Critically analyse a retail organisation-company in the UK

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Your first task is to critically analyse a retail organisation/company in the UK by carrying out an external environmental analysis using appropriate international marketing theory. Using secondary research of the organisation/company and country, you are also required to evaluate the wider and competitive environments.

Critically analyse a retail organisation-company in the UK

These tasks consists of critically analysing and evaluating the strategy of an organisation with a view to recommending strategic options for further growth and international expansion.

Task
You are required to carry out the following tasks:

Task 1
Your first task is to critically analyse a retail organisation/company in the UK by carrying out an external environmental analysis using appropriate international marketing theory. Using secondary research of the organisation/company and country, you are also required to evaluate the wider and competitive environments.

Task 2
Bearing in mind the current state of the global economy, and your earlier analysis of your chosen organisation in your chosen country, research a different foreign market of your choice using international market research theory. Then, based on your own secondary research of that market, segment, target and position your chosen organisation in that market to allow the company to grow and sustain competitive advantage.

Marking Criteria
The following framework is a guide to the marks available for the assignment:
Firstly, Report structure, process and presentation – 15%

Secondly, Critical evaluation and content of task 1 – 30%

Thirdly, Critical evaluation and content of task 2 – 30%

Further, Quality of the report in terms of critical thinking, reflective learning and relevance of the linkages between theory and practice – 20%

Finally, References/bibliography using the APA 6th style – 5%

Format

Please note the following criteria:

•      Format. Your written assessment is to be in report format, using diagrams to demonstrate research and aid analysis.
•      Length. Your assessment should be approximately 4,000 words (+/- 10%) + references + appendices. [Your bibliography and appendices do not count as part of the word count. Please note appendices are to be used to support your written assessment (report) and not to contain unnecessary information / data].
•      Reading. Doole, I., Lowe, R., & Dawson Books. (2012). International marketing strategy : Analysis, development and implementation. (6th ed. / Isobel Doole & Robin Lowe. ed.) and International Marketing Text (attached doc).

Websites:

www.mckinsey.com, http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu, www.chathamhouse.org, www.managementtoday.co.uk, www.marketingweek.co.uk, www.elsivier.com

The strategic marketing plan to launch a new product

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This is a paper that is focusing on the strategic marketing plan to launch a new product. The paper also provides an assessment criteria to use in writing the assignment paper.

The strategic marketing plan to launch a new product

The requirements for the assessment

Contributes 100% of the overall module mark. An individual academic essay in report format of 3,000 words (+/- 10% excluding references and appendices).

Create a strategic marketing plan to launch a new product for a company of your choice, into their existing market.

The new product must be sufficiently different from the brand’s core offering i.e. it is extending the brand into a new area. For guidance use SIC codes to confirm http://resources.companieshouse.gov.uk/sic/
The submissions should be in a written report format i.e. executive summary, headings, bullets allowed, tables and charts etc.

Assessment criteria

Assessment 001 submissions will be expected to include:

Firstly, a brief overview and understanding of the brand’s current core offering, the market and its competitors in that current market
Secondly, an understanding of its current target audience in its core market
Thirdly, porter’s 5-forces analysis of the new product market
Fourthly, identification of main competitors in the new product market
Evidenced market demand from its current target audience (for the new product)
A SWOT analysis on the new product into the current target audience
Analysis of data and management information to justify entrance into the new product market
Critical analysis of the above elements to form a proposed competitive positioning strategy for the new product; and
A proposed marketing mix to launch the new product market
Your proposal must include discussion of how success will be measured e.g. balanced scorecard, SMART objectives or other financial metrics.

PLUS, the criteria outlined in the marking grid which can be accessed below.
By way of guidance, look to approximately 1,500 words to cover points 1-7 and 1,500 to cover points 8 – 10.

You take a look at some of the tough financial decisions that Companies

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This week, you take a look at some of the tough financial decisions that Companies need to make in starting, growing and dealing with economic downturns in their business.

Creatively illustrate traditional and new media options

This week, you take a look at some of the tough financial decisions that Companies need to make in starting, growing and dealing with economic downturns in their business. Some of these challenges can be exemplified by how to strategically invest in growth to make some hard financial decisions to avoid your business from going out of business. In building upon the strategic financial decisions that management must make and consider, you are going to learn a bit about Tactus Technology® and will address questions related to a real-world case study on the Company. For starters, you can learn a bit more about the

Company by going to their website at the following address:

http://www.tactustechnology.com/
Tactus Technology’s Craig Ciesla and Micah Yairi had a great idea and then were faced with the challenge of how to fund their start-up. So, and to learn more about their fund raising challenges, you will read the case study on page 194 – 195 of our ebook that is focused on Tactus Tech. Once you do this and complete your additional outside research, address the following questions: (please note the questions here are slightly different than those in the ebook and you should only address the questions that follow here.)

1. Craig Ciesla and Micah Yairi eventually turned to friends and family for funding. Should they have done this first? What are the risks with raising money from such individuals?

2. What were the risks and benefits of waiting until they had been granted patents to ask for customer feedback?

3. The partners gave up equity in their company – part of the ownership – to get the help they need ed. Was this a good idea? Why or why not?

4. Why do you think, even with such bad luck, Ciesla and Yairi stuck it out? What would it take for you to be so persistent?

5. Building upon the business you would like to open up, what funding source or sources would you take advantage of in order to initially fund your company? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of choosing the funding source or sources you would use?

APA Requirements & Suggestions

APA format writing has very specific writing requirements that need to be met and are graded at Kaplan.

A few of these major requirements include:
Microsoft Office programs only: Word, PowerPoint, or Excel (versions 2007 or higher)

A Title Page should be the first page of your Assignment

Each page should be in double-space (no spaces between paragraphs)

You will indent each new paragraph

Font should be Times New Roman and 12 pt. font only

1” margins all around for your page setup

APA formatted Reference Page is the last page of your Assignment

Your Reference Page should include at least two “qualified” research sources on it.

You should include at least two Citations in your response section (each instance should be just a sentence or two or support your writing)

Bullet Points and Numbered Lists should not be used

Qualified Research Sources should only be used (i.e. no resources exemplified by Wikipedia and about.com will be accepted) and typically these are found by using resources like the Kaplan Library and Google Scholar

The paper should be a minimum of two pages long, double-spaced. The minimum length does not include the cover page and the reference page. All sources should be reference as sources cite d. Check for correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and usage. Citations should use APA style.

Make sure your document includes:

Your Name
Date
Course Name and Section Number
Unit Number
Assignment Name
Page Numbers

Organization’s Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan

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This is a paper that is focusing on the Organization’s Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan . The paper also discusses the production of a brief operations review in the assignment paper.

Organization’s Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan

Complete all parts in one document, providing each part with a heading indicating the part number and content area.
Part 1: Produce a Brief Operations Review (3 points)
Provide a review of the most-crucial issues in operating a security defense system of an organization with at least 300 employees by drawing on all of your reading plus at least two other quality sources on the Internet or the NCU Library. Length 2 to 3.5 pages.

Part 2: Report on Your Organization’s Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan (7 points)

Your CEO has asked for a brief report of your organization’s plans for disaster recovery and your readiness to deal with outages and other issues. (If you are not employed or your organization’s recovery plans are classified, you may create a fictitious scenario for this assignment.) Interview the appropriate people in your organization and compose a brief email for your CEO including the following information:

Summarize your organization’s disaster recovery and continuity of operations plans (if they exist).
Assess your organization’s ability to respond in case of an emergency, data loss, data theft, natural disaster, or other event.
Recommend improvements to your organization’s potential to response to such threats. Provide examples where appropriate to illustrate your ideas.
Structure your response as an email and not an essay. Keep your audience and purpose in mind. Do not mention any irrelevant conceptual information that a
C-level person would not care about. Keep it brief and to the point, but still informative and in keeping with best practices of information security safeguarding.
Be sure to still include an APA-formatted coversheet and reference page.

Support your assignment with at least three scholarly resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including seminal works, may be included. Length, 3 to 4 pages.

Compensation refers to all forms of financial returns and tangible services

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Compensation refers to all forms of financial returns and tangible services and benefits employees receive as part of an employment relationship. Employees often perceive their compensation in different ways — as a return in exchange for their labors, as an entitlement, as a reward, etc.

Compensation refers to all forms of financial returns and tangible services

Compensation refers to all forms of financial returns and tangible services and benefits employees receive as part of an employment relationship. Employees often perceive their compensation in different ways. As a return in exchange for their labors, as an entitlement, as a reward, etc. In what way do you perceive compensation and how did your perspective on compensation develop?
More details;

What does employee compensation refer to?

Employee compensation refers to the benefits (cash, vacation, etc.). That an employee receives in exchange for the service they provide to their employer. Employee compensation is generally one of the largest costs or expenses for any organization.
What are the 4 components of compensation?
Total compensation would include all four categories: guaranteed pay (salary and allowances), variable pay, benefits and also  equity compensation. Remuneration is also a term often use d to refer to total cash compensation or total compensation.
What is the importance of benefits as a part of employee compensation?
Offering benefits to your employees is important because it shows them you are invested in not only their overall health, but their future. A solid employee benefits package can also help to attract and retain talent.
What is the difference between benefits and compensation?
Compensation refers to pay or the exchange in monetary terms of the work performed by the employee and is also paid by the employer. This can be also in the form of wages, salary or tips. On the other hand, benefits refer to the exchange in value to the employees as part of their packages for the work that has been performed.

Research Project. Your organization is going to be expanding globally

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Research Project. Your organization is going to be expanding globally.  Select two (2) countries of your choice.  You will conduct research in which you 1) identify and discuss, for each country, the customary benefits organizations provide their employees in those countries.  2) In your discussion, compare these countries with what organizations in the United States provide employees.

Research Project Your organization is going to be expanding globally

Research Project. Your organization is going to be expanding globally.  Select two (2) countries of your choice.  You will conduct research in which you 1) identify and discuss, for each country, the customary benefits organizations provide their employees in those countries.  2) In your discussion, compare these countries with what organizations in the United States provide employees.   Topics to include in your comparison will include, but not limited to, health insurance benefits, wages, and paid time off.  When sharing and comparing the countries, make sure you include information as to why.  For example, if the income tax rate is extremely high, organizations might tend to offer X benefit.

Next, you want identify what these countries might do better and what might US organization do better. (Germany and France)

Finally, make a recommendation as to 1) which country your organization should consider entering and 2) what benefits and wage practices would you recommend and would then be the same as to what you offer employees in the United States.   Please keep in mind that what you provide in your paper must support your recommendations.   For example, in France, if you take public transportation to and from work, the company must pay 50% of their monthly transportation pass. This is something that might work for your organization here in the United States, especially in larger cities that encourage using mass transit, but you need to make sure you explain why if you did not already share this in the body of your paper.

Prepare your research project this week as if you are preparing to present your findings to a HRM Benefits Counsellor.

Submission Instructions:

IMPORTANT!!
Please support your ideas, arguments, and opinions with independent research, include at least five (5) supporting references or sources (NOT Wikipedia, unknown, or anonymous sources), format your work in proper APA format, include an abstract, cover page, a Reference section as required, and a minimum of 6 full pages of double spaced written content. Be sure to cite all listed references properly in text in accordance with the 6th edition of the APA manual. Please use sources from ProQuest. The document must be MS Word

How do the project’s business and technical requirements impact the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?

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How do the project’s business and technical requirements impact the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)? What is the importance of developing a WBS to manage a project?

How do the project’s business and technical requirements impact the Work Breakdown Structure WBS

Week 4 – Managing a Project Schedule – Assignment
Assignment Content

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper in which you answer the following questions:
Firstly, How do the project’s business and technical requirements impact the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?

Secondly, What is the importance of developing a WBS to manage a project?

Thirdly, How does the WBS contribute to the success of a project?

Fourthly, Once the project schedule is finalized, what are the tools you can use to monitor the schedule?

Further,  How do you handle resource over allocation?

Finally, What are the advantages and disadvantages of fast-tracking a project?

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

More details;

What is Work Breakdown Structure WBS and why it is important to project management?

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a visual tool for defining and tracking a project deliverable and all the small components needed to create it. With a work breakdown structure, you can stay focused on what you need to accomplish as you move toward the project deadline.
What is the importance of work breakdown structure in project management?
The benefits of creating a WBS include: it defines and organizes the work required. it facilitates the quick development of a schedule by allocating effort estimates to specific sections of the WBS. it can be used to identify potential scope risks if it has a branch that is not well defined.
What is the relationship between a scope statement and a work breakdown structure?
Proper scope definition is critical for a project’s success. A work breakdown structure (WBS) can help you define the scope of your project by taking the scope statement and subdividing the major project deliverables into smaller, manageable packages of activities.

The Hilton Company current and recent strategic performance

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This is a paper that is focusing on the Hilton Company current and recent strategic performance. The paper also provides the guidelines of how to structure the assignment paper.

The Hilton Company current and recent strategic performance

Overall aim:
To choose an organization from the world of hospitality and tourism –  “The Hilton Company” and carry out an analysis of their current and recent strategic performance, relating the strategies employed back to the core concepts of strategic management.

Firstly, interpret current hospitality trends and shifts in terms of emerging markets, and changing market foci.
Secondly, critically appraise the hospitality industry and their participant firms, and their opportunities and challenges for business development, strategy implementation and the development of competitive advantage
Thirdly, discriminate the use of core models of strategy in their application in the current practices of market entry, growth strategies and current industry trends in strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions.
Fourthly, evaluate a corporate organisation from the world of hospitality. Use appropriate corporate and industry data, to arrive at the identification of business-critical performance and its impact on long-term business strategies.

Structure

1. Introduction
The organization is to be presented with a brief explanation of their core business and the markets in which they operate. A lengthy history of the organization is specifically not required unless relevant to significant strategic changes over a given period of time. (200 words)

2. Main body
Presentation of core corporate data for a minimum of the last 5 years, with associated analysis. This must include both quantitative and qualitative data. This data is to be analysed in relation to core theoretical frameworks/theories.
–       Use 3 theories/frameworks SWOT, PESTLE, 5 Porters Forces and also apply to the Hilton company. Talk about the purpose of each theory and the limitations.

–       The data selected must include some industry data that allows for a broader perspective of market and industry trends and of the company’s market competitiveness and positioning.  Corporate and industry data: that shows what happened in the company for the last 5 yeas according to the strategies they use, how the company grew up and the revenue.
!!! IMPORTANT!!! BASED THE DATA ON EVIDENCE ONLY!!!! (1500 words including data )

3. Key Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations
Conclusions should be either in a summary format in this final section. Also, the Key Findings presented in this section or (ideally) in the appropriate sections of the main body. They should then allow for an assessment of the company’s current and future plans for growth, with recommendations as to these future development opportunities. AS AN EXAMPLE:  what should they do to improve the strategy or they should keep following the strategy. (300 words)
4. References
Data and any reference to academic theories should be referenced in text and supported by a reference list (APA referencing)

In the first months of 2020 governments of most developed economies

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In the first months of 2020 governments of most developed economies announced fiscal stimulus packages and their national banks support this with changes in monetary policy to reduce the impact of the incoming recession. This is also the case for the UK.

In the first months of 2020 governments of most developed economies

Assignment brief:
In the first months of 2020 governments of most developed economies announced fiscal stimulus packages and their national banks support this with changes in monetary policy to reduce the impact of the incoming recession. This is also the case for the UK. Your assignment is to address the following points:

a) Describe the monetary and fiscal policy response to changes in economic conditions in the UK
(Until the end of March 2020). [20 marks]

b) Describe the impact each of those measures will have (according to current macroeconomic models covered in lectures) on:
i) Government spending,
ii) Household consumption,
iii) Firm investment,
iv) Inflation

You are not required to use real data for but should illustrate your answers with graphs and figures. [40 marks]

c) Discuss the impact the monetary and fiscal policy change will have on the construction sector and industry in the next 1-2 years. [20 marks]

d) Finally, Discuss what impact low interest rates will have on demand for office space in London in the next 1-2 years. [20 marks]

Submission details:

The word limit for this assignment is 3,000 words.
The first page of your assignment should be a copy of the assignment cover sheet with the declaration of originality page to follow afterwards. Please enter the module code and module title onto the cover sheet. Additionally, Please DO NOT put your name or student number/candidate number on the assignment cover sheet/declaration page or anywhere on the electronic copy of your assignment.

Your attention is drawn to the UCL guidance on referencing, citations and plagiarism. Please familiarise yourself with this guidance before submitting your work.

Please see Section 13.2 of the MSc Programme Handbook 2019-20 for details of penalties which apply when students submit work late. Finally, an electronic copy of the MSc Programme Handbook 2019-20 is available on the MSc CEM programme homepage on Moodle.

Frank’s All-American takeout business case scenario

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This is a paper that is focusing on the Frank’s All-American takeout business case scenario. The paper also provides the marking criteria to use in writing the assignment paper.

Frank’s All-American takeout business case scenario

Question 6: Frank’s All-American BarBeQue is planning to significantly expand its takeout business. Currently, customers come into the restaurant and order from the menu. With the new Darien facility and website, customers will be able to order online or fax an order to the restaurant. Frank and Robert have been arguing over how to structure the takeout portion of their operations. Frank wants to maintain the approach where customers order items from the menu. Robert believes that in today’s world, it would be more convenient for customers to order complete prepackaged meals. Father and also son have argued about the nature of these meals.

Frank has suggested a limited number of standard meals that could be prepared during the day and sold in the evening when commuters are returning home. However, this might mean that excess inventory would be built up on unwanted items. Robert wants to offer a greater variety. These would include the main course, two side dishes, and a dessert. Because there could be a large number of combinations, most would have to be made after the receipt of an order. The “rush” to make these meals would drive up costs. How would you go about pricing these two types of meals?  (Hint: review pricing objectives and pricing strategies  in the textbook))

ENSURE you read the case study guide and review the case study and relevant sections in the textbook Small Business Management in the 21st Century before answering any question. Be aware of what is being asked from you. Chapters 6, 7, and 8.
Marking Criteria: Excellent response demonstrating a very good understanding of the various concepts and application of these to the case study.

Frank’s All-American takeout business case scenario

Question 7: In the Appendix (Chapter 16 “Appendix: A Sample Business Plan”), you will find the business plan for Frank’s All-American BarBeQue. This plan examined several possible locations for a second restaurant. Frank and Robert considered several factors when evaluating alternative towns as possible locations. Some of these included population size, average income, travel times, and also percentage of population. Based on the data, they selected Darien, Connecticut. Do you agree with the decision? Why or why not? Do you think other factors should have been considered? If yes, what would you recommend?

ENSURE you read the case study guide and review the case study and relevant sections in the textbook Small Business Management in the 21st Century before answering any question. Chapters 6, 7, and 8.
Marking Criteria: Excellent response demonstrating a very good understanding of the various concepts and also application of these to the case study. Answers all sections of the question in detail with explanations (Do you agree with the decision? Why or why not? If yes, what would you recommend?)