Solutions to Organizational Challenges

B 6028Solutions to Organizational Challenges

Spring II 2008

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Phyllis Anderson

PHONE:630-261-1884

EMAIL:[email protected]

FAX:

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Title Crafting and executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage: Concepts and cases.

Author(s) Thompson, A. A., Strickland, A. I., & Gamble, J. ECopyright 2007Publisher Irwin McGraw-HillISBN 0-07-327038-5Edition 15

This Course Requires the Purchase of a Course Packet: YES NO

mailto:[email protected]

Argosy UniversityCOURSE SYLLABUS

B6028Solutions to Organizational Challenges

Faculty InformationFaculty Name: Dr. Phyllis AndersonCampus: ChicagoContact Information: 630-261-1884 or [email protected] Hours:

Short Faculty Bio:

Dr. Phyllis Anderson, Ph.D. Management, MBA. Taught at several higher-ed institutions and various business courses. Received a University Excellence Award. Plus has several years’ work experience in the private sector including with B. F. Goodrich, Continental Can, and United States Steel. Dr. Anderson has authored several publications and is a members of numerous management associations.

mailto:[email protected]

Course description: This is a Capstone Course that "puts it all together" through a program application project. Students must complete a minimum of 30 semester credit hours before taking this course. The course is intended to help students frame unstructured business problems. Students must identify the central issues and determine the most appropriate tools and concepts from the core curriculum to apply in order to gain insight into these issues. This approach helps develop a cross-functional approach to business issues. Students are engaged in a project with an outside organization of their own choosing and receive extensive feedback as they carry out the project. Their project is presented to a faculty panel acting as decision makers for the organization.

Course Pre-requisites: None

Required Textbook:

Thompson, A. A., Strickland, A. I., & Gamble, J. E. (2007). Crafting and executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage: Concepts and cases. (15/e). Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 0-07-327038-5

Course length: 7.5 Weeks

Contact Hours: 45 Hours

Credit Value: 3.0

Program Outcomes:1. Communication

1.1. Oral/Written – Present business information orally and in writing using appropriate technology that is concise, clear, organized, supported, and persuasive in a professional manner appropriate to the business context

2. Critical Thinking/Problem Solving2.1. Critical Thinking – Incorporate and synthesize information, theory, and practice in order to implement appropriate business

actions2.2. Problem Solving/Decision Making – Given a business situation, diagnose the underlying causes of the situation, evaluate

possible solutions, and determine and defend appropriate course of action

2.3. Information Literacy – Access information from a variety of sources, evaluate the credibility of the sources, and apply that information to solve business problems

3. Team3.1. Leadership – Describe the requirements of team members and leaders to work effectively and creatively in achieving team

goals3.2. Collaboration – Collect, categorize, and consider the views of all stakeholders

4. Ethics4.1. Ethics – Identify the ethical principles related to personal and corporate behavior in specific business situations and explains

the potential consequences5. Diversity

5.1. Diversity – Identify the impact of both cultural and economic factors on the modern enterprise and explain the potential consequences

6. Analysis/Application 6.1. Applied Technology – Select and defend business technology solutions to typical business problems6.2. Integration – Describe the interrelationship of the functional business areas of statistics, accounting, finance, marketing,

operations, and strategy within the context of specific organizational goals

Course Objectives:1. Communication: Oral/Written – Present business information orally and in writing using appropriate technology that is concise,

clear, organized, supported, and persuasive in a professional manner appropriate to the business context2. Critical Thinking – Incorporate and synthesize information, theory, and practice in order to implement appropriate business actions3. Problem Solving/Decision Making – Given a business situation, diagnose the underlying causes of the situation, evaluate possible

solutions, and determine and defend appropriate course of action 4. Information Literacy – Access information from a variety of sources, evaluate the credibility of the sources, and apply that

information to solve business problems5. Leadership – Describe the requirements of team members and leaders to work effectively and creatively in achieving team goals6. Collaboration – Collect, categorize, and consider the views of all stakeholders7. Ethics – Identify the ethical principles related to personal and corporate behavior in specific business situations and explains the

potential consequences8. Diversity – Identify the impact of both cultural and economic factors on the modern enterprise and explain the potential

consequences

9. Applied Technology – Select and defend business technology solutions to typical business problems10. Integration – Describe the interrelationship of the functional business areas of statistics, accounting, finance, marketing,

operations, and strategy within the context of specific organizational goals

Assignment Table

Topics Readings Assignments1 Introduce SFL Guidelines &

Process – Scenario and Storyboards

BCG Matrix Model Business Strategy

TextbookChapter 1: What is Strategy and Why is it Important?

From the Argosy University online library read the articles below. These journal readings will give you deeper insight into the horizon, focus, and performance of business strategy.

Speculand, R. (2006, Feb/Mar). Getting employees behind strategy. Strategic Communication Management. Chicago. 10(2), 5.

Allio, R. J. (2006).

Solutions Focused Learning (SFL) - Project Scenario Description

This project requires research, imagination, and logic in applying the content of this course and the various text and article readings. You will assume roles of top management, such as CEO, CFO, CIO, and COO, and apply knowledge gained through the weeks to an imaginary company. Your company has been operating in the domestic aviation arena for some time. You will examine and evaluate the situation from a leadership perspective and will propose the solutions necessary to take the company global. Your aim will be to suggest ways to gain and maintain competitive advantage, with a focus on creating value over time. The study is based on the following concerns:

Planned entry strategy

Situational analysis describing the operating environment and critical operational factors to consider

Analysis of ethical decision-making

Strategic thinking: The ten big ideas. Strategy & Leadership. Chicago. 34(4), 4.

Cultural profile of the local operating area Value chain analysis Strategic fit analysis Functional strategy analysis Identification of the concerns of the host country

and the local community regarding company operations there.

This course is grounded in the learning objectives of the curriculum. The scenario provides you with an opportunity to view real-world issues and challenges and will help you practice the application of knowledge gleaned. You must identify the central issues and determine the most appropriate tools and concepts from the core curriculum to apply in order to gain insight into these issues.

Student Role

As an active student, your role is paramount to a successful learning experience. In this Capstone course, you have the opportunity to review various types of businesses and situations. This course will provide you a chance to develop a cross-functional approach to identify the central issues and apply the appropriate tools and concepts in order to gain insight and resolve specific business issues.

You will assume a leadership role. Assign the role of CEO to one member of your team. Identify the roles and responsibility of all other members. Over the course of

the next seven weeks, each team will work to examine the issues and problems facing the industry, generate solutions to the problems, and create the necessary vision and instruments of change required to transform the industry into a viable competitive force in the 21st Century. This will be done by:

Managing stakeholder issues effectively

Building on organizational strengths Planning for global operations Acting as management consultants Handling strategic issues effectively

Team Guidelines

Teamwork, collaboration, and self-directed learning help to develop and strengthen individual and organizational commitment and performance. These factors also help foster accountability, responsibility, and a sense of interdependence. They are all characteristics necessary to support a system.

You are expected to work on two levels: as team members solving problems within scenarios, and as individuals completing various assignments. This is another aspect of the course, which is applicable to the real world. Thus, employees, managers, and leaders are expected and required to:

Perform several tasks at the same time.

Be responsible for several jobs and/or assignments.

Possess and utilize diverse skills appropriately and optimally.

Team Communication

Effective communication is very important in an SFL course. You will be working as a team to complete assignments, and you will need to exchange views and opinions with your teammates constantly. In the next seven weeks, you will communicate quite frequently with your peers through e-mail.

As in the workplace, you will be evaluated on your individual and teamwork abilities and participation. This aspect of coursework is challenging and requires a systems approach to best ensure appropriate and effective outcomes. Teamwork is a positive learning experience. Working in teams is an excellent way to enhance your learning experience when the following guidelines are followed:

Contact your fellow team members immediately to establish your basic means of communicating and working together.

o Exchange e-mails, phone numbers,

schedules, (time zone information for online courses), and other details needed to set up regular meetings.

o Agree to “meet” frequently to touch base and provide information and assistance where possible.

o Plan the methods that you will use to collaborate, such as face to face meetings, e-mail, conference calls, etc.

Identify the nature and amount of work that the team will do during the course.

o Set timelines/deadlines for completing individual and collaborative work.

o Make sure you factor in enough time for revisions and integration. (Do not assume that the individual components will fit together seamlessly.)

o Determine how the teamwork will be divided and how individual assignments will be handed out.

Decide on team roles for individual tasks or the entire course.

o Determine who will take on the “coordination” role, ensuring that the individual components are integrated before submission.

o Determine which parts of the tasks can be done individually, and which parts must be done collaboratively.

o As much as possible, match team members’ skills, experiences, and

interests in a logical and equitable manner.

Finally, and most importantly, establish some team norms of behavior and set up a method for managing conflicts that might arise in the team.

o Agree on a “respectful team environment” policy, where you agree to problem-solve conflicts by asking questions and seeking clarifications, rather than communicating in angry or sarcastic ways.

Set performance expectations and define consequences for failing to meet them. For example, deadlines are firm yet notification of teammates prior to the deadline of a problem will be acceptable. Failure to meet a deadline or prior notification of failure will result in a failing evaluation for the task or additional work being required for future tasks.

Assignment 1: Sharing Decision-Making Experiences

Individually, write an account of yourself in about 200 words or more, exploring the dimensions of your personal and professional qualifications and interests. It should include your name and information about your current professional status, extent of familiarity with online courses, and career goals. Share the following information about yourself with your peers in your

submission:

What are your expectations from this course? Assess and discuss how this course will help you

to attain your professional objectives. Recount a situation where you were involved in

organizational- or department-level decision-making and briefly outline the process that you implemented.

Assignment 2: The Brain Drain

Individually, read the following:

Time was when the success in the technology market depended on your ability to take advantage of a multicultural expertise. That's just what Hong Lu, born in Taiwan, raised in Japan, and educated in California attributes his success to. His company, founded several years ago in the Silicon Valley, sells telecommunications equipment to Mainland China. He aimed at the rapidly growing Chinese market and spread the entrepreneurial culture to Asia by giving his Chinese employees stock options—a concept unheard of in China.

In an interview with The New York Times, Lu, a co-founder of UTStarcom, described his Chinese employees as "very suspicious" of the stock options. "Don't give us

paper, give us money," was their refrain, Lu added.

A recent survey of U.S. immigrant entrepreneurs and businesspeople published by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), a nonprofit private group that studies issues affecting Californians, discovered that 18 percent of the immigrants surveyed had invested in their native countries. In particular, U.S. immigrants from India and China invested in their own start-ups or in venture funds in their homelands.

AnnaLee Saxenian, a professor at the University of California in Berkeley, who had undertaken the study with the PPIC said the data suggests there is a "brain circulation." She went on to explain in her interview with The New York Times that "immigrant entrepreneurs are being infected with the Silicon Valley disease… then they are exporting it," indicating their initiative to begin new businesses. It's not only manufacturing that is being exported the survey results indicated, but also ideas, and specifically a culture of entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this individual exercise is to help you learn more about business strategy and the BCG Matrix model. When you consider the business strategy of companies today, you may be surprised to learn that less than 1 percent of technology start-ups succeeds in creating global brands, according to Landor Associates, the world's preeminent branding consultancy, and

KnnowledgeCube, the eTechnology Accelerator.

Source:

"Brain Drain in Technology Found Useful for Both Sides." The New York Times, 19 April 2002.

Use Argosy University online library to research articles in business practitioner journals or magazines from the last 6 months on such issues as:

Brand equity Brand awareness Building brand value.

Write a research report of one to two pages in double-space format, answering the questions below.

1. What does the Brain Drain mean?2. What were the findings of the PPIC survey

discussed in the article?3. Which countries benefit most from the brain

circulation, according to the survey?4. How does the Brain Drain affect business

strategy? Where would your consideration of the Brain Drain fall in the BCG Matrix model?

5. How different would the situation be if the start-up were to be in the U.S. instead of another country? Some companies to research might include KaanBaan Technologies, Weeman

Technologies, and eWisdom.

Assignment 3: Time To Go International

Your facilitator will divide you into teams comprising at least three members. As a team, your first task is to complete the Team Project Plan. Each team member will assume different roles as members of an aviation company, such as CEO, Vice president, Director, Managers, etc. Nominate one member in your team to take on the role of team leader. In the subsequent weeks, another team member will assume the leadership role so that all members have an opportunity to be team leader. This will help in effective allocation of work among team members.

Your course project will require you to analyze the aviation industry. You will form a fictitious aviation company that has decided to expand and go global. In this module, your team will decide on an appropriate country in which to expand and give a rationale for this choice. As a team you will address the following issues in the project plan:

Entry strategy Reasons for the strategy Organizational chart showing the company's

domestic operations and prospective overseas operations, with rationale

At the end of the course, in Week 8, you will collate all

information you have gathered into a business plan using the Organizing Project document. Go through the sections in this document to get an idea of how your final project submission will take shape. This is necessary because this will ensure that your project task in each module is completed with this final goal in mind.

The task should be equally divided between team members. Your team of three members will follow the directives below. Allow your team leader to take the final decision.

As a team, your first task is to complete the Team Project Plan. Use the e-mail or conduct a chat session with all the team members on the scope of your project. Discuss the following:

Process of teamwork for the entire project Issues that will be solved in the project Process to ensure teamwork Process for conflict resolution in a team Operating procedures for the team Process to deal with non-performance if it occurs Group norms

The Team Project Plan is an assessment instrument, which will be used throughout the duration of the course to determine how well your team works together, and how each team member performs. Remember, as in the workplace, you will be evaluated on your individual and team’s abilities and participation. A thorough project plan will identify if any team member goes off the track and jeopardizes the grade of the team on this project.

The table below defines each team member’s task.

Student Names

Task

Team Member A

1. Define the process of teamwork for the entire project.

2. Identify the issues that will be solved in the project.

3. Decide on an appropriate country in which to operate. Give your rationale for this choice.

Team 1. Identify a process to ensure

Member B teamwork.

2. Establish operating procedures for the team.

3. Draw an organization chart showing the company, its domestic operations, and its overseas operations

Team Member C(Team Leader)

1. Define a process for conflict resolution in a team.

2. Establish group norms. Indicate how the team will deal with non-performance, if it occurs.

3. State your planned entry strategy and give your reasons for this strategy. Use the BCG Matrix model to support your reasons.

Meet with all the team members. In this session, discuss all the issues faced in this assignment, and help your team leader combine individual findings. Use established APA 5th edition guidelines for effective writing. Submit the Team Project Plan to the instructor.

Each team member will review and sign the Virtual Team Agreement document. Examine the Group Assignment Responsibility and Learning Team Charter. Based on the finding from your Team Project Plan, complete these documents to track and record teamwork. You will use these documents throughout the project.

2 Company Situational AnalysisMission StatementEthical Decision Making

TextbookChapter 2: The Managerial Process of Crafting and Executing Strategy

Chapter 10: Strategy, Ethics, and Social Responsibility

Assignment 1: Ethical Decision MakingCommodities trading giant Enron Corp. started as a natural gas pipeline company in the 1980s. "[Enron] was such a 'go, go, we're going to change the world' kind of place," said Jay Pultz, an analyst at Gartner Inc. in Stamford,Connecticut. "They really believed in the power of technology." Enron, one of the 20 largest companies in the world, was seen as the New Economy successor to FedEx Corp., American Airlines Inc., and Wal-Mart

From the Argosy University online library read the article below.

Nikolay, A. D. (2004, Dec). Corporate social performance as a business strategy. Journal of Business Ethics. Dordrecht. 55(4), 395.

Stores Inc., other companies that maximized the power of IT in the 1970s and 1980s to redefine their industries.

However, by December 2001, Enron came very close to becoming just another of the electronic commerce business-to-business (B2B) burnout failures of the year.

In October, the company announced that it had taken a $1.01 billion after-tax charge against earnings. The vague explanation was that the charge was taken "to clear away issues that have clouded the performance and earnings potential of our core energy businesses," said the late Chairman and CEO Kenneth L. Lay. A Securities and Exchange Commission investigation followed, and investors filed lawsuits against the company alleging that Enron had hidden debts in subsidiary corporations in an illegal effort to keep stock prices high. These were the results of questionable business ethics and unethical managerial decision making.

The one-time legendary IT-savvy company was unable to harness the power of technology to stave off its rapidly accelerating financial collapse, and hold at bay its increasing competition. Putz, who had called Enron's technology infrastructure "first-rate,” had also raised questions about the B2B company's ability to successfully be a pure online trading operation. Rick Nicholson, an analyst at Meta Group Inc. in Stamford, Conn., said Enron first created problems for itself when it branched out from energy trading into

telecommunications bandwidth, water, and pulp and paper trading.

Did Enron's problems begin when it branched out from energy trading into telecommunications bandwidth, water, and pulp and paper trading, or as a result of unethical decision making? Rick Nicholson, an analyst at Meta Group Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut suggests it was a combination of both–their problems escalated early in December after Standard & Poor's downgraded Enron's stock to junk status, putting an end to the $9-billion sale of Enron to Houston-based Dynegy Inc.

Two B2B exchanges dueling for predominance in the retail industry are calling for a truce to encourage content providers, representing more than 12,000 manufacturers, to adopt a common set of data standards. San Francisco-based GlobalNetXchange LLC and Alexandria, Virginia-based WorldWide Retail Exchange LLC have jointly announced a proposed timetable calling on online catalog developers and other aggregators of product information to support the Global Commerce Initiative's (GCI) B2B standards by mid-2005. Go online and investigate GCI's standards, including the use of XML messaging and the data schema defined by the group. What other business standardization efforts are being proposed for different industries?

Source:

"Enron Falls and New Doubts Surface About the Future of B2B," ComputerWorld Magazine, December 3, 2001.

The purpose of this individual assignment is to help you learn more about ethical decision making and company situational analysis.

Consider the issues on ethical decision making and company situational analysis as discussed in the article, and write a one- or two-page analysis of the article in double-spaced format. It should include key aspects and brief summations of other important sections. Your analysis should address the following issues:

What is B2B? What part did B2B commerce play in a situational analysis of the fallen giant, Enron?

How did the collapse of trading giant Enron raise new doubts about B2B?

Comment on your evaluation of the issue: Will common data standards be helpful in ensuring B2B's longevity?

Adhere to APA standards as established in the 5th edition. Submit your analysis to the instructor.

Assignment 2: Ethics and Situational Analysis

Last week, your team decided on a country where your aviation company will start operation. Now, you will analyze the core issues in the aviation industry, based on which you will create an environment wherein your company will operate. Your process of researching the industry will help you identify the problems. It will also give you clues about possible solutions. You will conduct a situation analysis of your company and define its ethical code of conduct. This will happen at two levels:

Internally, you will thoroughly chart your company's position, including its customers, its strengths, its growth capacity, and the current market environment. This will help you define your company’s ethical code of conduct.

Externally, you will conduct an industry analysis through readings and research. You will need to read about the global trends in the aviation industry and evaluate future trends.

Your team will consider the importance of ethical principles, personal and company values, and socially responsible management practices. Based on this, your team will provide an understanding of the competitive challenges in the global market environment.

Analyze the findings to develop a mission statement and a cultural profile of the local area in which you will be operating.

Use e-mail or conduct a chat session with all the team members on the scope of your project. Your team of three members will follow the directives below. Allow your team leader to take the final decision.

Student Names

Task

Team Member A

1. Create a situational analysis of your company describing the environment in which you will operate.

2. Identify the critical operational factors that you must consider.

Team Member B

1. Examine the effect of the critical operational factors on your company and incorporate ethical decision making into your analysis.

2. State your company's mission in 50 – 100 words. Some questions you might address in this regard are: What are the company's values and philosophical

priorities? What is the public perception of the company?


1. Develop a cultural profile of the local area in which you will be operating. Consider the following in your report:

o What are the employees going to be like? Evaluate how they will receive your change initiative. Formulate solutions to alleviate the fears and uncertainties that will be inherent in the minds of your employees, suppliers, and distributors.

o What kind of reception do you anticipate from local governments, suppliers, distributors, and so on?

Conduct a chat session with all the team members. In this session, discuss all the issues faced in this assignment and help your team leader combine individual findings. Create an eight-slide PowerPoint presentation of your mission statement and the cultural profile of the country in which you will operate, and

submit to your instructor.

Use the Group Assignment Responsibility document to track and record teamwork. Adhere to APA standards as established in the 5th edition.

3 Industry and Competitive Analysis

Key Success Factors Value Chain Porter’s Competitive Strategy

Model

TextbookChapter 3: Evaluating a Company’s External Environment

Chapter 4: Evaluating a Company’s Resources and Competitive Position


Eonsoo, K., Dae-il, N., & Stimpert, J.L. (2004, Spring). Testing the applicability of Porter's generic strategies in the digital age: A study of Korean cyber malls. Journal of Business Strategies. Huntsville. 21(1), 19.

Assignment 1: Value Chain and Competitive Analysis

Individually, read the following:

Considering the value chain and competitive analysis for EBay

The world-renowned Internet auction house and the most successful consumer auction Web site, eBay, is optimistic that its business will not be hit by the same mallet that has hammered so many other Internet businesses. In an economy that has not been kind to many Internet companies, eBay is optimistic that it can continue to grow its Internet bazaar. This optimism is fueled by eBay's reported revenue, which the company touts is ahead of analysts' expectations. The first quarter of 2002, eBay announced that it earned $47.6 million, an increase of 125 percent from the previous year.

The increased revenues have been helped, in part, by eBay's price increase in auction-related services. Online auctions provide a matching service between buyers and sellers, and charge both sides to participate. They capitalize on the Internet's inherent strength: the ability to pair geographically dispersed people who share

narrow interests.

eBay is not without financial concerns, however. These concerns are:

How does eBay keep its place in a competitive environment?

What are eBay’s key success factors? How does it keep its value chain updated in light

of the fact that advertising revenue was down $19 million in the first quarter of 2002.

Revenues from services like escrow and photographs were below expectations.

eBay's Billpoint system, a new service that allows customers who win auctions to pay sellers via credit card, lagged in anticipated revenue and growth.

Billpoint's lower-than-expected revenues may be a fallout of buyer concerns regarding seller reliability. Efforts to address buyer concerns about seller reliability have culminated in an eBay rating system. Buyers submit their ratings of sellers after doing business with them. eBay then converts these ratings into user-friendly images to help the next-time buyer.

Rajiv Dutta, eBay's chief financial officer, has announced eBay will also drop its nonstandard pro forma presentation used for its income statement

reporting. In these documents, charges related to acquisitions and stock options are eliminated. Such pro formas are frequently used by Internet companies, but have increasingly been criticized by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Early in 2002, Yahoo, an established Web portal, announced it was stopping the use of pro forma earnings.

The purpose of this exercise is to help you learn more about the key success factors of online auctions, their value chain, and their future on the Internet.

Sources for online auction revenue are not limited to the buyer/seller exchange. Online auctions also make money from advertising and other areas of commerce.

Source:

"eBay's Rapid Growth Beats Expectations," New York Times, April 19, 2002.

Use the online library to search for new and innovative ways in which online auctions are trying to solidify their business future.

Consider the issues below and write an analysis of the article in two double-spaced pages. Submit your analysis to the instructor.

Explore the alliances that eBay is now forming.

Why are these alliances deemed strategic? How might they protect eBay from future

revenue losses? What new revenue sources is eBay investigating? What types of buyers and what types of goods

are they expanding their market to include? Do experts think these strategies will be

successful for eBay? What do you think the future holds for online

auctions? Justify your answer. List two other strategies eBay should pursue to

secure their financial future. At a time when so many Internet companies have

failed, what is fueling eBay's optimism about the future?

As you evaluate its value chain, what may be some harbingers that the future is not quite as rosy as eBay anticipates?

List two steps eBay is taking to thwart a future downturn in revenues, sales, and/or negative public perceptions as it considers the key success factors?

Assignment 2: Industry and Competitive Analysis

In the previous modules, you identified a country of operation for your company, decided on the entry strategy, and organization structure. Next, you identified

ethical issues related to overseas operations. You developed your company’s mission statement and the cultural profile of the country where your overseas operation will be located. You identified the human resources challenges, issues concerning the local government, suppliers, distributors, and so on.

In this assignment, you will evaluate your company's value chain, decide on its overseas staffing policy, and analyze the industry and competitive forces. This evaluation will help you identify the key success factors in your overseas operations. Present your findings in a PowerPoint presentation of nine to ten slides.

Use e-mail or conduct a chat session with all the team members on the scope of your project. Your team of three members will follow the directives below. Allow your team leader to take the final decision.

Student Names

Task

Team Member A

1. Describe your company’s value chain.

2. Comment on the employee component of the value chain.

Team Member B

1. Discuss the staffing policy for top-level managers.

2. Analyze the industry and the competition using Porter’s five forces model.


1. Analyze the different kinds of leadership and motivational systems that can be implemented for your aviation company.

2. Discuss the key success factors for your company.

Conduct a chat session with all the team members. In this session, discuss all the issues faced in this assignment, and help your team leader combine individual findings. Submit the PowerPoint presentation to your instructor.


4 Crafting Strategy Operating Strategy

TextbookChapter 5: The Five Generic Competitive Strategies: Which One to Employ?

Chapter 6: Supplementing the Chosen Competitive Strategy: Other Important

Assignment 1: Choosing an Operating Strategy

Individually read the following:

Choosing an operating strategy

Services such as monitoring and reporting for server networks and applications located at customer sites are often the chosen operating strategies to lower the costs

Strategy Choices


Michael, K. A. (2005). A Short, practical guide to implementing strategy. The Journal of Business Strategy. Boston. 26(4), 12.

of running companies’ IT infrastructures, while maintainingownership of their equipment. Remote server management generally includes the use of a remote server and its associated software to manage users seeking access to the network remotely. The remote server is also known as a communication server, and usually includes, or is associated, with a firewall server to ensure security and a router that can forward the remote access request to another part of the corporate network.

Tier 1 Research Inc., a Minneapolis-based market research firm, speculates that only about three percent of U.S. companies outsource all or parts of their IT infrastructure. This low number indicates a "huge opportunity" for companies to offer remote server management services. IBM and Agiliti were among the first providers of managed services (MSP) and facilities-free data center services.

Companies like AHL Services Inc., a Virginia- based provider of marketing support services to Fortune 500 companies, uses MSPs to monitor transactions and data that cross a wide-area network hub to 25 "touch points" with AHL's customers. Mary Madryga, vice president of technology, noted that the relationship with the MSP has helped lower infrastructure costs while allowing them to retain ownership of its equipment. Another benefit, noted Madryga, is that the remote management services prevent her company from "having to invest in

infrastructure across our entire client base."

Agiliti's remote server management services begin at $50 per month per device. IBM's Services Anywhere manages Web servers located at customers' premises and, though prices vary, the monthly fee runs to about $25,000.

Sharing the News!

The market for managed service providers (MSPs) and the services they offer continues to grow. IBM is one of the industry leaders in remote server management. Their new product, named Services Anywhere, will remotely deliver a variety of managed monitoring, managed security, and storage services. Today, managed services are most often offered to customers that keep their Web servers hosted externally at the location of the service provider. However, the future tends to point toward a move to services like Services Anywhere where the companies want remote managed services, but want to keep their servers on their own premises. This new trend is anticipated to be most attractive for companies with an installed base of between 30 and 1,000 Web servers. Analysts note that IBM would rather stick to its more traditional hosting services, in which it manages customers’ Web servers in its own facilities, and that customer demand has forced IBM to launch this new service.

Source:

"More DRAM Vendors Envolved in Justice Department Probe," ComputerWorld, June 21, 2002.

Write an analysis on the article, in one to two pages in double-spaced format, answering the questions below:

1. What is a remote server, what does remote server management involve, and why do more and more companies choose this as part of their successful operating strategy?

2. What are MSPs and how do they benefit today's companies?

3. Compare and contrast how the process of crafting strategy is changing. Evaluate the benefits and challenges to today's businesses that choose an operating strategy, which includes MSPs.

Consider the following pointers to help you write your analysis on the article:

Research the MSP Association in Wakefield, Mass, which is over 100 members strong.

Conduct a strategic analysis of remote server management exploring the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Investigate what services are offered by MSPs for small, medium, and large organizations, creating a table to compare associated costs to services for each of these types of companies.

Research the top four leaders in the managed services market, comparing and contrasting each.

Use the Argosy University online library and find articles on MSPs in a business practitioner journal or magazine of the last six months. Append these as references to your analysis.

Assignment 2: Mid-Project Assessment

In this module, you will conduct a Mid-Project Assessment of the project that your team is creating, and compile the findings in the downloadable Mid-Project Assessment document.

Incorporate the concepts learned until now and then step back and assess what you learned in the previous modules. The document should reflect the scenario completed so far, including:

Your decision on expanding your company overseas. This should be based on the analysis of

your company using the BCG Matrix model.

Your organizational chart depicting your domestic and overseas operations developed to gain a broad-level understanding of these operations

Your studies of the industry environment and critical operational factors to support your decision. Your company’s ethical policy and principles for overseas operations. Include the cultural and workforce profile you created to state this.

Your consideration of the usual overseas concerns, such as the local government, suppliers, distributors, and so on.

Your identification of the key success factors for your company. Include your analysis of the value chain and staffing policy of senior members in your overseas operation.

Your analysis that supports your research on the industry and competitive forces using Porter's five forces model.

Now, you will focus on the company's operating strategy by examining, at a macro level, the strategies for individual business units. You will consider legal, financial, and marketing strategies. These will help you to focus on your objective of having a profitable overseas operation.

Conduct a chat session with your team members and discuss the scope of the assessment. Also, discuss your company’s strategy and operating strategy. Your team of three members will follow the directives below. Allow your team leader to take the final decision.

Student Names

Task

Team Member A

Compile your team’s findings on the following aspects of your project:

1. Decide on an appropriate country in which to operate. Give your rationale for this choice.

2. Draw an organization chart showing the company, its domestic operations, and its overseas operations.

3. State your planned entry strategy, and give your reasons for this strategy. Use the BCG Matrix model to support your reasons.

4. Give a situational analysis of your company describing the environment in which you will operate.

5. Identify the critical operational

factors that you must consider.

6. Examine the effects of the critical operational factors on your company and incorporate ethical decision making into your analysis.

Team Member B


1. State your company's mission in 50 – 100 words. Some questions you might address in this regard are: What are the company's values and philosophical priorities? What is the public perception of the company?

2. Develop a cultural profile of the local area in which you will be operating.

3. Describe your company’s value chain.

4. Comment on the employee component of the value chain.

5. Discuss the staffing policy for top-level managers.

6. Analyze the industry and the competition using Porter’s five

forces model. Team Member C(Team Leader)


1. Analyze the different kinds of leadership and motivational systems that can be implemented for your aviation company.

2. Discuss the key success factors of your company.

Further, based on your team meeting, prepare your report on:

1. Crafting your company's strategy

2. Crafting your company’s operating strategy

Finally, you will combine individual findings and complete the Mid-Project Assessment document.

Conduct a team chat session and discuss all the issues you faced in this assignment. Review the Mid-Project Assessment document that has been compiled by your team leader and submit to the instructor. Adhere to APA standards as established in the 5th edition.

5 Differentiation, Niche Market Diversification Strategic Fit

TextbookChapter 8: Tailoring Strategy to Fit Specific

Assignment 1: Doing Business Differently

Industry and Company Situations

Chapter 9: Diversification: Strategies for Managing a Group of Businesses


Michael K. A. (2005) A Short, Practical Guide to Implementing Strategy. The Journal of Business Strategy. Boston. 26(4), 12.


No matter what your strategic choice or how diversified you are, today we do business differently

Before the 9-11 tragedy, there was little question as to companies' preferred method of meeting: Face-to-face meetings were the norm. Today, however, companies' travel budgets are being slashed and global companiesare turning to conferencing technologies to help fill the communication gap.

The fundamental shift in business travel may not be predicated by this act of terrorism alone. Some executives say that business fares have been too high or that the cutback in business travel can be blamed on a response to the softening economy. Valerie Estep, president of Topaz International Ltd., a Portland, Oregon auditor of corporate travel spending, said, "As companies are looking for ways to improve their bottom line, travel is a huge red flag right in front of them."

Web conferencing is one technology used to replace travel. Today, Web conferencing technology affords a company the opportunity to bring in many more members to the meeting than traditional travel can. This type of communication is optimal when the meeting is in the form of a PowerPoint presentation or when interaction during broadcast time is limited and used primarily for questions and answers. Web technology is

often used for global meetings, which need longer periods of meeting time.

Video conferencing technology is best suited to times when interaction among the parties is a necessity. However, this technology is still in an embryonic state and leaves much to be desired, particularly when used for international meetings. It is best suited for meetings when few members are involved and when there is an informal meeting structure.

If a company follows a few rules of thumb, virtual meetings can be very productive. If the meeting is high in broadcast content, then teleconferencing or Web conferencing technologies are appropriate. These new conferencing technologies can be trying for the parties involved, so make conferences shorter and involve fewer people. Also, make a note that while conferencing technology can often be a substitute for face-to-face meetings, travel is still necessary from time to time.

Just recently online travel companies Travelocity and Priceline have warned that the new terrorist plots and attacks may have hurt the future of business travel. Rival Expedia, however, forecasts that business will pick up despite a drop in bookings and a rise in cancellations. Sabre Holdings, which owns a large percentage of Travelocity and provides technology that powers airline reservations systems, has also reported that business will continue to be hurt by the high and rising price of

petroleum and aviation fuel. As businesses move to technology conferencing, the future of travel and business meetings is uncertain.

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. recently banned first-class travel on British Airways, opting instead for business class, saving $9 million a year. Similarly, Hewlett-Packard Co. switched to coach-only travel. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc. has seen business slow at its high-end St. Regis hotel in New York.

Source:

"When Face-to-Face Doesn't Fly," CIO Magazine, March 15, 2002.

The purpose of this exercise is to help you learn more about how differentiated, niche, and focus companies are using information technology to offset traditional face-to-face meetings, putting to use these technologies in different ways, depending on how diversified they are and their generic strategic choice.

Write an analysis on the article, in one-to-two double-spaced pages, answering the questions below:

1. What are the reasons given for today's fundamental shift in business travel?

2. Which technology would you prefer to use in the

absence of a face-to-face meeting? State the pros and cons of your preferred technology.

3. What are the three rules of thumb for successful technology conferencing?

4. Compare and contrast the preferred method of communication in two other large companies.

5. Evaluate companies' new travel policies as part of their strategic choice and comprehensively compile findings.

6. Use the Argosy University online library to find current information to support your views.

Adhere to the APA 5th edition guidelines. Submit your analysis report to the instructor.

Assignment 2: Differentiation, Diversification, and Strategic Fit

Your company has set up an overseas operation. You have established ethical standards and defined the structure of your operation; analyzed the competitive scenario to define the key factors and the value chain; and crafted your company’s strategy and operating strategy.

Now, your next step is to analyze and decide on a diversification strategy for your company. The challenge here is to decide whether to diversify or focus on a niche market.

Conduct a chat session with your team members to

evaluate the scope of the assignment. Discuss how and why your company should diversify. Examine if the diversification complements the present operations. Also identify the advantages of diversification. Discuss your company’s strategic fit, core competencies, and diversification strategy.

The task should be equally divided between team members. Your team of three members will follow the directives below. Allow your team leader to take the final decision.

Student Names

Task

Team Member A

Evaluate how to strategic fit using Michael Porter's generic strategies of differentiation, niche, and focus.

Team Member B

Evaluate the various diversification options for your company.


Consider the reports presented by your team members and evaluate your company’s diversification strategy.

Conduct a chat session with all the team members to discuss all the issues faced in this assignment and compile individual slides in a PowerPoint presentation of seven to eight slides. Your presentation should include your findings on strategic fit, core competencies,

and diversification strategy. Submit the presentation to the instructor.


6 Functional Strategy Multicultural or Global

Strategies Strategic Management

TextbookChapter 7: Competing in Foreign Markets


Yih-Chearang S., Der-Juinn H., Szu-Wei Y. (Mar 2006) Carrefour's Global Reach: A Case Study of its Strategy. Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge. Hollywood. Vol. 9(1), 171

Assignment 1: Ready for Globalization


Ready for Globalization

At a business level, globalization can be seen when companies decide to take part in the emerging global economy and establish themselves in foreign markets. How is this accomplished? First, the organization adapts its products or services to the final user's linguistic and cultural requirements. Often the organization utilizes the resources of the Internet to establish a virtual presence in the international marketplace with a multilingual corporate Web site or even as an electronic business.

However, gearing up for globalization requires a great deal of planning for success. To connect global offices, companies usually implement planning tools. Often, each office is required to use one Web development tool as well as templates that offer consistency of development, design, and implementation. Architecture constraints such as high-speed connectivity must also be

explored.

However, one of the first considerations in going global is language. Companies must consider their international visitors' language. Studies show that customers are significantly more responsive when addressed in their own language. A cost-effective way of testing and getting feedback is to create a version of the Web site for that market, in the user's language, and move traffic to the site through remote locations.

The various challenges of going global include affordable, centralized content management with quick turnaround times, and streamlined workflow processes. Does it sound impossible? The good news is that it is being accomplished—and accomplished well—every day.

When gearing up for globalization, businesses must remember that the Internet is inherently global. When the company has a Web site, it is accessible to a worldwide audience. Bandwidth is an increasing concern for customers and businesses throughout the world. However, at this time, high-speed connectivity is not as common internationally as it is in the U.S. Today, it is not necessary that the greatest bandwidth be considered for the entire corporate audience. In fact, a version of the Web site that minimizes bandwidth-intensive components may be prudent. However, the future issues of bandwidth capacity will continue to be a looming

issue. In the year 2002, over 80 percent of European Internet traffic traveled via the U.S. By the beginning of 2006, however, 75 percent of Internet traffic remained in Europe.

Source:

"Gearing Up for Globalization," CIO Magazine, March 18, 2002.

Write an analysis on the article, in one to two pages in double-spaced format, answering the questions below:

1. What is globalization?

2. What challenges can businesses face when gearing up for globalization?

3. Comment on how globalization is changing.4. Evaluate the benefits and challenges of

globalization to today's businesses.5. To follow-up the questions above, use the

Argosy University online library and find a recent article on a company that has decided to take part in the emerging global economy. Examine the company’s decision to go global.

Assignment 2: Creating a Global Business

In the last module, you have analyzed and decided your company’s diversification strategy. In this module, you

will decide your globalization strategies with special focus on how the high-level business strategies tie in with the functional strategies.

Conduct a chat session with your team members to evaluate the scope of the assignment. The task should be equally divided between team members. Your team of three members will follow the directives below. Allow your team leader to take the final decision.

Student Names

Task

Team Member A

Present the functional strategy of your company with reference to the following strategies:

Marketing

New product development Human resource Financial

LegalTeam Member B

Evaluate your company’s overall globalization strategy.


Consider the reports presented by your team members and evaluate any special control issues about the overseas operation.

Conduct a chat session with all your team members and collate your findings on:

What will be your company’s diversification strategy?

How will you plan high-level business strategies to tie in with your functional strategies? Compile individual slides in a PowerPoint presentation of seven to eight slides and submit your plan to the instructor.


7 Strategic Evaluation Mission, Goals and Value

Evaluation Value Over Time

TextbookChapter 11: Building an Organization Capable of Good Strategy Execution

Chapter 12: Managing Internal Operations: Actions That Promote Good Strategy Execution

Chapter 13: Corporate Culture and Leadership: Keys to Good Strategy Execution

Assignment 1: Strategic Evaluation


In the last six modules, you have spent time exploring different topics within the purview of business management, comparing then to now, and applying them to the future.

This week you will synthesize your learning and evaluate how business was run earlier, how it is run now, and make projections about how your business will run in the future.

Prepare an analysis report in three to four double-spaced


Ruzita, J., Daing, N. I., & Yuserrie, Z. (2006, Sep). Assessing the alignment between business strategy and use of multiple performance measures using interaction approach. The Business Review. Cambridge. Hollywood. 5(1), 51.

pages by considering the issues below:

1. Evaluate your learning from the last six modules. What generalizations can you make about business organizational structure, managerial styles, and organization culture?

2. Extrapolate from your weekly learning, and discuss some of the challenges facing the business of tomorrow.

3. What have you learned in your Capstone course, where you have synthesized and applied learning from across your core courses, which will help you become a strong and effective manager of tomorrow?

Submit your analysis report to the instructor.

Assignment 2: Strategic Progress

In the previous modules, you have worked on your company’s overseas operations. You have planned an entry strategy and worked to ensure that you followed business ethics. You performed industry and competitive analysis to justify your action to operate overseas. As you progressed, you identified success factors and your company’s value chain. Subsequently, you focused on your company’s operating strategy, as applied to its business divisions like finance, marketing, and legal. You evaluated your decisions to diversify or focus on

niche marketing in your effort to gear up for globalization.

Conduct a chat session with all your team members and see how you can reevaluate your company’s strategy. Examine your budget allocation, cost and risk factors, and manpower specifications. Also check your mission, goals, and strategies as they evolve.

Finally, measure the value that your organization has gained over time. You will use these inputs and your learning experience of the last six modules to develop your Capstone project report. Your team of three members will follow the directives below. Allow your team leader to take the final decision.

Student Names

Task

Team Member A


1. Your decision on an appropriate country in which you will operate

2. Your organization chart showing the company, its domestic operations, and its overseas operations

3. Your entry strategy in the overseas

market 4. Your situational analysis,

describing the environment in which you will operate overseas

5. Your understanding of critical operational factors of your company

6. Your understanding of ethical decision making in your company

7. Your company's mission statement and some questions you addressed in this regard: What are the company's values and philosophical priorities? What is the public perception of the company?

Team Member B


1. Your understanding of the cultural profile of the country in which you will operate

2. Your company’s value chain 3. Your evaluation on the employee

component of the value chain 4. Your staffing policy for top-level

managers 5. Your analysis of the industry and

the competition using Porter’s five forces model

6. Your analysis of the different kinds of leadership and motivational systems that can be implemented in the aviation company

7. Your company’s key success factors



1. Your company's strategy and operating strategy

2. Your decision to diversify or focus on a niche market

3. Your company’s functional strategy

4. Your overall globalization strategy 5. Your strategy of budget allocation,

cost and risk factors, alternate specifications, and manpower specifications

6. Your reevaluation of your company’s mission and goals

7. Your understanding of the value that your company has gained over

time

Conduct a chat session with your team members to discus all the issues you faced in preparing the Capstone project. Your team will compile this information as a 20– 25-page project plan to address the work issues that you have been working on for these seven weeks. Your project plan revolves around an imaginary company that your team has created in the aviation industry. You and your team members have role-played as the top management (CEO, CFO, CIO, and COO) of the company. Your plan will show how your company, which has been operating in the U.S. for a few years, decides to go international.

Use the Organizing Project document to create the project plan. Remember that you will create a PowerPoint presentation next week on this project. Please check in your project to http://www.turnitin.com/ before you submit it. Adhere to APA standards as established in the 5th edition.

8 Capstone Project TBD by Instructor Assignment 1: Project Presentation

In the last module, you developed your Capstone project and used the Organizing project document to track your

http://www.turnitin.com/

progress. This week, you will prepare a PowerPoint presentation of your Capstone project.

Meet with your team members and discuss the various sections of the PowerPoint presentation. You will have to ensure that the PowerPoint presentation effectively sums up your Capstone project. The PowerPoint presentation will be of eight to ten slides.

Your presentation should include:

Introduction to scenario

Diagnosis and research Identification of the problem Defining the solutions Execution of the solutions Evaluation and conclusion

The task of creating the presentation should be equally divided between team members. Your team of three members will follow the directives below. Allow your team leader to take the final decision.

Student Names

Task

Team Member A

Complete the following sections of the PowerPoint presentation:

1. Introduction to scenario

2. Diagnosis and researchTeam Member B


1. Identification of the problem

2. Defining the solutionsTeam Member C(Team Leader)


1. Execution of the solutions

2. Evaluation and conclusion

Conduct a chat session with your team members to compile your PowerPoint presentation and submit to the instructor.

Grading Criteria

Grading Scale Grading requirements

A 100 – 93A- 92 – 90B+ 89 – 88B 87 – 83B- 82 – 80C+ 79 – 78C 77 – 73C- 72 – 70F 79 and below

Attendance/participation 25%Weekly Assignments 25%Final project 30%Optional 10%Optional 10%

100%

Library:

All resources in Argosy University’s online collection are available through the Internet. The campus librarian will provide students with links, user IDs, and passwords.

Library Resources: Argosy University’s core online collection features nearly 21,000 full-text journals and 23,000 electronic books and other content covering all academic subject areas including Business & Economics, Career & General Education, Computers, Engineering & Applied Science, Humanities, Science, Medicine & Allied Health, and Social & Behavior Sciences. Many titles are directly accessible through the Online Public Access Catalog at http://library.argosy.edu. Detailed descriptions of online resources are located at http://library.argosy.edu/misc/onlinedblist.html.

In addition to online resources, Argosy University’s onsite collections contain a wealth of subject-specific research materials searchable in the Online Public Access Catalog. Catalog searching is easily limited to individual campus collections. Alternatively, students can search combined collections of all Argosy University Libraries. Students are encouraged to seek research and reference assistance from campus librarians.

Information Literacy: Argosy University’s Information Literacy Tutorial was developed to teach students fundamental and transferable research skills. The tutorial consists of five modules where students learn to select sources appropriate for academic-level research, search periodical indexes and search engines, and evaluate and cite information. In the tutorial, students study concepts and practice them through interactions. At the conclusion of each module, they can test their comprehension and receive immediate feedback. Each module takes less than 20 minutes to complete. Please view the tutorial at http://library.argosy.edu/infolit/

Academic Policies

Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism: In an effort to foster a spirit of honesty and integrity during the learning process, Argosy University requires that the submission of all course assignments represent the original work produced by that student. All sources must be documented through normal scholarly references/citations and all work must be submitted using the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition (2001). Washington DC: American Psychological Association (APA) format. Please refer to Appendix A in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition for thesis and paper format. Students are encouraged to purchase this manual (required in some courses) and become familiar with its content as well as consult the Argosy University catalog for further information regarding academic dishonesty and plagiarism.

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http://library.argosy.edu/misc/onlinedblist.html

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Scholarly writing: The faculty at Argosy University is dedicated to providing a learning environment that supports scholarly and ethical writing, free from academic dishonesty and plagiarism. This includes the proper and appropriate referencing of all sources. You may be asked to submit your course assignments through “Turnitin,” (www.turnitin.com), an online resource established to help educators develop writing/research skills and detect potential cases of academic dishonesty. Turnitin compares submitted papers to billions of pages of content and provides a comparison report to your instructor. This comparison detects papers that share common information and duplicative language.

Americans with Disabilities Act Policy

It is the policy of Argosy University to make reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities, in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If a student with disabilities needs accommodations, the student must notify the Director of Student Services. Procedures for documenting student disability and the development of reasonable accommodations will be provided to the student upon request.

Students will be notified by the Director of Student Services when each request for accommodation is approved or denied in writing via a designated form. To receive accommodation in class, it is the student’s responsibility to present the form (at his or her discretion) to the instructor. In an effort to protect student privacy, the Department of Student Services will not discuss the accommodation needs of any student with instructors. Faculty may not make accommodations for individuals who have not been approved in this manner.

The Argosy University Statement Regarding Diversity

Argosy University prepares students to serve populations with diverse social, ethnic, economic, and educational experiences. Both the academic and training curricula are designed to provide an environment in which students can develop the skills and attitudes essential to working with people from a wide range of backgrounds.

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Solutions to Organizational Challenges

Documents

Transcript of Solutions to Organizational Challenges