Crafting and executing a winning strategy Essay

Crafting and executing a winning strategy - Essay Example However, as big corporations are being washed out with the erosion of public/stakeholder trust due to unethical and socially irresponsible behavior, today, corporate strategists realize that a perceptible commitment to ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) has clear implications for the corporate bottom line, and integrating it as a part of corporate strategy would significantly improve business performance. [Hopkins, 2003; Houck and William, 1996] The paper examines the linkage between company's effort to craft and execute a winning strategy and its social responsibility - the company's duties to conduct its activities in an ethical manner and demonstrate socially responsible behavior as a committed corporate citizen, attending to the needs of all the stakeholders. In doing so, it shall attempt to analyze what ethics and social responsibility means in the corporate strategy context, the debates surrounding the relevance of social responsibility, and also examines the significance of ethical and socially responsible behavior by corporations for survival and success. It shall also look at ways to incorporate ethics and social responsibility into corporate strategies for ensuring long-term success of corporations. The environmental movement of the 1980s and 1990s, which exposed many unethical corporate practices by companies such as Nestle, Shell and the rising cases of corporate scandals in the recent years signifying unethical and irresponsible behavior by top officials, such as those at Enron, WorldCom etc., have brought about the significance of ethics and social responsibility as a legitimate topic in the formulation and implementation of business strategy. [Hopkins, 2003] While the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, as management imperatives, business ethics and corporate social responsibility are distinct concepts, though with inevitable overlaps. It may be worthwhile to clearly understand the two precepts before attempting to analyze their significance in creating winning strategies. Ethics in business, an age-old concept, advocates ethically appropriate behavior by businesses to the stakeholders directly concerned with the business enterprise, viz. managers, consumers, investors/owners and employees. [Hopkins, 2003] Ethical behavior in business extends to all segments of business management at the enterprise level including finance and accounting, human resources management, sales and marketing, production and intellectual property. While a consensus on the definition has not been achieved, corporate social responsibility is stated to be "concerned with treating the stakeholders of the firm ethically or in a responsible manner." [Hopkins, 2003; p.1] Corporate social responsibility, a more inclusive concept business ethics, extends beyond the enterprise level to all stakeholders, what Hopkins describes as, "the seven azimuths", within which the enterprises trade and operate viz.: owners/investors (shareholders or stockholders); management; employees; customers; t he natural environment; the wider community (including government); contractors/suppliers. [Hopkins, 2003, p. 3] CSR as a winning business strategy concerns with the responsibility of the company to each of these seven groups; it may include responsibility to competitors as well.

Virtual stock exchange presentation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Virtual stock exchange presentation - Essay Example The key to selling short in any way, shape, or form is to know when to buy into the market. In order to design and implement a strategy at the beginning of the semester, what will had to be taken into account was doing charting of what the market would look like in the semester ahead. Imagining we were able to tell the future, we could plot out when would be the best time to buy property based on the fact if the market was running high or low. If the market was running especially low, it would probably be a good time to buy in. One wants to buy in for a period of 18 months where it is mostly going to be seen as being low. This increases the chances that we, as the investor, would most likely be able to pick up a lot of properties using the $10,000,000-dollar cushion. It’s very possible that one will buy in at the right moment. After all, in this case the right moment has already practically been delineated for us. So, let us say that perhaps one buys in at the right moment. Th e next step is to amass as much property as possible while the values are still low. The same principle which holds true for selling stock on the stock market also holds true for real estate. Buy low, sell high. Now, the reason that companies not doing so well is good for other types of businesses is simple. When stock values are low, it is a good time to buy into those stocks because when stock prices rise, they will be worth more in value. Similarly, if one buys a lot of properties, but perhaps let us say that they are not particularly worth much at the time they are bought—it is untowardly possible, albeit untowardly, that the properties bought may escalate in value. When and if that happens, the investor seeks to make a profit. While values are low in stocks and in real estate, this is the investor’s dream. According to the article â€Å"Short Selling Stocks† (2010), â€Å"[One] can buy stocks and real estate relatively cheaply, since many people are in a b ad state of affairs financially, [and] will later reap the financial rewards of having taken advantage of the low prices. Investors will short stocks when [prices decline]† (pp. 1). One of the stocks which I should have made more money on was DreamWorks Animation. But, since I bought into the stock when it was at a high point, I made a mistake. According to Garcia (2011), â€Å"While the animated feature [â€Å"How To Train Your Dragon†] did capture the number one box office spot, ticket sales were below projections negatively impacting stock value†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦making [DreamWorks] lose about 9.2% of its stock value (pghs. 1, 4). Now, in the stock market, many times you may have heard buy low, sell high. So buying too high was my first mistake. Hopefully DWA stock will go up with the advent of the new Kung Fu Panda movie. I chose certain stocks for a reason at the beginning of the semester. My main four choices were DWA and NPSP (a pharmaceutical company), along with NF LX and HQP. I thought DreamWorks Animation would naturally do well because of its many hits at the movie box offices, and I thought the pharmaceutical company NPSP—NPS Pharmaceuticals—would do really well because of the fact that prescription drugs cost so much and are making these pharmaceutical companies millions. NFLX is Netflix, the company that has a mail-in DVD movie system, which I thought might be wildly popular due to the slow and timely death of Blockbuster. Health Quality Partners, or HQP, was a stock I thought would do well due to the

The Ethical View of Utilitarianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

The Ethical View of Utilitarianism - Essay Example Utilitarianism is the ethical view that every action is either right/wrong on the basis of the impact that it will create, more specifically if it will produce the greatest good for the greatest number of people.   Deontology, on the other hand, is the ethical view that at least some actions will be right/wrong regardless of the consequences that they produce. Both theories follow different directs and have their own constraints and thresholds. The constraint of deontologists follows from their view that there may be circumstances in which one would be prohibited from taking an action even though it might trigger greatest amount of human happiness. In Engineer Bill’s case, from deontologist’s point of view, Sarah should be saved even though saving Sarah might mean killing a hundred other people in the train. However a utilitarian would opt for saving the train. (Rainbow) In Janitor Joe’s case unless Joe himself volunteers to give his body parts, it will be ethically wrong to forcefully kill him just to save others. In Engineer Bill’s case both Sarah and train were unexpectedly put under circumstances where Bill is left no other option but to choose. Here in Janitor Joe’s case other options can also be looked into and it makes no sense to impose death on someone even if it is at the cost of so many others. In the case of evil Hobo, Bill must save Sara. This is because Sarah has been deliberately framed into such a situation where she is being catapulted towards death. In this case, while utilitarianism may save the life of many but morally and ethically deontologists perspective holds more weight. The threshold for the deontologist is a limit over the amount of harm that the moral allows him to make while threshold for the utilitarian limits him on the amount of harm he can cause. Every situation is different and sometimes the mo ral action needs to be carefully weighed. In each of the aforementioned situation the context in which a particular ethical action followed was very important.

The End of the Ottoman Empire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The End of the Ottoman Empire - Essay Example The Ottoman Empire had been established by the mid of the fifteenth century in the wake of the conquest of Constantinople at the hands of Sultan Mehmet II in 1453 A.D., which lasted for over five and half centuries till the armed forces of the empire had to surrender before the Allies in the Armistice of Mudros in October 1918 (19). The critics pertinently blame the Ottoman caliphs and their inefficiency and unruliness to be one of the most significant reasons behind the empire’s growing weaker and unstable, leading to its ultimate fall eventually. The theorists also view the caliph’s irrational decision to participate in WWI on the German side to be the most effective cause of the empire ruination. Somehow, vested political and economic interests established by Great Britain, Russia and France, and the difference of the religious ideology emulated by the Christian Allies and the Muslim Empire, respectively, could be stated to be the turning point behind the abolishment of the caliphate and the partition of its territories into several sovereign states ultimately in the aftermath of the First World War. There is no doubt in the bitter reality that the empire had turned out to be the sick man of Europe by the end of the nineteenth century; therefore, the four small states appeared on the horizon to inflict a humiliating defeat on the empire during the Balkan War of 1911. However, the sympathetic inclinations demonstrated by the Christian nations, including England, France, Italy and Russia, towards Greece and against the Ottomans in Asia Minor also added their share in the rise of the Greeks and destruction of the Muslim empire (20). The British-led alliance appeared to be determined to exert its influence in different parts of the Ottoman Empire, which could only be possible through launching a formidable attack on the unity of the Muslim community. As a result, the ethnic and racial sentiments were projected and promoted in the hearts and minds o f the Arabs belonging to the Middle East and North Africa, who raised a decisive revolt against the Turkish supremacy and made demands for the separate and independent states to be established on the foundations of absolute sovereignty, where there would be no chances of any interference from the Turkish political domination altogether. Consequently, the sentiments of ethno-racial and regional hatred and prejudice were harboured with the aim of adding fuel to the fire of the Arab nationalism that could lead to the eventual disintegration of the Ottoman Empire (23). Kedourie (22) seems to be justified in making his argument that the caliph ruling over the Ottoman Empire was thought to be the religious and political leader of the entire Muslim community. Consequently, all the Muslim states not only revered him as their religious patron, but also traditionally used to seek spiritual and political guidance from him. Therefore, the certificate issued by the caliph in favour of a ruler wa s considered to be the final

Electrical and Electronic Principles (A) UFMFP8-15-1 Lab Report

Electrical and Electronic Principles (A) UFMFP8-15-1 - Lab Report Example As one moves across a resistor voltages drops and therefore the value of that voltage should be taken as negative. On the other, as one cross from negative terminal of a voltage source to the positive terminal of the same voltage source, the voltage value is taken as positive. The contrary is true when moving from a positive terminal of a resistor to the negative terminal. On the other hand, as regards to Kirchhoff’s Current Law, the algebraic sum of the currents in all the branches that converge in a common node is equal to zero. All the currents flowing into a particular node are taken to be positive and those flowing out of the same node are taken to be negative. On the other, as one cross from negative terminal of a voltage source to the positive terminal of the same voltage source, the voltage value is taken as positive. The contrary is true when moving from a positive terminal of a resistor to the negative terminal.  

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Economics - Essay Example Marshallian utility analysis is based on the assumption that utility is measurable and indifference curve analysis is based on the assumption that the consumer is able to tell his preferences among the various alternative combinations of the two commodities. These assumptions seem to be unrealistic and revealed preference theory is free from these unrealistic assumptions and it seeks to enunciate the demand from observed market behaviour of the consumer. The theory is based on the fact that ‘choice reveals preference’. 2. Critical Analysis of the Neo Classical consumption theories of Marshallian Utility analysis and Hicksian Indifference analysis 1) Unrealistic The Marshallian assumption of cardinal measurement of utility is very restrictive. It demands too much from the human mind. Utility is a mental phenomenon and the precision in the measurement of utility assumed by Marshall is unrealistic. It is criticised that new theory of indifference analysis only jumps from th e frying pan of the difficulty of measuring utility into the fire of the unreality of assuming consumer’s complete knowledge of all his scales of preferences or indifference map. The indifference curve technique envisages a consumer who thinks of innumerable possible combinations of goods and his relative preferences for them. 2) Absurd Indifference curves include even the most ridiculous combinations which may be far removed from a consumer’s habitual combinations. For example, while it may be perfectly sensible to compare whether three pairs of shoes and six shirts would give him as much satisfaction as two pairs of shoes and seven shirts. 3) Introspective Both the approaches of Marshallian Utility analysis and indiffence curve technique are based on the psychological or introspective method. The law of diminishing marginal utility, which is psychological in nature lies at the bottom of law of demand. Indifference curve too is based on introspection. This technique i s criticised as introspective and hence Samuelson introduced behaviourist method of devising demand theory. 4) Relation of Transitivity objected Armstrong has criticised the relation of transitivity involved in indifference curve technique. According to him, the consumer’s indifference arises from his inability to perceive the difference between alternative combinations of goods. This is due to the fact that the difference is too slight to be noticed. If that is true, the relation of indifference become non-trasitive. This knocks the bottom out of the whole system of indifference curve analysis. 5) Limited empirical Nature In Hicks-Allen theory, indifference curves are based on hypothetical experimentation. They are based on imaginary indifference curves, although attempts have been made recently to derive them experimentally. 4. Revealed Preference Theory The theory of Revealed Preference is associated with the name of Paul Samuelson and the theory is called the behaviourist ordinal utility theory. Instead of the unrealistic assumptions that the consumers operate with a complete and consistent scales of preferences set out in the form of indifference curves, most economists now prefer to analyse situations in which their hypothesis can be tested. Both

Big paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Big paper - Essay Example In line with this, economic factors outline the economic determinants of the community thus; it defines what the communities entail in order to successfully conquer economic hurdles that the community may face. Moreover, technological aspects outline the intellect that the community influences towards production of merchandise, weapons for protection and many others. The Han Dynasty and the Ancient Rome depict the above-mentioned facts. The two communities show the above aspects and successfully interpret these aspects to ensure the triumph in the end. Owing to the sheer nature of the above justifications, this literature seeks to outline the political, social aspects regarding to marriage and the technological development. This is in relation to the Han Dynasty and the Ancient Rome and therefore, compares the two communities in order to define their relevance. The historic background Han Dynasty After the end of the civil hostilities that followed with the death of Qin Shihuangdi in 210 B.C. The end of the civic war reunited China underneath the decree of the Han dynasty. As a result, it separated into two key periods: the Former or Western Han amid the 206 B.C.–9 A.D era and the Eastern or Later or Eastern Han in periods of 25–220 A.D. The Qin established the boundaries and Han maintained the boundaries. Consequently the above structure presently defines supplementary or less the state of China. Moreover, the Former Han city, Chang'an lies in contemporary day Shaanxi Province. Besides, a monumental metropolitan center placed out on a north-south federation with palaces, two busy market capacities and suburban wards depicted one of the twofold prevalent cities in the antique world (Yao, 57). Ancient Rome Contrary, Ancient Rome depicted an Italic mode of civilization that arose on the Italian Peninsula as timely period of the 8th century B.C. It lies alongside the Mediterranean Sea and positioned on the capital of Rome. Moreover, it stretched to a ppear to be one of the leading kingdoms in the primordial world with a projected population of 50 to 90 million (approximately 20% of the population of the world), and it lies on a 6.5 million square kilometers ground for the period of its height amid the leading and succeeding centuries AD. Besides, the city of Rome developed from settlements nearby a passage on the river Tiber, an intersection of trade and traffic activities. Conferring to archaeological substantiation, the city of Rome perhaps came around the period of the 8th century BC. However, it may date back to the 10th century BC, by adherents of the Italy tribe of the Latin, which occupied the uppermost of the Palatine Hill. The Etruscans, who had formerly occupied the north part of Etruria, organized a political mechanism in the above province before the 7th century BC. Thus, establishing the monarchical and aristocratic elite. The Etruscans seemingly lost authority in the region before the 6th century BC. At this junctu re, the Sabine the original Latin tribes restructured their regime by forming a republic, that had greater limitations on the capability of head of state to exercise authority (Burgan, 121) Political organization The Han Dynasty portrayed a centralized structure of the government. The Han Empire comprised of two regions unswervingly controlled by the government. The two areas included the commentaries, and some semi-independent empires.