Author: chris

Assignment: Problem Solving

When faced with a problem, what do you do to solve it? This assignment asks you to apply a six-step to problem solving process to a specific problem scenario. You will write a paper that presents a synthesis of your ideas about solving the problem using this systematic approach. As Voltaire said, “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.”

Topic of choice:

Scenario 1: You have worked at your company for eleven (11) years. You have returned to college to earn a Bachelor’s degree in order to increase your chances for a promotion. You are nearly finished with your degree, when a supervisor’s position in a competing company becomes available in another state. The start date is in two (2) weeks, during your final exam period for your courses. The position offers a $15,000 per year salary increase, a car allowance, and relocation expenses. Your former supervisor works for the company and is recommending you for the position based on your outstanding job performance; if you want the job, it’s yours. All of the other supervisors at this level in the company have Master’s degrees, so you know that you would be expected to earn your Bachelor’s degree and continue on to a Master’s degree. Your present company offers tuition reimbursement, but the new company does not.

Review the six-step problem solving process outlined in the webtext, based on the article “The Problem Solving Process” located at http://www.gdrc.org/decision/problem-solve.html:

Step One: Define the problem
Step Two: Analyze the problem
Step Three: Generate options
Step Four: Evaluate options
Step Five: Make your decision
Step Six: Implement and reflect

Assignment Description

STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN

INTRODUCTION

This assignment entails development of a comprehensive strategic marketing plan for a new product or service that is ready to “go to market”. A Project Template is provided that allows you to organize your work in increments and see how the sections come together to produce a comprehensive plan.

PRODUCT/SERVICE

This assignment requires application of concepts learned to build a strategic marketing plan for a new product or service that is ready to “go to market”. You will not be allowed to mimic plans or ideas from larger or already “in-place” campaigns. You must develop the business concept in its entirety.

Describe the new product or service.
Discuss the qualities that make this product/service new to the marketplace and the rationale for your decision to pursue the concept. Be sure to pick a product or service that is ready to market. If you are developing a new product, assume that the development phase is over and you are ready to launch the product into the marketplace.

OBJECTIVES/MISSION STATEMENT

Create a Mission Statement. State your short-term MARKETING objectives (one year). Assume that the product/service is ready to launch at the beginning of the year (planning and testing have been completed).

Marketing objectives include goals for sales, profits, market share (as examples)
Objectives need to be quantifiable. Use the SMART acronym—simple, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-specific—in formulating your objectives. An objective with a 100% goal is not acceptable

Looking Back”

Discuss the single most important or surprising lesson learned in this course. Explain what made it so important or surprising.
Write a speech that you would give to a friend in an elevator summing up the contents of this course. You have 30 to 90 seconds to inform your friend of the most important elements. Go!

Essay 2

A researcher has investigated the relationship between IQ and grade point average (GPA) and found the correlation to be .75.

For this essay, critique the results and interpretation of a correlational study.

· Evaluate the correlational result and identify the strength of the correlation.

· Examine the assumptions and limitations of the possible connection between the researcher’s chosen variables.

· Identify and describe other statistical tests that could be used to study this relationship.

Your essay response must address the following questions:

· How strong is this correlation?

oIs this a positive or negative correlation?

oWhat does this correlation mean?

· Does this correlation imply that individuals with high Intelligence Quotients (IQ) have high Grade Point Averages (GPA)?

· Does this correlation provide evidence that high IQ causes GPA to go higher?

oWhat other variables might be influencing this relationship?

· What is the connection between correlation and causation?

· What are some of the factors that affect the size of this correlation?

· Is correlation a good test for predicting GPA?

oIf not, what statistical tests should a researcher use, and why?

Choose an aspect of the IT industry that has not been previously used as an example in this course.

Note: The mobile phone industry was provided as an example in the video material and may not be used as the subject for this assignment.

Use Porter’s five forces to make a qualitative evaluation of the industry’s strategic position. Be sure to explain each of the five forces as well as explain how they relate to your chosen industry.

Remember to include the following elements (Porter’s five forces):

Threat of new entrants: Are new entrants being attracted to the market, and are there barriers to entry in the industry?
Threat of substitute products or services: Are there other products that could be alternatives to offerings in the chosen industry?
Bargaining power of customers: What degree of bargaining power do the buyers have in terms of putting the industry under pressure to provide more product or less cost?
Bargaining power of suppliers: What is the importance of raw materials, components, labor, and services that are required for the industry, and are there substitutes for those inputs? Discuss the possibility of switching suppliers, if necessary.
Intensity of competitive rivalry: Does the industry have a sustainable competitive advantage?

BRADFORD – OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATION – post to journal 1A by assigned due date (respond to question 1 and 2 and then any 1 of the remaining Bradford questions)
1. Citing specific examples from the Bradford readings, discuss the ways in which he uses language (words and sentences) to describe and inform his readers about the situation and conditions they faced. How do Bradford’s descriptions give ‘meaning’ to their experience. Hint: re-read Bradford’s description of the potential perils they faced at the hands of the ‘savages’ on page 126 of the text and note the sentence beginning “And also those which should escape …”
2. How do these readings from Bradford’s history challenge and/or affirm traditional American beliefs about the Pilgrims and our colonial origins?
(respond to 1 of the following 3 questions)
2. How does Bradford’s account of the Puritan’s/Pilgrim’s rationale of leaving for the ‘new world’ (chapter IV: Showing the Reasons and Causes for Their Removal) compare with our ‘traditional’ understanding of their rationale?
3. In seventeenth-century Puritan thought, prosperity was a mixed blessing, even a paradox. If the colony prospered, and if individuals within the congregations fared well materially, such good fortune could signify righteousness and divine favor; but these colonists took seriously the warnings in the Gospels about the near impossibility of rich people entering Heaven. Bradford sounds elegiac in his account (Book II, Chapter XXII) of the colony growing prosperous and dispersing. The colony has succeeded and is spreading inland–so how can we account for Bradford’s melancholy mood?
4. If Bradford’s intent in writing his ‘Historie’ was to glorify and sanctify the ‘Pilgrim’ experience in the New World, discuss why he would feel it necessary to include the events he relates in chapter 32. ‘A Horrible Truth”?

Read the case study titled “Missed Opportunities”, located in the online course shell.

Write a four to six (4-6) page paper in which you:

Examine the pros and cons from the perspective of Crestview Hospital of the placement of its new billboard directly adjacent to Briarwood Medical Center. Interpret the reaction of customers and other community stakeholders to the billboard postings.
Use competitive marketing entry strategies to suggest the action that Briarwood Hospital should undertake to counter the messages in the new Crestview Hospital Billboard postings.
Recommend the marketing communication strategy or strategies that both Crestview and Briarwood Hospitals should employ. Justify why the Governing Board of both hospitals should take a proactive role in promoting and implementing effective marketing strategies.
Assess the value of the various marketing research tool(s) that Briarwood and Crestview hospital could use to promote effective marketing communication strategies. Justify your response.
Use at least five (5) quality academic resources. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Write an eight to ten (8-10) page paper in which you:

Identify at least five (5) potential physical threats that require attention.
Determine the impact of at least five (5) potential logical threats that require attention.
Detail the security controls (i.e., administrative, preventative, detective, and corrective) that the pharmacy could implement in order to protect it from the five (5) selected physical threats.
Explain in detail the security controls (i.e., administrative, preventative, detective, and corrective) that could be implemented to protect from the five (5) selected logical threats.
For each of the five (5) selected physical threats, choose a strategy for addressing the risk (i.e., risk mitigation, risk assignment, risk acceptance, or risk avoidance). Justify your chosen strategies.
For each of the five (5) selected logical threats, choose a strategy for handling the risk (i.e., risk mitigation, risk assignment, risk acceptance, or risk avoidance). Justify your chosen strategies.
Use at least five (5) quality resources in this assignment (no more than 2-3 years old) from material outside the textbook. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.

Technical Paper: Object-oriented Programming (OOP) / Event-Driven Programming (EDP) versus Procedural Programming (PP)

Use the Internet or Strayer databases to research the advantages, features, and common examples of OOP and EDP. Note: You may use the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Digital Library to support research on the above topics. Instructions detailing the necessary steps to access the ACM Digital Library are located at the end of the Course Guide.

Write a three to five (3-5) page paper in which you:

Identify at least two (2) advantages to using OOP as compared to using only PP.
Create one (1) original example of a class with at least one (1) attribute and one (1) method. Identify what the class in question represents, the attributes the class stores, and the purpose of the related method. Next, examine the relationship between the class, attributes, and methods that you have identified.
Describe at least one (1) feature of object-oriented programming that Visual Logic lacks.
Identify at least one (1) advantage to using event-driven programming, as compared to using purely procedural programming.
Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.

Financing Decision Cuanto Corp. is a U.S. drug company that has attempted to capitalize on new opportunities to expand in Eastern Europe. The pro- duction costs in most Eastern European countries are very low, often less than one-fourth of the cost in Germany or Switzerland. Furthermore, there is a strong demand for drugs in Eastern Europe. Cuanto pene- trated Eastern Europe by purchasing a 60 percent stake in Galena, a Czech firm that produces drugs.

a. ShouldCuantofinanceitsinvestmentintheCzechfirm by borrowing dollars from a U.S. bank that would then be converted into koruna (the Czech currency) or by bor- rowing koruna from a local Czech bank? What informa- tion do you need to know to answer this question?

b. How can borrowing koruna locally from a Czech bank reduce the exposure of Cuanto to exchange rate risk?

c. How can borrowing koruna locally from a Czech bank reduce the exposure of Cuanto to political risk caused by government regulations?