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Business and Management Archives - Page 70 of 203 - Cloud Essays

Business and Management

Business and Management

  • Discussion 8 Global Entrepreneurship

    $7.00

    Throughout the semester, we have discussed reasons for entrepreneurship, qualities that entrepreneurs possess, and many examples of entrepreneurs. But most of our discussions have been focused on the United States and American entrepreneurs. This week, we will be discussing entrepreneurship from a global perspective, and looking at whether certain traits and reasons are universal, or whether the economy, political structure, social norms, etc. have an effect on entrepreneurship and what those effects might be. Also, how do these factors affect women entrepreneurs specifically?

    The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) studies entrepreneurship from a global perspective and has released studies specifically on women entrepreneurs. The 2012 GEM Women’s Report is in the class Dropbox folder. Read the executive summary, the key overall findings and any of the subsequent sections that you find interesting. What does this study show about women entrepreneurs worldwide? What topics do they specifically discuss? Are any of the findings surprising to you? One thing that the GEM studies have discovered is that female entrepreneurship is vital to economic growth. Read this business note, “Women Entrepreneurs are Key to Long-Term Economic Growth” on the subject.

    Consider the impact of certain factors on entrepreneurship and female entrepreneurship specifically. For example, do you think that the reasons for entrepreneurship might vary in different types of economies? Do women entrepreneurs face the same opportunities and challenges in other countries as they do in the United States?

    How about social norms? We have discussed the “glass ceiling” and certain obstacles that women in the United States face. How do you think they compare to obstacles that women in other countries and cultures face? For a look at women entrepreneurs in the Middle East, read “How Women Entrepreneurs Are Driving Business in the Middle East.” (The picture above shows a group of women entrepreneurs with their business plans.) Earlier in the semester, we looked at the 100 Most Creative Women in Business, and Number 1 on the list was Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al-Saud from Saudi Arabia, discussed in the above article. Read updated information on her entrepreneurial venture and her outlook on women in business here.
    For another look into how society plays a role in women’s entrepreneurial decisions, read this excerpt from the book African Women and ICTs (edited by Ineke Buskens and Anne Webb), written by Alice Wanjira Munyua, “Women Entrepreneurs in Nairobi: Examining and Contextualizing Women’s Choices.”

    Zhang Yin, a Chinese entrepreneur, capitalized on an opportunity to recycle paper (mostly from the United States and Europe) into corrugated cardboard in China. Read her story here.
    There are several organizations that seek to aid entrepreneurs worldwide. Watch this video to see more about programs that organize microloans for entrepreneurs worldwide. To learn about one of these organizations, check out Kiva’s Web site. How do you think loan programs such as this one help promote female entrepreneurship? Look around the Web site and read some of the stories. What are your thoughts on these entrepreneurs and what they are trying to accomplish? Do you think these programs benefit them and their entrepreneurial efforts? Did you find any entrepreneurs that impressed you? (Keep in mind what we have learned about social entrepreneurship when looking at these organizations.)

    Kiva was co-founded by a woman entrepreneur, Jessica Jackley. She saw a need for international microloans, and created Kiva to help women entrepreneurs worldwide. Click here to read a short biography and watch a video about her reasons for founding a “socially conscious” business.
    Consider all of the reasons that we have spoken about this semester for starting your own business. Do you think that if you lived in a different part of the world, that different reasons would be discussed? Can you come up with any examples? Do you think women are more or less likely to become entrepreneurs in societies other than the one in which we currently live? Do you think that it might be easier or more difficult to start your own business? What opportunities and challenges might exist? Consider different cultures and different parts of the world when you are discussing these questions.

    Additional Materials:

    Global-Entrepreneurship-Monitor.pdf

  • Is creativity/innovation always good

    $20.00

    WEEK 14

    Thread 1: Is creativity/innovation always good?

    Many organizations focus on innovation in order to get a strategic competitive advantage. In fact innovativeness is a commonly sought after trait among managers and employees. Is innovation or creativity always good? In what type of situation may creativity/innovation be bad for organizations?

    Thread 2: Inspiring creativity

    How is creativity present in your own workplace? What inspires this creativity? What hinders it? As a manager, what could you do to support the creativity of your employees?

    Thread 3: Open Topic

    This thread is meant to provide students the opportunity to start or engage in a relevant discussion outside of those initiated by the instructor. This is an important component of the course that replaces the “blog posts” component incorporated in previous iterations of this course. This is an opportunity to incorporate outside reference materials, and to view the course material from different angles. This is also the opportunity to discuss the ways in which the course material applies to your specific discipline.

    Ground rules:

    1. The topic you choose MUST be relevant to the course content. Please make this clear in your initial post.
    2. The topic you choose should be relevant to the current week’s course content.
    3. When making an initial post, state your observations, and provide any reference material if necessary. Then, try to pose an open-ended question so others can respond to your post with their own observations.
    4. For clarity and organization…when you reply to this initial post, please re-title your post to convey the topic of discussion you would like to initiate.
  • What does it mean for a company to have strategic human resource management

    $25.00

    Respond to discussion boards:

    1. Strategic human resource management

    What does it mean for a company to have strategic human resource management? What value is there to thinking about human resource management from strategic perspective? What value is there to including HR at the executive decision-making table?

    1. Recruitment

    What is the best way to recruit job applicants? If you were recommending this method to your own company, what evidence would you use to support your recommendation?

    1. Good interview question

    Imagine you are in a situation where you are interviewing candidates for a job as a flight attendant at Southwest Airlines, provide one example of an interview question you would want to ask. Why would you ask this question, and what answer would you expect from a qualified applicant?

    1. Selection practices at Southwest

    Evaluate the selection practices at Southwest airlines (as discussed in the case). What are they doing well? Where might they improve upon these practices?

    1. Are employment laws necessary?

    Some people feel there are simply too many laws and regulations governing how companies may manage their employees. These people believe everyone would be better off if we let the free market work without so much government interference. Other people believe that employees are not sufficiently protected against unfair treatment by employers. They believe employers would treat employees poorly if our laws didn’t forbid them from doing so. Which position do you agree with more? Why?

    Additional Materials:

    southwest_case_study_material_-_01-05-13.pdf

  • Discussion 7 Financing a Venture

    $7.00

    How do you successfully grow and sustain a business? What are your options for financing and how would you go about securing it? How do you manage the growth of your business? Have you considered an exit strategy? How do you ensure that your business “evolves” positively? These are all questions to consider about the business you want to start or already own.

    Nearly all businesses, no matter the size, will require financing of some kind at some point in its lifespan. Some ventures may be solely backed by the entrepreneur, or financed by the entrepreneur’s friends or family. Others might require large influxes of money from angel investors or venture capitalists. Many entrepreneurs seek bank loans or open a line of credit to provide access to cash for the business. The type of financing a business owner seeks will depend greatly on the type of business and the amount of financing needed. Inc. Magazine compiled an article consisting of various articles on the subject, “How To Raise Start-Up Capital.” Go through the article, and follow the links to the articles that interest you. In your comments this week, you should engage in conversations about various types of financing options. In what circumstances would you most likely utilize each type of financing? What are the positive and negative aspects of the different types of financing?

    Do you think that women entrepreneurs are more likely to seek one type of financing over another? What do you think the reasons for this might be? Women-owned firms backed by venture capitalists have traditionally been a low number. However, the numbers are rising. See the above graph for the current numbers, and read “Women Taking a Growing Share of Venture Capital” for an analysis. “The VC Word: Women And Venture Capital,” by Amanda Steinberg, shares a personal story of seeking venture capital.

    A relatively new type of funding is crowdfunding, which eliminates the need for one large investor, and allows people to contribute small amounts of money in exchange for goods or services. Click here to read more about crowdfunding. Then go tokickstarter and check out some of the current projects. What do you think of crowdfunding? What do you think the benefits and pitfalls might be? Do you think it is a viable strategy for raising money? Do you think some types of projects have better success rates than other projects.

    “Change is inevitable. Growth is intentional.” -Glenda Cloud. Growing a business requires intentional thought and management of that growth. For one woman’s story, read, “A New Model for Medicine” by Janet Holloway. What do you think are important aspects to consider when growing a business? Do you agree that growth needs to be intentional? What pitfalls might the entrepreneur encounter when growing their business?

    Every entrepreneur must ask themselves where they want the business to take them? Are they looking to stay in the business until they retire? Pass it on to children? Sell it to another company or entity? One must consider the goals of the business growth and the eventual exit strategy. Read “Exit Strategies for your Business” by Steven Robbins for further information on exit strategies. Several studies have been conducted on the differences between male and female entrepreneurs in regard to exit strategies. For information on some of the findings, read “Exit Strategy – Exiting the Business: Women Entrepreneurs Learn How to Do It Right” by Susan W. Sweetser.

    Consider what you think the important aspects of growing your business would be. How do you think you would manage growth? What would your end-goals be for exiting the business? These are all topics of conversation. A PowerPoint presentation has been uploaded discusses the different resources available. Look at the slides and include the information laid out in your discussions.

  • Are there long-run effects of the minimum wage

    $5.00

    The should be  neatly divided into three sections:
    1) Summary, 2) Main Comments, and 3) Minor Comments.
    In the summary, you should describe the main question the paper addresses, an overview of the methods, and the main conclusions.
    In section  2, you should provide a constructive critique of the paper. How compelling is the research question? Are the methods (theories, empirical approach, etc.) appropriate? What are some of the shortcomings?
    In section 3, you should provide any comments that would improve the paper (organization, clarity, etc.) but are not central to its overall message.

    Additional Files:

    2015_are_there_long-run_effects_of_the_minimum_wage_sorkin.pdf

  • Lego Co-Creation Strategy Case Study

    $20.00

    Paper Contents

    • Company Background
    • Before the Adoption of Co-Creation Strategy
    • Analysis of Competition
    • Competitive Forces Model or SWOT Analysis
    • Internal: Value Chain Model
    • External: Industry Value Chain Model of Platform Business Model
    • Conclusion

    7 Pages

    MKT 421 Week 3 Team Assignment Strategy and Positioning Paper (Pet Care Service)

  • ASSIGNMENT: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN ACCOUNTING

    $10.00

    Question 1.
    a) Critically evaluate the need for financial leaders (accountants) to have increased social and environmental knowledge and awareness.
    b) Nov/Dec 2015 saw the 21st meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris. You are required to research and summarize 4 key outcomes of the conference, and outline the next steps and timescales.  – 15 marks

  • Is the Concept Of The Operational Level Helpful In Assessing The British Planning And Conduct Of The Borneo Campaign?

    $25.00

    Is the Concept Of The Operational Level Helpful In Assessing The British Planning And Conduct Of The Borneo Campaign?

    Paper Contents

    • Background History of Borneo Confrontation
    • THE OPERATIONAL LEVEL PLANNING PROCESS
    •  Organizational structure
    • Organizational Preparation
    • Investigation of separate military reaction alternatives
    • Synopsis survey of the military reaction alternatives
    • The mission investigation
    • Deciding mission fundamental military activities
    • Developing Conclusion
    • Conclusion of the Operational Level helpful in assessing the British planning and conduct of the Borneo war

    12 Pages

  • BMGT 335 Management and Organization – Paper #2: Leadership Analysis

    $12.50

    Purpose:
    To deepen and personalize your understanding of leadership principles by comparing and contrasting the leadership styles and effectiveness of the “best” and “worst” leaders you have experienced.

    Assignment Overview:
    As organizations strive to achieve their goals, leaders play a central role in setting a vision, motivating people, and managing progress. Leaders can be found at any level of an organization, in both formal and informal capacities. The ways in which these leaders manage people can have a crucial impact on individual and organizational performance, and shape the culture in which subordinates conduct their work. Leadership styles are highly variable, as is their effectiveness. This assignment provides you with an opportunity to explore in depth the leadership styles of two leaders you have personally experienced, and analyze their effectiveness through the lens of leadership theory and research.

    Instructions:
    In this assignment, you will examine the “best” and “worst” leaders you have worked for/with. These can be past or present leaders, who led in either a formal or informal capacity (i.e., someone who had formal leadership authority, or someone without formal responsibility who took on leadership), in any kind of organizational context (e.g., the workplace, athletics, student group, volunteer activity, etc.). You will select your “best” leader and your “worst” leader and compare and contrast their leadership styles and effectiveness. It is ideal if you compare two leaders from similar contexts (e.g., boss; coach), but not essential. You will discuss the leaders’ backgrounds, provide concrete and detailed examples of their leadership behaviors, and analyze their effectiveness through the lens of leadership theory.

    Assignment Guidelines:
    This paper should be written in the form of a structured outline, using prose (complete sentences). The outline should be no longer than 3 pages in length (not including title page and References page), single-spaced, 10-12 pt. font, Microsoft Word format, and should carefully follow the structure and guidelines of the outline template provided below. This assignment will be worth 15% of the total course grade

    Grading:

    Generally speaking, your paper will be assessed on the following criteria:

    • Leader Profiles (10%)
    • Challenges/Initiatives (25%)
    • Leadership Style (25%)
    • Strength of ideas, support of ideas, and application of theory (25%)
    • Overall presentation, organization, and quality of writing (e.g., grammar, spelling, documentation, APA style) (15%)

    Outline Components

    1. Title page
    1. Leader Profiles: Create brief profiles of the two leaders you are analyzing (can be done in a table to save space) and include the following information:
      1. “Best” leader’s name and organizational position:
        1. Organizational setting and situation in which you encountered this leader
        2. The leader’s work & leadership experience at the time you interacted with him/her
    • Nature (e.g., direct report, colleague) & duration of your relationship with this leader
    1. “Worst” leader’s name and organizational position:
      1. Organizational setting and situation in which you encountered this leader
      2. The leader’s work & leadership experience at the time you interacted with him/her
    • Nature (e.g., direct report, colleague) & duration of your relationship with this leader
    1. Challenges/Initiatives: For each leader, provide 2-3 brief behavioral vignettes that exemplify the leader’s approach. Typically, these will be descriptions of challenges or initiatives the leader undertook. In clear behavioral detail (i.e., focusing on what, specifically, the leader did), describe how the leader responded to these situations, and analyze the effectiveness of their actions. Please use clear examples to support your description and analysis of the leader’s actions.
      1. “Best” leader’s challenges/initiatives:
        1. Challenge/Initiative 1. In your own words, briefly state what happened. Describe specific behaviors and give supporting example(s).
          • How did the leader respond to the challenge or implement the initiative? What impact did their actions have on the organization & the leader? Why?
        2. Challenge/Initiative 2. In your own words, briefly state what happened. Describe specific behaviors and give supporting example(s).
          • How did the leader respond to the challenge or implement the initiative? What impact did their actions have on the organization & the leader? Why?
    • (Optional) Challenge/Initiative 3. Briefly state what happened in your own words. Describe specific behaviors and give supporting example(s).
      • How did the leader respond to the challenge or implement the initiative? What impact did their actions have on the organization & the leader? Why?
    1. “Worst” leader’s challenges/initiatives:
      1. Challenge/Initiative 1. Briefly state what happened in your own words. Describe specific behaviors and give supporting example(s).
        • How did the leader respond to the challenge or implement the initiative? What impact did their actions have on the organization & the leader? Why?
      2. Challenge/Initiative 2. Briefly state what happened in your own words. Describe specific behaviors and give supporting example(s).
        • How did the leader respond to the challenge or implement the initiative? What impact did their actions have on the organization & the leader? Why?
      3. (Optional) Challenge/Initiative 3. Briefly state what happened in your own words. Describe specific behaviors and give supporting example(s).
        • How did the leader respond to the challenge or implement the initiative? What impact did their actions have on the organization & the leader? Why?
      4. Leadership Style: Drawing on leadership theory and research, compare and contrast the leadership approaches of each leader as illustrated by their responses to the challenges and initiatives discussed earlier. The goal here is to employ leadership theory as a lens for explaining each leader’s actions and analyzing the effectiveness of those actions. For whichever leadership theories you employ, you should begin by clearly describing and elaborating on the key aspects of that theory in your own words (and cite support)*. Be sure to also make clear links between the leader’s behaviors and leadership theory, and to provide research support for your ideas*. NOTE: THIS SECTION IS WORTH THE MOST POINTS IN THE PAPER.
        1. “Best” Leader’s Leadership Style.
          1. Based on the behaviors described earlier, what leadership theory (or theories) provides the best insight into the leader’s behaviors? Define/Describe the key components and conclusions of that theory in your own words. *
          2. Situate the leader’s behavior in context of the leadership theory you have chosen. What does that theory suggest about his/her leadership style and effectiveness?
            1. Based on the theory, where does (s)he demonstrate leadership strength? *
            2. Based on the theory, where does (s)he demonstrate leadership weakness? *
    • Suggest one specific thing that (s)he could do to become a more effective leader*. Reference leadership theory or research to substantiate your recommendations.
      1. Suggestion 1:
    1. “Worst” Leader’s Leadership Style.
      1. Based on the behaviors described earlier, what leadership theory (or theories) provides the best insight into the leader’s behaviors? Define/Describe the key components and conclusions of that theory in your own words. *
      2. Situate the leader’s behavior in context of the leadership theory you have chosen. What does that theory suggest about his/her leadership style and effectiveness?
        1. Based on the theory, where does (s)he demonstrate leadership strength? *
        2. Based on the theory, where does (s)he demonstrate leadership weakness? *
    • Suggest two specific things that (s)he could do to become a more effective leader*. Reference leadership theory or research to substantiate your recommendations.
      1. Suggestion 1:
      2. Suggestion 2:
    1. Conclusion: In this section, you will briefly summarize your main points and take-aways. Briefly summarize three main points, and conclude with a statement about how your experience with these leaders has influenced your own development and style as a leader.

    * Reference citation expected here

    Crucial Hints

    1. Leader selection: You don’t necessarily need to choose your absolute best and worst leaders ever, but you should at least choose leaders with contrasting styles, one of whom was effective and another who was ineffective.
    1. Research: Much of your supporting evidence can be gathered by researching books, journal articles, and business periodicals (in addition to the course textbook). For assistance in conducting further research on theories of leadership, I encourage you to contact our business librarian, Greg Notess.
    1. References: To do well on this assignment, you will need to reference external sources on leadership. Use credible and original sources (the textbook is one appropriate option)! Blog posts and online summaries are insufficient. Whenever you bring facts, data, theories, or the opinions of others into your paper, the original source MUST be cited. I have indicated areas where external sources will almost certainly be needed and cited, but there may be others. Whenever you include something in your paper that is not your own original idea, it must be cited! In the text of the outline, external sources should be cited using parenthetical citations, e.g., (Lombardi, 2004), and a References page in alphabetical order in APA style must be provided at the end of the paper.

    The best way to reference others’ ideas in your paper is to summarize or paraphrase the ideas in your own words and provide a citation. For every sentence containing ideas that are not your own, you must provide parenthetical citations with the source(s) – it is not sufficient or appropriate to provide a single citation to cover an entire paragraph. If you feel the need to provide a direct quotation of others’ words, as written, you must use quotation marks around the material and include the page number in your parenthetical citation.

    If you are not sure how to format in APA style, please reference an APA Style Guide or visit http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ or http://citationmachine.net/apa.

    Microsoft Word also has functionality to help you format references in APA style.