What must your company excel at? Determine the processes and competencies that are most critical, and specify measures, such as cycle time, quality, employee skills, and productivity, to track them.

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The Balanced Scorecard: Review

By the-198os, many executives were convinced that traditional measures of financial performance didn’t let them manage effectively and wanted to re-place them with operational measures. Arguing that executives should track both financial and operational metrics, Robert Kaplan and David Norton suggested four sets of parameters.

First, how do customers see your company? Find out by measuring lead times, quality, performance and service, and costs.

Second, what must your company excel at? Determine the processes and competencies that are most critical, and specify measures, such as cycle time, quality, employee skills, and productivity, to track them.

Third, can your company continue to improve and create value? Monitor your ability to launch new products, create more value for customers, and improve operating efficiencies.

Fourth, how has your company done by its shareholders? Measure cash flow, quarterly sales growth, operating income by division, and increased market share by segment and return on equity. The balanced scorecard lets executives see whether they have improved in one area at the expense of another. Knowing that, say the authors, will protect companies from posting suboptimal performance.

The Balanced Scorecard: Measures That Drive Performance by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton
The balanced scorecard tracks all the important elements of a company’s strategy—from continuous improvement and partnerships to teamwork and global scale. And that allows companies to excel.

What you measure is what your executives understand that anization’s measurement system strongly affects the behavior of managers and employees. Executives also understand that traditional financial accounting measures like return on investment and earnings per share can give misleading signals for continuous improvement and innovation activities today’s competitive environment demands. The traditional financial performance measures worked well for the industrial era, but they are out of step with the skills and competencies companies are trying to master today. As managers and academic researchers have tried to remedy the inadequacies of current performance measurement systems, some have focused on making financial measures more relevant. Others have said, “Forget the financial measures; improve operational measures like cycle time and defect rates. The financial results will follow.” But managers should not have to choose between financial and operational measures. In observing and working with many companies, we have found that senior executives do not rely on one set of measures to the exclusion of the other. They realize that no single measure can provide a clear performance target or focus attention on the critical areas of the business. Managers want a balanced presentation of both financial and operational measures.
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

. When will the project be completed (enter the date based on your MS Project file)? Based on your plan in MS Project, how long the project will take (how many days)?

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Group Assignment Case Study


1. When will the project be completed (enter the date based on your MS Project file)? Based on your plan in MS Project, how long the project will take (how many days)? Describe your approach to creating the MS Project plan (i.e., the steps you took to create the MS Project).

Note that developing skills in working with MS Project is evaluated by asking different group members questions about the process for the development of the MS Project file. Furthermore, the instructor may ask different members to make changes to the MS Project file to verify their skills. Mark will be assigned based on the collective knowledge of working with the MS Project software (recommend that each group member to develop the MS Project file separately, and then the group sets up a virtual MS Teams meeting to discuss and agree on the final deliverable for the group).

2. As a project manager, identify the list of stakeholders for your project and develop an influence/interest stakeholders map for the stakeholders and identify what you will do to communicate with each category of stakeholders. Watch this video to learn how to build a key stakeholders map and develop a communication plan for

What is the one most surprising thing you have learned about the topic of diversity in the workplace, and why?

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M6 Discussion: Personal Challenges and Reflection

You want to help your colleagues expand their awareness by providing them advice about diversity in the workplace. Think of three main things you have learned in this course. In your own words, what would the three tips/ pieces of advice be for your colleagues be? Think of something succinct but meaningful, that can be put up on a bulletin board.

What is the one most surprising thing you have learned about the topic of diversity in the workplace, and why?

Explain how the framework guided the research decisions, including the development of the problem statement, purpose statement, and research questions.

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Theoretical Framework:

Identify the guiding framework. Present the key concepts, briefly explain how they are related, and present the propositions that are relevant to this study.

Explain how the framework guided the research decisions, including the development of the problem statement, purpose statement, and research questions.

If more than one framework is guiding the study, integrate them, rather than describing them independently. Do not select a separate framework for each variable/construct under examination.

Do not exceed two pages. A more thorough discussion of the theoretical/conceptual framework will be included in chapter 2.

What role does cohesiveness play in team performance?  Explain.

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Discussion

Do not plagiarize use your own words

What role does cohesiveness play in team performance?  Explain.

Why do you think the company reached the decision to diversify? What steps do you believe were taken? Explain your response using sources found during the research of your selected company.

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Critical Thinking for Business Decisions

For this assignment, analyze the diversification strategy of either Disney or Kimberly-Clark using the documents linked within your Soomo webtext. Explain how critical thinking applies to decision making based on your review of a real-world scenario. Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

Application: Explain how critical thinking for decision making is applicable to the scenario. Use evidence to support your explanations.
What makes critical thinking crucial for decision making?
Analysis: Explain how information (such as facts, opinions, and published reports) is used to determine or establish the context. Use evidence to support your explanations.
Why do you think the company reached the decision to diversify?
What steps do you believe were taken? Explain your response using sources found during the research of your selected company.
Conclusion and related outcomes: Describe the role of logic, evidence, and arguments in the company’s decision-making process.
Was the decision to expand products, services, or value chain successful? Why or why not?
To begin, choose one of the following to focus on for this assignment and review the corresponding document provided in the Soomo webtext.

Describe one legal entity type identified in the scenario that is different from the one described in part A1 and then describe how it would affect each of the following factors in the context of the farmers market.

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Designing Effective Organizations

A. Compare two of the proposed legal entity types for the farmers market venture by doing the following:

1. Describe one of the legal entity types identified in the scenario (i.e., Corporation, Limited Liability Company (LLC), or General Partnership) and then describe how it would affect each of the following factors in the context of the farmers market:

• taxation

• liability

• ownership and control

2. Describe one legal entity type identified in the scenario (i.e., Corporation, Limited Liability Company (LLC), or General Partnership) that is different from the one described in part A1 and then describe how it would affect each of the following factors in the context of the farmers market:

• taxation

• liability

• ownership and control

B. Describe the legal and ethical obligations the employer in the scenario has by doing the following:

1. Describe one legal obligation the employer in the scenario has, according to one of the following laws:

• Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

2. Describe an ethical obligation the employer in the scenario has that is different from the legal obligation described in part B1.

C. Describe one ethical obligation of the employees in the scenario.

D. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.

E. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.

Describe the main features of one of the following organizational structures that would meet the needs of the consulting business and explain how this structure applies to the scenario.

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Designing Effective Organizations

A. Describe an organizational structure you would select for the consulting business in the scenario by doing the following:

1. Describe the main features of one of the following organizational structures that would meet the needs of the consulting business and explain how this structure applies to the scenario.

• functional

• divisional

• matrix

• teams

2. Using the chosen organizational structure described in part A1, explain how each of the following four factors work within the chosen organizational structure for the consulting business in the scenario:

• functions or departments

• chain of command

• centralized or decentralized

• level of formality

B. Describe one of the following organizational theories, and explain how it can be used to support the organizational structure described in part A1:

• scientific management

• bureaucratic

• administrative

• neoclassical

• modern

• contingency/situational

C. Describe how an organizational structure can impact the effectiveness of the consulting business in the scenario by doing the following:

1. Using the goal-approach model of organizational effectiveness, describe how the organizational structure selected in part A1 can impact the effectiveness of the consulting business in the scenario.

2. Using the goal-approach model of organizational effectiveness, explain the advantages or disadvantages of using one of the organizational structures from the list in part A1 that is different from the structure already selected for the consulting business.

D. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.

E. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.

What is a supply chain strategy? How does the supply chain strategy support the business strategy? How can supply chain professionals utilize a supply chain strategy to gain a competitive advantage?

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Unit 2 – Discussion Board

Supply chain strategy includes a long-range plan for the design and ongoing management of all supply chain decisions that define the structure, function, facilities, and priorities of the supply chain. Competitive priorities differentiate companies from their competitors to gain competitive advantage.

What is a supply chain strategy?
How does the supply chain strategy support the business strategy?
How can supply chain professionals utilize a supply chain strategy to gain a competitive advantage?

Was your country’s economic system more socialist or capitalist in 1990? Was it more or less socialist or capitalist in 2020? Explain the direction of change and what it suggest about the effectiveness of “Democratic Socialism”.

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Scandinavia — Worker’s Paradise or Capitalist Haven

Perhaps you’ve “felt the Bern” (Sen. Bernie Sanders) or heard other like sources talk about the Socialist (Worker’s) Paradise to be found in Scandinavia. Most often the focus is on Sweden, though the other two countries sometimes get similar attention. Here’s the gist of it: Scandinavia has given the world a “third-way” economic model referred to as Democratic Socialism that successfully integrates the wealth creation of Capitalism with the social safety net of Socialism. In this model, government grows in size and reach into individual lives and business operations with the associated increase of taxation for both groups. However, the benefits provided by said government outweigh the cost, according to the advocates. These same sources then go on to advocate this model for the United States.

Select a (just one!) Scandinavian country: Sweden, Norway or Denmark.
Review the definitions of Capitalism and Socialism below. Using these as a guide, look at the behavior of your chosen state within the framework provide.
Research its economic and political behavior from 1990 to 2020.
Now analyze.
Was your country’s economic system more socialist or capitalist in 1990?
Was it more or less socialist or capitalist in 2020?
Explain the direction of change and what it suggest about the effectiveness of “Democratic Socialism”.
Provide evidence for your conclusion.
Did the size of government grow or shrink during this time?
Did businesses have more or less control by the government during this time?
Did the tax rate for business and individuals grow or shrink during this time?
Using these and other questions that support your points, make your case — is your country more Capitalist or Socialist today?