growing sales, Dakota Office Products saw its profit margin evaporate in fiscal 2000 as expenses became untenable. Anxious to restore profitability, Dakota Office Products (Dakota) turned to our firm in order to determine the culprit behind these runaway expenses. In order to do so, we looked to the financial statements provided to us by John Malone, General Manager at Dakota and spoke with Dakota's Controller, Melissa Dunhill, and Director of Operations Tim Cunningham.
Our findings revealed that Dakota had made several structural changes to business operations, as was revealed in an audit of Dakota's distribution center conducted by Mrs. Dunhill and Mr. Cunningham. A report written subsequent to the conduction of this audit demonstrated to us how expenses had been materially affected by several changes implemented by upper management, which included:

The Introduction of Desktop Delivery

The Introduction of an Online System for the Processing of Orders (Electronic Data Interchange.)

As both of…...

MESIC's have been singularly unsuccessful, and have been deemphasized in recent years.
Related to this are: State-sponsored venture capital investments. Countries and regions invest in venture capital funds as Limited Partners, meaning that they have the same or similar financial returns as all other investors in a Fund. In many cases, such state investments require some conditions on the privately-run venture fund. The most popular conditions include:

fixed percentage threshold of investment in the region or country, or certain number of jobs to be generated by their investments, or Attracting a certain multiple of investment from outside the state or region into the fund, or Limiting the venture investments to the types of technologies and industries which are of greatest interest to that state or region.

Examples of the above can include the Indiana Futures Fund, in which the State of Indiana invested $100 million in several venture funds. Among their conditions,…...

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Bibliography

Asen, R. "The Multiple Mr. Dewey: Multiple Publics and Permeable Borders in John Dewey's Theory of the Public Sphere." Argumentation and Advocacy, 2003: 174-182.

Balzac, M. "Recent Trends in the Research on National Innovation Systems." REPEC. November 26, 2007.   (Accessed November 28, 2007).http://ideas.repec.org/p/aug/augsbe/0254.html 

Birch, D.L. MIT Program on Neighborhood and Regional Change. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1987.

Christensen, C. The Innovator's Dilemma. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1995.

Finally, the universalizing stage is often referred to as enlightenment, or having achieved a true understanding of the nature of good virtue. (Fowler, 1995; p.p. 73-145).
Clearly, my personal ethical values are heavily influenced by my stage of personal development. As I continue to grow, my values will evolve and adapt to my new way of looking at the world. The way that defining moments influence me will also be controlled by my ethical level of development. However, having at least a conscious understanding of my level of development allows me to better understand my ethical influences, work to overcome the obstacles my ethical development stage creates, and better work to be a better employee and leader.

ibliography

adaracco, Joseph L. (2002): Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing. Cambridge: Harvard usiness School Publishing.

adaracco, Joseph L. (2006): Questions of Character: Illuminating the Heart of Leadership through Literature. Cambridge: Harvard…...

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Bibliography

Badaracco, Joseph L. (2002): Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing. Cambridge: Harvard Business School Publishing.

Badaracco, Joseph L. (2006): Questions of Character: Illuminating the Heart of Leadership through Literature. Cambridge: Harvard Business School Publishing.

Fowler, James W. (1995): Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

Gilligan, Carol. (1993): In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Business Decision Analysis -- Cipla
Yusuf Hamied pioneered the Chemical, Industrial and Pharmaceutical Laboratories, which is more popularly known as Cipla, in India. The main function of Cipla was to reverse engineer some of the most demanded medications in the market and then reconfigure or re-synthesize them in a different manner (to avoid patent law suits) and sell them to the masses at affordable rates. The problem for Dr. Hamied, though, was a recent upgrade in patent laws that were meant to be applicable from 2005 in India. This new upgrade was being implemented on a global scale by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and was officially called Trade elated Aspects of Intellectual Property ights (TIPS) and it mainly required India to accept the patent laws with regards to pharmaceuticals and other intellectual inventions that had been standardized for over 2 decades. This would mean that a majority of the produce…...

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References

Deshpande, R. (2006). Cipla. Harvard Business School, President and Fellow Of Harvard College, 9-305-085.

Business
hy does crafting strategy have a strongly entrepreneurial character?

Courtney (2) notes that in a rapidly changing environment, this year's indicators are not a good measure of what will happen in the future. Instead, there is a need to develop foresight. This involved looking to the future and spotting potential opportunities and potential threats before they are actually present. This is entrepreneurial in the sense that it involves looking to the future and seeing things before they are actually present. Crafting strategy also involves a new approach to business where the focus is on managing and risk and choosing the best kind of action, while there remains a level of certainty. These aspects of crafting strategy have a strong entrepreneurial character. Finally, crafting strategy requires vision and creativity. It differs from traditional management strategies because there are no certainties. Organizations cannot simply accept the environment as it is and aim to…...

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Works Cited

Courtney, C. 20/20 Foresight: Crafting Strategy in an Uncertain World. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2001.

Thompson, A.A., & Strickland, A.J. Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases. Boston, MA: Irwin McGraw-Hill, 2003.

There is one platform that supports the downloaders, however. Studies have indicated that downloading music for free actually helps sell music in the long run. The music industry cites fallen revenues for the last four years as evidence that illegal downloading is cutting into their profits. However, a study by two academic researchers finds that some people who download music illegally eventually purchase the music they have downloaded. A reporter writes, "In fact, illegal downloading may help the industry slightly with another major segment, which Oberholzer and Strumpf call 'samplers' -- an older crowd who downloads a song or two and then, if they like what they hear, go out and buy the music" (Silverthorne, 2004). However, the researchers also discovered that the majority of downloaders are teens and college students who have plenty of time to download, but do not always have the resources to eventually buy the music…...

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References

Editors. (2007). Minn. woman to pay for illegal music downloads. Retrieved from the NPR.org Web site:   Oct. 2007.http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1503722320 

Editors. (2007.) Terms & conditions. Retrieved from the Napster.com Web site:   Oct. 2007.http://home.napster.com/info/terms.html20 

Silverthorne, S. (June 21, 2004). Music downloads: Pirates -- or customers? Retrieved from the Harvard Business School Web site:   Oct. 2007.http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4206.html20 

Business Source Premier (Nielson Library) deals marketing issues. The article current ( month). efer text chapter titles heading topic suggestions. Make include article attachment include UL I refer article.
Business Article Analysis

The article that is reviewed in this paper is titled "Off and unning: Professors Comment on Olympics" and presents certain important opinions on the Olympic games. The article presents the comments and opinions of important specialists that focus on marketing and business administration, like Stephen Greyser, John Macomber, and John Gourville. These are some of the most important professors at the Harvard Business School. The most important points of this article refer to the explanations these experts try to provide on the marketing success of the Olympics in comparison with other sports competitions. In addition to this, they try to identify some of the factors that determine the success of the organizers (Greyser et al., 2012). The pricing strategy…...

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Reference list:

1. Greyser, S. et al. (2012). Off and Running: Professors Comment on Olympics. Harvard Business School. Retrieved August 14, 2012 from  http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7072.html .

2. Blanding, M. (2012). Why Good Deeds Invite Bad Publicity. Harvard Business School. Retrieved August 14, 2012 from  http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7001.html .

Employees are being rewarded for their honesty, and managers continue to encourage communication between supervisors and subordinates. Management is also looking for ways to encourage employees to tell the truth about other employees who may be involved in something dishonest or illegal (Jones, 1982). Not all employees will take advantage of this, of course, because some still believe that they will face punishment for being a 'whistle-blower', but there are laws in place now to protect the rights of employees who blow the whistle on other employees or their employers.
Employee rights have become increasing important over the last 20 years, and this is another area in which Enron had difficulties. Those people who advocate employee rights make two different arguments. The first argument is that tougher laws and regulations are needed to ensure that employees get the rights that they deserve. It cannot be left up to the companies…...

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References

Bernstein, S. (2000). "Shell in Nigeria." Business Students Focus on Ethics. Eds. Ryan, Leo V., Wojciech W. Gasparski, & Georges Enderle. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.

Donaldson, T. & Gini, a.R. (1984). Case Studies in Business Ethics. 2nd ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Garrett, T.M., and Klonoski, R.J. (1986). Business Ethics 2nd ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Goodpaster, K.E. (1984). Ethics in Management. Boston: Harvard Business School.

Business Plan
PGE "Introduction and How it Fits into MB"

The development of this plan is critical for the enhancement of my MB studies. In this study, I will try to develop a "for profit" (as opposed to non-profit) company to compete in the U.S. food industry. My organization will be a C Corporation in order to raise money from ngel investors and perhaps Venture Capitalists as we grow. It is my understanding that VC's and ngels prefer C Corporations for a myriad of reasons, but most importantly because of the flexibility of the different classifications of stock that C Corporation afford to its shareholders. In addition, the rationale behind choosing this company is based on the concept that sweet treats and refreshments seem recession proof, and that people will always use their disposable income for sugar or refreshment in. I saw on CNBC a documentary on Coca Cola, which an…...

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Although Marshal Healthy Foods will show improvement over other retailing organizations in the present economy, its reputation and image are genuinely influenced by criticisms from environmentalist and labor unions. Marshal Healthy Foods is likely to be accused of various claims on distinctive issues such as bad working conditions, issues pertaining to child labor, wage issues and discrimination (Manian, 2007).

Threats

Marshal Healthy Foods will have internal labor relations issues besides confronting some outside threats postured by the economy and its rivals. Since Marshal Healthy Foods will have constantly great sales performance, certain areas are expected to be affected by sales problems. The sale of some areas is likely to decline from 5% to 15% all through the pastries line. This decline will not harm traditional pastry retailers like La Baguette Bistro but hurt the sale in Marshal Healthy Foods.

business pertains to what that business does and what it is, as a whole. The kind of philosophy it has, the products it makes or services it provides, and the all-encompassing theme o the entire business make up its definition (Sullivan & Sheffrin, 2003; Swarming, 2006). The mission and goals, however, are only a part of that business definition. The goals are specific, concrete, and attainable, and they keep the business moving forward (Christensen, 1997). They can be made public, so the community has an idea of what the business wants to accomplish, or they can be kept private. Either way, they have to be realistic, and they must be worked toward steadily and revised at various intervals until they are achieved. Then, new goals can be set that build on the original goals the business had. The mission of the business is its statement to the public about…...

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References

Christensen, C.M. (1997), The innovator's dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail, Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Harvard Business School Press

Dev, C.S. & Schultz, D.E. (2005). In the mix: A customer-focused approach can bring the current marketing mix into the 21st century. Marketing Management, 14(1)

Joshi, R.M. (2005) International marketing, Oxford University Press, New Delhi and New York

Guiltinan, et al. (1996). Marketing management: Strategies and programs. New York: McGraw Hill/Irwin

Strategic Planning in IT
IT Impact on Service Industry Performance

Cooperative Competitive

Competitive Advantage

Implementation of IT Innovations

1992 U.S. VALUE-ADDED AND EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

AVERAGE ANNUAL GROTH IN GDP PER HOUR,

MAJOR SECTORS OF THE U.S. ECONOMY

Management TASKS IN BUREAUCRACY VS ADHOCRACY ORGANIZATIONS

This paper addresses the following problem statement: "ithout information technology (IT), a business will not be able to compete globally in any industry, nor in any market it wants to enter. It will not be able to effectively and efficiently optimize its success."

In order to evaluate this statement, a number of issues were examined. The rapid pace of technological change and the effects of technology revolution have launched the world into an era of organizations that are experiencing extraordinary growth in both the development and the dissemination of information and communications technologies. This paper reviews the current literature on the subject of the integration of IT into modern business entities. Successful use of…...

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Works Cited

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2000). Houghton Mifflin Company.

Andreu, R., Ricart, J.E., and Valor, J. (1991). The Strategic Dimension of Transactional Information Systems: Some Organizational Implications. Journal of Information Systems, 1, 223-32.

Ansoff, H.I. (1965). Corporate Strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Bailey, M.N. And Quinn, J.B. (1994). Information Technology: The Key to Service Performance. Brookings Review, 12 (3), 36+.

.....ethical dilemma you know of, and how it was dealt with by management.
Recently, Harvard Business School itself was involved in an ethical scandal when it turned out its dean might be involved in a gross case of conflict of interest (Galani, 2016). Conflicts of interest similar to this one at HBS happen often in organizations of all sizes. I was recently made aware of a case in which a local organization experienced an ethical dilemma involving a conflict of interest. One member of the board of directors had previously served on the city council, and still retained strong connections with the local community. Because the company was a real estate development company, the organization's leadership came under considerable pressure for what appeared to be a conflict of interest and corruption -- using the former councilman's political ties for facilitating development projects and accepting additional advice and contracts.

When the media broke…...

Business sustainability is about realizing the pathway to preserving and protecting profits, people, and the planet. It is expressed through a company’s focus on the triple bottom line, also defined as the management of financial, social and environmental risks, duties and opportunities. Firms that engage in sustainable practices typically have some form of corporate social responsibility (CSR) program or policy in place that allows them to support and promote initiatives that are considered to be important either to the communities in which the firm operates or else good for the overall environment as a whole. Sustainable practices that businesses focus on can include anything from “going green,” reducing one’s environmental footprint, protecting water supplies, promoting scholarships in communities where economic disadvantages are high, and so on. Engaging in sustainable practice is the essence of maintaining a commitment to culture and to one’s core values. This paper will define the term…...

The existence and specialization of these three competitors materializes in the need for Creativity Sure to excel in the offering of the three types of products and services offered by challengers Karina Advertising, Falling Agency and Dorna PLC.
4.2 PEST Analysis

Political forces: The development of a full legislation within the advertising field has yet to become a complete process. ecent efforts have however limited the operations of advertising campaigns in the meaning of having eliminated all features that are not compatible with the product or which promise unrealistic outcomes, such as the tremendous loss of weight. Other issues regulated by the new laws refer to truth-in-advertising, product labeling requirements, online advertising and marketing, the advertising of specific products, telemarketing and direct marketing, and finally, regulations relative to environmental marketing (The Official Business Link to the U.S. Government, 2009). The new Obama administration has yet to take a new stand on…...

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References:

Chesbrough, H.W., 2003, Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology, Harvard Business Press School, ISBN 1578518377

Fabozzi, F.J., Peterson, P.P., 2003, Financial Management and Analysis, 2nd Edition, John Wiley and Sons, ISBN 0471234842

Kellner, H., Heuberger, F.W., 1994, Hidden Technocrats: The New Class and New Capitalism, Transaction Publishers, ISBN 1560007877

LeClaire, J., 2000, Benefits of Advertising in Any Economy, Sign Industry,   last accessed on May 5, 2009http://www.signindustry.com/management/articles/2002-10-31-JL-AdvertInDownEconomy.php3 

Businesses make decisions on a daily basis. Some of these decisions affect man people in the organization, where other decisions are minor and only impact a few people. A decision-making procedure based on sound information and data leads to effective conclusions. Today's fast-paced business environment demands the making of informed decisions based on critical thinking skills. It is our thinking that determines the extent to which we think through the implications of the decisions we make. It is our thinking that determines whether we can identify the assumptions we are making, and whether we should questions those assumptions. A number of different decision-making processes have been suggested. Depending on the type of decision faced, some techniques are more appropriate than others. As a supervisor for United Parcel Service, overseeing 40 individuals who must process and drive thousands of packages to the San Diego airport each morning at 6:30am, organization is…...

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References Cited

Foreman, Charles W.L., "Modeling and Improving Human Decision-Making," from the Management Course for Presidents, 3-4.

Prokesh, S.E. "Unleashing the power of learning: an interview with British Petroleum's John Browne." Harvard Business Review, 75 (September -- October 1997), 146 -- 168.

Robinson, Alifantis, et. al. "Modeling and Improving Human Decision-Making with Simulation." Proceedings of the 2001 Winter Simulation Conference,

B.A. Peters, J.S. Smith, D.J. Medeiros, and M.W. Rohrer, eds.

Most Effective Performance Appraisal Tools for Assessing Employee Productivity in a Thesis
1. Balanced Scorecard
The Balanced Scorecard is a comprehensive performance management tool that measures employee performance across four perspectives: financial, customer, internal process, and learning and growth. It aligns individual goals with organizational objectives, providing a holistic view of employee contributions. By linking performance to strategic goals, the Balanced Scorecard effectively assesses productivity and drives desired outcomes.
2. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
KPIs are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound metrics that track employee progress towards critical goals. They define clear expectations and provide objective data for performance evaluation. By monitoring KPIs,....

Effective Human Resource Management: A Key Contributor to Organizational Success
Abstract
This thesis examines the indispensable role of effective human resource management (HRM) in driving organizational success. It argues that by strategically managing human capital, organizations can enhance employee performance, foster innovation, and achieve competitive advantage. This research draws upon empirical evidence and theoretical frameworks to demonstrate the multifaceted contributions of HRM to organizational outcomes.
Introduction
In today's competitive global marketplace, organizations recognize the paramount importance of human capital. HRM is an essential function that empowers organizations to attract, develop, and retain a highly skilled and motivated workforce. This thesis explores the ways in....

Impact of Western Brand Popularity on Local Businesses
The proliferation of Western brands in local markets has significant implications for local businesses, affecting both their competitive landscape and growth potential. Here's a detailed analysis of the impact in terms of competition and growth:
Competition
Increased Market Share: Western brands often enter local markets with established brand recognition, marketing prowess, and financial resources. This allows them to capture a significant market share, diverting consumers away from local businesses.
Lower Entry Barriers: The presence of Western brands lowers entry barriers for other foreign companies, creating a more competitive environment for local businesses.
Eroded Margins:....

Positive Impacts of Paternal Leave on Families and Workplace Productivity
Bonding and Attachment:
Paternal leave allows fathers to establish a strong bond with their newborns, fostering attachment and reducing the risk of postpartum depression in mothers. (1)
Studies have shown that involved fathers have children with improved social, emotional, and cognitive development. (2)
Maternal Health and Recovery:
Mothers who have partners who take paternity leave experience shorter recovery times and lower rates of postpartum complications. (3)
Paternal support helps reduce maternal stress, improves breastfeeding outcomes, and encourages healthy sleep patterns.
Family Dynamics and Equality:
Paternal leave promotes gender equality by normalizing fathers' involvement....