As a manager, you have been chosen to present to employees regarding your company’s new health insurance carrier with whom you have recently contracted. Research the various providers in Saudi Arabia and choose one for your company. Be sure to include the following:

What benefits the employees will obtain through this coverage;
How employees can utilize health insurance;
Differentiate between means of payment of health services;
Explain why this provider was chosen from other plans;
Describe the necessity of health coverage and how it benefits the company and employees; and
Compare and contrast this health insurance with that provided in other countries.

Your presentation should meet the following structural requirements:

Be organized, using professional themes and transitions.
Consist of 12 slides, plus the title and reference slides.
Each slide must provide detailed speakers notes—a minimum of 100 words. Notes must draw from and cite relevant reference materials.
Provide support for your statements with in-text citations from a minimum of four articles.

You have a tenured teacher on your faculty who is no longer meeting performance expectations. You recently completed her annual evaluation and noted the following issues:

She is regularly late to school.
Her students are underperforming academically.
Parents have complained that their children are bored in her class where she regularly spends the entire class period lecturing.
After you review the concerns with this teacher, she requests to have her union representative present at any future performance-based meetings.

For this assignment, you should prepare a performance improvement plan to help:

Address the performance issues.
Identify a timeline for performance improvement.
Note consequences that may be implemented if without improvement.
Include specific strategies you will use to include the union representative in the meeting(s).
Length: 5-7 pages, not including title and reference pages
References: A minimum of three scholarly resources

Critical thinking assignment power point:
As a manager, you have been chosen to present to employees regarding your company’s new health insurance carrier with whom you have recently contracted. Research the various providers in Saudi Arabia and choose one for your company. Be sure to include the following:
-Introduction
-What benefits the employees will obtain through this coverage;
-How employees can utilize health insurance;
-Differentiate between means of payment of health services;
-Explain why this provider was chosen from other plans;
-Describe the necessity of health coverage and how it benefits the company and employees; and
-Compare and contrast this health insurance with that provided in other countries.
-Conclusion

Your presentation should meet the following structural requirements:

Be organized, using professional themes and transitions.
Consist of 9 slides, plus the title and reference slides.
Each slide must provide detailed speakers notes—a minimum of 100 words. Notes must draw from and cite relevant reference materials.
Provide support for your statements with in-text citations from a minimum of 6 scholarly articles. Follow APA writing standards.

ASSIGNMENT 08

Basic Biology

Directions: Be sure to save an electronic copy of your answer before submitting it to Ashworth College for grading. Unless otherwise stated, answer in complete sentences, and be sure to use correct English, spelling and grammar. Sources must be cited in APA format. Your response should be four (4) double-spaced pages; refer to the “Assignment Format” page located on the Course Home page for specific format requirements.

Discuss the applications of each of following in biology today and include three examples of each with a brief description.

a. DNA in forensic science

b. Population evolution and microbial life

c. Biological diversity evolution

d. Plant and animal evolution

e. Population growth

f. Biomeds and ecosystems

Skloot begins the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, with the following quote from Elie Wiesel: “We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph.”

1) Analyze the film, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, in light of this quote.

2) Explain the various ways in which both the scientific community and the media are guilty of having viewed Henrietta and her family as abstractions. What are the consequences of this perspective?

3) How is Skloot’s different perspective evident in the way she conducted her research and wrote the book showcased in the film?

The Case in this course is an ongoing exercise, meaning that we will continue to review one company over the course of our four modules. In Module 3, we will be conducting a strategic analysis of Pepsico.

Specifically, the Module 3 Case requires that you identify the primary business strategy employed by Pepsico. You will also be providing a critical, written analysis evaluating that strategy in the context of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats you identified in Module 2.

Required Reading
Refer to the required and optional readings related to strategic choices, the theme of Module 3.

Case Assignment
In a 6- to 8-page paper, respond to the following:

Which of the four generic (Porter) strategies does Pepsico follow, and how do you know?
Integrate the strategy you have identified above with the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats you identified in Module 2 (this exercise should provide you with some specific actions the company should be taking relative to its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. These actions are referred to as “strategic choices”). Do Pepsico’s strategic choices align with the firm’s generic strategy? If not, what are the specific points of disconnect? Think critically about this step, as no company achieves perfect alignment of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats with its chosen strategy. As the MBA, it is your job to uncover the discrepancies and problems.
How can Pepsico leverage its strengths and shore up its weaknesses by altering its strategic choices? How can the company take advantage of environmental opportunities and minimize environmental threats by altering its strategic choices? Be specific.
Complete the paper by commenting on how your view of Pepsico’s vision and mission has changed or has been reconfirmed by this process of strategic analysis. Would you make any suggestions to revise the company’s vision, mission, or values statements, or to any of its goals/objectives?
5. Consider the Case as a formal business report that you are developing for the Board of Directors and CEO as Pepsico’s consultant. This is a professional document. Follow the format below:

Executive summary: This is a synopsis of the main points, conclusions, and recommendations made in the longer report. If you would like a refresher on writing an executive summary, check this website: http://www.csun.edu/~vcecn006/summary.html
Introduction: State the main purpose of the paper (thesis statement), what you hope to accomplish, and how you will go about doing it.
Main Body: The “meat” of the paper. Emphasize analysis, not just description. Delineate separate topics or sections with headings.
Conclusion: Summarize your paper in light of your thesis statement.

Assignment Expectations
Your paper will be evaluated using the grading rubric.

Tips and Suggestions

Business school case-study assignments are meant to offer practice opportunities for future business people who are earning their MBA degrees. Consider yourself a consultant hired by the company to make these critical assessments. There are no right or wrong answers to the Case question, as long as your position is well defended.
Study the theoretical concepts provided in the Background materials section of the module, and identify main strategy concepts.
Include a cover page and reference page, in addition to the 6-8 pages of analysis described above.
Include section headings as appropriate.
Cite and reference all sources, including those that you paraphrase. This means include citations and quotation marks for direct quotes of more than five words, and citations for information you have “borrowed” or paraphrased from other sources.
Follow Trident Guidelines for Well-Written Papers.

BACKGROUND
In Module 3, we will concentrate our efforts on strategic alternatives at the corporate, business, and functional levels. Companies follow strategies at each of these levels, as well as at the global level.

At the functional level, strategies are short term in nature, and refer to company functions such as marketing, manufacturing, materials management, customer service, and R&D.
At the business level, strategies are of medium range. They include the company’s market positioning, geographic locations, and distribution channels.
At the corporate level, strategies are long term, and include options such as horizontal and vertical integration, diversification, strategic alliances, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
Click on the link for a presentation on Strategic Choices by Professor Anastasia Luca.

Competitive Advantage
In this module, we will focus on the strategic options available to companies at the business level. Companies select business strategies to obtain Sustained Competitive Advantage (SCA) against competitors. Read about SCA here:

Competitive advantage (2007). Quick MBA. Retrieved on August 29, 2014

SCAs are advantages that cannot be easily copied or imitated by competitors. A few years ago, strategists talked in terms of Porter’s generic strategies (basically cost and differentiation). Read about Porter’s generic strategies here:

Porter’s generic strategies. (2007). Quick MBA. Retrieved on August 29, 2014

Today, we have four distinct strategies we use to analyze strategic options, although there are various approaches to achieving these strategies. They are:

Cost Leadership
Differentiation
Niche/Focus
Preemptive Move (or first-mover advantage)
Cost leadership
Most people think of economies of scale when they think of low-cost strategies. McDonald’s and Wal-Mart notwithstanding, high volume is not the only way to achieve low prices. Here are some other approaches to implementing a low-cost strategy:

No frills: Southwest Airlines eschewed big airports and cut costs by flying to smaller airports. Competitors such as Delta and American were too heavily invested in the hub business model to change.

Product design: Masonite developed an alternative to expensive wood products by using sawdust and woodchips. Telecommunications companies now “bundle” their products, offering cable/satellite TV, high-speed Internet and telephone service for one low price. Hershey’s shrank the chocolate bar to keep from raising its low price.

Operational economies: Companies can save money by eliminating high costs in the value chain. For example, a company such as Amazon can reduce its costs by reducing the rate of customer returns. Clearly, mass sales or mass production serve to increase economies of scale as the company’s operations become increasingly efficient.

Economies of Scale: With higher sales, fixed costs such as R&D, overhead, advertising, and even legal support can be spread over a larger revenue base.

Experience: Costs decline at a predictable rate with a firm’s accumulated experience. Such declines are attributed to the learning curve, technological improvements, and product redesign resulting in product and process efficiencies.

Here is another way of looking at low-cost strategies:

Scilly, M. (2015). Examples of cost leadership and strategy marketing. Small Business Chron.

Differentiation Strategies
If a company positions itself as offering a product or service that is different from its competitors in a way that customers value, it is following a differentiation strategy.

A successful differentiation strategy will create customer value that is perceived as such by the customer. Many so-called “new-and-improved” products have fallen flat because the customer simply didn’t care. In addition, a successful differentiation strategy will only build Sustained Competitive Advantage to the degree that it is difficult to copy.

There are many ways to add value to any aspect of a business through differentiation:

Ingredients/components: Healthier, “greener,” longer-lasting ingredients/materials (e.g., Maytag appliances, Healthy Choice frozen dinners).
Product offering: Better-designed products (new generation products).
Combining products: Two is better than one (e.g., Colgate 2 in 1 toothpaste and mouthwash).
Added services: Extra services beyond the basic purpose of the product or service (e.g., concierge service with American Express cards).
Breadth of Product Line: Extra convenience in dealing with fewer vendors (e.g., Wal-Mart offers one-stop shopping, eliminating the need to go to multiple stores).
Channel: Offering items or services through a medium or channel unavailable in that form anywhere else (e.g., eBay offers instant access to hundreds of individuals worldwide, simultaneously or asynchronously).
Design: Product or service is unique (e.g., bed-and-breakfasts offer a more ”homey” alternative to standardized hotel rooms).
In general, there are two ways to build SCA through differentiation strategies. Most of the methods of adding value mentioned above can be related to either quality or brand recognition.

Quality Strategy: In this type of differentiation, a company tries to set its product/service apart on the basis of superior quality. It is probably the most widely used method of attaining Sustained Competitive Advantage. Usually, quality means superior performance, and a premium brand as opposed to discount or economy brands. Such top-of-the-line offerings command a high price tag. However, quality does not always mean expensive. Both Mercedes (expensive) and VW (less expensive) connote high-quality German engineering.

Branding: Brands build SCA through customer familiarity, loyalty, and trust. Aspirin is aspirin, but Bayer continues to thrive against low-priced generics due to the power of the brand.

Blue Ocean: An Alternative Approach

A combination of low-cost and differentiation strategies has created a buzz in the recent business press. Known as “Blue Ocean” strategy, it is a new idea that challenges the standard classifications of strategy.

The following is the official Blue Ocean website. Check out some of the links to view the tools and frameworks for Blue Ocean strategic planning:

Kim, W. C. and Mauborgne, R. (2009), What is BOS? Nine key points of Blue Ocean Strategy.
Niche or Focus strategies are really variations of a cost or differentiation (or both) strategy, only concentrating the company’s efforts on a single or limited product or market. By focusing its efforts, the firm is able to realize the following advantages:

Avoid distraction or dilution: All of the firm’s efforts are directed toward a single end, and competitive pressures are diminished. All company resources and capabilities are matched to the market needs, creating SCA (remember RBV?).
Maximize limited resources: When resources are tight, they will go farther and create a greater impact when the target is limited.
Circumvent competitors’ resources and capabilities: By operating in a niche market, say, private-label manufacturing, a firm does not have to contend with the big advertising and distribution capacities of the brand names. Competitive pressures are diminished overall as there are likely to be fewer competitors.
Establish a unique identity: Offering a narrow product line, or operating in a limited geographic area can confer a certain cachet. In-N-Out Burger, for example, competes successfully with the huge fast food franchises by refusing to offer anything but hamburgers, made with the freshest site-prepared ingredients, in California, Nevada and Arizona only.
There are basically three ways a firm can establish a focus strategy. It can concentrate on one of these approaches, or a combination.

Focusing the product line: Firms that focus their product line often do so because they possess some expertise and special interest that often translates into technical superiority. These products excite and electrify. Take Bose Corporation, for example. It manufactures a small line of exceedingly high-quality audio products that are based on astonishing technology. If Bose broadened its offerings to all kinds of consumer electronics, it would run the risk of sliding into mediocrity with ho-hum products.

Targeting market segments: This is essentially “snob appeal” broadly defined. Gucci handbags target high-end fashionistas, Harley-Davidson targets rebellious non-conformists (at least in their own minds), and Castrol motor oil, which is not even sold in service stations, targets independent male do-it-yourselfers.

Limited geographic area: We have already considered In-N-Out Burger, but many other products are conferred a kind of cachet because you cannot get them just anywhere. Other examples include small breweries (e.g., Shiner Beers in Texas), coffee shops (independent and locally owned), or bakeries (Tim Hortons donuts in Canada and the northeast United States).

For another take on niche strategies, including some important caveats about potential pitfalls, read:

Iansiti, M. and Levien, R. (2004). Strategy for small fish. Harvard Business School Working Knowledge.

Preemptive Strategy
By being the first entrant into a new market or business area, a firm can establish competencies or assets that competitors are not able to copy or develop on their own. The first-mover advantage can create high switching costs for customers, erect high barriers to entrance for competitors, and tie up contracts with suppliers. Thus, a preemptive strategy can confer SCAs both from internal and external sources.

Preemptive strategies are usually implemented in one of three ways:

Product opportunities: The first product offered in a new market can generate advantages in terms of dominant position that can be hard for competitors to later dislodge or overcome. A company can establish the “standard” for an industry, such as Intel did with microprocessors and Microsoft with operating systems. Of course, firms must continue investment in improvements lest an upstart come up with a “better mousetrap.”

Production systems: When a firm invents a better or more efficient production system that expands capacity, reduces cost and/or improves quality, they have created SCA.

Customer advantages: First movers have an advantage with customers—creating brand loyalty and increasing switching costs. Customers become used to a familiar product or brand and see no reason to switch. Some companies get customers to make long-term commitments—as in long contracts for the latest in iPhone or BlackBerry technology. Banks may vie to get first-mover advantage in online banking because such systems involve substantial switching costs for customers who pay all their bills online. Here is a brief article discussing the first-mover advantage in practice:

Liang, T., Czaplewski, A., Klein, G., & Jiang, J. (2009). Leveraging first-mover advantages in internet-based consumer services. Communications of the ACMe, 52(6), 146-148. Retrieved on August 29, 2014 from ProQuest.

Optional Reading
Akan, O., Allen, R. S., Helms, M. M., & Spralls, S.A. (2006). Critical tactics for implementing porter’s generic strategies. The Journal of Business Strategy, 27(1), 43-53. Retrieved on August 29, 2014 from ProQuest.

Ormanidhi, O., & Stringa, O. (2008). Porter’s model of generic competitive strategies. Business Economics, 43(3), 55-64. Retrieved from EBSCO – Business Source Complete.

Food is an indicator of cultural identity and change. In fact, many scholars consider food an expression of national identity. Considering the example of what many consider the most traditional American national dish, answer the following question using key definitions related to this topic and included in the course textbook, including but not limited to cultural diffusion and its two major types: expansion diffusion and relocation diffusion (including the most relevant example of relocation diffusion: “The Columbian Exchange”), globalization, acculturation, etc.:

Using the example of Hamburger and French Fries (USA), can this traditional American dish be considered an expression of globalization?

Any geographically-based essay must answer three broad questions: Where? Why? (and how?), and, So what? (or, why is this important?). For example, where is located the center of domestication of the plants and animals (ingredients) included in a hamburger (cattle (beef, cheese), wheat (bread), lettuce, tomato (fresh, ketchup), onion, mustard) and French Fries (potato)? Why (and how) were these ingredients introduced to the country where this dish was developed (USA)? The “So what?” or, in other words, “why is this important?” question is an overview of the principle elements that can explain how this recipe was developed in this country and must include a conclusions paragraph of your analysis. To find out the origin of the ingredients that make up this dish you should use the map Center of Plant and Animal Domestication included at the end of this document (Getis et al. 2008).

Your answer should reflect knowledge of the topic applying the concepts learned in our course, and, most importantly, using your own words. It is not allowed to work in teams. Explain your answer in NO less than 500 words and no more than 800 words. Essays that are less than 500 words in total will lose points. The word count does not include your name, PID, the title of your essay, Bibliography, or if you copy the question posed in your work.

Remember that you must cite the course textbook in your essay, as well as in a separate Bibliography page (textbook complete citation available in the course syllabus). In case you use an external source, you must cite this/these source/s in the text, using parenthesis at the end of the sentence using quotation marks if it is a direct quote, include the last name/s of the author/s, year of publication and the page number (i.e., Neumann 2013: 63). If you are using an external source writing this information in your own words, then you must cite at the end of the sentence, using parenthesis, the last name/s of the author/s and the year of publication (i.e., Neumann and Price 2013). All sources cited in your essay must also be included in a separate page on a Bibliography/Reference section at the end of your essay. See note at the end of this file regarding plagiarism issues.
You must post your answer to this question by uploading your work to the Turnitin.com link provided before the deadline to receive full credit.

NOTE # 1: Late work will be accepted but will incur in a 10-point deduction per week it is late and starting on the following day after the deadline (Sunday at 12:00 AM). No late work will be accepted after Thursday, July 26.

NOTE # 2: Your answer must be your own, original thoughts. If you plagiarize your thoughts from a website, journal, or any other source, not only you will be sad because you cannot write the small number of words of your own, but because you will also earn a failing grade in the course.

NOTE # 3: You must format your work according to the required Technical Aspects described in the course syllabus: a) 12-point font (Arial, Times New Roman, Garamond, or Book Antiqua); one-inch margins all around; double-spaced; and, number the pages. Any written assignment that does not include all the required technical aspects will receive a 10-point deduction in their grade.

Please do not forget to reference the map as stated in the 3rd paragraph of the directions. The reference for the map is listed in the bibliography below.

Course Textbook: Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts by Harm J. de Blij, Peter O. Muller
Wiley, 14th Edition, 2010

Bibliography:
Getis, A., Getis, J. and J. Fellmann. 2008. Introduction to geography. New York: McGraw Hill.

Answers must be well thought, and detailed.

2. What are the demand schedule and the demand curve, and how are they related? Why does the demand curve slope downward?
3. Does a change in consumers’ tastes lead to a movement along the demand curve or to a shift in demand curve? Does a change in price lead to a movement along the demand curve or to a shift in demand curve? Explain your answers.
5. What are the supply schedule and the supply curve, and how are they related? Why does the supply curve slope upward?
7. Define the equilibrium of a market. Describe the forces that move a market toward all a good with an income elaits equilibrium.
8. Beer and pizza are complements because they are often enjoyed together. When the price rises, what happens to the supply, demand, quantity suppled, quantity demanded, and price in the market for pizza?
9. Describe the role of prices in market economics?

3. If the elasticity is greater than 1, is demand elastic or inelastic? If the elasticity equals zero, is demand perfectly elastic or perfectly inelastic?
4. On a supply-and-demand diagram show equilibrium price, equilibrium quantity, and the total revenue received by producers.
6. What do we call a good with an income elasticity less than zero?

Mankiw, N. G. (2016). Principles of Economics (8th ed.). New Delhi: Cengage Learning.

Week 1:

In order to properly implement a strategic plan, organizations use structure, various control systems (budgets, variance analysis, policies and procedures, company rules), and culture.

Let us revisit General Mills and determine the relative effectiveness of the company’s strategic controls. Choose two implementation controls, and discuss whether or not you believe the controls you’ve selected effectively support the company’s strategic choices. Be sure to defend your answer (critical thinking is required)!

Be sure that you respond to the postings of your classmates.

Week 2:

Respond to the following:

As you’ve learned from the background readings, a key strategic control is that of organizational culture. Culture must fit with an organization’s strategic choices. Poor alignment between culture and strategic choice is a sure-fire way to doom any strategic choice.

Of course, some organizational theorists would assert that an organization’s culture cannot be “managed” in the truest sense of how one “manages” the processes and activities and things that exist within an organization. David Campbell (2000, p. 28) says that an organization

Is being constructed continuously on a daily, even momentary [italics added], basis through individual interactions with others. The organization never settles into an entity or a thing that can be labelled and described, because it is constantly changing, or reinventing itself, through the interactions going on within it. [At the same time, an organization] does have a certain character to it, such that, like driving on the motorway, not just anything goes (p. x).

Do you agree or disagree with the above? That is, can culture really be “managed”? What might this interpretation mean in the context of our current discussion related to “strategic controls”?

A few comments on the above: Many individuals believe that, while the notion of “culture” can be defined, no single individual (irrespective of his/her legitimate power) is capable of single-handedly moving an organization’s culture in one direction or another. These individuals suggest that the sheer number of formal and informal groups, structures, tasks, functional operations, and individual interactions that exist and occur within organizations (even moderate-sized ones) render the “management” of culture impossible (consider the potential number – and combination – of individual to individual, individual to group, and group to group interactions that are likely to occur within an organization at each and every moment (and then, there are endless numbers of contacts / interactions with external stakeholders as well). The possibilities are seemingly infinite — or at least they are indefinite. In this view, an organization’s culture is abstract, fragmentary, fluid — and even relative and momentary – how can such a thing be “managed” in the same sense that we “manage” people and organizational processes?

Reference:

Campbell, D. (2000). The socially constructed organization. London: Karnac Books