Professor Kern

Small Business Management

Activity #1

Market Segmentation and Marketing Research are used in conjunction with a Marketing Strategy to formulate a Marketing Mix to pursue a specific target market.

1. Please participate in this discussion with your input on these factors and their significance in identifying your target market in the development of an effective Marketing Plan.

Activity #2

This week’s chapter readings identify several factors that contribute to the development of an effective Marketing Plan.

1. In a group discussion format, please discuss the factors that are considered in the development of a Marketing plan, and how they are manifested in the "Marketing Strategy Pyramid." (The Marketing Strategy Pyramid is discussed in Chapter 8, Figure 8, p30).

Managing Teams in Organizations

responses, are expected to be good, strong, detailed, well explained add supported responses.

Activity #1

You are the leader of a customer service improvement team that meets weekly at the end of the workday. Early in the team’s life, the team had some communications skills training. You closely follow the analysis and decision-making structures from the company’s Customer Service Improvement Manual. Over time, as the team has become more comfortable with analyzing quality problems and creating solutions, you have been using less structure in facilitating the team meetings.

However, you have begun to notice problems with the meetings. Not everyone is participating, and the discussions are becoming dominated by several of the older male team members. You have noticed that their critical personal remarks have tended to silence some of the women team members. An argument that took place several meetings ago has caused other team members to stop participating during the meetings. Also, discussions tend to drift off topic and seem like repeats of previous conversations.

1. What should the team leader do to get the team’s communications back on track?

2. What is the best way to handle problem team members during the meetings?

3. Does the team need more skills training, more communication structure, or outside facilitation? Justify your answer.

Activity #2

You are the team leader of a quality improvement team for your school district. For the past several months, the eight high school teachers on the team have analyzed problems and developed recommendations for improving the operation of the school system. You are proud of the team. They responded well to teamwork training and learned how to operate effectively as a team. In addition, social relations among the teachers on the team have been very good and several strong friendships have developed. You presented the recommendations developed by the team to the superintendent of the school district. After waiting for several weeks, the superintendent thanked you for your efforts but told you that none of the team’s recommendations would be implemented at this time because of budget constraints. You feel rejected by the superintendent and discouraged. It is time for your last team meeting. You need to prepare what you are going to tell the team.

1. How should you (the team leader) handle the last meeting with the team?

2. In what ways was the team successful and unsuccessful?

3. How can the organization better use improvement teams in the future?

Managing across Culture and borders

To Do:

- Read Chapter 2: "Social Responsibility and Ethics"

- Read "Case Study: Nike's CSR Challenge" on pages 66 - 68 and answer the case questions. Post answers to the questions in the Week 6 Discussion area and comment to at least one other student by Sunday, September 28 at midnight EST.

1. Discuss the challenges regarding corporate social responsibility that companies in the apparel industry face in their supply chains around the world.

2. Discuss the meaning and implications of the statement by a Nike representative that “consumers are not rewarding us for investments in improved social performance in supply chains.”

3. What does it mean to have an industry open-systems approach to social responsibility? What parties are involved? Who are the stakeholders?

4. What is meant by “leadership beyond borders?

5. Is it possible to have “a compatibility of profits with people and planet”? Whose responsibility is it to achieve that state?

Research Nike’s CSR actions since this time frame and why it has earned the reputation as one of the world’s foremost organizations in sustainability.

Strategy Management

In the Strategic Management online text, Chapter 9 explores executing strategy through a firm’s organizational design. The best formulated and implemented strategies must evolve as the internal structure changes. It is essential, therefore, that strategists systematically review and have knowledge of organizational structure and control.

Review Chapter 9 and the importance of creating an appropriate organizational structure to mirror the strategy so that the organization’s vision, mission, and goals can be achieved. The next step in strategy review and evaluation is the skillful use of organizational control systems.

Organizational control systems allow managers to track overall performance, see if there are any areas for concern, and then address those concerns. In Chapter 9, three basic types of control systems are discussed:

Output control

Behavioral control, and

Clan control

1. Discuss which type(s) of control is used in your organization and provide examples.

2. Also, can you see through the policies and procedures at UMUC and in this classroom which type of control is in effect? Discuss. How would you integrate each type of control into a college classroom (f2f or online) to maximize student learning?

3. Which type of control do you think works most effectively with you and why?

Learning Activity #2

Chapter 9 Discussion (Part 2)

1. Interpret the following statement: “Strategy review and evaluation allows an organization to take a proactive stance toward shaping its own future”.

2. In your view and based on your studies up to this point, how often should an organization’s vision/mission be changed in light of strategy evaluation activities?

3. Identify types of organizations (or industries) that may need to evaluate strategy more frequently than others. Which types of firms (or industries) can evaluate strategy less frequently? Explain your choices.