Author: chris

The course project, Solving a Business Problem, is an opportunity to solve a problem of interest to you from the situations you read about in scenarios describing a fictitious case company, RPZ Marketing. By working on a topic of interest, your concentration on applying problem solving, research, critical thinking, and academic writing can help you develop a business perspective pertinent to your current or future professional activities.The largest assignment in this project is to write a research paper on the problem that you choose. This paper requires a level of inquiry that uses critical thinking and analysis to support your opinion on a topic. Your research paper will involve becoming familiar with expert opinions to build a case for your problem statement. The research paper\’s key purpose is to go beyond a simple compilation of what experts have published and provide the background you need to propose a solution to a specific problem.Each unit in this course focuses on a particular aspect of a business. In each unit, you will read about that aspect, discuss the meaning and implications of what you have read, and view a scenario related to that aspect in the fictitious case company. In each unit, you will also have a writing assignment. Seven of the assignments (in Units 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 10) constitute steps in the course project, five of which build to the research paper, which is due in Unit 9. The Unit 5 assignment guides you in defining the specific problem that you plan to address, the Unit 7 assignment guides you in identifying research sources that inform potential solutions, and the presentation you prepare in Unit 10 asks you to use the results of your research to propose what you see as the best solution to the business problem you identified. Because this is a business course, you will prepare that presentation as a concise, clear proposal to the RPZ Executive Team. 

1, Differentiate between each of the following strategies: directional, adaptive, market entry, competitive. Provide one example of each to support your response. 2, provide one example of a specific value-added service, and demonstrate the fundamental manner in which the service in question would correspond to market entry or competitive strategy. 3, Analyze the concept of a cost leadership strategy. Determine two specific challenges of using a cost leadership strategy successfully in healthcare. Suggest two actions that management could take in order to mitigate these challenges. 4, Distinguish between vertical and horizontal integration. Provide one example of the successful implementation of each within a healthcare organization. 

Access the website for the Innocence Project and the link on the site regarding misidentification of criminal suspects:View the video that discusses the Ronald Cotton case. After watching the video, write a one page reaction paper to the video that answers the following questions: 

Answer the following questions using the number associated and use at least one source for each:

1. Adham in the Key Concept Exercise (KCE) wrote that the organisation that he is working for uses only the financial perspective i.e. financial data to evaluate the organisation.

\” In relation to WE Refresh, the coffee distribution company I work for can also use a range of financial indicators to assess the companies performance. The acid test can be used which divides the companies (current asset stock) by the liabilities (Key Concept: Measuring organizational performance, pp.3). This would indeed show the companies liquidity ratio and likelihood and repaying their debts if any (Key Concept: Measuring organizational performance, pp.3). Also a Return on Capital Employed analysis can be conducted by dividing the profit before any interest added or taxes by the current capital employed. This analysis would show the profit earned from the investments that shareholders have made in the organization (Key Concept: Measuring organizational performance,pp.3). This analysis also incorporated the stakeholders expectations into the model, which give a very accurate result (Key Concept:Measuring organizational performance, pp.3). \”

Please do comment on what may be missing in the evaluation that is conducted by WE Refresh, by focusing only on the financial data? If you were to implement BSC in this organisation, how would you go about doing it??

2. Fawzi in the Key Concept Exercise (KCE) has mentioned the idea of \”Performance Management System (PMS)\” , in the context of measurement systems.

\”Performance measurement system for organizations, it is the challenge, takes into account not only possess a sustainable competitive advantage, but he predicted the external variables of the body, and to make sure the march established on the right path set by the vision and mission. \”

This made me wonder how we can align the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of employees to be aligned to (A) the BSC measures and (B) the strategy of the organisation. The expected performance of the employee on different dimensions are called KPIs. 🙂

In my view the \’strategy\’ of the business should dictate the \’BSC\’ , which in turn should influence the \’KPIs\’. Can we have some examples please?

3. Lionel in the Key Concept Exercise (KCE) below has mentioned the idea of Employee Performance Appraisal being somehow connected to the BSC (Balanced Score Card). He has mentioned 360 degree performance appraisal as a means of appraising employees.

In my view the \’strategy\’ of the business should dictate the \’BSC\’ , which in turn should influence the \’KPIs\’. Can we have some examples please? We can start thinking about it from the standpoint of 2 generic competitive strategies i.e. cost leadership and differentiation. In another post I have suggested that the class please comment on how the BSC would be different for each of 3 generic competitive strategies, this post is taking it a step further by making you think what kind of performance appraisal will help implement the chosen strategy?

Post classical societies (Byzantine, Islamic, Chinese, India) sought to rebuild social and political order following the end of the classical period.However, for many of these civilizations the process of rebuilding was cut short by invasions and conquests of Turkish and Mongol peoples. Between the years 1000 CE to 15000 CE, did the conquests of the Turkish and Mongol people have an overall positive or negative effect on the world? In your answer compare and contrast the positive and negative consequences of Turkish and Mongol conquest and rule.Consider the social, political, economic, and cultural consequences of the invasions and rule.Also consider different perspectives in your answer. 2-4 pages (2 FULL PAGES)Double spacedSize 12 font  

Assignment 1: Using the First Person in Research WritingThe use of personal pronouns (I, my, or we) in scholarly writing is an area of great contention in academia. Some say that the use of personal pronouns is a way of asserting your writer\’s voice. However, others will discount the use of personal pronouns as inappropriate.Your course textbook (Ridley, 2008) suggests that one way to assert your writer\’s voice is to use personal pronouns in your scholarly writings. Additionally, the APA Style Manual recommends using \”I\” rather than the third person. However, the use of personal pronouns is often discouraged in academic writings.In this assignment, you will explore the pros and cons of using personal pronouns in research writing.Tasks:On the basis of the course readings and the literature that you have reviewed for this course, in a minimum of 200 words, post your responses to the following:Submission Details:

 use line spacing of 1.15 or 1.5 only.Create 4 separate word files for 4 questions. length of each document should be 3 pages worth matter and include references in the 4th page. (1 document = 4 pages) 

Project description
Literature was explored in assignment two regarding two potential research topics of interest. Based on these readings and instructor feedback, choose one research topic to further explore for the remainder of this course. Continue searching the literature to identify an additional 5-7 scholarly sources (several of these sources may likely be from the list of selected articles or journals found in the Library Course Guide). Using these identified scholarly sources, develop a concept map to begin to organize the development of the literature review. The concept map should contain at least 3 to 5 themes/categorical names derived from the identified scholarly sources as related to the research topic. Avoid the identification of larger numbers of themes/categorical names as this may actually hinder the organization of the literature review. The concept map should aid in the development of a literature review in an efficiently organized manner.

Remember, in addition to using the pre-reviewed journals found in the Library Course Guide, try searching online databases as well as reviewing reference lists in journal articles already obtained to locate potential additional resources. Use only search filters involving \”Scholarly Peer Reviewed Journals\” when searching for sources with online databases. The majority of scholarly sources selected should be contemporary or published within the last five years, only older seminal studies providing important foundational information about the topic should be included. Use only original sources or sources created by the original author, rather than secondary sources explaining the research of others. Following this procedure will support the relevancy and timeliness of the research topics. For each identified peer-reviewed source, critically evaluate it to determine the applicability with the chosen research topic and accuracy of the results. If difficulty is experienced locating scholarly sources for the identified research topic, expand of broaden the topic (e.g., readings readiness in early childhood education to simply early childhood education or reading instruction with elementary students).

Length: 2 pages (one page concept map, second page references). If a Concept Map generator was used, ensure the assignment is submitted in a Word or Excel file.
———-
Added on 09.05.2016 11:38
Here is the last paper with topic that is mentioned and the resource for the concept map
Instruction files

hatchr_edr8100-2.docx(21,38 KiB)