Environmental Scan Essays (Examples)

Environmental Scan: The Gap and Urban Outfitters
An environmental scan refers to the process of carefully monitoring both the internal and external environments of a particular company to determine if there are an nascent signs of threats or opportunities which might impact its present or future plans or intentions.

For example, if one were to examine the retailer Gap, Inc., this is a company which has undergone a great deal of stress and challenges in the last fifteen years. The 1990s was the company's heyday, when it was at the height of its popularity. This was when the company was able to garner strong success in all their stores, capitalizing on the 90s culture of simple designs and grunge appeal. The next 15 years showed a tremendous amount of challenge to the company, largely through external and internal threats. Consider the external threats: massively successful companies like H&M and Forever 21 were…

Environmental Scan of Two Companies:
The first step towards an organization's strategic management is environmental canning, which involves collecting information for the internal and external of the company. Generally, environmental scan is described as the watchful evaluation and monitoring of the internal and external environments of the company to identify early indications of opportunities and threats that may affect the firm's current and future plans. Through this process, the organization can understand factors needed to achieve its short-term and long-term objectives. In light of its essence on organizational strategic management, this article focuses on examining environmental scanning in two successful American Companies i.e. McDonalds Corporation and Apple Inc. This analysis focuses on internal and external environments of these companies to understand their competitive advantages and strategies.

Internal and External Environments:

The entire process of environmental scanning is geared towards providing managers with knowledge for enhancing the long-term efficiency and creates strategic plans for…

Environmental Scan
External Environmental Factors

Stryker is a medical equipment manufacturer and marketer. The regulatory environment is the most critical external factor for the company. The medical device industry is governed by the FDA, which must approve all medical devices prior to their use by the public. Almost all of Stryker's products is under FDA jurisdiction, and therefore the company is highly dependent on the FDA for getting its products to market. If a product is not granted approval, it cannot be sold until it has been modified to get approval. There are high costs to the company associated with the regulatory burden, and the company needs to develop competency in navigating these regulatory waters.

The legal environment is another point of interest, at the very least, for Stryker. The new health care laws of the Affordable Care Act are likely to affect the industry in a range of ways. The most important…

Environment Scan
Environmental Scan:

Just Homestay LLC

The emergence of technology in the past decades has led the world to many innovations. Things that were once impossible to conceive, such as minute-to-minute trans-Atlantic communication, are now commonplace. ith the opening of communication, furthermore, has come the opening of borders and thus of constant interaction of communities that had previously interacted only in limited amounts. The history of studying abroad and of host families has been long in existence. But with this aforementioned 'opening' it has become even easier to travel, whether for education purposes of otherwise, and especially to find easy accommodation, whether with friends, families, at such sites as www.justhomestay.com or www.homestayfinder.com, or trustworthy strangers, at www.airbnb.com, for instance. The pages below will study one of these websites, namely www.justhomestay.com, and with it the 'host family' industry, and will aim to examine both external and internal factors that have contributed to this…

The long-term objectives of the pre-paid phone card company need to first focus on gaining new customers quickly, ensuring they stay loyal over the long-term. This has much more to do with branding and service than price.

In addition to this strategic objective, there is also the need to continually add new services and innovation to attract new customers, while requiring suppliers to also innovate over time (Porter, 1980). The additional objectives include the defining of supply chain efficiencies and the continual development of relationships with the key suppliers the company is based on.

Question # 4: Please discuss the tools needed for the performance of an environmental analysis in an organization (Pre Paid Phone Card Company).

The tools required to complete an environmental analysis include market research tools, strategies and techniques used for capturing both qualitative and quantitative data (Beal, 2000). There is also the need for quickly finding patterns from unstructured…

Environmental Scanning: emote and Industry
Environmental Scanning: emote & Industry

Environmental Scanning

emote and Industry

The objective of this work is to answer the questions from simulation of (1) What are the lessons learned relative to the importance and effectiveness of environmental scanning? (2) What concepts and analytic tools will you be able to use in the development of strategic planning for your own organization? (3) What do the results reveal about the challenges facing strategic planners? This work will also provide (1) a clear description of the business environment problem identified in the organization; (2) relevant facts and circumstances that created the identified problem (3) a brief discussion on how the current problem can be turned into an opportunity; (4) presentation of the risks associated with the implementation of the new business opportunity and suggestions of how to mitigate such risks; and will further identify the type of information the organization will need…

Introduction
Environmental scanning can be defined as an approach of obtaining information regarding external events that can be beneficial to organizations in the identification of prospective trends and construing them. In other words, it encompasses the analysis of factors that are external and beyond the control of the organization. More often than not, these trends usually comprise of five dissimilar sources, including the economic, social, technological, legal and competitive forces (Jain and Haley, 2011). This paper lays emphasis on the economic environmental aspect, specifically laying emphasis on the manner in which the current state of the economy will impact the completion of an environmental scan.

One of the key objectives of an environmental scan is to gain knowledge and insight that would be beneficial to top-level management in its endeavor of mapping out and outlining the future course of action of the organization. The prevailing state of the economy can have an…

Very often workers must choose jobs based upon benefits, not where they wish to work. orkers may decide not to open up small businesses or work for smaller businesses who cannot offer them comprehensive care. and, of course the children of uninsured workers suffer, innocent victims of the system.
Even companies like Safeway that have made heroic efforts to foster healthy living and disease prevention initiatives to cut costs have stated that universal health care is necessary to contain costs and keep their workers healthy enough to work, with as few sick days as possible. (Cohen 2007:4). Unions, companies, and the government must work together to create a healthy, safer and more affordable medical tomorrow.

orks Cited

Cohen, Jonathan. "hat's the One Thing Big Business and the Left Have in Common?" The New York Times Magazine. 1 Apr 2007. [10 Apr 2007]. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/magazine/01Healthcare.t.html?pagewanted=6&ei=5070&en=6ff729a7fa6330ac&ex=1176350400

In addition, we might ask ourselves if the richer nations have or not a greater responsibility as far as the research and development in the area of sustainable energy are concerned. (Reid, environmentalleader.com)
elieving that there are such energy sources or consumption policies which would allow the planet's resources to be maintained for a longer period, while making sure that all the nations are provided with a comfortable living is rather naive. Under these circumstances, it has been argued that doing the moral thing means choosing the least terrible solution. The problem is that this implies a relativistic evaluation of the matter which impacts the manner in which the moral principles are conceived.

efore stepping into a debate regarding the character of the moral principles, we may state that we agree with the opinions which state that there is no such thing as objective moral principles."Ethics can be seen as a…

Surveillance System for an Environmental Health Concern Introduction
Environmental health is an important concern for health care providers because it comprises the areas of human health that are impacted by external factors, such as chemical agents, biological agents, physical environment and so on. Issues that fall under environmental health are air pollution, water pollution, pesticides, chemical spills, and other areas (Laroque, 2009). Because of the risk of these areas negatively impacting human health, there is a need to monitor environmental health areas. One major area of environmental health that desperately needs surveillance is the quality of the air in urban areas near major airports. As Schlenker and Walker (2015) point out, airports are responsible for some of the highest concentrations of air pollution in the nation. An as West et al. (2016) show, air pollution is the cause of millions of premature deaths all over the earth. Thus, there is tremendous reason…

It gives useful information to Apple about what improvements and innovative features its potential consumers want to see in its products.
As far as the effectiveness of these measurement guidelines are concerned, Marketing esearch is the most effective way of knowing the consumers' response, whereas Development brings the most stylish and highly advanced products in the market. The investment which Apple makes on &D never goes waste; instead, gives it returns that are many times higher than those investments.

Environmental Scan for Marks & Spencer's

Marks and Spencer's, incorporated in 1884 is among the top market leaders in garments and food industry in the United Kingdom (marksandspencer.com, 2011). Facing a stiff competition in both the businesses, Marks and Spencer's ensures the highest quality of its products all the way through highly efficient business operations and Total Quality Management (TQM) so as to maintain its top position.

Thus, the most important competitive advantage of…

This savings on fuel has also given Southwest more funds to invest in programs to reduce turn-around time of their jets between flights .
Southwest Airline's Internal Weaknesses

As with any company the size of Southwest, they have several weaknesses, with the most significant being their heavy dependence only on passenger traffic as their primary source of revenue. Despite efforts to move into logistics and supply chain services, the company is still struggling to gain significant success in more profitable business services markets (Kumar, Johnson, Lai, 2009).

Despite having an employee base that has the lowest turnover and highest levels of morale, Southwest also has one of the most rapidly declining sales-per-employee revenue levels for U.S.-based airlines (Kumar, Johnson, Lai, 2009). One of the factors that contribute to this is the fact that Southwest has more ground crew members than other airlines, an investment the company makes to attain the rapid MTT…

Pacific Oil-Strategic Plan
Pacific Oil Startegic Plan

COMPANY BACKGOUND

Vision

Values

ENVIONMENTAL SCAN

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN-OGANIZATIONAL STATEGY

ISK Management PLAN

Monthly Monitoring

Accountability

esponding of isk management Process

Evolution of isk Management

Policies and Procedures

152011 Identified isks

isk Disclosure

Pacific Oil-Strategic Plan

This paper presents a strategic plan or Pacific Oil. The paper starts with organizational background consisting of business mission, vision and the corporate values. The nature of the business of Pacific Oil has been clearly identified with some highlights on the business divisions operating in the oil industry. An environmental scan has been performed in order to have a clear insight into the circumstances in which the Pacific Oil is operating. This environmental scan for Pacific Oil is accompanied by a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities & Threats) Analysis. Strengths and weaknesses of Pacific Oil relate to internal organizational environment while opportunities and threats relate to external environment of pacific Oil. After environmental scan, the corporate strategies of Pacific Oil have been identified in order…

Particularly McDonalds and Starbucks fight daily on sales as well as share prices (Brush, 2011). The Starbucks growth has been slow during last some periods yet it offers a tough competition to the McDonalds by offering extensive sale points. The two companies are in competition war yet the customer base of the two is totally different. The Starbucks customers are more affluent and the McDonalds customers are more price sensitive (Shaughnessy, 2013).
The company can work on the customer pool that lies between total affluent and totally price sensitive. The company, like it has done before in 2012, can float the videos of its hygienic processes on YouTube. It can show that McDonalds operates cleaner that the clean companies and that eating at McDonalds mean eating healthy and quality. Thus there should be deals and sitting areas designed for middle and rich class too so that a big customer base…

The focus of this analysis will conform to the guidance provided by hodes and Keogan who note that, "External environmental analysis involves examination of opportunities and threats, competitive stance, political, economic, social and technological influences, and relations with stakeholders among others" (2005, p. 123). Some of the methods that can be used to accomplish the external environmental analysis of Southwest Airlines include a PEST, Porter's Five Forces, scenario planning and stakeholder mapping (hodes & Keogan, 2005).
Sources expected to perform an internal environmental analysis

In contrast to the external environmental analysis, the internal environmental analysis of Southwest Airlines will focus on the organization's status, strengths, and critical issues (Bower, 2003). To achieve this analysis, sources such as the company's quarterly and annual filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission will be reviewed, as well as Southwest's print and online versions of its organizational vision, mission, and values statements, with a particular…

fictitious business that you created for this assignment.
Light Up the Sky, Inc. is a company that manufactures luminescent kites. This company has been in business for the past 10 years and during this time has established itself as a high quality manufacturer of these kites. Even though this company appeals to a small fraction of the entire kite industry, they had been able to maintain a 20% profit margin. Due to the lagging economy, their profit margin dropped below the breakeven point and they are now considering shutting down production.

Assess the current environmental scan factors. Determine the factors that will have the greatest impact on plant operations and management's decision to continue or discontinue operations.

When considering whether or not to continue operations, there are several factors to consider. First is to perform a market analysis to determine whether or not continuing operations is really feasible. For example, luminescent kites…

Kudler's advertising and marketing in its present form is through the Easter and Thanksgiving holidays with the local newspaper flyers every month. Marketing is a key component of a successful business and KFF should consider different methods of involving the community. For example, television advertising, Internet, radio stations and more promotions are viable. Secondly, employees must be sufficient time for KFF to obtain benefits. Many organizations have begun to provide additional part-time employees package was found, but 30 hours per week. (Shim & Siegel 2010)
In addition, Kudler is to buy stock, catering, and any major issues such as responsible business, so if she fell ill, no one can proceed on the basis of business operations. Most organizations have managers that work with the president so that if necessary, they are available. Kudler is important to hire more administrative staff to assist some of the duties. Finally, the payment offered…

Currently, 100 workers, working 20 days are producing 6000 units. That means that each worker is producing 6,000 / (100*20) = 3 units per day.
Given only those financial figures that have been provided, it is impossible to do a complete financial calculation. A huge part of the decision making for this scenario depends upon the marginal cost of additional production. Marginal cost refers to the cost of producing one more unit of a product (Sullivan & Sheffrin, 2003). In economies of scale, the greater the production, the lower the marginal cost, so that increasing production increases profit. However, there is not enough information to determine if this is true for Tinker's Toys, and, if so, to what number it would be true.

Improving Profitability

Without knowing the fixed costs and worker capability, it is impossible to determine some critical financial numbers. Can workers reasonably increase production or is a 3 unit…

NxStage
Company Background

Environmental Scan

Five Forces & Value Chain

Strategic Alternatives

Strategic Plan

Acquisitions

esource Allocation

NxStage is a medical equipment manufacturer specializing in hemodialysis products for use in the home. Their main flagship, NxStage SystemOne, constitute two-thirds of the company's revenues. The product has been on the market for several years, but NxStage has never been able to turn a profit, nor has it been able to develop a viable second major product. This has created a strategic dilemma for the company as to how best to enhance shareholder value going forward.

The external environment is generally challenging, especially in light of regulatory changes that aim to drive down the cost of medical care, not necessarily good for a company like NxStage that has a differentiated product. There is some demand for the product, but also substitution from dialysis clinics, which can be offered at a lower total cost, making them attractive for payers. In light of…

InVision
Over the past ten years many technology companies have succumb to the economic conditions that have dictated their demise. InVision technologies is a company that has risen to the occasion and silenced many of the pessimists and naysayers. The purpose of this discussion is to identify InVision's strategic strengths and weaknesses based on environmental "scan" analysis. The discussion will also focus on the core competencies of the organization and develop a Porter's "Five Forces" analysis for the organization. Finally we will discuss the strategic thinking of company CEO Sergio Magistri. Let's begin with a brief description of the company's function and the products that it offers.

Brief description

According to MultexInvestor Invision Technologies produces and sells explosives detection systems which are used in airports throughout the world to monitor checked baggage. The company, founded in 1992, has created products that are based on advanced computed tomography. (Company Profile) The detection systems that…

AXA SA, the French insurance giant, is considering selling its stake in Taikang Life Insurance, the fourth-largest life insurance company in China. Selling a major asset is a major strategic decision. A number of factors must be taken into account with such a sale, including the overall strategic direction of the parent company and the operating environment of both the parent and the subsidiary. In this case, it appears that two factors have come into play. The first is that the French firm is seeking to improve its balance sheet; the second is that there is regulatory pressure to divest the Chinese subsidiary. As the latter is more of a forced situation that has relatively less bearing on strategic management, this paper will analyze the decision to sell this major asset in the context of internal and external analysis.

AXA management has recognized that their balance sheet is in a weak…

Product: a complex of variable exclusive personal assistance services thus able to satisfy different and sophisticated customer needs; good quality of the product supported with several professional degrees, necessity to work out schedule of increasing personal professionalism by attending specific courses, trainings, seminar; establishment of easily recognizable brand name, at first your personal name, afterwards ability to create a little company and designing good marketing campaign;

Promotion: Advertising through the best ways to reach target group: visiting local Chamber of Commerce meeting, obtaining permission to place leaflets and brochures in target sports clubs, in corporate receptions, website, sending e-mail brochures to corporate workers, yellow pages posting, newspaper and magazine advertising; direct brochure delivery to posts in prestigious districts; necessity to obtain reference letters from all the clients to be able to use them in the future; being a public person by visiting many local event of potential interest.

Price strategy: working out…

Starbucks
Imagine studying about Starbucks. They are known for their coffee that they import from other parts of the world. Since they are a multinational enterprise, they have stores all over the world, which brings in for them a number of customers who come and enjoy their products on a regular basis. This organization started back in the 1970s and has grown immensely since then. The business has high ethical standards and codes of conduct for the employees to adhere to when working for them. By examining Starbucks further, one is able to grasp how they function internally and externally.

Starbucks mission is to "inspire and nurture the human spirit-one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time" (Starbucks, 2011a). Their vision is to have the best coffee available for consumers by having it done through the highest quality possible, while maintaining ethics within the company (Starbucks, 2011a). However, one needs…

Ultimately, the it industry is already a constant presence within the lives of the modern day individual and it is expected to become even more preponderant in the years to come. The advertising organization as such does not afford not to penetrate the industry. If the company continually declines opportunities to advertise in the Information Technology and Communications industry, it would soon come to operate in a niche sector in which its chances for not only development, but very survival, would be significantly restricted.
eferences:

Bangia, ., 2008, Computer fundamentals and information technology, Firewall Media

Broerrsma, M., 2003, Critics delay vote on EU intellectual property rights, ZD Net, http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/regulation/2003/11/19/critics-delay-vote-on-eu-intellectual-property-law-39117998 / last accessed on March 11, 2011

Niles, N.J., 2010, Basics of the U.S. health care system, Jones & Bartlett Learning

2005, Market share, Info Tech Trends, http://www.infotechtrends.com/marketshare.htm last accessed on March 11, 2011

2010, 2010 it industry economic outlook looking up, CIO Update, http://www.cioupdate.com/research/article.php/3860826/2010-it-Industry-Economic-Outlook-Looking-Up.htm last…

human service administrators should use to develop and implement strategic plans.
hree of these core principles are the following:

the fundamentals - the core values, mission, and vision, which represent the organizational identification (ID).

the strategic issues - including a SWO analysis tool, which highlights strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strategic issues also include a gap analysis, an environmental scan, and stakeholder surveys.

the technicals - these include items such as strategic goals, strategies, leading indicators of success, performance targets, and action plans for each year of the strategic plan. he technicals element is the executable part of the strategic plan.

Each of these three key principles are interrelated and looped together and each needs the other to work.

We see an example of this in the Strategic Plan of Illinois: 2011-2017 (2010) where the Department of Human Services (DHS), Division of Developmental Disabilities (the Division) presents its fiscal plan for Illinois for the years…

Seneca Foods was founded in 1949 and is a producer of canned, frozen and bottled foods for the supermarket trade, often under store labels. In 2013, Seneca posted $1.27 billion in sales and net income of $41.4 million. The company is in the mature stage of growth for both itself and the industry, growing mainly with increases in population and inflation. The company's operations are subject to variability from weather, which affects the crops at the heart of the supply chain, and the seasonality of the industry.
Internally, Seneca has a strong supply chain, wherein it contracts with farmers to ensure supply of critical fruits and vegetables for its products. That said, Seneca remains quite small compared with many of its competitors, as Seneca mainly sells in the U.S. And has few major brands. Larger competitors sell globally and have individual brands as large as Seneca's entire operation. One of the…

Strategic evaluation for Home Depot, Inc.
strategic evaluation

Validating the organizational vision, mission and values statements for Home Depot will require several different approaches. McMillan and Hausler (2011) explain that not all mission goals can be explained quantitatively, and several of HD's values will require qualitative evaluation, such as "Doing the "right" thing" or "espect for all people" (The Home Depot, 2011). I will evaluate these qualitative goals by analyzing the mission statements for the different divisions within the firm, to identify performance measures that can then be ranked within the units over time and between the firm and other major competitors. "espect for all people" could be measured, for example, by comparing the number of discrimination complaints in hiring or from consumers over time, and comparing that (negative) growth rate against the industry. "Building strong relationships" will likewise be demonstrated through percentage of return visits using consumer credit flows applied for…

MNC - International Phones Inc.
According to Pacek and Thorniley (2007), Emerging markets, a term first used by Antonie W. back in the 1980s is today loosely used as an umbrella term to lump together all those countries whose growth (economic) is expected to be relatively high going forward. However, other analysts take emerging markets to be those economies whose incomes are extremely low. According to the two authors, what remains the single most important force shaping the desire of companies to invest in emerging markets is the high level of demand originating from these unique markets. This also happens to be the guiding force when it comes to International Phone Inc.'s decision to expand into Brazil.

Based on the matrix analysis of the various elements which underscore Brazil's attractiveness as an investment destination, it remains clear that International Phone Inc. could be better off (in terms of profitability, stability and continued…

If a startup is being planned, the strengths and weaknesses are related mainly to the promoter(s) - their experience, expertise and management abilities - rather than to the project. The objective is to build up a picture of the outstanding good and bad points, achievements and failures and other critical features within the company.

Threats & Opportunities

The external threats and opportunities confronting a company, can exist or develop in the following areas:

The company's own industry where structural changes may be occurring

(Size and segmentation; growth patterns and maturity; established patterns and relationships, emergence/contraction of niches; international dimensions; relative attractiveness of segments)

The marketplace which may be altering due to economic or social factors (Customers; distribution channels; economic factors, social/demographic issues; political & environmental factors)

Competition which may be creating new threats or opportunities

(Identities, performances, market shares, likely plans, aggressiveness, strengths & weaknesses)

New technologies which may be causing fundamental changes in products, processes, etc. (Substitute…

According to the same source, the Australian market proves to be very fertile for the U.S. companies which already account for the greatest import share (over 50% in 2004). Such data are outlined by the following table:
Country

Total market (million of dollars)

Total imports (million of dollars)

Imports from U.S. (million of dollars)

U.S share

2002 2004%Change 2002-2004%Change 2002-2004%Change Australia 950-1400 47% 380-560 47% 185-285 54% 51% Source: http://www.buyusainfo.net/docs/x_4239321.pdf.

The U.S. home security market is another outlet offering promising perspectives. According to Frost & Sullivan's report (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reportinfo.asp?report_id=365296),one of the levers responsible for increased demand is the emergence of new homes as a result of the low interest rate. The U.S. Census ureau studies showed that, in 2002, 1.7 million new houses were built in comparison with 2001 when 1.6 million new constructions were made. Moreover, the number was expected to grow in the near future.

Other reasons for a security market boost are terrorist attacks and…

Business Plan for Freelancer Website
Business Plan for Freelance Website

Freelancer website is a platform where freelance writers, researchers, designers, and other freelancers meet the clients and complete their projects against pre-decided compensation. The business plan constitutes an analysis of the business operations, business environment, financial appraisal, and marketing strategies of a company. The business plan presented in this paper discusses all these elements in the light of research papers, books, and internet sources related to the freelance writing and services industry.

The freelancer website primarily aims to serve the Middle East customers by taking the services of freelancers from the local and international regions. In the future, the company will expand its operations to the Global scale and target the customers from all over the world. In its initial phase of business operations, the freelancer website will have to design its marketing and promotional strategies which are just focused on establishing its…

On one hand, this may alter the consumers' trust in the company's products which are perceived as intangible compared with those goods that can be purchased from the shelves of specialized stores. On the other hand, resorting to intermediaries implies paying a certain commission which results in higher prices for the respective products. Moreover, the success of selling through indirect channels depends, to a great extent, on the distributors' efforts and knowledge. Although they receive tuition from the producer's technical staff, there may be several interests leading to a prominent discordance between the distributors' behavior and the company's expectations towards it.
Threats primary problem that ADEL could encounter is the Australians' lack of information on biometrics secondly, Australians have a favorable attitude towards traditional security methods based on patrolmen or alarm systems the Australians' misconception about prices (most of them think that the price of an effective security system exceeds…

INGLOT'S STATEGIC PLAN
Strategic Plan

Firm-level factors contributing to INGLOT's competitive advantage

Country-level (macro) factors that have contributed to INGLOT's competitive advantage

Sustainability of INGLOT

INGLOT's strategic plan for the next five years

Strategic direction and goals

Organization of INGLOT's strategic plan

Environmental scan

Sources of agility

Sources of absorption

Sources of agile absorption

Strategic action plan by year

INGLOT's strategic plan

Firm-level factors contributing to INGLOT's competitive advantage

INGLOT is committed to research and development in order to meet customer needs. One is the company's Freedom System concept that enables the company to provide exemplary products for its customers and allow potential customers to experiment with different colors and shades of their makeup products. This is one major source of competitive advantage since it allows INGLOT to be competitive in their product development and the success of their innovation is seen in product acceptance for example the breathable nail enamel that was largely enjoyed by Muslim women (Necas and Huy, 2014).

The company's production concept…

Each calendar at this point would cost $5.45
Developing costs for pictures taken with digital cameras will be approximately $75. This cost adds approximately $.04 per calendar Costs for placement of 1500 books in the library will be $8,175 + $3,270 (40% mark up) to total $14, 171 for calendars sold through the library calendars. Each calendar now $9.45 + $.04 for developing photos = $9.49. The remaining 500 calendars sold through other outlets such as the booth in a high traffic area of the Student Union Building; rented for $3/da y. The team determined to allocate rent for 20 days to total $60; which adds an additional $.03 per calendar of the 500, plus the $.04 for developing photos, which brings the cost for each of these 500 calendars to $5.52. The receipts for MUCs sold through the library for $20 each, as well as receipts for calendars sold…

Strategic Planning Challenges and Improvement
Strategic Planning, Challenges, and Improvement

Strategic planning refers to processes that substantiate the enterprise vision and mission. Strategic plans are frequently well crafted to offer value through a driving force for the consideration in the external and internal business environments. The facilitation of business managers provides a communication channel for all stakeholders of activity within and without the company. The main issues to be addressed coupled with strategic goals are specified towards the planning of groups, staffs, and consultants while focusing on the SWOT results and environmental scans. Strategic planning identifies changes within the current strategies within which there are requirements for reaching the goals and addressing the issues (Cooperrider, Barrett, & Srivastva, 1995). This means the identification of potential new strategies and suggesting changes to emphasize on priority. The presentation of performance requires the inclusion of the key staff for decisions and discussion.

Strategic planning is challenging…

A competitive advantage can be founded on expenditure or separation. Michael Porter recognized three industry independent general strategies from which the company can choose (the Strategic Planning Process, 2010).
The chosen strategy is put into practice by way of programs, budgets, and measures. Execution entails organization of the company's capital and inspiration of the employees to attain goals. The manner in which the strategy is put into practice can have an important impact on whether it will be victorious. In a big corporation, those who put into practice the strategy likely will be dissimilar individuals from those who devised it. Therefore, concern must be taken to speak about the strategy and the motive behind it. If not, the execution might not do well if the strategy is not understood or if lower-level supervisors resist its execution because they do not understand why the particular strategy was chosen (the Strategic Planning…

Frisbie Tool & Die
Summery: In this article we take a look at a company Frisbie Tool & Die whose owner has a few alternatives available to him about his future directions. Several analysis techniques are used to determine the company's future directions. This paper has two references.

In this article we take a look at the Frisbie Tool & Die Company whose owner Alex has been building his business for the past 23 years. Frisbie Tool & Die finds itself in a difficult market position, facing competition from imported products and in spite of the strengths that Frisbie has in the form of the experience and expertise of its owner, there are several alternatives available to Alex, the company owner.

In this article, we consider the alternatives available to Frisbie Tool & Die and analyze the company's position. Several different techniques are used and are presented in the analysis section. After…

components of value-based purchasing (VBP) that are most pertinent to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) based on its vital mission to provide high-quality health care services to the nation's veterans while identifying opportunities to reduce costs and improve efficiencies in ways that promote improved clinical outcomes in measurable ways. The study also describes the three departments of a VA medical center that will be most important in implementing VBP, purchasing services, nursing services, and ambulatory care services and provide appropriate goals for this purpose. Because the three selected departments are at different stages of their VBP implementations, the preparation needed to achieve their VBP-related goals will vary, but staff will need to be educated and trained concerning the basics of VBP and how they apply to their unique departmental situations and all three departments must develop appropriate performance measures that can be used to determine the cost-effectiveness…

PAWS SWOT Analysis
The SWOT analysis is a comprehensive analysis and review of the organizational dynamic, inclusive of the internal and external environmental analysis. The internal analysis is a function of the internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The effectiveness of the analysis ostensibly reveals the level to where the organization can be identified, relative to industry competition. Prior to engaging into the SWOT, a brief literature review is included to embolden the thought process regarding the analysis of the strategic landscape for Pets Assisting With Students (PAWS).

However, there have been addendums to the methodology inherent to the effective practice of conducting a SWOT analysis. The strategic change includes the focus to the resources-based SWOT analysis that does analyze the resource structure of the firm as a function of the internal and external environment, relative to the market share of the organization and the total available market within the industry.

Literature eview

According…

IOM Future of Nursing eport
The obert Wood Johnson Foundation (WJF), which is located in Princeton, New Jersey and was founded from the Johnson & Johnson fortunes, is the largest health-focused philanthropy in the United States. The foundation provides grant money to successful applicants seeking to improve the health of U.S. citizens and to improve the provision of American health care. Grants offered by the obert Wood Johnson Foundation are sizable, collectively amounting to approximately $400,000 million annually, and address a variety of health issues including these major categories: access to care, obesity in children, and training for doctors and nurses. Grants are often awarded for topics tangential to healthcare, such as access to fresh food, poverty and housing quality, and violence. esearch conducted at the Institute of Medicine has contributed to the efforts of the Institute and WJF to design, articulate, and implement nurse-led models of innovative practice with…

76). As automation increasingly assumes the more mundane and routine aspects of work of all types, Drucker was visionary in his assessment of how decisions would be made in the years to come. "In the future," said Drucker, "it was possible that all employment would be managerial in nature, and we would then have progressed from a society of labor to a society of management" (Witzel, p. 76). The first tasks of the manager, then, are to coordinate an organization's resources and provide a viable framework in which they can be used to produce goods and services effectively and efficiently. The second set of tasks concern guidance and control. In Drucker's view, this role is almost entirely proactive: "Economic forces set limits to what a manager can do. They create opportunities for management's action. But they do not by themselves dictate what a business is or what it does"…

In its Pavilion dm1-3101ea laptop, Hp has used the latest technology to make this product the most innovative, fastest, and the most liked electronic gadget in the market (Dixons 2011). To stay competitive, HP has to keep on introducing the latest models of its Pavilion laptops so that no other competitor can snatch its market share.
Social factors:

Social factors such as education, income levels, preferences, and other cultural factors influence demand patterns in the different regions and therefore affect how a company operates in different regions. The education and income level of consumers affect the perception of brand of different laptop manufacturers (Oliver 1999). The prices of laptop must be ascertained considering the income levels and other social factors affecting the purchase decisions of the consumers. HP has to keep in mind all these factors in order to attract the most potential customers from the target market (Farley 1964). The…

UXB2B: Chinese Taipei
The case of UXB2B speaks of a rather new technological procedure and application to resolve e-commerce issues related to internet security and e-finance logistics for trading partners in the supply chain industry. However, I digress. UXB2B is an e-commerce company that specializes in the development of e-business applications designed to enable supply chain integration through a streamlined and secure software link. Leadership Information: The CEO of the company has a research background in national defense and an educational background in computer and information science

The software, UXB2B had e-everything as its selling point. For example the software enabled eSales, eProcurement, and eFinance; collectively called "SaaS (Software as a Service)"

SaaS met the requirement that UXB2B sought to bring to the market place. The software enabled e-communication amongst all stakeholders to exchange information to open and close transactions via an interconnected system. t first glance, success in the company's eyes seemed…

Strategic Management: Management, Organizational Structure, And Corporate Strategies
Manager, management, and organization

The significance of managers .

Size and strategy of a company

Mission, vision, and corporate strategy

Organizational culture.

In an organizational setting, strategy has always been more of a high stakes game where the management team identifies the company's mission and makes important decisions that focus all the company's capital, resources, and energy towards its attainment. With the dynamic nature of the current business environment, managers need to constantly analyze their internal and external environments to avoid losing their customers to the competition and losing grip of their market share. This text evaluates the importance of managers to an organization, the importance of organizational structure and culture, and the formulation of corporate strategies.

Manager, management, and an organization

To understand the operations in any business environment, it is important define a manager, management, and an organization. An organization can be defined as a group of people…

Marketing Intelligence
Now I'm uploading marketing intelligence assignment, note tak 3 b c merit distinction, a Already . Task 4, 4a, 4b merit distinction, task 2 merit distinction (2-2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 M1 M2)

Marketing intelligence

Market research is important since it enables the company management to make informed decisions that maximize their profit, increase sales, minimize risk and determine the strategic positioning of the company and its products. It involves gathering, recording and analyzing primary and secondary data in order to find correlations with the needs and wants of the target audience and how the company can fulfill these. It helps to create a link between the consumers or customers and the marketer of the product through information. The information collected is then used to identify and define the marketing opportunities that exist as well as the problems that may be encountered in marketing the product. Before the company's marketing department goes…

Innovation
The airline industry is a service industry, but one where several firms have been able to innovate their service offering. Such innovations have been to create viable low-cost carriers (RyanAir, EasyJet, Air Asia) while other innovations have led to the creation of high-service airlines (Emirates, Qatar, Singapore). In either case the process of innovation has been roughly the same for all of these companies. The first component of the map is searching. All of these companies searched for niches that were either not being served at all (such as price-focused customers in Europe and Asia) or were not being served effectively (passengers traveling on routes between Europe and Asia).

Of the six airlines mentioned above, only Singapore is a legacy carrier. The others have entered their markets in the few couple of decades, and brought with them a number of critical service innovations. After identifying a core market whose needs were…

External environment plays a key role in the manager's roles. Different factors in the external environment create opportunity and present threats to which the organization needs to respond. It is important for managers to conduct an environmental scan in order to better understand the environment in which they operate. Juervicius (2013) explains one system, the PESTLE system, which forces managers to think about the different external factors that affect their business.
The PESTEL model features an analysis of the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal environments. For the manager, each of these provides the framework for analyzing the operating environment. These factors are all significant, and unrelated to other external factors like competition and demand drivers. For example, where there is political risk (like a government shutdown), the manager can better understand this risk by working through the PESTEL framework. The economy is a critical input, and technological changes can…

Organizational Change
Nike could have avoided the downturn had it been more receptive to ongoing change. One of the things it could have done differently was to "periodically analyze the organizational environment and identify forces for change." It is evident that Nike did not do this until it saw its sales slump. There were several underperforming divisions, and more importantly there were several untapped new product areas. An environmental scan would have allowed Nike to identify those much sooner, and perhaps respond more quickly. By being slow to respond to its external environment, Nike put itself in a more vulnerable position. Nike was forced in the to embark on revolutionary change, rather than evolutionary, because of its slow response. Ultimately, it could have adopted the revolutionary approach by being in tune with its environment, and by creating an organizational culture that was in general more receptive to change.

That said, even when…

Environmental Scan
Samsung's production is always dependent external environmental factors to achieve its goals and objectives in the market.

he environment offers the local and raw materials that are essential in the production processes.

Most of the raw materials used to make chips are obtained from the environment.

he environment has also been helpful in making sure that Samsung has the right expertise people who can carry the strategies for the growth of the company.

he environment has been influential in formulating the market and the production avenues within the company.

Moreover, what has been so special, and will always continue being special with Samsung is that its production processes are conscious of the need to protect the natural environment, through the many software materials developed within the Smartphone

Samsung is also conscious of the local environment.

he process of maintenance of production has been made to be sensitive to the issues the environment.

Samsung is a product…

Environmental scan

The Company for Cooperative Insurance cites the origins of its name and how it affects their corporate culture: "Tawuniya is the simplification of the Arabic word for 'co-operative' and was already established amongst the related customer base by this name. The new name and identity takes ownership of this insurance category and evokes a strong emotional connection to customers as 'co-operative,' which is the only accepted form of Islamic insurance" Tawuniya Overview, 2010, para. 3).

According to Chaudry, though, the enormous amounts of oil-based revenues flowing through Saudi Arabia's coffers has created a very real need for informed and well-managed insurance companies that are capable of competing in an increasingly competitive financial market. In this regard, Chuadry notes that, "The financial systems that developed in [Saudi Arabia] in the 1970s was the product of capital abundance, not scarcity. Unlike most countries in the initial stages of economic development, [Saudi Arabia]…

5% and 2.35% over that period but opposite the trend of fluctuation in overall spending
The result is approximately $23.5 billion spend each year in the U.S. attending sporting events like the 82 games per year at the Boston Garden

Average U.S. households spent more attending sports events while incomes fell after 2007, and less as incomes increased since then

Households in the Northeast region including Boston spend higher on "apparel and services" and more or the same compared to all other regions and the national average for complementary local amenities "fees and admissions" (the Garden) and "food away from home" and "alcoholic beverages" (neighboring sports bar)

Bostonians spend higher than the region on entertainment and less on apparel and alcohol than the regional average, for the most recent years available, 2007-2008

Bruins season tickets are already sold out, which suggests weak 2010 economic fundamentals may take second place to hometown brand loyalty

Many of these…

STEP 8 - INTEVENTION IMPLEMENTATION PHASING

The initial implementation of the automated calling system will require a significant amount of data entry concerning patient contact data; however, this data can be integrated in digital form from existing healthcare information management system as discussed further below.

PLANNING MODULE III - DETAILED HIMS PLANNING and COSTING

Although the actual acquisition of the automated calling system selected for this initiative will be completed by the hospital's purchasing department, a preliminary review of available representative systems that meet the needs of the ENT department is provided in Table 1 below.

Table 1

epresentative Automated Calling Systems and Specifications

Vendor

Description

Comments

Voicent

(http://www.voicent.com/)

BroadcastByPhone: Automated dialing software can reach people by phone or by voice mail with personalized messages the auto-dialer uses a computer to deliver personal calls or leave answering machine messages in a human voice or a computer-generated voice. Calls are delivered either through a VOIP channel, such as SIP or Skype, or…

UK National Environment

In UK, the allocation of resources is purely based on the forces of demand and supply. This form of economy is a free economy in which competition is embraced and firms have to become efficient to increase their level of competitiveness. The government only intervene to provide the necessary infrastructure and to ensure that consumers are not exploited by the businesses. Besides, the government will formulate policies that ensure fair competition and collect revenues for the country development agenda. With these, businesses must ensure that they operate within the law and abide by the regulations that are set by the state. Barr Company can therefore conduct business in a competitive industry without government interference on what form of business to do or the amount of prices to charge on their products. The management has large latitude of choice to make on how to produce, what to produce, and…

This invention allows the draw tape to have the tactile advantage of a low density polyethylene, making it comfortable for consumers to use as a handle, while also having the heat sealing capacity of this same low density material, yet have the strength afforded by a high density polyethylene material, that otherwise would be uncomfortable for the consumer.
Glad Quick-Tie = Patent # 5,246,110:

Patent # 5,246,110 focuses specifically on trash bags. The patent applicant notes that bags that are typically used for storing and transporting garbage or refuse, prior to collection or transport to disposal, are made from plastic material. When these bags are in their flat condition, they are comprised of two rectangular panels, which are connected on three of the four sides. The fourth, open, side is used to insert matter into the bag. These types of bags are typically made via a tubular extrusion process ("United States…

Price Analysis
A Sustainable Method of Price Analysis

As a person involved in business at the leadership level, at the acquisition level or somewhere in the supply chain requiring procurement decisions, pricing will be an issue of the utmost concern. Indeed, it is particularly useful for one in this position to possess a default strategy for price analysis that can be used to navigate a wide variance of business and acquisition scenarios. For this reason, the discussion here offers a price analysis methodology with the appropriate versatility to serve in this capacity and, consequently, provides a rationale for this discussion. Accordingly, we propose that the Comparison of Competitive Bids is sufficiently effective and universal as a standard for price analysis that if one were confined strictly to its usage through the duration of one's career, one might still be sufficiently served.

The method of Comparison and Competitive Bids holds perhaps more than other…

Change Plan for SBA Implementation
Change Proposal - Healthcare

Change Proposal

Change Issue

The benefits of the SBA are apparent to the nursing staff in the Labor, Deliver, ecovery, and Postpartum Unit of St. Johns Hospital Birth Center. All nursing staff receives training in SBA and it has been implemented -- successfully -- for a few months at a time. However, nursing staff soon return to the historical ways of communicating about patient care, which has predominantly been by giving a verbal report.

Benefits of SBA. SBA stands for Situation-Background-Assessment-ecommendation and it is a framework for communication about patients' conditions that is used by members of a healthcare team. The following discussion is from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (2011) website. The benefits to using SBA by hospital staff are: (a) It is an easy-to-use, easy-to-remember mechanism; (b) it is a concrete way to frame conversations that fosters effective and timely communication; (c) it permits…

H and Corporate Strategy
The work entitled "Overcoming the Barriers to Strategic H Management: Old Issues. New Solutions" states that strategic H "is characterized by being forward-thinking, proactive and, most of all, creative...Strategic H is also about thinking about possibilities and connecting those possibilities in concrete ways to the business that you support." (ADP, 2007) This work intends to address organizational strategic H management as it relates to the: (1) sales; (2) marketing; (3) operations; and (4) finance departments of the organization.

Sales

The objectives stated by the VP of sales are the following: (1) Increase the number of field sales representatives (FS) from 20 to 30; (2) Increase gross sales by 8%; and (3) Create positions for four regional sales managers so that FSs do not report directly to the VP of sales.

Marketing

The objectives stated by the VP of marketing are those as follows: (1) Develop marketing plans for the 10…

Coca-Cola. According to the company's 2012-Year in eview, one of the objectives that the company had coming into 2013 was to improve the strength of its product portfolio. The company wanted to find products where there was untapped potential, and take steps to exploit that potential and improve the overall portfolio strength. To that end, Coca-Cola was able to take an ownership stake in Core Power, which makes protein drinks in the United States, and entered into a partnership with Aujan, which is a maker of juice, sparkling beverage and malt beverages in the Middle East. The company also continued to enjoy strong growth from some of its targeted brands, notably I LOHAS and Ayataka, both of which reached the billion-dollar mark in sales in the past year (Coca Cola, 2012).
As a result of these efforts, the company was able to enjoy broad-based success. Volume was up 4%, and…

Business -- Annotated Bibliography
Drucker, P.E. (1994,). The theory of business. Harvard Business Review, September-October. Retrieved from http://www.mindz.com/images/Ronaldvandenhoff/file/the_theory_of_business_drucker.pdf

Credibility: Author Analysis

Peter Drucker was the Clarke Professor of Social Science and management at the Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California. The university has named the Drucker Management Center in his honor. This article was the thirty-first article for Harvard Business Review. Business students across the globe know Drucker's seminal work in business theory as it plays a prominent role in business school curricula.

Credibility: Intended Audience

The intended audience for this article is executives in the C-suite -- particularly chief executive officers (CEOs). This article is a call to action pointed at business executive and directors who are equipped to influence business thought leadership.

Credibility: Findings

Drucker cites many actual businesses in his argument for addressing the obsolescence of business theories.

Content Summary

Drucker presents four specifications for a valid theory of business: 1) "The assumptions about environment, mission,…

Management
Yes, managers are important to organizational success. But this is a logical fallacy question. All organizations, both the successful ones and the utter failures, have managers. So the question isn't about whether managers are important to success -- mathematically there is 100% correlation between having managers and being successful, but also 100% correlation between having managers and being unsuccessful.

Then there is the issue of where organizational success comes from. First, one must define success -- is it profitability? Or exceptional profitability? Short-term, long-term? And there are a lot of variables that contribute to organizational success, not just the actions of management. Further, to determine whether managers are integral to success, and to what degree, would require a control. It is almost impossible to define a control. You could say the managers at Google are really good, but unless there is a parallel universe Google with different managers, how do we…