Borders Group Inc. Case Study Essay Example

Borders Group Inc. Case Study Essay Example Borders Group Inc. Case Study Paper Borders Group Inc. Case Study Paper Borders Group Inc. Professor: Simon Dekker Student: Yanhui Zheng Student ID: 021244231 Date: 02- -2010 Introduction Borders Group Inc. is one of leading and well-known retailers of books, CD, and other educational items. Its idea is â€Å"To create richer, more satisfying lives through knowledge and entertainment. † In order to accomplish its mission, Borders provide additional services to make its customer enjoy spending in the store. Borders’ store is not just a bookstore that people go in, buy books, and leave. More likely, it is a place that people can relax and learn knowledge at the same time. Despite the stores throughout nationwide, Borders also has stores in Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Oman, Singapore, and United Arab Emirates, and in total approximate 600 stores. Its headquarter is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Borders Group Inc. ’s history can be traced by two brands: Borders and Waldenbooks. Lawernce Hoyt ran a rent library in 1933. Later in 1962, Hoyt opened first independent bookstore named Walden Book Store. In 1971, an 800-square-foot used bookstore named Borders Book shop was opened. In 1984, Waldenbooks was purchased by Kmart Corporation, and in 1992 Kmart Corporation also merged Borders and named them as Borders-Walden Group. Three years later, it was renamed as Borders Group Inc. , and moved headquarter to Ann Arbor. Recent years, Borders can not compete with online sellers, especially Amazon. com. It starts to lose business, and has to close stores in order to cut its expenses. Now, it is close to bankruptcy, and is preparing the files. As-is Condition According to Moneycentral. com, from 2001 to 2006, Border Group Inc. made approximate 100 million dollars every year. Later it started to lose money. In year 2009 and 2010, it boomingly lost 184. 7 and 110. 2 million dollars. Borders as a leading traditional bookstore, its experience is a live example that shows the industry life cycle for the tradition bookstore industry. Following char illustrates the whole process. Chart1: Traditional Bookstore Industry Life Cycle Combining the Borders’ financial statements, it shows that during maturity period, Borders made a lot profit. Later on, because of the new technology, the way to sell books and other related items is changed. Compared with the online sales, the traditional bookstore is getting out of fashion, and the whole industry is going to the decline period, or even phase-out period. Within this period, Borders started to lose business, and now can not even operate normally. Borders can not disobey the industry life cycle, it has to close its business or follow the new technology. Actually, Borders has already taken some actions. News form internetretaler. om, on August 1, 2010, CEO Mike Edwards announced that Borders was trying to open an e-books store with 1. 5 million titles, and also provided 38 million loyalty program members incentives. The goal was that by this time next year, it would take 17 percentages of online market. Unfortunately, Borders did not recognize the potential of online sales at the first place. By the same time, its biggest online competitor Amazon has already taken 90% market s hare. Following char is used to illustrate the situation. Chart 2: The Impact of Speed to Market on Sales According to Moneycentral. om, in 2003 Amazon. com broke even and made 35. 28 million dollars of net income. After that it started to grow dramatically, by the end of 2010, the income went up to1,152 million dollars. Amazon took advantage of new technology, and made an early entrant to the new market. When the market was mutual, it already owned 90% market share before some other competitors realized the new trend, such as Borders, Apple and Google. ( dailyfinance. com/) Due to late entrant, Borders is facing great challenge. To sum up, new technology forces traditional bookstores lose competitions. On the other hand, Borders missed the early entrant, and it is very difficult for Borders to catch up. Analysis Despite its competitors, Borders itself already gets some problems. According to its last year’s financial statements, Borders’ metrics and trends is shown as following chart: Chart 3: Borders’ Metrics and Trends in 2010 Current Levels| Item| Metric Description| 1st Q| 2nd Q| 3rd Q| 4th Q| Measurement| 1| Total sales| 1,016,200| 547,200| 507,900| 475,600| Monetary ? | 2| COGS %| 75%| 80. 30%| 80. 90%| 84. 80%| Pecentage ^ | 3| Admin cost/sales| 21. 40%| 25. 0%| 26. 20%| 30. 30%| Pecentage ^ | 4| Net Income| 59,900| 64,100| 46,700| 74,400| Monetary ? | It is very clear that total sales are continuously decreasing each quarter. What is worse is that the costs are increasing boomingly. Only 1 year the cost of goods sold goes up by 10%, and operational activities costs also is increasing. Of cause, the profit is keep going down. Compared with Borders, Amazo n is skyrocketing growing. Its sales went up from 3. 1 billion in 2001 to 34. 2 billion dollars in 2010, especial it grew by approximately 10 billion dollars in 2009. The last three years analysis is showing in the following chart: Chart 4: 2008-2010 Amazon. com’s performances | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | Total sales| 19,166,000 | 24,509,000 | 34,204,000 | COGS %| 77. 72%| 77. 43%| 77. 65%| Admin/sales| 17. 89%| 17. 96% | 22. 34% | Net income | 645,000  Ã‚   | 902,000  Ã‚   | 1,152,000  Ã‚   | Amazon did not only make more sales or profit, it also had obviouly lower cost of goods sold and admin/sales ratio. Most important thing is Amazon still growing while Borders already goes to the downturn and has to close stores in the reality. The following is Borders’ â€Å"Causes and Effects† diagram. Chart 5: Borders’ Causes and Effects Diagram Compared to virtual bookstore, the physical bookstore needs more staff to maintain, and has to pay renting, utility, cleaning, and others. Therefore, it is too expensive to hold the traditional stores, especially when it can not make profit. Not like online sales that the customer just need to summit his/her credit card information, the customers have to stand in line to pay for the items. If customers choose to purchase online, they do not need to drive to store. They only need a computer and internet. Without computer, smart phone, iPod, or other devices can access to internet also works. It also is easier to look for a book online. Compared to online sales, traditional bookstore has more process and other inconveniences before making a sale. In contract to online sellers, Borders’ employees have to do more in order to make a sale, while online sellers just need to take care of the delivery and customer support. Borders management team realizes the trend of online sale, but it is already late to take advantage of early entrant. At the end, the products sold in bookstore usually are more expensive, and also Amazon has much more different items, not only educational stuff. In 2010, the management team did realize the value of online store, and tried to entry the online retail industry. Following is the Borders e-book transformational process. Chart 6: Borders’ e-Book Transformational Process Inputs eBooks 1. 5 million titles, customers Transformational process Outputs Make sales Amazon 90% market share; Apple and Google 38 million loyalty program members incensive Feedback Measurement Adjust Borders planned to open a e-Books’ store with up to1. 5 million titles by 2011. In additional, the management team came out an intensive plan which Borders would give away 38 million dollar to its loyalty members. This plan will encourage some customer to go to Borders online store. However, Borders’ effort is greatly impact by the online retailers’ leader Amazon, which already takes 90% of e-Books market. Despite the huge market share of Amazon, Apple and Google are also working on online bookstore. According to Sarah Weinman, Amazon’ market share will drop to 35% by next 5 years. At the nd of 2010, due to Apple and Google, Amazon is likely to go down to 72%. However, Amazon’s e-Books’ revenue will be triple by 2015. This is has both good and side effect. The good news is Borders still can take market share from Amazon decreasing share. The bad news is Border still one step behind Apple and Google, its competitors also should include Apple a nd Google. Borders put its e-Books resource and customers’ relationship into input, plus its incentive effort. It is surely that Borders will get a lot customer to support its online store. However, its competitors, especially Amazon. om already takes over the market. Border still has long way before it can grow to certain level. Proposed improvement When new technology coming out, it always brings a lot challenge to the old industry. Sometimes, it replaces the whole industry. The other times, they can both survive. Just like radio, and TV. When they first came, people start to worry that there is no place for newspaper. Actually, they did challenge the newspaper industry, but later on new balance came out and newspaper still existed. Online retail bookstore is exactly same as the radio and TV. It did bring a downturn to the traditional bookstore; for instance, Borders closed about 200 stores last year. It is irreversible that traditional book store are going to the decline period. However, there still is some place for traditional bookstore. Compared with Amazon, it is obvious that the reason for Borders to lose money is higher cost of goods sold and admin cost. Therefore, the key point for Borders physical bookstore to survive is to cut its cost of goods sold and admin cost. If Borders can not significantly cut the cost, its bookstores have to be closed. Chart 7: cost reduction process The cost comes from two sources cost of goods sold (inventory) and admin cost. In order to cut the cost of goods old, the first step is to find cheaper supplier with satisfied quality. If customers accept the normal price, then try to find another source with cheaper price. If can not find any other cheaper supplier and this price already can make profit, it is OK to keep use the same supplier. If customers resist the price, offer a discount in order to make a sale within profitable arrangement. If the discount sale can not make profit, definitely go to find cheaper source, or ave to skip this product. The second part is to reduce the administrative cost. This cost is mainly from employees’ salary. One way is to cut the salary. Reasonable salary cut due to slow business is fine, but do not cut too much. If doing so, the employees are not going to appreciate with the cut (actually cutting salary never make employee happy), they can not perform their best. If they can not provid e satisfied services, customer will not be happy to buy items from here. Another way is to fire some employees, retrain the remaining staff so they can take more duties. If the cutting cost solution works, the customers can get cheaper products. For example, the cost of goods sold goes down to 75%, which is its first quarter rate and also lower the Amazon average level. Admin cost can be back to 21. 4%, which is lower than the Amazon’s. Therefore, profit margin is larger than Amazon’s margin. This also can provide a space for Borders to give some benefit back to its customer, such as discount sales, incentive plans, and so on. Base on the economic rule, price goes down, and demand will go up because customers are willing to buy more relative cheaper products. More products are sold, and Borders is able to make profit. If the efforts on cutting cost still can not help Borders to make profit, Borders will have to close its stores in order to step away from keeping lose money. The other part of Borders operation, which is online store is much more important, it decides how far Borders can go. The major problem is the market share. As mentioned above, Amazon already takes 90% market share, Apple and Google also step into this industry, and Borders is left behind. In order to catch up with Amazon or other competitors, Boreders has to continuously improve its products and services. The related elements for improvement are price, quality, delivery and customer support. Chart 8: Online sale improvement process Whether a business can exist or not is greatly up to marketing department or sales department. The first thing should be focused is to make sales. Try to sell at the normal price firstly, if the sales do not go well, then lower down the price try it one more time. This is very important to earn money. Later on, purchasing the inventory becomes priority, it help a company to cut the cost. However, Borders can not just chase for cheaper resources, poor quality would lead customers to balk or return the products that they just bought, and this will cost more then just simply purchased high quality products. A biggest difference between physical store and online store is online store usually has to deliver items to the customers. The speed of delivery also is a key factor for online sales. If it is too slow, customer might look for another online retailer in order to get it sooner even with higher price. Customers’ feedbacks are basic and critical facts for evaluating an organization’s operations. Management team should pay enough attention to customers’ feedback as well as employees’, in order to improve its operations. For instances, if customers complain quality is not good and delivery is slow, the organization has to improve them. Even customers do not complain, the organization still need to care about the improvement. Continuously improvement is the key to success. Borders losing business also is result from careless improvement. A huge part of online sales is customers’ support. Because customers can not face to face communicate with the employees, it has to pay attention in order to satisfy customer. Despite the continuous improvement, to eliminate the wastes is another point to gain competitions. The most efficient way to do that is using lean production. Borders should pay attention to three parts: supply, transformational process and market. Borders can use enterprise resources planning (ERP) to organize its resource and operations to avoid big waste. This is key for Borders to gain competitions since it already behind the market. Conclusion Due to new technology, the traditional bookstores are running out of fashion. Book store follows the industry life cycle; it already goes to the phase-out period. Online sales give customer more profit and conveniences. Borders closed stores are the price paid for the new innovation. However, there still is space for bookstore to survive. Compared to Amazon, Borders’ biggest problem is the high cost. There is only one way to help Borders’ stores to survive, which is to cut the cost. Borders has to process cost reduction procedure constantly, or else it needs to graduated close the stores. New technology brings new opportunity. Borders continuous development depends on market the new industry, which is online bookstore. Due to its late entrant, Borders needs to do much more then earlier entrant competitors. The most important thing is to continuously improve its products and services. Any efforts that work for cutting cost must be done, such as lean production, which can help Borders to eliminate the wastes. To sum up, if an organization wants to develop for the long run, it has to constantly improve its operations, production and other related activities. The technology makes it easy for all business to share information, but still people are the decision maker. People have to learn or train in order to catch up with the development of technology and society. Borders’ experience is the live example for being behind the technology. References About Us. (2010). Borders. com. Retrieved on Feb. 21, 2010 from borders. com/online/store/BGIView_bgiabouthistory Amazon. com, Inc. (2011). Finance. yahoo. com. Retrieved on Feb 21, 2010, from http://finance. yahoo. com/q? s=AMZNql=1. Amazon. com, Inc. (2011). Money. msn. com. Retrieved on Feb 21, 2010, from http://investing. money. msn. com/investments/stock-price? Symbol=AMZN Brohan, M. (2010). Borders jumps into the e-books fray with a new online bookstore. Internetretailer. com. Retrieved on Feb. 21, 2010 from internetretailer. com/2010/08/01/borders-jumps-e-books-fray-new-online-bookstore Weinman, S. (2010). Amazons E-Book Market Share May Plummet: Great News for Amazon. Dailyfinance. com. Retrieved on Feb. 21, 2010, from dailyfinance. com/story/company-news/amazons-e-book-market-share-may-plummet-great-news-for-amazon/19361847/

Discuss the various theories that might help explain a person's Essay

Discuss the various theories that might help explain a person's attraction to and an involvement in the subcultures of outlaw motorcycle gangs - Essay Example Further, resistance to the social hierarchy motivated most of these people to participate to the motorcycle gang. This theory holds that these motorcycle clubs offers a platform for a person with high propensity for criminal activity to unite to form a group in order to run businesses of different levels of sophistication. A person can also be attracted to these groups because of social isolation (Hayes, 2011). Social isolation makes a person pay more attention to the underworld. Motorcycle subculture groups incorporate their lives in ways that makes a person to exercise spontaneous and planned criminal activities. In addition, a person can be attracted to outlaw motorcycle gangs because they perceive a different sense of belonging within these gangs. This might be something they have been lacking in their entire life; therefore, they decide to get involved with these gangs in order to fulfill that desire or need. The other theory is the queer ladder of mobility, which asserts that a person attracted to the outlaw motorcycle gangs with the aim to create wealth and gain

Career Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Career Plan - Essay Example The self-assessment exercise determines my suitability in pursuing the career. This process is crucial because it enhances the best utilization my tangible and intangible resources. I had the blue-print of establishing my business in the supply chain management. The process will enable me to have a clear understanding of the requirements of my vision. The process protects me from skill obsolescence. This notwithstanding, the process of career planning requires a comprehensive career plan framework. Different perceptions regarding career planning exist, but the bottom line is that the plan must be subjected to my strengths and weaknesses, and objectivity. Sometimes career planning is influenced by my parents, tutors and peers. The influence is healthy because new ideas are factored into the decision making process with a career plan. Moreover, the process is influenced by self-efficacy. The objectives of my career are to establish a sole-proprietorship in the supply chain management. The plan will enable me to achieve the best scores in academic contests. The plan also enables me to streamline his activities towards getting the best-paying job in the future. A career plan also enhances the utilization of scarce resources like finance and education. The plan makes me to be focuses and result-oriented. Objectivity enhances creativity and innovativeness among the career planers. My success in life is determined by the career choice adopted. The aspect of success in life is relative given that success implies different things for different people. My self-assessment entails the reflection on my personal strengths and weaknesses. The evaluation enhances better decision making pertaining to career choice. The process entails consideration of my values, tastes and preferences. These are matched with the available learning opportunities. According to Rothwell (2010), the circumstances surrounding me are also

Dispositions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Dispositions - Essay Example This helps the teacher observe and learn the student’s individual strengths and weaknesses and assist them to improve appropriately (Calkins, 1983). The classroom environment is comfortable. This is evident through the seating arrangement and the overall outlook of the classroom. This tends to boost the students morale and enhances their learning and development. The group seems to be comfortable with each other and this is seen through the interactions that they have. This improves their learning capability because the learners are at ease. 1b). Instructional delivery The instructional delivery used in this class situation is, the teacher has invited the students to participate in the writing process and this improves students’ interest. Once the student has developed an interest in what they are learning, it becomes easier for the teacher to get through to them. The teacher has also monitored the subject of the course that would create an exciting experience for the s tudents. In the video, one of the students talks of how much they love mother’s day. This is a topic that would excite the children. During the learning process, another delivery method that the teacher used is to let the children share a fond experience, which is expressed with their writing. 2. Analysis, Exploration, and Reasoning 2a). Student-teacher interaction The student teacher interaction observed in this classroom situation is the one to one consultation that the teacher has with her students. The teacher seems to be attending to the students at an individual level. This improves the learning capability of the student. The students are actively participating in the teaching-learning activities. The teacher also ensures that there is participatory learning whereby each student actively participates and contributes to the lesson. The lesson is not teacher-centered. 2b). Tone of the teacher-student interaction The tone that the teacher uses is very friendly and slow, an d is geared towards making the children comfortable. When the students are in a learning situation, the kind of tone the teacher uses can determine the level of understanding of the students. The teacher also uses a tone which ensures that all the students hear and understand what is being said because the tone is loud enough (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000). 2c). Level of student engagement with the lesson In the observed classroom, the students are engaged in many activities. One of the activities is drawing a picture of a place of their choice then writing about that place. This kind of student engagement is essential for their learning. After the sharing sessions, the other students are given a chance to discuss the work that has just been presented. This gives the student a chance to share their ideas and correct their fellow student. The students also get to learn from each other as they exchange vocabularies. Not all classrooms have this kind of engagement. 2d). Setting exp ectations for academic performance How the teacher reacts to the performance of a student substantially determines how the student will continue learning. The teacher has to set expectations for academic performance for every class. In the observed situation, the teacher does so by giving the students small tasks and letting the students share the work they have done. With this sharing the students can see what the other students have done. This helps the students not to feel discriminated due to their performance and instead try to be better. This kind of academic expectation does not interfere with the student’s self-esteem while helping them at the same time. The students are also expected to listen keenly to and strictly follow the

Autobiographical Elements of Essays of Elia -- Charles Lamb

The most charming beauty of romantic literature is the trait of its being intensely autobiographical and subjective. Similarly, "Essays of Elia" unfold the life history and idiosyncratic mind of Charles Lamb in a semi-factual way. The real delight for the Romantic comes from his infusion of fact and fiction as, otherwise, his essays would have become mere boring and passionless statements about his personal and private life. Our charm and fascination do not grow less, for we are never too close to the reality or surrounded by totally imaginary details and accounts. Under the thin layer of mystified names and references, Lamb lays bare his entire existence. In fact, it is not possible for readers to trace out a true history of Charles Lamb through his essays. He mystifies the details of his personal life by giving us false names and false kinship. Even the pseudonym of "Elia" is sufficient to blur our judgment. Without additional help in form of footnotes and comments, we cannot safely connect details given in the essays with Lamb's life. Sometimes, he may make a confessi...

Climate Change: Fact or Fiction

Weather can be defined as the state of the atmosphere including movements of energy like wind and precipitation. Climate is the generally prevailing weather patterns of a region. The climate of a region is made up of the different weather patterns. The weather patterns are usually repetitive according to the seasons. Where I’m from in southwest Nebraska it snows in the winter, rains in the spring, and is hot in the summer. The question is, has the weather and climate always been like this in Nebraska? We have proof that climate has changed in the past.Seventy million years ago there may have not been any ice on the North Pole. The region was most likely covered in forest. The amazing part of this hypothesis is that without the polar ice caps the ocean levels would be around seventy meter higher than they are now. Scientist also know that the world was in its most recent ice age about 2. 6 million years ago. If the North Pole went from forest to ice sixty-eight million years, o bviously the world has seen drastic changes before. This raises the question of whether or not this could happen to us again.Could the increases in temperature that everybody attributes to global warming just be a natural cycle of the planets climate? Most people think not. The logical answer for the steady increase in temperature is global warming due to the â€Å"Greenhouse Effect†. The Greenhouse Effect is caused by an increase in the concentration of â€Å"greenhouse gasses† in the atmosphere. Some of the most dominate greenhouse gasses are Carbon dioxide, Methane, Nitrous oxide, and Water vapor. Some people might argue that these gasses are found naturally in the atmosphere.The concentration of the gasses could be increasing due to natural factors. The atmosphere may be holding these gasses in for an unknown reason, or the environment may be producing higher concentrations naturally. This theory is unlikely according to data recorded in past years. Ice cores show that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased dramatically since the industrial revolution. It’s no coincidence that global warming started becoming noticeable the same time humans started harvesting fossil fuels.Burning, mining, and processing fossil fuels are the main cause of the increase in gas releases. According to Peter Singers book One World, the scientific evidence that human activities are changing the climate of our planet has been studied by the IPCC in order to provide policy makers with an authoritative view of climate change and its causes. (Pg. 15) The â€Å"Third Assessment Report† released by the IPCC in 2001 found that our planet has shown clear signs of warming over the past century.Since 1960 snow and ice cover has decreased by about ten percent, and mountain glaciers are in retreat everywhere except near the poles. Paralleling the changes in the climate is an unprecedented increase in the concentration of greenhouse gass es in the atmosphere. This increase is produced by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, the clearing of vegetation, and in the case of methane, cattle and rice production. Not for at least the last four-hundred and twenty years has there been so much carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere. Pg. 15-16) What will happen if we continue to emit increasing amounts of gasses into the atmosphere, and global warming continues to increase? According to the Third Assessment Report, between 1990 and 2100, average global temperatures will rise by at least 1. 4 °C, and by as much as 5. 8 °C. Although these average rises in temperature might seem small, even a 1 °C rise in the average temperature would be greater than any change that has occurred in a single century in the past ten-thousand years.Moreover, some regional changes will be more extreme and are much more difficult to predict. (Pg. 16-17) If the average temperature of a major agricultural region was to rise 5 °C all the dominant crops in the area may not be suited for the region anymore and major economic downfall could result. Now that everybody in the world is aware of the cause of global warming, the question arises, what are we supposed to do? I believe the best and most effective answer to that question is reduce the amount of energy that we use.The first and simplest step is to reduce your power consumption. Creating power is one of the largest uses of fossil fuels which means the less power made, the less fossil fuels used. Everybody can use less power by simply turning off lights and unplugging appliances when not in use. Most appliances continue to consume power even after they have been turned off, if everybody just unplugged their electronics or switched off the power strip energy would become a lot more sustainable. Another huge problem with the world is automobiles.While most people love their cars and don’t want to lose the freedom to go anywhere their thoughts might be changed when they look at all the negatives cars produce. First, is all the time, energy, and resources used to make a car. Most car parts are made from expendable ores and minerals and then shipped across the globe. This not only uses up mineral reserves in the production of the parts but consumes large amounts of petroleum energy in the transportation process. Then, as everybody knows all these cars consume huge amounts of energy in the form of gas every day, this will deplete our oil supply in no time.Cars also need roads to drive on. Roads are the leading consumer of the United States mineral resources, and the take up very large amounts of space in cities and agricultural areas. People in cities can ride the bus and everybody can ride the train on long distance trips. If we could all cut the amount we drive in half the sustainability of many of the world’s resources would increase dramatically. Turning off your lights and taking the bus aren’t the only way people can reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses they contribute.Factories produce a large amount of pollutants every day. Factory products can also contribute to atmospheric pollution because everything made requires resources to be produced. And after a product is used up it becomes waste and must be disposed of in some way. We can lower the amount of waste that is being put into landfills by buying goods that aren’t over packaged. Many goods are jazzed up with large and fancy packaging but in the end people just throw the package away. If the same product can be purchased in a smaller package it will cost less and take up less space as waste.Consumers should try to buy fresh produce from local stores. While fresh goods are not usually over packaged, buying local also helps to cut down on the amount of transportation and the energy wasted while the item was stored in large warehouses. Another step in the environmental preservation process is to recycle everything possible. This is more easily said than done for most people but it is becoming easier and more convenient all the time. Recycling bins are popping up all over in convenient locations and the incentives to recycle are getting greater all the time.It isn’t that hard to separate easily recyclable materials like cans and bottles in your home and take them to the proper recycling center. Another easy was to recycle is take your plastic shopping bags back for recycling or get a reusable bag. If resources are conserved, then naturally the amount of gasses being released into the atmosphere will be decreased. In conclusion, global warming is a major global problem. If a sufficient remedy isn’t found soon enough the world may never be the same. Finding a means to curve the rise of global warming is easier than most people think.

Position On The Relationship Of U. S. Technology Companies...

The American Technology Council Elaine Duke - Acting Director of Homeland Security Albany High School Position on the Relationship of U.S. Tech Companies with China The future of America’s dominance in the international technology sector is no longer secure. The emergence of countries such as China, whose economy functions under different operating framework than the United States, gives China a competitive advantage over the U.S. that poses a legitimate and imminent threat to the success of U.S. tech companies (Fallows). Not only does this unfair dynamic affect the U.S. tech market, it also threatens the stability of Sino-American relations (McCurry). This issue is deeply concerning to the Department of Homeland Security. The security†¦show more content†¦Passive counter-hacking is defined by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs as defensive behavior that meets the following criteria: The counter hack does not have an adverse effect on the perpetrator, the counter-hack is not performed in immediate retaliation for the theft of IP, and lastly the counter-hack does not access restricted systems (Babitch). Passive hacking will de ter IP theft from foreign companies and states while mitigating the risk of accidental offensive hacking against innocent companies. Not only do Chinese companies and state-actors steal American intellectual property, they also use this stolen IP to unfairly compete with American companies in the Chinese market. This is done through the China Compulsory Certificate (CCC). All foreign companies must obtain this safety certificate before participating in Chinese markets (Blair). However, when the certification is obtained China demands that companies provide detailed schematics of their products which the Chinese government then provides to Chinese companies, enabling IP theft and counterfeiting (Blair). To solve this problem the DHS proposes that the CCC commision submit itself to a non-partisan international oversight body which will protect the safety of Chinese consumers, the stated purpose of the CCC. Moreover, the oversight body will ensure the CCC is not abused to disadvantage foreign companies. Understandably, political pressure will be needed to ensure that China allows this policy.Show MoreRelatedDigi1251 Words   |  6 PagesDigi Telecommunications Digi uses Sugar Professionalâ„ ¢ to manage enterprise customer relationships and ensure high level of customer satisfaction Company Profile Headquarters Shah Alam, Malaysia Company Description DiGi is a leading mobile communications company providing a comprehensive range of affordable, convenient and easy to use wireless services to simplify and enrich the lives of its customers. Users 200 Employees for Sales and Support Customers Serves over 7.2 million mobile customers acrossRead MoreWalmart Report10567 Words   |  43 PagesIntroduction In this report, we would present a case study of strategic audit for Wal-Mart in China. We would begin by discussing the strategic posture, current performance, corporate culture and top management of Wal-Mart in China. Then, we would analyze the external environment of Wal-Mart by performing the PEST analysis and Six-Forces Model analysis. After that, we would analyze the internal environment of Wal-Mart by performing analysis on each of the corporate function. Based on the analysisRead MoreCNPC CSR report25861 Words   |  104 PagesResponsibility Report China National Petroleum Corporation About the Report This is China National Petroleum Corporation’s seventh annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report since 2006. This report accurately represents what we did in 2012 to honor our commitments to the economy, the environment and society. It is important that we provide the following information: Reporting company: China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Alternative reference: China National Petroleum CorporationRead MoreSupply Chain Practice8994 Words   |  36 PagesPurpose – Increasingly, private sector companies are aiming to buy and supply products and services in a sustainable way, termed â€Å"sustainable supply chain management† (sustainable SCM), using purchasing and supply to reduce negative impacts on the environment, economy and society. There is often a gap between rhetoric and reality, with companies often accused of paying green lip service to sustainable SCM. This research aims to explore sustainable SCM issues in companies that have been recognized as leadersRead MoreKnowledge Transfer From MNC Parent To China Subsidiary9814 Words   |  40 Pagesknowledge transfer from MNC parent to China subsidiary Pien Wanga,*, Tony W. Tongb, Chun Peng Kohc a School of Business, National University of Singapore, 1 Business Link, Singapore 117592, Singapore b Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, Newark, OH, USA c International Enterprise Singapore, Singapore Abstract Based on an empirical study of 62 firms, this paper develops a two-stage model describing knowledge transfer from MNCs to their China subsidiaries. In the first stage, theRead MoreMonsanto: Better Living Through Genetic Engineering96204 Words   |  385 Pages441 441 CASE STUDIES A summary of the case analysis I N T R O D U C T I O N Preparing an effective case analysis: The full story Hearing with the aid of implanted technology: The case of Cochlearâ„ ¢ – an Australian C A S E O N E high-technology leader Delta Faucet: Global entrepreneurship in an emerging market C A S E T W O DaimlerChrysler: Corporate governance dynamics in a global company C A S E T H R E E Gunns and the greens: Governance issues in Tasmania C A S E F O U R Succeeding in theRead MoreStrategy and Change Management2770 Words   |  12 PagesReferences Introduction: This assignment is based on one of the biggest steel company in the world it is known as Severstal. This company was founded in 1955 by Cherepovets steel mill and remain under soviet government ownership until 1991. In 1993 Alexel Mordashov became owner of this company and registers the company name as Severstal in Russia. After the privatisation it becomes one of the international Russian companies with overseas export and ownership of foreign assets. And they also listed inRead MoreTrouble in Paradise with Comments6022 Words   |  25 PagesHBR CASE STUDY Trouble Paradise by Katherine Xin and Vladimir Pucik F The Zhong-Llan Knitting Company joint venture in China is one of the regions shining success stories. So why is generai manager Mike Gravesthinking about pulling the plug on it? ROM Mike Gravess tall windows, which were draped in red veivet, the view of Shanghai was spectacular: the stately old Western-style buildings, the riot of modem skyscrapers, the familiar needle of the TV tower. But today Mike barely noticedRead MoreGlobal Management4057 Words   |  17 PagesBusiness Cultural Analysis: China LaTasha Baker GRST 500/501 Abstract Since the beginning of time when Adam and Eve left the garden, people have been increasing the geographic realm of their economics, political, social and ethnicity contacts. People begin connecting with other nationalities all of the world. This relationship provide wealth and progress along with adverse disputes within the relationship of countries (MacEwan, 2001). There are many reasons why companies covet to develop theirRead MoreWhy Ebay Lost to Taobao in China - the Global Advantage2817 Words   |  12 Pagesin China: The Global Advantage electronic commerce involves electronically-facilitated transactions between consumers through third parties.9 In China, a number of C2C platforms have emerged, such as eBay (China), TaoBao and PaiPai. TaoBao, established in 2003, has quickly assumed a dominant position in this market, underlined by the December 2006 decision by eBay to quit the C2C market in China altogether,4, 8 merging its China operations with those of telecoms provider TOM Online. In China, C2C