Questions and Answers of Retail Management

How do we define and improve on the level of luxury experienced by the customer?
What is value?
How should speed of service be measured?
How exactly should we measure product or service quality?
What would you do in this company to more fully integrate and clarify these values via:A. Vertical context?B. Horizontal context?
Some companies include profitability in their core values, because to pretend otherwise would seem hypocritical. For example, some employees are so customer focused that they “give away the farm”
Some would say that Kindle Post’s value statements are in conflict with each other and could confuse employees when vertically integrated throughout the company. Do you think so? If so, how would
No one, outside of a few partners, a few managers, and the consultants on the project, knows that Kindle Post is milking this project, least of all the client Finnie Moe. Based upon the Kindle Post
Would you include employee satisfaction as a key goal, value, or mission to integrate vertically in a company that you oversee? Or should employees simply be happy to have a job? Should high employee
Was there any correlation between actual morale scores and the emphasis the company places on employee satisfaction in their core mission, vision, and or value statements? Was their correlation as to
Assume that your one-person sample is indicative of the entire company (of course, this is an unrealistic assumption, but just assume for this exercise). How did each company score?
Divide actual points by possible points to determine each company’s score.
Upon receiving the survey answers, apply grading levels to each scale and add them up. In other words, “strongly disagree” would be one point, “strongly agree” would be five points. Thus for
Send these people your questionnaire to fill out and return to you.
Contact three people you know who currently work in companies.Find out:a. If employee happiness/satisfaction is mentioned anywhere in each company’s mission statement, vision statement, or core
Suppose you were an employee morale consultant. You need to create a questionnaire for employees to fill out every year to determine morale levels in the company. You need to find out what the
Do you think it is fair or worthwhile for companies to use such personality profiling to filter candidates in and out of consideration? For instance, if companies find their most effective sales
How accurate was the assessment for you? Is this a fair or accurate categorization of you? Do you think it is OK if your current company categorizes your strengths and weaknesses in such a manner?
Write down the results of your personality profile (often in the form of letter combinations, word combinations, or colors).Continue with your online research and find out what careers are suggested
Go online and perform a search for a free personality assessment program. You may search for terms like “Free Myers-Briggs Test”or “Free DISC Assessment.” Complete the test and any
The success or failure of each of Cynthia’s new companies rests entirely on her shoulders. She must take decisive action and must show immediate results or she will soon be looking for a job.What
Horizontal context of performance management recognizes that performance management is directly related to factors of input and output in an organization. Performance management is not isolated to
Cynthia makes two important assumptions in her turnaround philosophy. The first is that corporate values are crucial to a company’s success. The second is that the time, money, and energy it takes
Why not use the 20/80 rule instead of the 20/70/10 rule? For example, could you provide heightened financial and promotional incentives for the 20 percent of employees who excel while leaving the
Obviously, in such a system, the stakes are high for both the potential overperformers and the underperformers. How could you prevent politics from corrupting such a system? How could you prevent
Would you use the 20–70–10 rule in the company you created in Basic Skill Builder 2.1? Does this philosophy fit within the values that you set forth to guide your company into the next
Would this philosophy work in some companies but not in others?Why or why not?
Do you think that the 20–70–10 differentiation philosophy is an effective tool to use in a company or do you think it merely masks a greater issue with the hiring, managing, training, and other
Is there a correlation between how congruent the company is with its values, long term, and how successful the company is now and has been over a period of time? Does your research show core values,
Success can be measured in a number of different ways, and it can be highly subjective. Success can mean profitability, it may mean market share, or it may just mean survival. For the purpose of this
Determine whether or not the company is congruent with its stated values. Try to be as objective as possible.a. Do the values directly enforce the business-level strategy?b. Does the reputation of
Determine, through research and/or your own experience, what the company’s business-level strategy is. Does it utilize cost leadership, differentiation, integrated cost and differentiation, or
Review each of the companies/brands below. Find out, via Internet search or other means, what the core values of the company are and place them in the “Values” column.
Discuss your plan with the class.
What could be done to improve the performance of employees, reduce turnover, and improve earnings in this company by utilizing the concept of horizontal context?
Now get back together and read your plan out loud, starting with input and ending with output.a. While the overall plan is surely a good plan (and better than no plan at all), is integration between
Discuss your balanced scorecard goals and measures with the rest of the class.. Working separately, each team member should choose one of the three core values above and incorporate it into the stage
For which of the four categories did you find it the most difficult to create specific and measurable goals and measures? Why?
Suppose that you own a grocery store (or choose a market you would like). Fill out the balanced scorecard example below:a. For each of the four categories, include two specific and measurable goals
Which of the business-level strategies best suits You Inc.? Explain.
Focus: Do you have specific skills targeted to the specific niche in which you wish to focus? Or do you want to keep all of your options open? How well can you target yourself as having specific,
How could you differentiate yourself based on the business equivalents of quality, speed, or luxury in the marketplace?a. Quality: Is your work of the highest quality? How can you prove this to a
Differentiation: What makes you different from all of the Them Inc.’s out in the job market? Hopefully it is more than university grades. How can you begin marketing yourself as being different and
Cost leadership: What does it cost to employ someone in the type of job you are looking for (or are in)? Keep in mind that an employee’s cost is relative to the amount of output created or dollar
If you were the CEO, and truly wanted to maintain the status quo, create four new core values for the company that would allow the company to be true to its values.
More specifically, in terms of horizontal context:a. How will the feedback from the output stage most likely affect the input stages and the throughput stages going forward?b. Perhaps the cost
How could the company’s violation of these core values mentioned above eventually affect:a. The core value of “Working hard?”b. The core value of “Treating customers with respect?”c. The
It looks as though vertical alignment of values is not required for all companies to be successful. If you were a shareholder (if you got paid based upon the profitability of the company), would you
Is GigantoPrinters violating several of its core values? If so, which values is it violating?
GigantoPrinters is publicly traded and must provide a specific rate of return to shareholders. The printing industry is one that operates on relatively low margins. Thus competing on cost is vital.
Was this exercise easy or difficult for you? Do you think it would be hard for a company to do this when including additional variables such as millions of dollars, lawsuits, destroyed professional
As in any company, it is important that core values are vertically integrated throughout every facet of You Inc. This could include every aspect of your life including health, wealth, education,
Taking an honest look at yourself, on a scale of 1 to 5, how congruent would you say you are with these core values in all aspects of your life? Is this merely a wish list, or do you actively live
Narrow down these seven to ten values into three to five values that are most important to you. Use the above four core value characteristics as criteria for evaluating your reduced set of values. Do
Take a moment for introspection and look at the things that are most important to you. Create seven to ten values are important to you.
In order to systematically maximize performance management in your company, it will be critical to integrate your values through all stages of the employees’ tenure. How will you incorporate your
Value statements are expressions that list a company’s core beliefs in a clear and concise manner. Value statements are written to provide employees with guiding principles by which to operate
What type of business-level strategy (strategies) would you utilize to distinguish yourself from the competition? What would your rationale be for utilizing this business-level strategy?
Imagine that you could create and operate your own business, of any size and in any industry.a. What kind of business would it be?b. How many employees would it have?c. How much would it generate in
Assess the performance management system in terms of the administrative context. Do you think that the performance management system, as described in the opening example, would do a good job of
Assess the performance management system at MegaCo in terms of the horizontal context. How could it be improved?
Does the performance management system reflect and support the core values? If not, what would you suggest MegaCo do to align its performance management system with its core values?
Based on the example, is there alignment between the performance management of project managers at MegaCo and the strategic context? Explain your assessment.
Is the estimated dollar impact worth the cost of the program?
If there is a performance effect of the program, what is it worth in dollar terms? and finally,
Does the program make a difference that shows up later on the job?
MSW compaction in a collection truck allows for increased volumes of waste to be transported;however, if this compacted material is brought to a materials recovery facility, there are potential
In your community, observe the different containers used for the storage of MSW. What types of collection trucks are used for residential (single family) neighborhoods? Apartment complexes?
In your community, what are the major systems and equipment used for the collection of domestic and commercial solid wastes? Do programs exist for collection of source-separated wastes? For household
In your community, is waste collected by the municipality or by a private hauler? Who collects commercial wastes?
What recommendations would you make regarding current waste collection in your community in order to reduce costs and improve efficiency?
How are yard wastes managed in your community? Are these materials collected separately from other wastes? If yard wastes are currently collected along with MSW, what changes to the collection system
In your community, is there a program for collecting recyclable materials? If a program is in place, which materials are collected and how? Where are the recyclables shipped after collection? How
In your community, how are household hazardous wastes transported to treatment or disposal facilities? In your opinion, is this management scheme effective, or are there problems to address?
If your community’s wastes are collected by a municipal system, how much of the municipal budget is earmarked to cover these costs? Visit the local waste management office and determine how costs
You have been hired as a consultant for a small town (population = 12,000) that wishes to begin a municipal program for solid waste collection. The community wants their wastes to be collected once
Using a map of your community, use a computer-aided design package to formulate a suitable route for waste collection vehicles. Alternatively, apply tracing paper and the U.S.EPA heuristic routing
Locate three sites in your area that could serve as locations for transfer stations. Justify your choices.
Discuss the benefits of transfer stations to a community in terms of economics, time savings, and environmental quality.
At your City Hall, obtain the accident records for city employees. Determine the relative accident rate for solid waste collection employees.
A material is not truly considered “recycled” until it has proceeded through several distinct steps and is ultimately purchased by the consumer. True or false? Justify your answer. List and
Why have many community recycling programs failed over the past two decades? How could programs have been planned, operated, and financed in order to have been more successful?
What are the primary approaches for separation of recyclable materials from the waste stream? Which is superior in terms of producing a clean, quality product? Which method is often preferred on
How do source reduction, reuse, and recycling differ?
Why is price volatility in recycling markets a “given” in the industry?
How does purity affect the demand for a separated product? What can be accomplished(by the consumer, the municipality) in order to improve overall purity?
List the three major methods of pulping virgin fiber. How might each method affect the quality of recycled paper?
What is the major limitation on the amount of waste paper that can be recycled in a given year?
How many lifetimes do office paper or newsprint have before they can no longer be effectively recycled? Aluminum? Steel? Glass?
List some alternative recycling markets for paper, glass, and plastics.
Why does aluminum container manufacture from UBCs save substantially more energy and produce less pollution than manufacture using raw materials? Be specific.
What are the primary contamination concerns with recycled glass? Recycled aluminum?
“Due to the positive net value of scrap aluminum, there is virtually no waste of aluminum containers in the United States.” True or false? Discuss.
List the main manufacturing processes used to transform raw polymers to a useful product.Are any of these processes preferable for recycling polymers?
What are the two most commonly recycled polymers? In what types of products, are they used?
The city of Pristine, IL, will develop a comprehensive waste management program in order to divert waste materials from the county landfill. The city will employ curbside collection of glass, paper,
Suppose the city was to avoid working with a materials broker and instead work directly with material buyers. What agreements should be specified in a proposal from a recycled materials buyer?
The city is allowing a local recycling company to acquire the abandoned Hi-Jinx Chemical Company manufacturing building for use as a recycling center. List five practical issues that the company must
“As of the late 1990s, recycling in the United States reached its maximum potential.” True or false? Justify your answer.
Identify the materials that are currently being recycled in your community. What other materials could potentially be recycled?

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