Week 1 Discussion Forum (MKT6250 Healthcare Marketing)
1. Discuss marketing and differentiate between a marketing-driven and nonmarketing-driven process.
2. Discuss the importance and sources of a competitive differential advantage.
Week 1 Discussion Forum (ECO550 Managerial Economics)
Bel’s Bakery (BB) is a family owned business. In 2010 it recorded a $3 million operating loss. Apparently, 50% of the losses stemmed from a failed acquisition. With short term interest rates at 5%, the manager (John) convinced the owners to expand its operations. It used $15 million of its retained earnings to acquire another privately owned bakery, Joe’s Bakery (JB). In the first year after the acquisition, revenues from Joe’s was $5 million, but thereafter sales were halted when one of the owners of JB filed suit challenging the rights of the management of JB to sell the company. BB lost the case and paid damages of $1.5 million. John, the manager of BB was fired. In explaining to his wife, John said he was the scapegoat because the attorneys who handled the acquisition failed in their due diligence. He said, “I promised sales of $5 million a year for 3 years and my sales forecast was right on the money.”
Why was John fired?
If sales were $6 million annually, would John still have been fired?
Your “substantive” initial response should be a minimum of 300 words, excluding references at the end.
Unit 1 Discussion (ACC450 Advanced Accounting)
DID THE COST METHOD INVITE EARNINGS MANIPULATION?
Prior to GAAP for equity method investments, firms used the cost method to account for their unconsolidated investments in common stock regardless of the presence of significant influence. Under the cost method, when the investee declares a dividend, the investor records “dividend income.” The investment account typically remains at its original cost—hence the term cost method.
Many firms’ compensation plans reward managers based on reported annual income. How might the use of the cost method of accounting for significant influence investments have resulted in unintended wealth transfers from owners to managers? Do the equity or fair-value methods provide similar incentives?
Unit 1 DB: Strategic Thinking (BUS411 Business Policy Seminar)
In this week’s readings, you were introduced to the main concepts of strategic leadership and planning. In this discussion question, you need to review and explain what the major challenges of strategic planning are for large, complex organizations, such as Apple, Wal-Mart, or Southwest Airlines? What do you think can be done to improve the strategic planning processes in your own organization or field?
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MKT6250 Healthcare Marketing:
Marketing is the process of creating, promoting, and delivering products or services to satisfy customers’ needs and wants. A marketing-driven process is customer-focused, where companies identify their customers’ needs and wants, create products or services that meet those needs, and promote them to attract customers. On the other hand, a non-marketing-driven process is product-focused, where companies create products or services first and then try to find customers to sell them to. Non-marketing-driven processes are less effective because they do not consider customers’ needs and may result in products or services that do not sell well.
A competitive differential advantage is a unique feature or benefit that sets a company apart from its competitors and attracts customers. It is essential in marketing because it helps a company stand out in a crowded market and increases its market share. Sources of competitive differential advantage can be a company’s brand, product features, price, customer service, or distribution channels. To achieve a competitive differential advantage, a company needs to identify its strengths and weaknesses, analyze its competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and then develop a strategy that leverages its strengths and improves its weaknesses. A company also needs to continuously monitor its competitors and the market to stay ahead of the competition.
ECO550 Managerial Economics:
John was fired because he failed to deliver on his promise of sales of $5 million a year for 3 years. His sales forecast for the first year was accurate, but the acquisition failed after that, and sales were halted. John’s failure to conduct adequate due diligence on the acquisition and assess the risks led to losses and damages for BB. As a manager, John was responsible for the decision to acquire JB and the failure to assess the risks adequately, resulting in losses for BB.
If sales were $6 million annually, John might still have been fired because the acquisition was made with retained earnings and not through external financing. BB used $15 million of its retained earnings to acquire JB, which was a risky decision. If the acquisition had been made through external financing, and John had delivered on his promise of sales, he might have kept his job.
ACC450 Advanced Accounting:
The use of the cost method of accounting for significant influence investments may result in unintended wealth transfers from owners to managers. Under the cost method, when the investee declares a dividend, the investor records “dividend income.” The investment account typically remains at its original cost, and the investor does not recognize any changes in the investee’s fair value. Therefore, managers may manipulate earnings by pressuring the investee to declare dividends to increase their reported income, even if the dividends are not in the owners’ best interest. This practice can result in unintended wealth transfers from owners to managers. The equity or fair-value methods provide similar incentives for earnings manipulation because they also rely on reported income, but they provide more transparent and reliable information about the investment’s fair value.
BUS411 Business Policy Seminar:
The major challenges of strategic planning for large, complex organizations such as Apple, Wal-Mart, or Southwest Airlines are aligning the organization’s goals with its mission, vision, and values, managing uncertainty and complexity, balancing short-term and long-term goals, and communicating the strategy effectively across the organization. Large, complex organizations have multiple stakeholders with diverse interests, and they operate in dynamic and uncertain environments. Therefore, they need to develop a strategic planning process that involves all stakeholders, assesses risks and opportunities, integrates short-term and long-term goals, and fosters communication and collaboration across the organization. To improve the strategic planning process in their own organization or field, individuals can use tools such as SWOT analysis, scenario planning, and stakeholder analysis to assess the organization’s strengths and weaknesses, identify opportunities and threats, and align stakeholders’ interests with
