Author: chris

You will use your chosen country (from the Discussions) for this Assignment. In addition to the country, you will reference the shoe manufacturing firm (introduced in the Discussions).

Write a four to six (4-6) page paper in which you:

Identify two (2) forms of market segmentation for your shoes, and support your choices. Then, identify two (2) target markets for each segment, and explain those choices. Note: A market segment (generally) is the group(s) the firm wants to market to; while the target market(s) is the specific market (e.g., city) that the segment(s) are located in.
Give examples of four (4) actionable goals for your business as you embark on your mission to import shoes into your chosen country. Describe why each goal is important to the firm.
Select the global product marketing program that you feel best suits your firm as a strategic alternative in your chosen country. Provide a rationale to support why you chose this program.
Choose the global pricing policy that will best suit your firm and selected country. Support your decision for choosing such a policy.
Choose the marketing channel alternative that will best suit your firm and selected country. Describe the function of each channel member.
Describe the sales promotions that will be used entice both consumers and trade channel partners.
Determine whether the firm will use salespeople or sales agents to promote and sell your products in the chosen country.
Use at least three (3) quality academic resources for in-text citations in this assignment. Note that Wikipedia and similar type websites do not qualify as academic sources.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
Typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
Include a reference page. Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

Evaluate the considerations for product adaptation in foreign markets and common approaches to adjusting promotional strategy to fit foreign markets.
Examine the process for market research to assess foreign market potential.
Analyze the strategic marketing planning process, strategies for entering foreign markets, and considerations for subsequent market expansion.
Determine the logistics and product distribution channel options available to support international marketing.
Formulate the core marketing concepts into viable marketing strategies to support exporting and the full range of global marketing operations.
Assess the key factors in price determination, alternative pricing strategies used in international marketing, and the common terms of sale and payment used in international marketing.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in international marketing.
Write clearly and concisely about international marketing using proper writing mechanics.

Effective Meetings

In this assignment, you will study how a leader can conduct a variety of meetings effectively.

Complete the following tasks:

• Read the following articles:
  • Bates Communications: Insights. (2007, November 11). Are you

    running meetings, or are meetings running you? Retrieved

    from http://www.bates-communications.com/Portals/25382

    /docs/art-runningmeetings.pdf

  • Facilitative Leadership & Facilitator Training. (2012, December 13).

    Taking charge of poorly led meetings when you are not

    the leader. Retrieved from http://facilitativeleadership.

    wordpress.com/

  • McNamara, C. (n.d.). Guidelines to conducting effective meetings

    (Adapted from the Field Guide to Leadership and

    Supervision). Retrieved from http://managementhelp.org/

    misc/meeting-management.htm

  • Facilitative Leadership & Facilitator Training. (2012, June 21).

    Meeting participation tips (Part 1 of 3—The beginning).

    Retrieved from http://facilitativeleadership.wordpress.com

    /2012/06/21/meeting-participation-tips-part-1-of-3-the-

    beginning/

• Attend a meeting. The meeting can be any one of the following:
  • A work-based meeting
  • Municipality, township, or school district meeting
  • A meeting for an organization you might be involved with
  • Any other meeting you can identify within the course required time frame.

Part I

Based on your reading, understanding of the articles, and your experience in the meeting you attended, answer the following questions:

• • Where is the meeting being conducted, and what is its purpose? Is the meeting focused on communications or problem solving, or is it a meeting with no specific agenda?
  • Is the meeting a regularly scheduled event, such as a monthly scheduled meeting or a meeting to address a specific matter?
  • Does the meeting have a set communication designed with relevant information to advance the meeting? Please explain.
  • Was the meeting opened with an announcement or explanation of its purpose and importance?
  • What was the communication style of the meeting’s leader or facilitator?
  • What were the leader’s bases of power? Select from a number of conceptual paradigms and elaborate on your selection.
    • Authoritative
    • Knowledge and Expertise
    • Correction or Castigation
    • Reward or Incentive
    • Persuasion
    • Mentoring or Coaching
    • Relationships or Individual or group interactions
    • Direction or Vision
    • Charismatic or Personable
  • Did the members or attendees have an opportunity to express opinions? Were they asked for suggestions, ideas, and information?
  • Did you recognize any conflict, disrespect, or tension among the members or attendees? If so, was the source of the conflict evident?
  • Did you observe the participants’ body language (such as posturing, positioning, or gesturing) when different topics were introduced? Describe it.
  • What was the intended outcome of the meeting? Was it achieved? Why or why not? What were the pivotal moments of the meeting which contributed to its success or failure?

Part II

Complete the following tasks to provide an overall critique of the meeting you attended:

• • • Identify the positive, effective qualities of the meeting in one list, and identify the qualities which were ineffective in a separate list.
    • Arrange each list from top to bottom, from most important to least important.
    • Take the top three ranked factors from each list and explain the affect they had on the meeting.

Part III

You need to organize a meeting to introduce a new project in a health service organization. The project is sufficiently complex in size and nature to require an expanded cross-section of expertise from within and outside the organization. You are responsible for inviting the necessary individuals and representatives of involved departments and professional functions to the meeting.

Based on the principles contained in the articles, textbook, and elected independent research provided in the course, complete the following tasks:

• • • Develop an agenda for the meeting.
    • Provide information, expertise, and background on the invited attendees. Explain the rationale and intended functional expertise each attendee brings to the group.
    • Recognize and develop measurable objectives to assess the success of the planned meeting.

Compile your responses to Parts I, II, and III in a 7- to 8-page Microsoft Word document.

Imagine that you are the Information Technology Director of a major chain restaurant, and you have been assigned to design a menu ordering application that can run on all devices. Examine whether using a touch-screen monitor, a tablet, or using a mouse to select menu items to place an order would be most efficient. Speculate how employees would interact with these devices and the type of emotional reaction that customers and employees will experience while placing a beverage, appetizer or entrée order.

After reading Chapters 7 and 8 in McCarthy & Archer (2013) and performing additional research on your own, write a 4-6 page reaction paper in which you discuss the following:

1. Explain how thought-focused treatment systems are inherently different from psychoanalytical/psychodynamic approaches in treating psychological dysfunctions.
2. In REBT, “rational” means that which helps people to achieve their basic goals and purposes. Therefore, irrational beliefs are those that interfere with goals. Do a web search and find the eleven or twelve irrational beliefs (called “IB’s”) used by REBT therapists. Choose two of them and provide an example for each.
3. Cognitive therapy is directed at common cognitive distortions, or faulty thought patterns. These send us into depression. Examine the list of cognitive distortions based on Aaron Beck’s work. Choose two and provide an example for each.
4. Explain briefly the terms “shaping” and “token economies” used in behavioral based therapies and give an example for each.

Choose two (2) public corporations in an industry with which you are familiar – one (1) that has acquired another company and operates internationally and one (1) that does not have a history of mergers and acquisitions and operates solely within the U.S. Research each company on its own Website, the public filings on the Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR database (http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml), in the University’s online databases, and any other sources you can find. The annual report will often provide insights that can help address some of these questions.

Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:

For the corporation that has acquired another company, merged with another company, or been acquired by another company, evaluate the strategy that led to the merger or acquisition to determine whether or not this merger or acquisition was a wise choice. Justify your opinion.
For the corporation that has not been involved in any mergers or acquisitions, identify one (1) company that would be a profitable candidate for the corporation to acquire or merge with and explain why this company would be a profitable target.
For the corporation that operates internationally, briefly evaluate its international business-level strategy and international corporate-level strategy and make recommendations for improvement.
For the corporation that does not operate internationally, propose one business-level strategy and one corporate-level strategy that you would suggest the corporation consider. Justify your proposals.
Use at least three (3) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

Identify various levels and types of strategy in a firm.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in business administration.
Write clearly and concisely about business administration using proper writing mechanics.

For this assignment, you will select a social problem that can be used as a basis to develop a proposal for advocating a policy and develop a 6- to 8-page paper on persuasive problem definition that can be used to garner support.

In your paper:

• Identify a social problem that can be used as a basis to develop a proposal for advocating a policy.
• Describe the background of the problem, the scope of the problem, the demographics of the population involved, and any supporting research data and statistics.
• Identify the stakeholders involved and availability and accessibility of necessary resources to solve the social problem.
• Explain the political climate relative to the issue and any ethical implications.
• Evaluate social policies and programs that are currently available and discuss their effectiveness in addressing your identified social problem.
• Discuss the levels of access you would need to pursue to advocate for your proposal.

Your final product will be a 6- to 8-page Microsoft Word document utilizing a minimum of four scholarly sources.

• This week, you will get started on your Course Project. Start by reviewing the scenario presented in the Course Project Overview section of Week 1. Your task this week will be to prepare a short narrative relating student interests to the board’s challenges, including a discussion of how changing student demographics have led to the board’s concerns over graduation rates and student learning.

  Using the readings and other resources provided this week, write 2–3 pages on the following questions:

 

1.      Why are the issues of student learning and graduation important now?

 

2.      How have college students’ needs and interests related to college attendance changed in recent years?

 

3.      How have these changes led to the need to focus on graduation and learning?

 

To inform your narrative, you will want to consider the kind of institution you are writing about, and the kinds of students it serves. You can choose one of the fictional institutions described in one of these profiles linked below; or, if you currently work at a college or university, you can use your own institution and create a similar profile for that institution. If you choose to use your own institution, just include your profile as a separate page in your assignment.

 

You may organize your paper any way you wish, but consider using headings to help the reader follow your arguments. Be sure to include citations for the readings and resources you use as sources.

 

 

 

Next week, you will add your Week 4 Application Assignment to this paper, ensure it is formatted correctly in APA style, and submit it as one assignment. In Week 7, you will incorporate this work into your Course Project.

 

 

 

Assignment Length: 2–3 pages

 

• Week 4: Past and Present Expectations for Higher Education

  Introduction

  If you asked any administrator in higher education today about his or her primary work-related concern, they would probably say, “money.” If you asked any prospective student thinking about starting college, his or her main concern would also likely be, “money.” Ask a state legislator, and they would tell you the same thing—a concern that will be painfully evident every time state budgets for public higher education are debated. Students and families wonder why higher education costs so much, businesspeople wonder why colleges and universities can’t keep their costs under control, and college leaders wonder where they are going to get the resources to stay competitive—or even survive.

  In Week 2, you discussed higher education’s public and private benefits, and debated who should bear the responsibility for providing these benefits. Last week, you focused on the role of students in this equation. The reality, of course, is that if the costs of higher education continue to escalate, it will become more difficult for anyone—states, families, students themselves—to pay for higher education.

  This week, you will explore historical expectations for higher education, and the social, political, and economic forces that have placed increasing demands on our higher education system. You will also consider several perspectives on the rising costs of higher education, including what politicians and businesspeople are saying about the need for more efficiency and productivity in how most institutions operate.

  Application: Course Project: The Critical Components of Higher Education (Part 2)

   

  This week, you will complete the second part of your Course Project, and submit the first two parts to your Instructor for review and feedback. If needed, review the scenario presented in the Course Project Overview section of Week 1. Your task this week will be to prepare a short narrative relating business/political interests to the board’s challenges, including a discussion of how changing social, economic, and political influences have led to the board’s concerns.

   

  Using the readings and other resources provided this week, write 2–3 pages on the following questions:

 

1.      How have the political and economic factors impacting higher education changed in recent years?

 

2.      How have these factors led to a concern about issues of student learning and graduation?

 

3.      Why are the board members concerned about accomplishing change without increasing costs?

 

Continue using the institutional profile you selected or created last week. You may organize your paper any way you wish, but consider using headings to help the reader follow your arguments. Be sure to include citations for the readings and resources you use as sources.

 

 

 

Formatting Your Assignment: Follow APA style to format your paper. Combine last week’s assignment with this one; include a cover page, an introduction, a conclusion, and a reference page. Use the Scholarly Writing Tutorial included in this week’s Learning Resources to get an overview of the scholarly writing process and the basics of APA citation and formatting. Continue to refer to your Scholarly Writing Checklist, Scholarly Writing Resources page, and Essential Guide to APA Style for Walden Students.

 

 

 

 

 

Assignment Length: 2–3 pages (Combine with Week 3 for total of 4–6 pages)

 

 

 

• Application: Course Project: The Critical Components of Higher Education (Part 3)

  This week, you will complete the third part of your Course Project. If needed, review the scenario presented in the Course Project section of Week 1. Your task this week will be to prepare a short narrative in which you propose some key indicators that could be used to determine whether your institution is making progress on the challenges presented by the board.

  An indicator is a measure of a particular quality, usually something that is hard to define or measure. Indicators do not have to capture every aspect of that quality — you might use several indicators to get a good picture. For example, if you were interested in measuring how “wealthy” people are, you might choose “annual income,” or “assets owned,” as indicators of wealth. These indicators won’t give you a complete picture, but they will give you important information.

  In higher education, we often use indicators to measure amorphous qualities such as “learning” or “student success”. In future courses, you will explore the process of defining measures, establishing indicators, and gathering data that can be used for assessment in much more detail. For this assignment, you will start thinking about what kinds of indicators an institution might use to begin to investigate issues such as learning and success.

  Using the readings and other resources provided this week, write 1–2 pages on ways you might define indicators to assess your institution’s progress toward the goals presented by your board. If you wish, use a bulleted list to propose possible indicators, and then explain how convincing these indicators might be to your board and other stakeholders.

  Continue using the institutional profile you selected or created previously. You may organize your paper any way you wish, but consider using headings to help the reader follow your arguments. Be sure to include citations for the readings and resources you use as sources.

   

   

   

 

• The Critical Components of Higher Education (Part 3)

  This week, you will complete the third part of your Course Project. If needed, review the scenario presented in the Course Project section of Week 1. Your task this week will be to prepare a short narrative in which you propose some key indicators that could be used to determine whether your institution is making progress on the challenges presented by the board.

  An indicator is a measure of a particular quality, usually something that is hard to define or measure. Indicators do not have to capture every aspect of that quality — you might use several indicators to get a good picture. For example, if you were interested in measuring how “wealthy” people are, you might choose “annual income,” or “assets owned,” as indicators of wealth. These indicators won’t give you a complete picture, but they will give you important information.

  In higher education, we often use indicators to measure amorphous qualities such as “learning” or “student success”. In future courses, you will explore the process of defining measures, establishing indicators, and gathering data that can be used for assessment in much more detail. For this assignment, you will start thinking about what kinds of indicators an institution might use to begin to investigate issues such as learning and success.

  Using the readings and other resources provided this week, write 1–2 pages on ways you might define indicators to assess your institution’s progress toward the goals presented by your board. If you wish, use a bulleted list to propose possible indicators, and then explain how convincing these indicators might be to your board and other stakeholders.

  Continue using the institutional profile you selected or created previously. You may organize your paper any way you wish, but consider using headings to help the reader follow your arguments. Be sure to include citations for the readings and resources you use as sources.

   

 

• This week, you will complete the last part of your Course Project, pull all of the pieces together, ensure your work is formatted in correct APA style, and submit it in its entirety for credit. If needed, review the scenario presented in the Course Project Overview section of Week 1. For this final piece, you will create a list of resources that your institution’s task force could use in further researching and developing your plan.

  Using your exploration of professional associations and foundations in higher education, identify at least three organizations that provide information or resources that your task force could use in addressing the challenges presented by your board. For each, provide:

  • The name and Web site of the organization
  • A brief summary (1–2 paragraphs) of the organization’s purpose and major agenda items
  • A short description of resources provided by the organization that could be useful to your institution in addressing the board’s challenges

    Formatting Your Assignment: Follow APA style to format your paper. Combine your assignments from Weeks 3, 4, and 6 with this week’s assignment; include a cover page, an introduction, a conclusion, and a reference page. Use the Scholarly Writing Tutorial included in the Week 4 Learning Resources to get an overview of the scholarly writing process and the basics of APA citation and formatting. Continue to refer to your Scholarly Writing Checklist (Week 1 Resources), Scholarly Writing Resources page (on the left navigation bar), and your Essential Guide to APA Style

 

 

Choose an industry you have not yet written about in this course, and one publicly traded corporation within that industry. Research the company on its own Website, the public filings on the Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR database (http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml), in the University’s online databases, and any other sources you can find. The annual report will often provide insights that can help address some of these questions.

Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:

 

1. Analyze the business-level strategies for the corporation you chose to determine the business-level strategy you think is most important to the long-term success of the firm and whether or not you judge this to be a good choice. Justify your opinion.
2. Analyze the corporate-level strategies for the corporation you chose to determine the corporate-level strategy you think is most important to the long-term success of the firm and whether or not you judge this to be a good choice. Justify your opinion.
3. Analyze the competitive environment to determine the corporation’s most significant competitor.  Compare their strategies at each level and evaluate which company you think is most likely to be successful in the long term. Justify your choice.
4. Determine whether your choice from Question 3 would differ in slow-cycle and fast-cycle markets.
5. Use at least three (3) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality as academic resources.

 

 

 

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

 

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.

 

 

 

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

 

• Identify various levels and types of strategy in a firm.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in business administration.
• Write clearly and concisely about business administration using proper writing mechanics.

 

This week’s Assignment consists of watching a scenario about Sandwich Blitz, Inc. and reading the textbook section on “Bureaucratic Control Systems” in the Bateman and Snell text.

Click on the Video icon to sit in on a phone call Lei is having on a discrepancy in the time sheet of one of the customer associates. Then select the Rubric icon to read all the requirements for this week’s Assignment. This week’s Assignment consists of watching a scenario about Sandwich Blitz,
Inc. and reading the textbook section on Bureaucratic Control Systems in the Bateman and Snell text.
Lei noticed what appeared to be a discrepancy in the time sheet of one of the customer associates.
When she asked the location manager about this, she learned that the team supervisor had allowed
The associate to report hours not actually worked in this pay period, thus receiving pay for time not yet
Learned. Lei did not like this practice and immediately viewed this as a control issue. After checking
The employee handbook which had been in effect since she and Dalman were actively managing the
single location, she discovered that this practice was not covered. She also realized that many of the
duties that employees were expected to do and were in fact, evaluated on were also not clearly
addressed. After reading the scenario above, the textbook section on Bureaucratic Control Systems, and
completing the practice Learning Activities in this unit, describe how Dalman and Lei can create the
missing section of employee handbook by describing how the four step control process could be
implemented to correct the problem of misreporting hours. External sources may be used. Cite
external sources. Submission Instructions:
Draft your Assignment paper at least two full double spaced pages in length, using size 12 point font
size in MS Word format. Be sure your paper is well written in paragraph form, with
correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
(SAME AS THE LAST DRAFT YOU DID ON DELEGATION) Discussion Topic
Compose a draft of your Unit 6 Academic Essay Assignment. Include and give credit to the article you are using as the basis for your paper, but develop your draft using your own ideas and observations. Post your draft as an attached Microsoft Office Word document. Your draft should be approximately 400–500 words long, but if you are further along in the drafting process and your draft is longer, that’s not a problem. Remember that a draft will have weaknesses, so don’t hesitate to post your draft because it’s not “perfect.” You will receive helpful feedback on your draft from your instructor and classmates.

Step 3: Respond to classmates’ postings

Respond to at least two classmates’ drafts. Apply what you have learned about Peer-Reviews in the Unit 6 Reading and Learning Activities to offer your classmates specific, constructive and helpful feedback. Don’t grade your classmates’ drafts or comment on grammar. Avoid simply identifying problems. Instead, focus on 1 or 2 areas of the draft (like development of ideas, use of sources, or organization, for example) and offer suggestions for how the classmates might improve on these areas. Remember to ask questions that engage your classmates as well. Use the Track Changes feature in your Word program to insert your improvement suggestions into your classmates’ drafts and post any other comments you would like to make about the drafts in the Discussion Board itself.

(1 PARAGRAPH) Scenario: At Sandwich Blitz, Lei noticed what appeared to be a discrepancy in the time sheet of one of the customer associates. When she asked the unit manager about this, she learned that the team supervisor had allowed the associate to report hours not actually worked in this pay period, thus receiving pay for time not yet earned. After checking the employee handbook, which had been in effect since she and Dalman were actively managing the units, she discovered that this practice was not covered. She also realized that many of the duties that employees were expected to do and be evaluated on were also not clearly addressed in the employee handbook.

Control is any process that directs the activities of individuals toward the achievement of organizational goals. Refer to the unit readings and answer the following:

In your best judgment, do you think that a control system needs to be developed to address these issues?
What are the steps involved in setting up and implementing a control system?
Explain your answer by including your views and information from the assigned chapter reading material on control systems.

(REFER BACK TO THE ARTICLE YOU DID ON DIABETES)Apply what you have learned about formal language and academic writing to write your own 2 page article that could potentially be published at the reputable Internet website you used to locate the articles you used for the Assignments you wrote for Unit 4.

Select an article from a website that identifies a relevant change in your field of study. Write a 4-5 paragraph draft of your own academic essay that establishes a point about either the cause or effect of this relevant change. Develop your main point about this change using your own ideas, observations, and experience. This draft should be a revised version of the rough draft you submitted to the Unit 6 Discussion Board. Organize your ideas into approximately four paragraphs and develop your ideas using your own observation and knowledge.

You are encouraged to not utilize additional research at this point. Instead, include an additional one-paragraph Research Plan that identifies the claims you make that need to be supported by additional outside research. Identify what specific research information you would need to locate and incorporate in your article to prepare it for publication.

Assignment 1: Alignment of HRM and Business Strategies
Due Week 3 and worth 100 points
Select a publicly traded company to research and evaluate its Human Resource (HR) and business strategy, HR department job positions, and ways it markets its company regarding human capital. Some company Websites that provide this information are listed below:
• Marriott: http://www.arubamarriottcareers.com/JobDescriptions.html
• Allstate: http://www.jigsaw.com/id209321_d40/allstate_insurance_human_resources_business_contacts.xhtml
• State Farm: http://www.statefarm.com/about/retirees/news_articles/hr_serv_assist.asp
• Ford Motor Company: http://corporate.ford.com/careers/career-paths/human-resources?&ccode=US
Write a two to three (2-3) page paper in which you:
1. Propose how you would ensure the HR strategy is in alignment with the business strategy.
2. Describe the HR job positions and the responsibilities listed for that HR department.
3. Determine which HR job positions you would prefer and explain why.
4. Analyze how the selected company can establish HRM strategies to improve competitive advantages.
5. Propose three (3) ways that the company can increase diversity.
6. Use at least three (3) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
• Examine the role of human resource management (HRM) in organizations and how it supports the organization’s business strategy.
• Evaluate human resource strategies and how these strategies align with business strategies.
• Create a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
• Formulate HRM strategies and policies to recruit, select, place, and retain the most efficient and effective workforce.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in strategic human resource development.
• Write clearly and concisely about strategic human resource development using proper writing mechanics