and receiver, allowing more employee engagement in decision making, unlike traditional methods like memos, which are one-directional. HR managers also must balance employee needs, views, and opinions as employees find it easier to give feedback, unlike they did in the past.

[679 Words]

Human resource management in health care

Marjorie Benton

Intellectual property

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Each essay is at least 250 words.Use APA style and cite using APA citation format.Use required readings (or at least attempt to use them).

Essay 1

FACTS: George and Sophia are entrepreneurs who together own a limited liability company, SOPhiGEo, LLC.They are inventors and have invented a widget that can be plugged into a mobile phone or personal computer to detect unsolicited third-party access of camera or audio features on the equipment and block it with a repeating loop of nonsense gibberish that can be stopped only by the widget’s primary user.This widget has a proprietary design and operating code. SOPhiGEo is calling it “LoktYU.”

Identify and define the three types of intellectual property (IP) that SOPhiGEo needs to obtain to protect LoktYU. Be specific as to which aspect of the invention will be protected by each type of IP. Further, explain how each type of IP is obtained and maintained, and how long the protection lasts.

Essay 2

Fact pattern: Joe and James are brothers who decide to go into a landscaping business together. Joe has most of the money to put up and James has extensive gardening knowledge. They will need to have at least a couple employees to help do the work. They are trying to decide how to organize the business — a general partnership, a limited liability company or a corporation.

Question: Using your Lessons and Required Readings on forms of business organizations, write an essay that (1) explains the pros and cons of each of these types of business forms and (2) recommend which one of these 3 is best for the brothers in this scenario and why.

Answer preview

The second type is the patent IP, which can either be the utility or design patent. It will be used in protecting the functional and ornamental features of the LoktYU widget. Eisenberg (2008) claims that patent law is used to protect new ideas developed in the market. It is costly to apply, but once approved, it serves up to 20 years after approval/filing. It also requires maintenance, depending on their usage and paying renewal fees. The patent office and attorneys are responsible for the whole application process. The final type that SOPhiGEo must consider is the trademark type of IP, which will be used in protecting the name ownership of the widget to the company. It will also protect any prototype reproduction and the widget schemes plus symbols from other parties. Obtaining it is by applying through appropriate government offices, and it may cost between 225-335 dollars. However, it is potentially indefinite depending on the use, but renewal maintenances are based on a ten-year renewal agreement with the government.

[707 Words]

Intellectual property

Marjorie Benton

Ethical Leaders

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The seventh Debate Discussion assignment in this class relates to the HR Ethics box in Chapter 10 (p. 382):

HR Ethics: Building Ethics with Multisource Appraisals and Coaching

As business leaders get promoted, evidence suggests that there are more opportunities for ethical transgressions. Companies can do several things to help prevent ethical lapses. (1) Promote an ethical culture. (2) Use 360-degree evaluations. (3) Apply coaching. (4) Discuss the importance of ethical leadership.

  1. What kinds of approaches might you use to help leaders be more ethical? How could performance management processes be used to facilitate this aim?
  2. Besides some of the ideas already discussed, what do you think companies can do to reduce the likelihood of leaders acting unethically?

Your assignment is to 1) read the information in the box content, 2) answer these questions, 3) present/defend your ideas with thoughtful logic or relevant evidence, and 4) respond to at least two other students’ posts with other thoughtful analyses. Your posts should be comprehensive (multiple lengthy paragraphs), as well as concise and detailed.

Grades are assigned using a rubric with the following dimensions: 1) logic/support, 2) clarity/conciseness, 3) depth, 4) length, 5) contains multiple postings/responses.

Answer preview

Leaders within an organization have an obligation to act ethically. However, at times, some of them act unethically, which negatively affects the organization. Preventing such an occurrence is not easy, but there are a couple of mechanisms an organization can deploy to reduce the likelihood of its leaders acting unethically. One way of doing this involves drafting and succinctly implementing a code of conduct (Dessler, 2016). Such a code will enunciate how all employees should behave and what punishment will get handed out for failure to abide by the code of conduct. Organizations should also encourage leaders to lead by example.

[361 Words]

Ethical Leaders

Marjorie Benton

Bitcoin Economics

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This week we discussed Bitcoin Economics. For this week’s research paper, you need to search the Internet and explain why some businesses are accepting and other businesses are rejecting the use of Bitcoins as a standard form of currency. Your paper needs to identify two major companies that have adopted Bitcoin technology.

Your paper should meet the following requirements:

• Be approximately 3-5 pages in length, not including the required cover page and reference page.

• Follow APA guidelines. Your paper should include an introduction, a body with fully developed content, and a conclusion.

• Support your response with the readings from the course and at least five peer-reviewed articles or scholarly journals to support your positions, claims, and observations. The UC Library is a great place to find resources.

• Be clear with well-written, concise, using excellent grammar and style techniques. You are being graded in part on the quality of your writing.

Answer preview

In research analysis, economists have published various reasons why business corporations use bitcoins as a formal currency. According to Ammous (2018), there are five primary unchangeable reasons as to why businesses opt to adopt the use of Bitcoin currency. These reasons include the store of value, maximum security, individual sovereignty, a global unit of account, and finally, an international and online settlement unit. Store of value is the primary reason why companies choose Bitcoins, which means it can be purchased at a lower cost and sold at a higher value depending on the market. Business corporates have adopted this mechanism because they use bitcoin currency as a standard form of investment. Bitcoin can overcome all the currencies across the globe; hence it gives companies to invest in easily as part of storing valued assets.

[1317 Words]

Bitcoin Economics

Marjorie Benton

Real-time data

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Provide an example in which real-time data can be used as a competitive advantage for corporations. Why do you feel this real-time data is an advantage? How long can the advantage last?

At least 250 words.

Answer preview

When this process is made the norm in the organization, it facilitates employing advanced techniques to better understand the customers. When an organization can develop a data-driven work environment that fosters collaboration, data analysis in real-time becomes a competitive advantage (Hagiu & Wright, 2020). This real-time data is advantageous because the organization starts treating data as an asset in the decision-making process. Since the data is up to date, reliable, and better targeted, mistakes and errors within the corporation are reduced. Real-time insights also facilitate reacting quickly to the identified errors to prevent an operational problem. The real-time data is also advantageous because the analytics keeps the organization ahead of the competitors or in a position to get notified when the direct competitors change their strategy or lower their prices. These advantages of real-time data should last if the organization exists unless the organization’s culture is changed. That is why using real-time data as a competitive advantage requires an organization to develop a data-driven culture.

[315 Words]

Real-time data