Amazon.com Competitive Strategies

Introduction Uncertainty always reigns in the minds of managers when it comes to deciding what impact is brought about by the competitive strategies utilized by the managers. This uncertainty is even more when firms operate in new environments such as the e-ecommerce platform.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Amazon.com Competitive Strategies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The fact that there are a growing number of firms joining the e-commerce environment is ground enough to establish strategies that would enable a firm compete effectively in the new environment. Understanding the strategies which would be usable in attaining value in e-commerce is a priority among e-businesses (Filson 2004). Amazon.com being a leading online retailer for books is an e-business which has over the time positioned itself strategically to remain relevant and competitive in a dynamically evolving environment. Amazon.com: Overview Amazon.com was founded by Jeff Bezos, who is also the current CEO of the company, in July 1995; however, the company started operating as a public firm in 1997. Amazon.com began as an online bookstore but then entered the music store field in June 1998. These services and goods, and others which Amazon.com has ventured in, are offered on retail basis hence making the firm an outstanding internet retailer (Filson 2004). It is important to note some of the major competitors of Amazon.com include Barnes Noble and eBay among others. Compared to its competitors i.e. including even the early competitors, Amazon.com’s market value has remained larger thus making the company always stand out in performance. While the main competitors experienced fall in their market value after their peak in the late 1990s, Amazon.com’s value has been clearly outstanding (Filson 2004). Competitive Strategies Amazon.com realized that the theory of increasing sales as a general strategy for the competitiveness of a business was not enough in the e-tailing environment. In realization that exploring other product lines may increase a firm’s competitive position, Amazon.com has pursued other lines of business including â€Å"1-Click ordering and zShops†.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More These shopping devices eased shopping by offering shoppers more information since categorization of products has been made possible. In addition, 1-Click payment feature for instance offers recommendations on books or music which may be related to the customer’s search. This has eventually led to an increase in value. Since the above strategies are not price-based, Amazon’s competitors have found it challenging to imitate (Datamonitor 2011). This is because technology used to develop such features is usually patented, thus barring competitors from imitating the technology. As for zShops and auctions, Amazon strategically benefitted in that others were offered an opportunity to utilize Amazon’s technologies. Shopping at Amazon.com has been made easier by use of these shopping devices as well as utilizing actions. Amazon.com also realizes that expanding product lines does not necessarily translate into increased market value. Instead, the firm identifies that specific line of products achieve this. These include â€Å"small, high value/weight objects such as books, electronics, health and beauty products, music, toys and games, and videos† (Filson 2004, p.152). By going into these lines of business, Amazon.com has remained at the top of its competitors as far as market value is considered. Other than its official www.amazon.com website, Amazon also increases its global presence by offering its products on other websites available internationally. For instance, in its formative years, Amazon.com formed promotional alliances with prominent portals such as Yahoo and Netscape among others. Promotional services as well as advertising through popular portals set Amazon.com apart competitively against its competitors, making Amazon.com defeat its rivals during its early years. Despite the fact that promotional services through major portals have lost value given Amazon.com’s stage of growth, it is no doubt that it was a vital tool in taking the firm where it is now in the e-marketing environment (O’Brien Shambora 2009).Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Amazon.com Competitive Strategies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Rivette and Kline (2000) emphasize that the emergence of intellectual property is a business competiveness tool in today’s business world. Other than boosting the overall competitiveness of an organization, Rivette and Kline (2000) say that patents have, of late, become avenues for enhancing financial markets and putting up a proprietary advantage. This is through the fact that patents help protect the uniqueness of a business system and reduce corporate risk. Novel ideas and technologies must be protected if modern businesses, especially ICT-based businesses, must capitalize on them to gain both strategically and competitively. The patenting of Amazon’s 1-Click system, which is a system that is used in order processing, was a competitive weapon established by the company back in 1999. This would later give Amazon leverage in a suit where Barnes Noble had infringed on the 1-Click system rights. Amazon won the case. Amazon is renowned for its constant stretching of its muscle into business lines which are completely new, thereby ending up disrupting the industries it joins. It can be termed as a firm which is adventurous even when they face failure. From an online bookstore to a music store, Amazon diversified into treadmills, cloud computing and toilet seats, just to nam e a few areas where it has ventured. Amazon has recently taken the challenge to Apple by coming up with Kindle, which is somewhat a competitor of the iPad. This is just an indication of how far Amazon is willing to adventure to ensure its sustainability given the current dynamism in the market (O’Brien Shambora 2009). In addition, Kindle’s e-reader tool is already enabling widening of the e-books space, thus making Amazon a dominant firm in the e-book market since its launch in 2007. It is recorded that book sales as enabled by Kindle exceeded the sale of hardcover books on www.amazon.com by July 2010. There have been more Kindle book purchases from Amazon website now than any of the two print books offered by Amazon. Amazon has therefore gained both competitive advantage and revenue generation through this revolutionary gadget (Datamonitor 2011). The virtue of Amazon being a leader in online retail business has already positioned it to reach a wide customer base. Thi s is something that is envied by its rivals.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More How Amazon.com’s has Created Superior Customer Value Amazon is a business of its kind and has of late attracted attention due to its trail of impressive growth. It has kept on embracing transformational growth sending its tentacles into different interests while still trying to retain an aspect of core business. Amazon started as an online book business and this was already very innovative as it was built around a changing customer value proposition bringing another view of the book industry (Burgelman Meza 2001). It then went beyond books to all kinds of consumer goods that could be easily shipped. Its view of core business at this time started changing from that of a product to a business design. Later the business ventured into commission-based brokerage to traders of used books and then to third party sellers. It was therefore no longer a sale only but a sales-and-service model. In 2002, the company then ventured into web services, a field in IT and very different from i ts shipping and trade facilitation business. Over 200,000 outside web developers were giving free help. 2007 saw Amazon set up lab 126 that launched its first product, the Kindle e-book reader threatening to disrupt the publishing industry. This saw 500,000 e-books for kids sold in the first year. E-books on Amazon are now a booming business and have greatly expanded. Today, Amazon offers world’s biggest selection and is seeking to be the most customer centric company. They offer millions of unique, new, used, and refurbished items in several categories like jewelry and watches, health, food, sports, books, electronics, toys and many other categories. Amazon has shown ability to find new opportunities to serve a different type of clientele or serve the same clientele in a new way and still retain value in the old business. Amazon.com: a case in point Amazon.com used internet as its only method of selling goods to its customers. It has some competitors like Barnes Noble and a lso Borders. There are also others like eBay and Google. The competitive advantage that Amazon.com has over Barnes and Noble is that its costs are significantly lower as the competitors use brick and mortar as their distribution channel (Brandenburger Nalebuff 1996). Amazon.com has no storefronts and the main distribution warehouse can be located anywhere even away from densely populated areas where other conventional businesses would like to have their stores located. This allows Amazon to pay cheaper in terms of rent as it locates its warehouse in low rent areas. Due to the various ways in which Amazon is able to avoid costs, it is able to deliver items at prices lower than market prices and still generate profit. Other competing online booksellers are unable to deliver services as those of Amazon due to its recent boom, and its cost efficient way to shop for goods (Leschly Sahlman 2008). Despite the attempts to use internet to sell their books, the competitors have not been abl e to overcome the overwhelming reputation of Amazon. However, there are other new entrants who are gaining popularity and who are now real threats to Amazon’s business. Google is one such business whose entry into the market attracted overwhelming interest from customers. The market is therefore showing stiffer competition since Google is a well known and well connected competitor. The current trend of Amazon makes it difficult to classify its business model. Instead it seems to be combining different models and no single one is sufficient to entirely sustain competitive advantage. It could also be said that it has created a new business model. This new business model uses the synergy of various benefits to create value for the customers. Some of these benefits are: shopping convenience, speed, discounted pricing, ease of purchase, wide selection, reliability of order fulfillment and lots of information that enable decision making (Campbell Collins 2010). Sustainability of A mazon’s Strategies In its operational strategy, Amazon has managed to enhance its competitive strategy through cost leadership, customer differentiation, and focus strategies. Rather than talk of core business, Amazon would rather talk of core capabilities and world class core assets. It is seen to make calculated moves in transforming capacities into profit centers. Elastic compute cloud As one of its recent models Amazon ventured into leasing computing horsepower over the web which is a very welcome solution for those in businesses that will require buying of servers. It is an equivalent of leasing a server at a cost of $876 per year or at a cost of ten cents each hour (Leschly Sahlman 2008). These kinds of diverse investments are part of what made eyebrow rise on Wall Street. They wondered why, despite Amazon spending billions of dollars developing its business model, it could venture into such businesses that are far not related to the core business. It shows Amazon does understand that the solution to sustained success is business model innovation. While many see Amazon as over committing its capacity into new ventures, others see that any of these ventures could grow into blockbuster businesses like the e-Books sector. The logic behind expansion of product range Amazon’s case can in one way be seen as that of William’s Inc. William’s Inc. is a steel pipe manufacturer that ventured into manufacture of pipes that transport internet. In the view of the company the concept in the business is the same and in little wonder, both areas are vastly profitable. Amazon’s venture into a variety of products is firstly to exploit its distribution systems maximally (Campbell Collins 2010). Most of the products that Amazon sells will use the same concept in distribution as that used in the book business. Just as many companies would enjoy the benefits of economies of scale, so is the case of Amazon. The question may arise if some pro ducts like the Electronic Compute Cloud are still in this category. Companies sometimes want to harness their core capacities and capabilities in a way that not only sees the use of the resources but also in ways that are profitable and innovative. Product and customer differentiation are strength to the company. Conclusion It is one thing to build a successful business at a particular time and another to build a business that is successful in all times (Boyd 2002). It therefore calls for business managers to keep evaluating if they are remaining relevant in times of change or if they will be phased out by newer competitive businesses. It calls for continuous business process reinvention and other strategies that will keep the business relevant to its customers at all times. Amazon is not only an example of a business exploiting innovative business models but one that has no limits in the way they create profit centers. It is an example of a business reinventing its processes to sui t changing circumstances of environment, client needs, and economy. It can be seen as logical to have one profit center still so efficient when the others are hit by inevitable circumstances. Amazon constantly changing business models can be seen as an ingenious strategy to remain relevant to customers (Byers 2006). At such times when even customer preferences change so fast, Amazon is still able to prove itself efficient and a good preference to customers. Businesses should therefore make calculated moves without fear to venture into some innovative products as this will help bring them to a new level of competitiveness. Amazon can be said to be enjoying the benefits of value creation through shopping convenience, speed, and ease of purchase among other benefits. Its business model is a unique one that has seen some other businesses try to mimic and is a potential blockbuster business maker. Reference List Boyd, A., 2002. The goals, questions, indicators, measures (GQIM) approach t o the measurement of customer satisfaction with e-commerce Web sites. Aslib Proceedings, 54(3), 177-187. Brandenburger, A. M., Nalebuff, B. J., 1996. Competition. Journal of Innovation, 12(3), 6 Burgelman, R. A., Meza, P., 2001. Amazon.com: Evolution of the e-Tailer. Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Case No. SM-83, 32-34 Byers, A., 2006. Jeff Bezos: the founder of Amazon.com. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group. Campbell, M., Collins, A., 2010. In search of innovation, in: The CPA Journal, 71(4), 26-35 Datamonitor, 2011 Sept 29. Amazon.com, Inc.: Company profile. Datamonitor. Filson, D., 2004. The impact of E-commerce strategies on firm value: Lessons from Amazon.com and its early competitors. Journal of Business, 77(2), 135-154. Leschly, S., Sahlman, W. A., 2008. Amazon.com – 2005. HBS Case No. 9-803-098, p45 O’Brien, J., Shambora, J., 2009. Amazon’s next revolution. (Cover story). Fortune, 159, 12: 68-76. Business Source Premier, EBS COhost. Rivette, K., Kline, D., 2000. Discovering new value in intellectual property. Harvard Business Review [serial online], 78(1):54-66. Available from: Business Source Premier, Ipswich, MA. This report on Amazon.com Competitive Strategies was written and submitted by user Emery Yang to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Permanent Midnight Response essays

Permanent Midnight Response essays Response Paper to Permanent Midnight. This movie starts off with Jerry and Kitty in bed. They apparently met in rehab. Kitty seems very interested in Jerrys life and how it he has gotten to where he is now. Not much is said about her life throughout the movie. Jerry starts off with telling Kitty he moved to L.A. to get away from drugs. He later married a friends friend so she could get a green card. Slowly the woman he married starts liking him. But he seems like hes not interested. She asks him to stay one night and he makes up an excuse to leave. Then she asks him to move in since they are married and all and he passes again. In the meantime, he is getting worse and worse on drugs. He cant afford them so he begins to steal them from his friend Nicky. While at Nickys one day, Jerrys sister calls to tell him his mother has died. He flies home and cleans up her blood. Then just flies back to L.A. I dont understand this part. When he got back to L.A. he went to a bar. At the bar his show was on and he heard a lady tell the bartender to turn it off because it was bad. This intrigued him. He then approaches her. They ended up having sex, then he found out she had a husband. They also do drugs together to make the sex better. I think he approached this woman because she didnt like his show and he felt he didnt have to be perfect around her as he felt around everyone else. He then goes back to Sandras house and asks if he can stay there. Thats when he moves in with her. I think he begins to feel lonely. The movie then switches back to the girl in the motel room. She is freaked out that he would have sex with one girl, then go home to his wife. She begins to leave, but he tells her he doesnt want her too. He admits he doesnt even know her name. I think he begins to realize that he has feel...

Sticky fingers Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sticky fingers - Case Study Example This paper explores an ethical issue faced by the retail store and will analyze checkpoints that can help in resolving the business ethical situation at hand. The case at hand presents a business environment where moral reasoning and evaluations are based on moral sensitivity. Even though there arises a moral issue, tolerance of moral ambiguity and disagreement is observed at managerial level. Management is seen processing moral judgments through efforts to integrate moral competence with managerial proficiency. b. Todd who has served the retail store for three consecutive years as a salesman was found responsible for security control on the day the theft took place. This has become evident from the videotapes of closed-circuit TV placed within the premises. d. Mike, loss prevention/security manager, has conducted lie-detector tests to determine which employee is guilty of the underlying theft. His investigations have proven that Todd is the only employee who has failed the test. e. Todd’s employment files have revealed misleading information regarding his previous workplace. Sworn bonding forms as well his application forms do not match with the given information. This step is harshly taken against the store’s rules and can result in immediate termination. b. Whistle blowing and misleading top management regarding an employee is another ethical misconduct exhibited by Mike, the security manager. He purposely is seen pressurizing Susan, manager of the retail store, to explore any unethical issue in Todd’s employment files so as to fire him. c. Better performance evaluation report can be achieved by Mike in case of closing internal theft case on Todd. This extrinsic reward is pushing Mike to conduct whistle blowing and misleading top management against Todd. a. Thorough re-investigation of the store’s theft can be undertaken to effectively find out the

Wk11(31)disc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Wk11(31)disc - Essay Example However, in saying that she went to Baylor Medical Center Emergency room, someone could check the date and probably find out who she was if they were looking. This is one area where the clients confidentially is compromised. Also, stating the entire information about the trial, the fact that it was "lengthy" and the fact that the stepfather denied having done anything wrong would possibly be traceable to a well publicized court case. It is not necessary in this writers opinion to give all the details of the rape. Although it is important to note that she comes to the counseling session because of "anxiety, hypervigilence, nightmares, flashbacks of the rape, and ruminative guilt" are what should be emphasized in the report instead of the exact details of the rape. Also, the report is not written in a professional manner but has the tone of someone wanting to make sure all the "juicy details" are present in the report. According to Nail (1990) an intake interview should have enough relevant information to lead the counselor towards a conclusion about the type of therapeutic interventions that are needed. In order to do this, it is important to organize the data into a logical structure and to develop it chronologically (Nail, 1990). In this sense, the information about the rape should have been categorized differently and it should have been more professionally written. I would feel very uncomfortable showing this report to the client. I would think that they would be upset about all the details in it and this could escalate her anxiety. I think that the report reads like a soap opera rather than a formal intake review. Harvey (1997) states that reports can be readable and without much jargon so that anyone can understand them (p. 273) but this therapist was reporting more than was comfortable for this writer. I also think that the therapist may have been appalled at what

Gender leadership style in the workforce. Who is more respected Annotated Bibliography

Gender leadership style in the workforce. Who is more respected - Annotated Bibliography Example The study made use of eighty weekly interviews of top business executives conducted by Adam Bryan between 2010 and 2011 and consisted of 40 men and 40 women for the Corner Office series of the New York Times Sunday, business section. The study results include the use of personal power, emphasis on relationships by women (85%), encouragement and participation by both genders but not sharing influence and power, and the use of transformational leadership. The information is relevant to the research since it deals with gender and leadership at the workplace. The article will form part of the literature review through providing a basis for comparing gender roles in leadership. The article is focused on the leadership of business executives and is consistent with gender requirements using a representative sample and provides for depth and clear content analysis. Champions of gender equality: Female and Male executives as leaders of the gender change is an article authored by De Vries Anne with the aim of examining how male and female executives champion for gender change interventions. The article begins by examining the developments that have been witnessed on the gender front and the fight for equality among the different sexes. The role of business and organizations through its leaders is the other facet examined in the paper. The study achieves its aim using a feminist qualitative research methodology making gender central to the discussion and is conducted in a policing organization and Australian University. The study makes use of four interviews of senior personnel in the two organizations for data collection. The results of the study include the better positioning of men to champion for gender change, increased the burden on women fighting for gender change, but in gender change men are more effective compared to women. The information is relevant to the research in that it captures the role of leadership

Analysis of Strategic Management at Hotel

Analysis of Strategic Management at Hotel INTRODUCTION Why are some companies successful, while so many other businesses fail? Some organizations may just be lucky. They may have the right mix of products and/or services at the right time. But even if luck leads to success, it probably will not last. Most companies that are highly successful over the long term effectively acquire, develop, and manage resources and capabilities that provide competitive advantages. For example, McDonalds enjoys outstanding brand recognition and a world class operating system. Marriott enjoys these same benefits in the lodging industry. Successful companies have also learned how to develop and manage relationships with a wide range of organizations, groups, and people that have a stake in their firms. The emergence of a fiercely competitive global economy means that firms have to expand their networks of relationships and cooperate with each other to remain competitive. McDonalds investment in Chipotle was a cooperative venture. As Steve Ells, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Chipotle noted, Weve enjoyed our relationship with McDonalds since the beginning and appreciate the support theyve shown in funding Chipotles growth over the last seven years. Still, weve always operated independently, and that wont change as McDonalds Continues to reduce its investment in Chipotle and focuses on its core business. Strategic management is a process through which organizations analyze and learn from their internal and external environments, establish strategic direction, create strategies that are intended to move the organization in that direction, and implement those strategies, all in an effort to satisfy key stakeholders. Stakeholders are groups or individuals who can significantly affect or are significantly affected by an organizations activities. An organization defines who its key stakeholders are, but they typically include customers, employees, and shareholders or owners, among others. Although larger companies tend to use the strategic management process, this process is also a vital part of decision making in smaller companies. Firms practicing strategic planning processes tend to outperform their counterparts that do not. In fact, executives have reported higher levels of satisfaction with strategic management tools and ideas than with most other management tools. Furthermore, 81 percent of companies worldwide reported doing strategic planning. In North America, the figure was even higher (89 percent). Hospitality firms also benefit from strategic planning, as suggested by a recent study of hotels in the United Kingdom, which found that business performance was positively associated with the thoroughness, sophistication, participation, and formality of strategic planning processes. An example of how strategic analysis can help guide business strategy is shown in Starwood Hotels Resorts efforts to launch a new product. This book also recognizes that there is a difference between the strategic planning process and strategic thinking, and that both are a part of effective strategic management. The strategic planning process tends to be a rather rigid and unimaginative process in many organizations. Strategic thinking, however, leads to creative solutions and new ideas like Starwood Hotels launch of the Heavenly Bed. As illustrated in the Heavenly Bed example, a firm that injects strategic thinking into the strategic planning process has the best of both worlds. THE ORIGIN OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT The increasing importance of strategic management may be a result of several trends. Increasing competition in most industries has made it difficult for some companies to compete. Modern and cheaper transportation and communication have led to increasing global trade and awareness. Technological development has led to accelerated changes in the global economy. Regardless of the reasons, the past two decades have seen a surge in interest in strategic management. STRATEGIC THINKING AT STARWOOD The Heavenly Bed, first launched by the Westin brand of Starwood Hotels Resorts, has transformed the bed, a basic feature of any hotel room, into a luxurious object of desire, enhancing the revenues of the chain and leaving many hotel operators to follow suit with copycat linens and custom bedding of their own. The strategic process at Starwood began with consumer analysis and product testing. First, Westin commissioned a study involving 600 business executives who travel frequently. The results showed that 84 percent said a luxurious bed would make a hotel room more attractive to them. What is more, 63 percent said a good night s sleep is the most important service a hotel can provide. Half of those surveyed said they sleep worse in hotels than at home. After testing 50 beds from 35 lodging chains, Westin developed its prototype all white Heavenly Bed with a custom designed pillow top mattress, goose down comforters, five pillows, and three crisp sheets ranging in thread count from 180 to 250. Once the product was designed and tested, the fi rm introduced the bed with a carefully planned marketing strategy. USA Today ran a story on the front page of its business section. The same day, 20 pristine white Heavenly Beds lined Wall Street up to the New York Stock Exchange in New York City. Inside the Stock Exchange, Barry Sternlicht, the then Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels Resorts rang the opening bell and threw out hats proclaiming, Work like the devil. Sleep like an angel. Meanwhile, at New York s Grand Central Station, 20 more beds graced one of the rotundas there, and commuters disembarking the trains were invited to try them out. Similar events were staged the same day at 38 locations across the United States, tailored to each city. Savannahs event featured a bed floating on a barge down the river with a landing skydiver. Seattles event took place atop the Space Needle. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Traditional Perspective As the field of strategic management began to emerge in the latter part of the 20th century, scholars borrowed heavily from the field of economics. For some time, economists had been actively studying topics associated with the competitiveness of industries. Industry concentration, diversification, product differentiation, and market power. However, much of the economics research at that time focused on industries as a whole, and some of it even assumed that individual firm differences did not matter. Other fields also influenced early strategic management thought, including marketing, finance, psychology, and management. Academic progress was slow in the beginning, and the large consulting firms began to develop their own models and theories to meet their clients needs. Scholars readily adopted many of these models into their own articles and books. Eventually, a consensus began to build regarding what is included in the strategic management process. The traditional process for developing strategy consists of analyzing the internal and external environments of the company to arrive at organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). The results from this situation analysis, as this process is sometimes called, are the basis for developing missions, goals, and strategies. In general, a company should select strategies that (1) take advantage of organizational strengths and environmental opportunities or (2) neutralize or overcome organizational weaknesses and environmental threats. 10 After strategies are formulated, plans for implementing them are established and carried out. Figure 1.1 presents the natural  flow of these activities. The first of these ideas was that the environment is the primary determinant of the best strategy. This is called environmental determinism. According to the deterministic view, good management is associated with determining which strategy will best fit environmental, technical, and human forces at a particular point in time, and then working to carry it out. The most successful organization best adapts to existing forces. Some evidence suggests that the ability to align the skills and other resources of the organization with the needs and demands of the environment can be a source of competitive advantage. 12 However, after a critical review of environmental determinism, a well known researcher once argued: There is a more fundamental conclusion to be drawn from the foregoing analysis: the strategy of a firm cannot be predicted, nor is it predestined; the strategic decisions made by managers cannot be assumed to be the product of deterministic forces in their environments. On the contrary, the very nature of the concept of strategy assumes a human agent who is able to take actions that attempt to distinguish one firm from the competitors. Basically, a large firm may decide not to compete in a given environment. Or, as an alternative, the firm may attempt to influence the environment to make it less hostile and more conducive to organizational success. This process is called enactment, which means that a firm can influence its environment. THE PRINCIPLE OF ENACTMENT The principle of enactment assumes that organizations do not have to submit to existing forces in the environment; they can, in part, create their environments through strategic alliances with stakeholders, investments in leading technologies, advertising, political lobbying, and a variety of other activities. 14 Of course, smaller organizations are somewhat limited in their ability to influence some components of their environments on their own. For example, a small restaurant firm may have a difficult time influencing national government agencies and administrators. However, smaller organizations often band together into trade groups, such as the National Restaurant Association, to influence government policy on pressing issues like minimum wage, immigration policy, and health care costs. Also, they may form alliances with other entities. The Global Hotel Alliance is one example, in which Omni Hotels, Kempinski Hotels Resorts, Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts, Rydges Hotels Resorts, Marco Polo Group, Dusit Hotels Resorts and Landis Hotels Resorts have joined forces to compete against the mega chains. In addition, even a small firm may be able to exert a powerful influence on its local operating environment. The key to enactment is understanding that a firm does not necessarily have to adapt completely to the forces that exist in its operating environment. It can at least partly influence certain aspects of the environment in which it competes. DELIBERATE STRATEGY VERSUS EMERGENT STRATEGY The traditional school of thought concerning strategy formulation also supported the view that managers respond to the forces discussed thus far by making decisions that are consistent with a preconceived strategy. In other words, strategy is deliberate. Deliberate strategy implies that managers plan to pursue an intended strategic course. In some cases, however, strategy simply emerges from a stream of decisions. Managers learn as they go. An emergent strategy is one that was not planned or intended. According to this perspective, managers learn what will work through a process of trial and error. 16 Supporters of this view argue that organizations that limit themselves to acting on the basis of what is already known or understood will not be sufficiently innovative to create a sustainable competitive advantage. In the first week of launching the Westin Heavenly Bed, 32 guests called to ask where they could buy the bed. A light bulb went on. Westin executives put order cards with a toll free number in every room. Then they started placing catalogs by bedsides and desks and set up a web site. By June of 2004, Westin had sold 20,000 pillows $ 75 for the king sized version and 3,500 bed/bedding combos, at $ 2,965 each, enough to spread the idea throughout Starwood, with the Sheraton, St. Regis, and W lines all turning into retailers. The unanticipated success of the Heavenly Bed has spawned a new business companies that help hotels run their retail arms. Boxport, a spin off of San Francisco based hotel procurer Higgins Purchasing Group, operates web sites and catalogs for several chains that now sell Bedding of this example of emergent strategy, it is not a good idea to reject deliberate strategy either. One of the strongest advocates of learning and emergent strategy recently confessed, We shall get nowhere without emergent learning alongside deliberate planning.Both processes are necessary if an organization is to succeed. When Starwood first launched the concept of the Heavenly Bed in 1999, the strategy was a deliberate effort, but the opportunity to provide retail sales was an unintended outcome, and this unforeseen opportunity led to an emergent and highly successful retail strategy, as the above example shows. EFFECTIVE STRATEGIC PLANNING In summary, scholars have determined that both adaptation and enactment are important to organizations. They should adapt to environmental forces when the costs of enacting (influencing) the environment exceed the benefits. However, they should be proactive in creating their own opportunities. In addition, organizations should engage in deliberate strategic planning processes, but they should also be willing to make mistakes and learn from them as they chart a strategic course. In other words, strategy should be both deliberate and emergent, and firms should both adapt to and enact their environments, with the situation determining which option to choose. Westin learned these lessons by paying attention to their customers. The Organization as a Bundle of Resources: The Resource Based View In recent years, another perspective on strategy development has gained wide acceptance. The resource based view of the firm has its roots in the work of the earliest strategic management theorists. 20 It grew out of the question, Why do some firms persistently outperform other firms? One of the first competencies identified was general management capability. This led to the proposition that firms with high quality general managers will outperform their rivals. Much research has examined this issue. Clearly, effective leadership is important to organizational performance, but it is diffi cult to specify what makes an effective leader. Also, although leaders are an important source of competence for an organization, they are not the only important resource that makes a difference. Economic thought also influenced development of the resource based view. Nearly two centuries ago, an economist named David Ricardo investigated the advantages of possessing superior resources, especially land. 22 One of Ricardos central propositions was that the farmer with the most fertile land had a sustained performance advantage over other farmers. More recently, another economist, Edith Penrose, expanded on Ricardo s view by noting that various skills and abilities possessed by firms could lead to superior performance. She viewed firms as an administrative framework that coordinated the activities of numerous groups and individuals, and also as a bundle of productive resources. 23 She studied the effects of various skills and abilities possessed by organizations, concluding that a wide range of skills and resources could influence competitive performance. A common thread of reasoning in the distinctive competency literature and the arguments of Ricardo and Penrose is that organizational success can be explained in terms of the resources and capabilities possessed by an organization. Many modern scholars have contributed to this perspective of the firm. According to this view, an organization is a bundle of resources, which fall into the general categories of: Financial resources, including all of the monetary resources from which a firm can draw. Physical resources, such as land, buildings, equipment, locations, and access  to raw materials. Human resources, which pertains to the skills, background, and training of managers and employees, as well as the way they are organized. Organizational knowledge and learning General organizational resources, including the firm s reputation, brand names, patents, contracts, and relationships with external stakeholders. Envisioning the firm as a bundle of resources has broad implications. For example, the most important role of a manager becomes that of acquiring, developing, managing, and discarding resources. Also, much of the research on the resource based perspective has demonstrated that firms can gain competitive advantage through possessing superior resources. Superior resources are those that have value in the market, are possessed by only a small number of firms, and are not easy to substitute. If a particular resource is also costly or impossible to imitate, then  the competitive advantage may be sustainable. A sustainable competitive advantage may lead to higher than average organizational performance over a long period.

Essay --

Identifying a Decision Point for Cloud Application Build/Migration The decision point is a necessary component to come between Business and application assessment and vendor selection process. It includes various assessment including Cloud-Decision framework, Service Type and Deployment assessment, and Checklist for service type. To create these tools, our team analyzed three main components of service delivery. These components consist of cloud concepts, deployment options and service type offerings. Cloud Concepts (IaaS and PaaS) Cloud computing comprises of three classes of services: Infrastructure as a Service, platform as a service, and software as a service. While SaaS offers more of ready, tailored solution that suits the business needs, IaaS and PaaS delivers more of a building block type of solutions. On a high level, while IaaS focuses on providing storage and hardware capabilities, PaaS focuses on middleware and the development environment in the cloud. Figure 1 shows more detailed comparison between IaaS and PaaS. > The next step that we took was to assess IaaS, PaaS from ‘build-or-buy’ perspective. According to Gartner Research, three cloud concepts, Cloud Hosted, Cloud Optimized and Cloud Native, are applicable to both IaaS and PaaS. These three cloud concepts determine if the application is more suitable for migration or for Greenfield. Following are the characteristics of each cloud solutions: †¢ Cloud-hosted solutions require the lowest effort to implement. It transplant, or migrate, the existing enterprise applications on IaaS to gain the benefits of simple shared-hardware multitenancy (Gartner Research). This is feasible for the server that runs rarely used application as redeployi... ...fore migration (Gartner). For the applications which require heavy refactoring, IaaS is much better option than PaaS. The Cloud-optimized solution on PaaS will allow CMI to make continuous refactoring and optimization on its PaaS environment. However, the application may not be an ideal candidate for this option if the answer to any of the following questions below is â€Å"yes† (Gartner): ï  ¬ Does the application make direct use of OS or hypervisor resources? ï  ¬ Does the application depend on components (such as middleware, services and programming libraries) for which no compatible implementation exists as a cloud services? ï  ¬ Is the application primarily focused on batch operations without a Web user interface, or is it a native client application? ï  ¬ Does the application make heavy use of custom communication protocols? List of the Assessments Cloud-Decision Framework:

A Visit to a Fair Essay

A fair means a periodical gathering in some open place. I had got the rare opportunity of visiting the Baliyatra Fair in Cuttack. The fair was held on the full moon day in the month of Kartika. The fair is conducted every year on the bank of the Mahanadi. Thereby we commemorate our sea-trade with other countries in past. I had been to the fair with four of my friends. On our way to Cuttack, we discussed many things about our racial past. The Sadhavas of the then Kalinga were known for their richness and caliber in trade. They set sails for Java, Sumatra, China, Ceylon (Srilanka), Borneo, Indonesia, Rangoon for trade. They exchanged their goods for jewels and gold. The sea-trade does not exist now. So we float toy-boats down the stream to remember our past-glory. We reached the fair-in the evening. The place of fair was overcrowded with children, men and women. Men of different occupations had assembled there. Goods of various kinds had been brought to the Baliyatra for show and sale. People amused themselves in a great variety of ways. Some people had come to dispose of their articles. Some had come to buy and some for sightseeing. Mostly the people were from the neighboring villages. The fair continued for about a week. The place was full of stalls made of straw and bamboo. The place was spacious and there was proper sanitary arrangement. The stalls were full of fancy goods. They were giving a gorgeous look. Many people were coming to those stalls. They were in festive dress too. The dealers in shops dealt in various goods. It was a rare occasion for me to see those beautiful stalls. It relieved of my monotony. The vendors sold toys and ballons for children. There were horse-wheels and merry-go-rounds for children too. The volunteers and scouts from the high schools of the town took prominent part in controlling the crowd. There was enough enthusiasm amongst the villagers in holding the fair. We had some snacks and tea in the fair. In the fair there was display of skill in craftsmanship. We had an opportunity to visit a circus there that evening. We also purchased a few filigree works and horn works of Cuttack. Of course the prices of those articles were high. Still the people were purchasing those-things because they loved their rich tradition. A note worthy feature of the fair was that children were arguing with their guarding ns to purchase balloons and dolls in the fair. They pulled the sarees of their mothers and emended the balloons and sweets. It was an opportunity for the businessmen to reap profits. However, in book-stalls, books were being sold on rebate. I purchased a few books on Oriya literature. The police were alert in the fair to provide security to the visitors. There was fear of pick-pockets, theft and loss of goods, money and ornaments. Loudspeakers had been arranged at different places in the fair to warn the people of antisocial elements and black-marketers who sold stale sweets. The Baliyatra is a grand fair in Orissa. The visit to this fair is still afresh in my mind.

experiment

ABSTRACTTab/experiment The objective of this experiment was to examine the electrophoretic behavior of hemoglobin from a normal person and from a person who has the sickle cell trait. Sickle cell disease is an inherited autosomal recessive gene. If the person has the inherited gene for sickle cell disease (hemoglobin S) from only one parent, then they are heterozygous and carry the trait. When the gene for hemoglobin S is inherited from both parents, the individual is homozygous and has a severe case of anemia. Electrophoresis is used in clinical laboratories to detect abnormal hemoglobins. Normal hemoglobin A had a strong negative charge therefore moved faster. Variant hemoglobin S had a weak negative charge resulting in slow movement.INTRODUCTIONRed blood cells (erythrocytes) carry the globular protein hemoglobin in the circulation. This protein transports oxygen from the lungs to the tissue. The structure of hemoglobin has changed by mutations among human population.A single amino acid change causes hem oglobin to fo...One out of 100 people have a mutant hemoglobin gene and they have abnormal hemoglobin in their blood. Usually harmless, mutations involve the substitution of one amino acid for another; however, some mutations may cause serious diseases such as sickle cell disease. Hemoglobin S is the most common and serious abnormal hemoglobin. In this mutation, a single glutamic acid residue on the Beta-chains is replaced by valine. This single change in the primary sequence causes a marked change in net charge and conformation of the protein. When hemoglobin S is deoxygenated, it crystallizes in the red blood cells and this leads to a distortion of the red cells into a sickle shape. These abnormal cells are then destroyed rapidly in the body which leads to a reduced number of erythrocytes; hence the term, sickle cell anemia.Hemoglobin S is thought to have originated in Africa among the Black population. It...

Representation in Thelma and Louise essays

Representation in Thelma and Louise essays In 1991 Ridley Scott successfully created Thelma and Louise and turned many stereotypes built around women upside down, much to the feminists delight and showed how women are victims of this patriarchal society we live in. Thelma and Louise are forced to be criminals because of men; the male society is the reason why a harmless girls weekend away was turned into a suicide. As the tale unfolds we see how their personalities react with the situation and how they change dramatically. When they are finally free from men they enjoy themselves for once, although maybe their idea of fun was more than harmless. Straight away we know that this film is a Road movie and road movies are usually men so the convention has already been changed. Thelma and Louise are escaping from the law travelling through the middle of nowhere just like the men usually did in these types of films. We see a scan shot of the mountains focusing on the road which reinforces what type of film we are watching although it is involving woman not men. During the beginning of the film the women seem very stereotypical. Louise is working as a waitress and Thelma is the little housewife at home in the kitchen. Her husband is very arrogant towards her and treats her like his slave rather than his wife, the woman he is suppose to love and respect. We see Thelma already beginning to rebel against her stereotype when she decides not to tell Daryl, her husband that she is going away and she packs a gun. A gun is usually seen as a male phallic symbol which women very rarely come in contact with. Despite both these points she still sticks to her stereotype, maybe out of habit by cleaning the house before she leaves. Also she does not like handling the gun she holds it in-between two fingers as if it is something dirty and infected. This effectively helps the transition away from her stereotype to be more realistic. Scott is trying to re...

Impact of Other Industries on Power Tools Industry Essay

Impact of Other Industries on Power Tools Industry - Essay Example Hand Tools are tools that are powered manually (U.S. Department of Labor, 2002). These tools are powered solely by the person using it and do not use motors (Wikipedia, 2007). These include hammers, screw drivers, hand drills, saws and knives etc., that require manual power to operate. The Hand Tools industry can be a threat for power tools. Though outdated and used less frequently, yet they can be the tools of choice by some consumers due to their lesser costs and supposedly longer lives. Hand Tools offer some benefits as compared to power tools, these don't rust easily, there is no expenditure required for purchasing batteries etc., electricity is not required to operate these and there are no essential scheduled maintenance requirements. Hence, hand tools can provide a cost competitive alternative for some people, mainly the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) type of customers. The forecasting for the hand tools industry depends upon the value the user derives from the use of these tools. The estimations can be obtained using customer surveys that show preferences of customers who are using hand tools. The surveys can provide valuable information about the features that power tools manufacturers should try to incorporate in their design if possible. In addition, some estimates can be developed by analyzing the revenues and sales data of various companies providing hand tools and then comparing this data with the power tools sales information to identify the extent of competition hand tools providers are posing for power tools industry. Bench Mounted Tools Bench Mounted tools are those that are not portable; these are fixed (mounted) at a place. Usually, these are required in small industries where tools like Thickness Planer, Saw Table etc. (Mitre 10, 2007) are used by a group of workers at the same time. These are mainly used where a number of people are involved in doing a single task like an assembly line where all workers follow similar procedures. In these kinds of situations, using portable tools is cost ineffective; instead the bench-mounted tools are used for efficiency and effectiveness gains. These are also used in metal working environments. The Bench Mounted tools industry provides competitions to the portable electric power tools industry because a large number of industries have now installed fixed tools instead of providing portable tools to all its workers. The forecasts can be derived by analyzing the historical industrial data for new technology deployment and from sales figure of these tools. Air Driven (Pneumatic) Tools Pneumatic tools are powered by compressed air and include chippers, drills, hammers and sanders (U.S. Department of Labor, 2002). These tools are usually used in the mechanical and automotive industries which require high power tools. They may pose a competition to the portable electric tools market where the electric tools face the threat of substitution. The relevant forecasts and statistics can be obtained by analyzing the market size and segmentation. Liquid Fuel and Hydraulic Power Tools These tools are operated by generating power from liquid fuel like gasoline or water. These are used in environments where there is a need of extremely high power to operate the tool. The industry data can be obtained for estimating the market size and usage level and then an estimate can be made regarding

Applying theories to the novel The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Essay

Applying theories to the novel The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down - Essay Example The author dexterously manoeuvres the plot of the book so that the readers can identify with the more complex socio-psychological paradigms of the multicultural societies and the challenges that the medical fraternity has to meet to overcome the prejudices of the Hmong family. The book is fascinating in its treatment of the seemingly mundane but highly relevant issues of the different cultures and the modern society that heavily relies on science. The story of Lia Lee, a small girl who is diagnosed with epilepsy by the medical fraternity in Merced, California but which is differently interpreted by the Hmong family as ‘qaug dab peg’. The intense conflict in the treatment of the little girl and the frustrations of both the girl’s family and the healthcare system is brilliantly captured by the author. The book throws great insight into the differing views and perspectives of the cultures that clash with the value system of the healthcare practitioners. The institutional indifference to the cross cultural values and the trials and tribulations of the immigrant family that finds itself strangely vulnerable in the alien surrounding is the highlight of the narration. The socio-psychological imperatives found in the book are of great relevance to the contemporary environment of globalization. The behavioral and cognitive theory can explain the ongoing struggle of the Hmong family that tries to work along with healthcare system towards the common goal of saving their daughter’s life. Cognitive science is basically an amalgamation of philosophical thoughts and scientific theories that try to rationalize the working of conscious and unconscious thoughts of a man and co-relate them with his subsequent actions and reactions. The theory of cognition, thereby, tries to explain why and how the events take place and subsequent pattern of behavior of man under certain condition involving emotional