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Showing posts from May, 2020

Comparison between two retail companies picked are Walmart and Costco

The two retail companies picked are Walmart and Costco whose 2017 Financial statement links are provided below: WALMART https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/ wmt/financials?query=income- statement COSTCO https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/ cost/financials?query=income- statement Both organizations are well known brands and position themselves well with their customer base. Walmart’s value proposition is “We save people money so they can live better”. On the other hand, Costco’s value proposition is “All-in-one convenience and everyday affordability”. Both retailers focus on cost saving for their customers. Looking at their financial statements and by analyzing them a few key areas are evident when comparing the two organization. Looking at the current ratio and quick ratio we can determine the short-term solvency of each organization. The current ratio can be determined by dividing the assets by the liabilities. Walmart’s current ratio sits at 0.86 while Costco’s sits at 0.99. The quick ratio is c

List of product's characteristics/attributes:

List of product's characteristics/attributes: Design, Performance, Quality Look and feel of the product  Price  Image in market & Brand popularity Benefits to the customer from the Product attributes: Design, Performance & Quality:  These attributes benefit the customer by meeting the purpose the product is bought for. For example good reliable performance, ease of use or convenience in use (example small sleek product could be easier to use compared to large & heavy etc.), high performance with less maintenance for a long period of time, would benefit the customer the best. Product look and feel: This benefits the customer in not only giving solution, but also a value add in getting better product experience. For example a winter jacket bought might not just the serve the purpose of providing protection from cold weather, but also give a good feel and look, so that the customer will feel enhanced satisfaction. Price: If a product is priced optimal/reasonable for the pe

Mediterranean C-O-W

Product: Certified Organic Whole-grain (COW) Bread and Fresh Dairy. Name: Mediterranean C-O-W Attributes: Organic certified: There are several organic food certificates. In Europe, there is one official that is the most popular and accepted and many other that follow national or local regulations. This guarantee that the product was authorized and is free of chemicals or pesticides and makes it reliable for our eco-friendly costumer. (EU, n.d.) Hand-made: There is a quality difference between frozen processed bread and dairy, and our fresh products. Our product is made the same day and using traditional methods, like stone-grounded flour, sourdough fermentation, grounded sea salt or wild-crafted aromatic plants among others.      Whole-grain: Whole-grain food provides with natural fiber and nutrients that are beneficial for health and normal gut activity. Promoting healthy eating is promoting a healthy lifestyle. Wrapped in thermic paper or glass: Our customer doesn’t want more plastic

Recent Disruption in the Stem Cell Health Industry

Change occurs in various ways for organizations and the leaders within them. However not all leadership styles are suited to each type of change that can occur, and so an agile and self-aware leader must have the situational intelligence to understand when to switch to one leadership style of another (Beheshti, 2018). This piece will consider the five stages of radical change and which leadership style is most fitting (Reardon, Reardon, & Rowe, 1998). Then, a look at the industry I am in, the stem cell health sector, will be given to highlight a real-world example of radical change and how leadership style was subsequently affected. Reardon, Reardon, and Rowe (1998) highlight five stages of radical change including planning, enabling, launching, catalysing, and maintaining. Planning maps out the direction for change and requires creativity and the acquisition of information, and as such requires leaders to be logical yet inspirational. The enabling stage of radical change is charac

example of a recent or current disruption

Planning In the planning stage, leaders need to develop a blueprint for transform. Collect important information, identify obstacles, and find alternatives. It’s important to focus your work on creativity. Enabling At this stage, the leader explains the blueprint for the transformation plan and persuades the employee to be prepared to deliver the services they need in the process of change. Leaders must have the ability to explain the program to encourage employees. (Reardon, What It Takes To Change a Rotten Organizational Culture, 2018) Launching When transform work begins, leaders need to find practical problems as early as possible to prove the importance of transform, persuading or countering opponents. Leaders need to have a commanding style to achieve their goals, with a logical style to explain the goals of transform. (Reardon, Reardon & Rowe, 1998) Catalyzing The focus of leadership at this stage is to get people involved and motivate them. (Reardon, Reardon & Rowe, 199

Leading Disruptive Change

The leader of today needs to be a motivator, coach, mentor and people oriented with enough vision to combine its leadership style (goals) to the reality of the organization. Change must be something the leader is aware of, welcomes it and adapt and integrate these changes into his or her leadership styles. It is all about leading innovation and change and make it effective in the way you lead people and teams. For this discussions reading there are defined four personality types being Commanding, Logical, Inspirational and Supportive. It is well known that leaders have one or a combination of these within their leadership style and execution. It starts with being aware which personality types you use and how you integrate them into your leadership styles. If these things are in your blind spots, then you lead blindfolded with low chance of success when changes arrive and needs to be handled (Allio, 2011; Reardon, Reardon, & Rowe, 1998). Furthermore, there are five phases involved i

what is required of a leader at each stage

According to the Reardons and Rowe (1998), there are five stages of radical change. They are Planning, Enabling, Launching, Catalyzing, and Maintaining. There are many components to each stage but two will be described for each below. The four leadership styles from the Leadership Style Inventory (LSI) are assigned to each component of each of the five stages. The four styles are Commanding, Logical, Inspirational, and Supportive. In the Planning stage, a leader needs to try to acquire all available and relevant information, best performed using the logical leadership style from the leadership style inventory (LSI). Also, a leader should come up with creative ideas to reach the organizations goals. The leader can solicit ideas from others up and down the hierarchy after inspiring them to find innovative ideas. In the Enabling stage, a leader explains the plan and secures buy-in from employees. This is done using the logical leadership style. Then, the leader empowers the employees with

five stages of radical change

The five stages of radical change are Planning, Enabling, Launching, Catalyzing and Maintaining. While each stage needs a leader with varying leadership styles, I will focus on the most important leadership styles for each.  Planning   stage requires an inspirational leader above all else (Reardon et al, 1998). The planning stage requires a leader that can get people excited about changes that might otherwise be uncomfortable or scary. A leader has to be able to convince people that change is good and will have extraordinary results, and that the status quo is worth changing.  Enabling   stage requires a leader that is mostly logical. Enabling involves examining and analyzing next steps in a way that is easy to explain to team members/employees (Reardon et al, 1998). A leader in the Enabling stage of radical organizational change will need to be accessible and able to assist employees in the next steps in a practical way. Launching   stage requires a leader who can be authoritative bec

ABC’s (Acquire, Build, Contemplate, and Do) of Cultural Intelligence

            According to Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012), “cultural intelligence is your ability to successfully adapt to unfamiliar cultural settings.” (p. 68). Cultural intelligence is an important business instrument that highlights the behavioral nuances based on cultural differences. The increasing workforce diversity has pluses and minuses based on how cultural intelligence is used in managing it.             The basis for   cultural intelligence   has: knowledge (Acquire), strategic thinking (Build), motivation (Contemplate), and behaviors (Do) (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).               Acquire   is the step where the information and knowledge are obtained. The knowledge of a different culture is essential for a manager in order to better manage and interact in a multicultural organization.               Build   is the step where strategic thinking starts. The ability to understand the information is processed helps a manager make better decisions i

Define Contingency Theory

Leadership is a critical area of an organization.   A good leadership propels success in every organization. Researchers have come up with a number of theories that discuss and elaborate on the leadership styles that are required for good progress in the organization.  Contingency theories carry the idea that success in leadership relies on a certain situation at hand. There are certain factors which dictate the specific leadership style that will be effective in a given situation (Vroom, & Jago, 2007). The basic assumptions of Fielder’s Contingency theory, for instance, put forth the notion that proper leadership lies on style adopted by a leader and control that is held over the situation that is under control.  According to this theory, success is only achievable when there is a strong leader-member relation (Waters, 2013). The leaders are expected to present duties clearly having goals and procedures properly outlined. The theory also has the notion that leaders should ha