Week 3 Questions and Answer for each topic. Topic 1 Men and women communicate on a daily basis but it is not always effective.  Remember the 1995 book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus?  The author argues men and women have different needs, goals, values, and communication styles. Do you agree with this statement or not and why? Topic 2 Electronic media is changing our lives and technology is to blame.  We no longer talk face to face; we text and text and text.  What has changed over the last decade that makes us feel like we need to have instant connections?  When you send a text to someone and they do not reply, is that offensive? Topic 3 Proofreading is a critical part of the written communication process yet it is often the most overlooked step.  What tips do you have for someone that is new to the business environment when it comes to ensuring they produce quality documents. Read replies and comment on them (for each topic 4 people replies): Topic 1 #1 I both agree and disagree with the authors argument: Men and women have different needs,goals,values and communication styles. While there are obvious differences between the genders, such as testosterone balances- I feel that this statement looks over the big picture, we are all different as individuals, not necessarily as generalized groups (pink and blue). Before I get into my firm opinion on this topic, I would like to address that while this may not be true to the date, back in the day I believe that this would be more of an accurate statement. Men were born into families to earn the money and women were born and married into families to take care of the home and family- so back then, yes, I would agree that they had different goals, values and communication styles. However, these days there is far more equity in gender roles than the old timers could have ever imagined, now there are stay at home dads and traveling business moms, a new norm. There are plenty of men who share the same charisma as women, and vice versa. I would like to respectfully point out gender changes, as I feel it is appropriate for this topic: a great example of a man or woman whom shared the same goals,values,needs,etc. to the point of conversion. We are all different and with that being said, being comfortable in our own skin, which requires meeting our own needs, has nothing to do with our gender... in my opinion. #2 I am conflicted about this topic. I do believe that in general, men and women communicate differently and have different communication styles. I do not believe this is black and white though. I tend to think that men and women have way more commonalities in communication styles than they have differences. I find that many women are really into "gossip" and or just being very chatty in general, whereas men tend to be more reserved and quiet. Of course this doesn't pertain to every man and woman. For example, most of the women in my family will talk to each other on the phone almost once a ...

1. Week 3
Questions and Answer for each topic.
Topic 1
Men and women communicate on a daily basis but it is not
always effective. Remember the 1995 book Men are from Mars,
Women are from Venus? The author argues men and women
have different needs, goals, values, and communication styles.
Do you agree with this statement or not and why?
Topic 2
Electronic media is changing our lives and technology is to
blame. We no longer talk face to face; we text and text and
text. What has changed over the last decade that makes us feel
like we need to have instant connections? When you send a text
to someone and they do not reply, is that offensive?
Topic 3
Proofreading is a critical part of the written communication
process yet it is often the most overlooked step. What tips do
you have for someone that is new to the business environment
when it comes to ensuring they produce quality documents.
Read replies and comment on them (for each topic 4 people
replies):
Topic 1
#1
I both agree and disagree with the authors argument: Men and
women have different needs,goals,values and communication
styles. While there are obvious differences between the genders,
such as testosterone balances- I feel that this statement looks
over the big picture, we are all different as individuals, not
necessarily as generalized groups (pink and blue). Before I get
into my firm opinion on this topic, I would like to address that
while this may not be true to the date, back in the day I believe
that this would be more of an accurate statement. Men were

2. born into families to earn the money and women were born and
married into families to take care of the home and family- so
back then, yes, I would agree that they had different goals,
values and communication styles. However, these days there is
far more equity in gender roles than the old timers could have
ever imagined, now there are stay at home dads and traveling
business moms, a new norm. There are plenty of men who share
the same charisma as women, and vice versa. I would like to
respectfully point out gender changes, as I feel it is appropriate
for this topic: a great example of a man or woman whom shared
the same goals,values,needs,etc. to the point of conversion. We
are all different and with that being said, being comfortable in
our own skin, which requires meeting our own needs, has
nothing to do with our gender... in my opinion.
#2
I am conflicted about this topic. I do believe that in general,
men and women communicate differently and have different
communication styles. I do not believe this is black and white
though. I tend to think that men and women have way more
commonalities in communication styles than they have
differences. I find that many women are really into "gossip" and
or just being very chatty in general, whereas men tend to be
more reserved and quiet. Of course this doesn't pertain to every
man and woman. For example, most of the women in my family
will talk to each other on the phone almost once a week for
hours on end while the men in the family, barely talk for more
than 10 minutes every 2 months or so. It is not that we don't
care or love each other as men in the family, but rather, there I
believe it is because we just don't care about taking the time to
talk about menial topics.
In the last part of the statement above "...different, need, goals,
values", I don't believe this to be true at all. I think of the
united states as a very patriarchal society, but this has been
slowly changing for many years now. For a long time, women
were sort of groomed and categorized into what their needs,

3. goals, and values should be. I think the typical ideas of what a
women needs or wants from the patriarchal standpoint is
eroding, slowly. I think it is eroding because the fallacy of it all
has been unveiled and newer generations are able to
communicate this better.
#3
I both agree and disagree with the author's statement. Men and
women are genetically different, but when it comes to
communication, needs, goals, and values, I think every one is
individually different in those aspects. I do, however, notice
that most men tend to communicate less when it comes to their
feelings and women tend to communicate more about how they
are feeling. For the most part, I do feel that people's differences
in values, communication, needs, and goals doesn't come from
what gender they are, even though it does play a part, but I
think that it stems from the environment and culture they are
raised in.
#4
I agree with this statement. I think this statement is very true
because what the author say is what make men and women
different. I have a article about researching the differences
between man and woman, which is very persuasive.
Unfortunately, I forgot the source. In general, sometimes some
men and women have similar characteristics, but overall, they
are pretty different. For example, the goal of a man can be
making enough money to feed his family while the goal of a
woman is to take care of her family.
Topic 2
#1
I think because we are familiar with texting so much that if you
text and do not receive the message from the receiver
immediately, you will feel offensive because you may think
they don't respect or ignore you. This is the different from the

4. past and the present. In the past, you don't text, you meet other
face by face. Nowadays, it is very easy to connect and make
friend with people all around the world, so you usually feel that
you need to have instant connections with people.
For me, when you send a text to someone and they do not reply,
it is depend on the situation that I will be offensive or not. For
example, I send message to my father, and I know he is working
at that time, so if he doesn't reply, it is ok and I will wait for his
reply. But if I text to my friend and if he/she disappear in the
middle of the conversation, I may be offensive because in my
opinion, if you have to do something in the middle of the
conversation, you can just text like "wait", and I will
understand you are busy. If you don't do that, I will think you
are bored at texting with me or don't respect me.
#2
I think that what has changed is now we are living in this world
where out need for instant gratification can be solved. These
days anything we want is at our finger tips and is usually only a
click away. It can be frustrating for those people who demand
instant gratification, to wait on a text or not understand why its
taking so long to get a response. They have become so use to
having their every need satisfied instantly. I can admit I have
been like this before, where I would start to overthink if
someone I hasn't texted me back right away. But the older you
get the more you realize that, that kind of stuff is not worth
getting stressed out about. And that there is most likely a reason
why they can't respond right away.
#3
Ah technology, how we love and hate you at the same time! The
advances in technology over the last 20-30 years has been
immense and has definitely made us feel we need to have
instant connections. It is hard to explain what has changed
exactly. I feel that as a society, we tend to learn some new
technology, share our amazement of it very quickly with others,

5. and then take it for granted. This happens in a pretty short
amount of time. With so much technological advancements
occurring so frequently, we have been repeating this process
over and over again. This process is now second nature for most
of us.
The willingness to change and adapt to new technology has lead
us into the need to have instant connections. I personally don't
get offended if someone doesn't respond to my text. If they were
to do it over and over again, it might turn me off though. I think
it is selfish to get offended by someone not instantly replying to
a text. We all have lives to live, and sometimes we can't just
reply right away even if we want to. People are starting to take
for granted, that we can all check our phones every 2 seconds
and reply instantly no matter what real time situation we are in.
This is ridiculous.
#4
Over the last decade I would say many things changed, such as (
but not limited to) ; accessibility to the web, technology
advancements, and communication preferences ( obviously).
First addressing accessibility, it is much easier to access the
web now than it has ever been in the past. There are hardly any
limitations on the information you can find online now, making
it not only convenient but attractive to users. I would say that it
has become a reliant source in modern day, which is a major
change considering that electronics themselves hardly existed
historically. On to technology advancements, the web can be
accessed on a variety of platforms these days... you no longer
have to find a desktop in a designated space, you can have full
access from a mobile device or portable computer, etc. This
change has yet again, made people rely on having instantaneous
access to each other and the web. Which leads me to my final
thought, communication styles. Because of how convenient the
use of electronics have become, people have formed addictions (
or bonds if this is touchy) with their device, making them rely
on it, not just for the web use, but contact purposes. We no

6. longer have to drive to someone’s house and knock on their
door to see if their busy, instead we can just IM or call them for
an almost instant response. It has become rather satisfying to
not have to wait or put in extra effort to get into contact with
someone, as there are so many electronics resources for us to
use that will get it done much quicker! Because there’s so much
widely spread phone use, everyone is doing it and everyone
wants to know what everyone’s doing. Got to keep up with the
jones, and doing that via mobile is much quicker than the
newsPAPER. Also, I only get offended if they have their read
receipts on... because then I know for a fact they saw it. Funny
what electronics and instant connections have done to us.
Topic 3
#1
Proofreading is so important! It is often a step I tend to
overlook in most casual scenarios. When I have a major
academic paper to write, I proofread many times. On the other
hand, I tend to not proofread when sending texts with family
and friends and also when doing discussion posts like this.
There are times when I go through and reread what I wrote in
these types of discussion posts and I find errors. Let me clarify
that I only reread them sometimes, but every time I do, I find
errors. I personally need to make a better habit of proofreading
what I write, before sending through dialogue, even for what I
deem as casual conversations. In terms of the business
environment, it is critical to checking your documents before
you send them. I would start with rereading the message and
checking for grammatical errors and then I would check for
correct formatting, making sure the format fits the situation.
One overlooked part of proofreading is checking for the tone
and effectiveness of your writing. This was covered in last
week's chapters. Tone and effectiveness has many subcategories
than are conveyed by word and phrase choices. Usually, if I find
a sentence that doesn't seem to fit with the rest of my document,

7. I will rewrite just that sentence, or omit it, and reread just that
part. This may include reading the sentence just before and after
the new one. Then I will carry on editing the rest of the
document the same way. After compartmentalizing the editing
of different sections line by line, it is important to reread the
entire document a couple of times again to ensure continuity
throughout.
#2
My biggest bit of advice would probably be simply to get good!
If you aren't good at written communication, especially in a
business environment, it is really important that you put in the
time and effort to get good at it. Read lots of documents,
proofread your own documents over and over, if you see a
writing style or document you really like and you have access to
the author ask them for advice. The more you do it correctly and
the better habits you ingrain the easier and more ritualistic it
will become.
I can not stress enough though how important proofreading is,
obviously it doesn't always fix all of the mistakes but taking
that extra time to make sure the message you are sending is not
only what you want to say but also said without error is so
important. In a business environment especially, your
credibility can go right out the window from a simple spelling
error. Spell check doesn't catch everything and we can't become
reliant on it to fix all of our mistakes; take the time to read what
you wrote and make sure you are not only getting the message
across the way you want but also without error as one error can
simply throw your whole message out the window.
#3
I think to give advice to someone for producing quality
documents in a business environment, we can make an analogy.
If someone works in the human resources department at a large
company like Nike lets say, maybe their job entails sending
emails to people regarding hiring and interviewing, maybe you

8. have to correspond with 100's of different people sending
various types of emails, job offer letters or professional texts.
There are probably very precise instructions on how Nike writes
its business documents emails and letters. So the importance in
that environment as was said in another post is to do create and
write a lot of these types of documents and refer to the correct
way of doing them as you go along, this will make you
proficient over time.
#4
For me, if anything is related to business, I will try me best to
do what I am best at. If there is something I am not good at, I
will have someone help me to do that. Because I know that
every little thing in business is important, you can not do for
fun or do as your wish. You have to do everything
professionally. Especially in document, there are so many
important document you have to write in business, so if you are
not good at writing them, you can learn how to write from
expert or have expert write it for you. You may have to pay fee
if you have expert to do it for you, but it is worth. First,
because if you do by yourself, you may mess up your document,
and may face with terrible results. Second, you can save time
because expert can do it faster than you, and you don't need to
spend anytime on writing that document, so you can use that
extra time to invest on the thing you good at.
Running Head: Environment Scan 1
Environment Scan 7

9. Apple Incorporated
Timothy D. Jensen
Eligah King
MGT/498
4 Oct 2019
Introduction
Apple Inc. is one of the largest tech companies in the world
today. Apple is in the business of manufacture of mobile
phones, music players, media devices, computers, various
digital devices, as well as the accompanying software. The
headquarters of Apple are in California in the United States.
This analysis examines the external and internal environments
of the company as well as the competitive advantage that is
experiences. The analysis will also focus on what Apple does to
gain the competitive advantage as well as create value and
achieve effectiveness in its operations.
Internal and External Environment
An environmental scan of the company internal shows that it
has several internal strengths as well as opportunities that are
available to it. The company, however, still experiences various
weaknesses as well as threats as it continues to be a top tech
company. One of the major strengths of the company is that it
has witnessed growth in sales revenue and profits over the
years. It has also expanded its cash flows because of the
continued growth of its market shared. The increase in the
revenue as well as market growth is what has enabled it to
invest more in research and development (Khan, Alam & Alam,
2015). The company has enjoyed better growth because of its
innovative nature. The continuous development by the company
has made it stay at the top and continue being ahead of the
competition. The other strength that one cannot ignore is the
power of the brand. The brand has grown stronger over the
years with products such as iPad, iPhone, and iTunes. The other
strength that one can see in the brand of Apple is the quality of
its products. Apple products are of high quality and consumers

10. knowing this continue to support it over the years.
Despite the successes by Apple, there are still a number of
weaknesses that are witnessed. One of the weaknesses that are
there is seen in its distribution strategy. Apple has a direct sales
approach which is behind other strong brands such as Samsung
and Huawei (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015). Apple has several
sales locations around the world but this cannot match the
distribution channels which are set up by the competition.
Products such as those of Samsung can be found in several
places around the world unlike Apple. The next weakness with
Apple today is the dependency which it has on its phones for its
revenue. The other parts that it has diversified into seem to
generate limited profits. Apple gets more than half of its
revenues from the sale of phones which puts it at risk. The next
weakness that one can see in their products is running their
devices on iOS which has today continued to be threatened by
android. Android is more common and the computability issues
have been witnessed with most consumers avoiding the iOS.
Opportunities and Threats
There are various opportunities that Apple is yet to exploit in
the market. The major one that can be seen is chance to expand
in the developing markets. The developing markets have been
the area where competitors have their strength and Apple should
ensure they get into these areas. The developing markets have a
growing population with increasing incomes. Because of the
competition that is there, it is important to come in with
affordable phones which can compete with local products. The
other brands like Huawei continue to dominate in these areas
because of their fair pricing. One of the greatest threats that it
faces is disruption of its supply chain because of political
instability especially in Asian countries. It is possible to stall
operations in these areas when such conditions exist with no
alternative in site for the organization (Khan, Alam & Alam,
2015).
Competitive Advantage
Apple is one of the largest tech companies in the world and it,

11. therefore, enjoys significant competitive advantages. The
competitive advantage is what has enabled it to have the large
market share and continue to hold onto it. The first advantage
that they have is the ability for quick innovation which ensures
it has top products that are the favorite of consumers. Every
year the company introduces a better improved version of its
iPhone series. Customers are always looking forward to
something us and better. Even though other brands such as
Samsung have high end phones also, it is important to note that
they have not seen the successes of the iPhone. The iPhone is
seen as a luxury brand and this has continued to propel its
growth and continuous popularity. The android devices have
lower prices every year but the majority of new Apple products
still come at high prices. Any firm in the world can assemble
the android devices but the iOS is only for the Apple products.
The operating system, therefore, gives them a competitive
advantage to users who prefer it to the others.
Strategies for Value Creation and Competition
Apple has various strategies that it uses in remaining at the top.
The company makes use of a premium pricing strategy to keep
itself as a premium brand in the market. The differentiation is
also good because it helps the company build a competitive
advantage. The premium pricing strategy is seen in the way it
has an amazing range of products which dazzles the consumers.
The excellent products also come at a premium price (Nielson,
2014). The products come with a high quality user experience
with features that catch user’s attention. The consumers will
pay an extra dollar to get the premium product even when other
options are available.
The differentiation strategy by Apple also involves having
brand loyalty and using innovative advertising. Apple sells the
brand majorly as compared to selling the product. The focus of
the company is a consumer who will pay more for a product.
The iOS also differentiates the market because of its uniqueness
and availability only on the Apple products.
Measurement Guidelines on Strategies

12. The measurement of the strategies is seen in the results at the
end of every year. Apple also has a culture of reviewing
adoption rates by consumers as well as product reviews. The
customer reviews also help in ensuring that it is reaching down
to the end consumer and using their thoughts as a basis for
strategy. Listening to consumers is a top measurement
guideline. I believe this strategic measurement by Apple is
effective because it assists in understanding the customer and
their feelings. The company continues to be innovative and
consumers are still cooperating with it. The premium pricing
strategy, however, needs to be closely monitored especially in
the developing world as it seeks more market share.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Apple is a top tech company that has witnessed
success in its operations over the years. The strengths which it
has guide it into financial and brand growth. There are
opportunities, however, which it has to exploit in the
developing economies. The supply chain and increased
competition are strong threats to its market share around the
world. The company has continued to gain a competitive
advantage because of its premium products and premium
pricing.
References
Ferrers, R. (2013). Apple's Innovation Success and how to
measure it. Retrieved at:
http://www.managementexchange.com/hack/Apples-innovation-
success-and-how-measure-it
Khan, U. A., Alam, M. N., & Alam, S. (2015). A Critical
Analysis of Internal and External Environment of Apple Inc.
International Journal of Economics, Commerce and
Management, 3(6), 955-961.
Nielson, S. (2014). Apple’s premium pricing strategy and
product differentiation. Retrieved at:
http://marketrealist.com/2014/02/Apples-premium-pricing-
strategy-product-differentiation/