Why Budgeting Kills Your Company
HBSWK Pub. Date: Aug '1 1, 2003
Why doesn't the budget process work? Read what experts say about not only changing your budgeting process,
but whether your company should dispense with budgets entirely. by Loren Gary
The average billion-dollar company spends as many as 25,000 person-days per year putting together the budget. If this
all paid off in shareholder return, that would be fine. But few organizations can make that claim. In fact, many firms
now question the ROI of traditional budgeting altogether and are looking for alternatives that reduce time and better
align spending with strategy.
Look at your own company's budget process: Has it really helped you do a better job of belt tightening during the
current slowdown? Many companies have reverted to more centralized command-and-control procedures to keep a
tight rein on costs-but the dynamics of the budgeting proc3ss ofter rmder.rqine this effort.
"In tough times like these, any signifrcant real cost growth feels imprudent and is hard to justify for most businesses,"
writes Mike Baxter, a partner in the consulting firm Marakon Associates (f{ew York City), in a recent company
publication. "Business units have used their budgets as a bargaining chip, bidding high to get a larger slice of the pie
while keeping their cards close to their chest.
"The CEO has had no choice but to get them back into shape, though he lacks any clear line of sight for identifying and
challenging the least valuable resources," Baxter continues. All too often, the CEO must opt for across-the-board
cuts-even though he knows that this approach penalizes the high-performing units and props up the underperforming
ones. The result is a decoupling of the company's resource allocation process from the highest-value strategic
opporfunities.
The answer, some experts say, is to dispense with budgets entirely-and
The answer, some experts say, is to replace them with a system of rolling forecasts and key performance
dispense with budgets entirely. indicators that shifts strategic decision making to customer-facing edges of
the organization. Others advocate less sweeping but still significant
changes: Housing the budgeting and strategic planning functions in one office, establishing top-down goals three to
four years out, and requiring all business units to explore the budget implications of several strategic alternatives.
The following discussion will help stimulate your thinking about how your own company's budgeting process can be
transformed from an exasperating exercise in pork barreling and interdepartmental brinksmanship to a tool for
achieving strategic alignment.
How fi xed-p erfo rmanc e contracts ensure underperformanc e
At its simplist, a company's budget process consists of each unit producing a sales forecast (assuming it's a profit
center) and a capital needs forecists. "I've seen some annual budget processes that didn't take any time at all," says
William J. Bruns Jr., ...
Using Mobility to Expand Planning and Performance Management Best PracticesSAP Analytics
http://spr.ly/Finance_PM - Explore how finance organizations can use mobile solutions to help expand planning and performance management best practices in order to transform business (Beyond Budgeting, 2013).
Measure What Matters - New Perspectives on Portfolio SelectionUMT
Stock market investors articulate their goals explicitly or implicitly by following the philosophy and methodology of a market expert that fits their investment objectives and appetite for risk. For example, for value and income stocks they may rely on the research conducted by Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel¹ or read up on market pros like War-ren Buffet. Much like the stock market investor, companies investing in change face similar challenges when considering where to allocate budget and resources to meet financial and strategic objectives.
Respond to... Companies often try to keep accounting earnings .docxwilfredoa1
Respond to...
Companies often try to keep accounting earnings growing at a relatively steady pace in an effort to avoid large swings in earnings from period to period. They also try to manage earnings targets. Reflect on these practices and discuss the following in your discussion post.
Are these practices ethical?
According to Ortega & Grant (2003), “earnings management occurs when managers use judgment in financial reporting and in structuring transactions to alter financial reports to either mislead some stakeholders about the underlying economic performance of the company to influence contractual outcomes” (p. 51). Because these practices are used to alter the financials of a firm from actuality, then, no, these practices are not ethical, however there are common practice and, in some circumstances, acceptable.
What are two tactics that a financial manager can use to manage earnings?
Financial managers at times will use certain tactics to manage earnings. Two tactics that financial managers use to manage earnings are the Big Bath technique and the cookie jar reserve. The big-bath technique consists of taking a one-time, large write-offs or restructuring charges against income in order to reduce assets to further lower future expenses (Hope & Wang, 2018). The use of the big bath method can affect a firms’ competitiveness as it is essentially reporting a loss, which can have negative results on stock prices. The other method is the cookie jar reserve occurs when a company saves money from successful years and draws from that money and applies it to bad years in order to bolster earnings reports (CPA Journal, 1999). The method is used as way to smooth income and appear financially better when in actuality the company is having a bad year.
What are the implications for cash flow and shareholder wealth?
Ultimately, financial manager’s job is to maximize profit, because of this conflict of interest may occur. According to Chalak & Mohammadnezhad (2012), “with respect to increase shareholder wealth, free cash flows are of importance because allow managers to seek growth opportunities which increase share value” (p. 430). Therefore, the use of the techniques in the regards to implications for cash flow and shareholder wealth can be detrimental due to unreliable and inaccurate information, which occurs from managers intentionally influencing actual financials.
Using the financial balance sheet as displayed in the text, provide an example of how purchasing an asset or issuing stocks or bonds could potentially impact earnings targets.
When purchasing an asset or issuing stocks earnings targets are impacted due the changes in cash flow. For instance, when purchasing assets, the cash accounts will decrease the purchase amount, while issuing stocks or bonds increases by the amount received for the purchased stocks. These actions can a company to miss or exceed its earnings targets by the amounts of cash flow coming in or going ou.
ALL THE DETAILS ARE MENTIONED IN THE DOCUMENT RELATED TO ALL 4 PERSPECTIVES OF BSC.
-REFERRED MAINLY FOR STRATEGIC COST MANAGEMENT.
-INCLUDES ALL THE EXPLANATION WITH APPROPRIATE EXAMPLES & CASE STUDY
Low-interest rates mean that P&C leadership teams are facing increasing pressure to generate heftier margins from their underwriting operations. More at http://gt-us.co/1japuAu
Using Mobility to Expand Planning and Performance Management Best PracticesSAP Analytics
http://spr.ly/Finance_PM - Explore how finance organizations can use mobile solutions to help expand planning and performance management best practices in order to transform business (Beyond Budgeting, 2013).
Measure What Matters - New Perspectives on Portfolio SelectionUMT
Stock market investors articulate their goals explicitly or implicitly by following the philosophy and methodology of a market expert that fits their investment objectives and appetite for risk. For example, for value and income stocks they may rely on the research conducted by Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel¹ or read up on market pros like War-ren Buffet. Much like the stock market investor, companies investing in change face similar challenges when considering where to allocate budget and resources to meet financial and strategic objectives.
Respond to... Companies often try to keep accounting earnings .docxwilfredoa1
Respond to...
Companies often try to keep accounting earnings growing at a relatively steady pace in an effort to avoid large swings in earnings from period to period. They also try to manage earnings targets. Reflect on these practices and discuss the following in your discussion post.
Are these practices ethical?
According to Ortega & Grant (2003), “earnings management occurs when managers use judgment in financial reporting and in structuring transactions to alter financial reports to either mislead some stakeholders about the underlying economic performance of the company to influence contractual outcomes” (p. 51). Because these practices are used to alter the financials of a firm from actuality, then, no, these practices are not ethical, however there are common practice and, in some circumstances, acceptable.
What are two tactics that a financial manager can use to manage earnings?
Financial managers at times will use certain tactics to manage earnings. Two tactics that financial managers use to manage earnings are the Big Bath technique and the cookie jar reserve. The big-bath technique consists of taking a one-time, large write-offs or restructuring charges against income in order to reduce assets to further lower future expenses (Hope & Wang, 2018). The use of the big bath method can affect a firms’ competitiveness as it is essentially reporting a loss, which can have negative results on stock prices. The other method is the cookie jar reserve occurs when a company saves money from successful years and draws from that money and applies it to bad years in order to bolster earnings reports (CPA Journal, 1999). The method is used as way to smooth income and appear financially better when in actuality the company is having a bad year.
What are the implications for cash flow and shareholder wealth?
Ultimately, financial manager’s job is to maximize profit, because of this conflict of interest may occur. According to Chalak & Mohammadnezhad (2012), “with respect to increase shareholder wealth, free cash flows are of importance because allow managers to seek growth opportunities which increase share value” (p. 430). Therefore, the use of the techniques in the regards to implications for cash flow and shareholder wealth can be detrimental due to unreliable and inaccurate information, which occurs from managers intentionally influencing actual financials.
Using the financial balance sheet as displayed in the text, provide an example of how purchasing an asset or issuing stocks or bonds could potentially impact earnings targets.
When purchasing an asset or issuing stocks earnings targets are impacted due the changes in cash flow. For instance, when purchasing assets, the cash accounts will decrease the purchase amount, while issuing stocks or bonds increases by the amount received for the purchased stocks. These actions can a company to miss or exceed its earnings targets by the amounts of cash flow coming in or going ou.
ALL THE DETAILS ARE MENTIONED IN THE DOCUMENT RELATED TO ALL 4 PERSPECTIVES OF BSC.
-REFERRED MAINLY FOR STRATEGIC COST MANAGEMENT.
-INCLUDES ALL THE EXPLANATION WITH APPROPRIATE EXAMPLES & CASE STUDY
Low-interest rates mean that P&C leadership teams are facing increasing pressure to generate heftier margins from their underwriting operations. More at http://gt-us.co/1japuAu
White Paper: Predictability Through Planning AgilityHost Analytics
Outperform your competition by making financial processes more relevant in driving organizational excellence, efficiency and informed decision-making, while improving forecast and budget accuracy.
Making Your Procurement Department A Profit CenterJeffrey Bartlett
Only 30% of mid-sized companies strategically manage their indirect costs. These companies are more profitable. This describes how they do it and why you should too.
By Alex Baum, David F. Larcker, Brian Tayan, and Jacob Welch
Stanford Closer Look Series, October 9, 2017
Board members rely on information provided by management to inform their decisions. Unfortunately, some research calls into question the adequacy of the information the board members receive and, by extension, the quality of decisions they are able to make. Based on observations by ValueAct Capital, this Closer Look examines shortcomings that plague corporate board books and provides recommendations for remedying them.
We ask:
• In general, what is the quality of information that public company directors receive?
• What can board members do to improve information quality and presentation?
• What are the institutional impediments standing in the way improving board books?
Managing Finance (MNGFIN) Week 4 Budgeting and accounting.docxinfantsuk
Managing Finance (MNGFIN)
Week 4: Budgeting and accounting for control
Budgets and strategic planning
Textbook reading (Atrill & McLaney: Ch. 6)
At this point in your studies, you are most likely familiar with the importance of
strategic planning for organisations. Such planning requires the setting of a long-
term mission that all individuals within the company seek to fulfil. This is
accomplished through the development of smaller, more specific goals and
objectives that are to be accomplished in a shorter time period. These specific goals
and objectives are expressed and shown through the determination and use of
budgets. Budgets are very important tools that play an integral role in the strategic
planning process. In simple terms, budgets are tactical and operational plans
established from strategic plans and are prepared to attain certain objectives
expressed in financial terms. While the company may have a goal of, say, ‘being the
largest organisation within its industry’, this statement falls short in terms of
measurement. In order to judge whether this goal was accomplished or not, we must
express the objective in certain financial terms, such as market share, sales revenue,
or profits.
Budgets offer the benefit of serving as a measuring stick against which actual
performance can be compared to planned or desired performance. By expressing
goals in financial terms, the organisation is then able to properly compare its actions
and results to ensure that efforts are in line with its strategic mission. Usually
prepared for a 1-year time period and then broken down into smaller units, such as
months, budgets offer flexibility while also being forward-looking. These tools should
not be thought of as constraining, where staying within the budget must take place
no matter what must be sacrificed. Rather, budgets serve as a control mechanism,
providing a framework that the organisation or business unit should seek to work
within. Realistic budgets should serve as a motivating factor for managers to meet
certain standards and also serve as a barometer that detects when things are going
off course. In this reading you will explore how budgets support the strategic
planning process as well as how different types of budgets are interrelated. The
authors also provide a general overview of the planning and control process.
Budgets for performance evaluation
Textbook reading (Atrill & McLaney: Ch. 6)
While budgets serve as frameworks that help to guide individuals within the
organisation, they are also excellent methods for evaluating the performance of
divisions, business units, managers, and/or employees. Since budgets incorporate
desired results, organisations are able to compare the actual results against the
planned and desired results to determine if objectives were met. If not, managers are
better able to discern what areas fell short of expectations. By examin ...
Mercer Capital | Valuation Insight | Capital Structure in 30 MinutesMercer Capital
Capital structure decisions have long-term consequences for shareholders. Directors evaluate capital structure with an eye toward identifying the financing mix that minimizes the weighted average cost of capital. This decision is complicated by the iterative nature of capital costs: the financing mix influences the cost of the different financing sources. While the nominal cost of debt is always less than the nominal cost of equity, the relevant consideration for directors is the marginal cost of debt and equity, which measures the impact of a given financing decision on the overall cost of capital. The purpose of this whitepaper is to equip directors and shareholders to contribute to capital structure decisions that promote the financial health and sustainability of the company.
Finance is the lifeblood and lifeline of any business entity either commercial or non-commercial. The
Survival, Stability and Sustainability of a firm is highly associated with its financial wellness. It can be observed through its ability to pay(re) short-term as well as long term liabilities, meeting the regular financial obligations, to increase the value of firm and ability to generate profit. Financial analysis, evaluation, and assessment help in determines the financial position and financial strength of a firm. Among the plenty of methods and tolls available for financial performance, ratio analysis is more useful and meaningful. These ratios make it possible to analyze the evolution of the financial situation of a firm (trend analysis), cross-sectional analysis and comparative analysis.
Integrating Meetings Into Transient Hotel Sourcing - BLG WhitepaperAl Norman
When you negotiate your annual Hotel Sourcing Program, have you wondered if your Meetings spend can be incorporated in the process? Read this whitepaper.
Managing Finance (MNGFIN)
Week 5: Strategic management accounting
The nature and role of strategic management accounting
Textbook reading (Atrill & McLaney: Ch. 9)
Last week’s objectives helped you develop an understanding of the role of budgets
in the strategic planning process. Budgets are useful tools for setting financial
standards of performance and act as motivators for effective management. However,
budget preparation, management, monitoring, and analysis represent only a small
portion of the role that management accounting can take within the strategic
planning process. Of course, strategic planning requires an organisation to fully
examine and analyse itself both internally and externally.
Management accounting is a unique field that is excellently positioned to assist with
both the internal evaluation as well as external analysis that organisations must
conduct to remain competitive. It may seem that management accounting is strongly
focused on the measuring of internal performance of the organisation. This was the
common belief for many years; however, in the contemporary business landscape,
companies are finding that they can also practice such analysis on their competitors
as well as their customers. Consequently, this forces them to be more outward
looking, to develop competitive strategies, and to monitor these strategies using the
appropriate range of performance measurements. The role of management
accounting is expanding from supportive to participative as new methods are being
used to help meet corporate strategic objectives.
Competitor and customer profitability analysis
Textbook reading (Atrill & McLaney: Ch. 9)
To better understand the expanding strategic role that management accounting is
acquiring within the organisation, it is important to examine two key areas from this
field: competitor analysis and customer profitability analysis. The methods and
techniques that you have examined and explored to this point have all been focused
on measuring and analysing the performance of the organisation itself. This
information is of great importance, as it provides detail with regards to profitability,
sustainability, etc. However, if the concentration remains solely on the individual
organisation, true analysis has fallen short, as companies do not operate in vacuums.
Managers must do their best to understand the competitive stance of other
organisations with regards to costs, strategies, resources, capabilities, and
objectives. In other words, an organisation must do its best to understand what its
competition might do if it were to reduce prices, launch a new product, or attempt to
enter a new market. While obtaining such precious information proves to be difficult
at times, there are numerous sources that can be utilised, such as public financial
reports, industry reports, government statistics, and simple observations of
behaviours and a ...
A hedge fund just bought 5 percent of your company. The fund partners clearly see value in what you’re doing, and, as a member of the management team, you take heart in that assessment. But you also know life is about to get more difficult. The fund partners are well-known activists. They have already asked for board seats. Now they’re proposing some dramatic strategic and financial changes, confidently assuring you and your shareholders that these moves will drive the company’s stock price higher. If you don’t comply and boost margins in a timely fashion, they will quickly bring in a management team that will.
For many company leaders, this is not a scary hypothetical — it is reality. It may also be an opportunity. In any case, activist shareholder campaigns are proliferating. According to the journal Activist Insight, 300 companies around the world were publicly targeted by activist investors between January and June 2015, about 25 percent more than in the same months the previous year. Since 2013, hedge fund managers have demanded change at hundreds of companies. The most widely publicized have included Apple, DuPont, General Motors, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Sony, Sotheby’s, and Yahoo.
One reason activism is growing is the rich rewards it earns for investors. On average, hedge funds with an activist approach have outperformed most other types of investment funds since 2010. The data analysis firm Hedge Fund Research reported recently that activist funds returned 12.5 percent a year between August 2012 and August 2015, while other funds, on average, earned returns in the single digits. No wonder investors increasingly demand activist funds in their portfolios, while the managers of those funds search diligently for new targets. No one can assume his or her company is immune.
We've distilled 10 principles for cost transformation that can help companies play the role of gadfly investor for themselves.
Most patients with mental health disorders are not aggressive. H.docxhelzerpatrina
Most patients with mental health disorders are not aggressive. However, it is important for nurses to be able to know the signs and symptoms associated with the five phases of aggression, and to appropriately apply nursing interventions to assist in treating aggressive patients. Please read the case study below and answer the four questions related to it.
Aggression Case Study
Christopher, who is 14 years of age, was recently admitted to the hospital for schizophrenia. He has a history of aggressive behavior and states that the devil is telling him to kill all adults because they want to hurt him. Christopher has a history of recidivism and noncompliance with his medications. One day on the unit, the nurse observes Christopher displaying hypervigilant behaviors, pacing back and forth down the hallway, and speaking to himself under his breath. As the nurse runs over to Christopher to talk, he sees that his bedroom door is open and runs into his room and shuts the door. The nurse responds by attempting to open the door, but Christopher keeps pulling the door shut and tells the nurse that if the nurse comes in the room he will choke the nurse. The nurse responds by calling other staff to assist with the situation.
1. What phase of the aggression cycle is Christopher in at the beginning of this scenario? What phase is he in at the end the scenario? (State the evidence that supports your answers).
2. What interventions could have been implemented to prevent Christopher from escalating at the beginning of the scenario?
3. What interventions should the nurse take to deescalate the situation when Christopher is refusing to open his door?
4. If a restrictive intervention (restraint/seclusion) is used, what are some important steps for the nurse to remember?
.
MotivationExplain your motivation for applying to this prog.docxhelzerpatrina
Motivation:
Explain your motivation for applying to this program. How does the content of this study abroad program relate to your future academic and professional goals?
Goals(REQUIRED)
List and explain three concrete goals related to living and studying abroad that you will set for yourself to get the most out of this opportunity.
.
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Outperform your competition by making financial processes more relevant in driving organizational excellence, efficiency and informed decision-making, while improving forecast and budget accuracy.
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Only 30% of mid-sized companies strategically manage their indirect costs. These companies are more profitable. This describes how they do it and why you should too.
By Alex Baum, David F. Larcker, Brian Tayan, and Jacob Welch
Stanford Closer Look Series, October 9, 2017
Board members rely on information provided by management to inform their decisions. Unfortunately, some research calls into question the adequacy of the information the board members receive and, by extension, the quality of decisions they are able to make. Based on observations by ValueAct Capital, this Closer Look examines shortcomings that plague corporate board books and provides recommendations for remedying them.
We ask:
• In general, what is the quality of information that public company directors receive?
• What can board members do to improve information quality and presentation?
• What are the institutional impediments standing in the way improving board books?
Managing Finance (MNGFIN) Week 4 Budgeting and accounting.docxinfantsuk
Managing Finance (MNGFIN)
Week 4: Budgeting and accounting for control
Budgets and strategic planning
Textbook reading (Atrill & McLaney: Ch. 6)
At this point in your studies, you are most likely familiar with the importance of
strategic planning for organisations. Such planning requires the setting of a long-
term mission that all individuals within the company seek to fulfil. This is
accomplished through the development of smaller, more specific goals and
objectives that are to be accomplished in a shorter time period. These specific goals
and objectives are expressed and shown through the determination and use of
budgets. Budgets are very important tools that play an integral role in the strategic
planning process. In simple terms, budgets are tactical and operational plans
established from strategic plans and are prepared to attain certain objectives
expressed in financial terms. While the company may have a goal of, say, ‘being the
largest organisation within its industry’, this statement falls short in terms of
measurement. In order to judge whether this goal was accomplished or not, we must
express the objective in certain financial terms, such as market share, sales revenue,
or profits.
Budgets offer the benefit of serving as a measuring stick against which actual
performance can be compared to planned or desired performance. By expressing
goals in financial terms, the organisation is then able to properly compare its actions
and results to ensure that efforts are in line with its strategic mission. Usually
prepared for a 1-year time period and then broken down into smaller units, such as
months, budgets offer flexibility while also being forward-looking. These tools should
not be thought of as constraining, where staying within the budget must take place
no matter what must be sacrificed. Rather, budgets serve as a control mechanism,
providing a framework that the organisation or business unit should seek to work
within. Realistic budgets should serve as a motivating factor for managers to meet
certain standards and also serve as a barometer that detects when things are going
off course. In this reading you will explore how budgets support the strategic
planning process as well as how different types of budgets are interrelated. The
authors also provide a general overview of the planning and control process.
Budgets for performance evaluation
Textbook reading (Atrill & McLaney: Ch. 6)
While budgets serve as frameworks that help to guide individuals within the
organisation, they are also excellent methods for evaluating the performance of
divisions, business units, managers, and/or employees. Since budgets incorporate
desired results, organisations are able to compare the actual results against the
planned and desired results to determine if objectives were met. If not, managers are
better able to discern what areas fell short of expectations. By examin ...
Mercer Capital | Valuation Insight | Capital Structure in 30 MinutesMercer Capital
Capital structure decisions have long-term consequences for shareholders. Directors evaluate capital structure with an eye toward identifying the financing mix that minimizes the weighted average cost of capital. This decision is complicated by the iterative nature of capital costs: the financing mix influences the cost of the different financing sources. While the nominal cost of debt is always less than the nominal cost of equity, the relevant consideration for directors is the marginal cost of debt and equity, which measures the impact of a given financing decision on the overall cost of capital. The purpose of this whitepaper is to equip directors and shareholders to contribute to capital structure decisions that promote the financial health and sustainability of the company.
Finance is the lifeblood and lifeline of any business entity either commercial or non-commercial. The
Survival, Stability and Sustainability of a firm is highly associated with its financial wellness. It can be observed through its ability to pay(re) short-term as well as long term liabilities, meeting the regular financial obligations, to increase the value of firm and ability to generate profit. Financial analysis, evaluation, and assessment help in determines the financial position and financial strength of a firm. Among the plenty of methods and tolls available for financial performance, ratio analysis is more useful and meaningful. These ratios make it possible to analyze the evolution of the financial situation of a firm (trend analysis), cross-sectional analysis and comparative analysis.
Integrating Meetings Into Transient Hotel Sourcing - BLG WhitepaperAl Norman
When you negotiate your annual Hotel Sourcing Program, have you wondered if your Meetings spend can be incorporated in the process? Read this whitepaper.
Managing Finance (MNGFIN)
Week 5: Strategic management accounting
The nature and role of strategic management accounting
Textbook reading (Atrill & McLaney: Ch. 9)
Last week’s objectives helped you develop an understanding of the role of budgets
in the strategic planning process. Budgets are useful tools for setting financial
standards of performance and act as motivators for effective management. However,
budget preparation, management, monitoring, and analysis represent only a small
portion of the role that management accounting can take within the strategic
planning process. Of course, strategic planning requires an organisation to fully
examine and analyse itself both internally and externally.
Management accounting is a unique field that is excellently positioned to assist with
both the internal evaluation as well as external analysis that organisations must
conduct to remain competitive. It may seem that management accounting is strongly
focused on the measuring of internal performance of the organisation. This was the
common belief for many years; however, in the contemporary business landscape,
companies are finding that they can also practice such analysis on their competitors
as well as their customers. Consequently, this forces them to be more outward
looking, to develop competitive strategies, and to monitor these strategies using the
appropriate range of performance measurements. The role of management
accounting is expanding from supportive to participative as new methods are being
used to help meet corporate strategic objectives.
Competitor and customer profitability analysis
Textbook reading (Atrill & McLaney: Ch. 9)
To better understand the expanding strategic role that management accounting is
acquiring within the organisation, it is important to examine two key areas from this
field: competitor analysis and customer profitability analysis. The methods and
techniques that you have examined and explored to this point have all been focused
on measuring and analysing the performance of the organisation itself. This
information is of great importance, as it provides detail with regards to profitability,
sustainability, etc. However, if the concentration remains solely on the individual
organisation, true analysis has fallen short, as companies do not operate in vacuums.
Managers must do their best to understand the competitive stance of other
organisations with regards to costs, strategies, resources, capabilities, and
objectives. In other words, an organisation must do its best to understand what its
competition might do if it were to reduce prices, launch a new product, or attempt to
enter a new market. While obtaining such precious information proves to be difficult
at times, there are numerous sources that can be utilised, such as public financial
reports, industry reports, government statistics, and simple observations of
behaviours and a ...
A hedge fund just bought 5 percent of your company. The fund partners clearly see value in what you’re doing, and, as a member of the management team, you take heart in that assessment. But you also know life is about to get more difficult. The fund partners are well-known activists. They have already asked for board seats. Now they’re proposing some dramatic strategic and financial changes, confidently assuring you and your shareholders that these moves will drive the company’s stock price higher. If you don’t comply and boost margins in a timely fashion, they will quickly bring in a management team that will.
For many company leaders, this is not a scary hypothetical — it is reality. It may also be an opportunity. In any case, activist shareholder campaigns are proliferating. According to the journal Activist Insight, 300 companies around the world were publicly targeted by activist investors between January and June 2015, about 25 percent more than in the same months the previous year. Since 2013, hedge fund managers have demanded change at hundreds of companies. The most widely publicized have included Apple, DuPont, General Motors, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Sony, Sotheby’s, and Yahoo.
One reason activism is growing is the rich rewards it earns for investors. On average, hedge funds with an activist approach have outperformed most other types of investment funds since 2010. The data analysis firm Hedge Fund Research reported recently that activist funds returned 12.5 percent a year between August 2012 and August 2015, while other funds, on average, earned returns in the single digits. No wonder investors increasingly demand activist funds in their portfolios, while the managers of those funds search diligently for new targets. No one can assume his or her company is immune.
We've distilled 10 principles for cost transformation that can help companies play the role of gadfly investor for themselves.
Most patients with mental health disorders are not aggressive. H.docxhelzerpatrina
Most patients with mental health disorders are not aggressive. However, it is important for nurses to be able to know the signs and symptoms associated with the five phases of aggression, and to appropriately apply nursing interventions to assist in treating aggressive patients. Please read the case study below and answer the four questions related to it.
Aggression Case Study
Christopher, who is 14 years of age, was recently admitted to the hospital for schizophrenia. He has a history of aggressive behavior and states that the devil is telling him to kill all adults because they want to hurt him. Christopher has a history of recidivism and noncompliance with his medications. One day on the unit, the nurse observes Christopher displaying hypervigilant behaviors, pacing back and forth down the hallway, and speaking to himself under his breath. As the nurse runs over to Christopher to talk, he sees that his bedroom door is open and runs into his room and shuts the door. The nurse responds by attempting to open the door, but Christopher keeps pulling the door shut and tells the nurse that if the nurse comes in the room he will choke the nurse. The nurse responds by calling other staff to assist with the situation.
1. What phase of the aggression cycle is Christopher in at the beginning of this scenario? What phase is he in at the end the scenario? (State the evidence that supports your answers).
2. What interventions could have been implemented to prevent Christopher from escalating at the beginning of the scenario?
3. What interventions should the nurse take to deescalate the situation when Christopher is refusing to open his door?
4. If a restrictive intervention (restraint/seclusion) is used, what are some important steps for the nurse to remember?
.
MotivationExplain your motivation for applying to this prog.docxhelzerpatrina
Motivation:
Explain your motivation for applying to this program. How does the content of this study abroad program relate to your future academic and professional goals?
Goals(REQUIRED)
List and explain three concrete goals related to living and studying abroad that you will set for yourself to get the most out of this opportunity.
.
Most public policy is made from within government agencies. Select a.docxhelzerpatrina
Most public policy is made from within government agencies. Select an agency to review for this assignment:
1) Go to
https://www.usa.gov
to begin your search.
2) Next, click on the menu tab labelled “Government Agencies and Elected Officials.”
3) Then, click on “A-Z Index of U.S. Government Agencies.”
4) Select one of the large federal agencies, and review one of its major policies, laws, or regulations.
What is the primary mission of the agency? Select a problem that the agency is attempting to solve. Research the major policy process as it has evolved and identify its major stakeholders. Identify what major factors have contributed to policy ineffectiveness. Is the bureaucracy now too large to provide adequate oversight and future development? Be sure to integrate lessons learned and policy concepts discussed throughout the class. Examples may include security at airports, immigration, education (No Child Left Behind), welfare support, Social Security, health care, etc. Identify government subsidies, tools, and regulations the agency uses to meet its policy goals. Pinpoint supporting agencies, groups, or businesses that would be most interested in these policies, and describe the potential conflicts of interest.
Your APA style paper should be three pages in length, not counting the title and reference pages. Provide at least three peer-reviewed or professional references. Be sure your paper is double-spaced and uses 12-point font and one-inch margins. Use your own words, and include citations and references as needed to avoid plagiarism. All sources used must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations and be cited per APA guidelines.
.
Mr. Smith brings his 4-year-old son to your primary care office. He .docxhelzerpatrina
Mr. Smith brings his 4-year-old son to your primary care office. He states the boy has been ill for three days. Mr. Smith indicates that he would like antibiotics so he can send his son back to pre-school the next day.
History - Child began with sneezing, mild cough, and low grade fever of 100 degrees three days ago. All immunizations UTD. Father reports that the child has had only two incidents of URI and no other illnesses.
Social - non-smoking household. Child attends preschool four mornings a week and is insured through his father’s employment. No other siblings in the household.
PE/ROS -T 99, R 20, P 100. Alert, cooperative, in good spirits, well-hydrated. Mildly erythemic throat, no exudate, tonsils +2. Both ears mild pink tympanic membrane with good movement. Lungs clear bilaterally. All other systems WNL.
Do not consider COVID-19 for this patient diagnosis.
.
Mrs. Walsh, a woman in her 70s, was in critical condition after rep.docxhelzerpatrina
“Mrs. Walsh, a woman in her 70s, was in critical condition after repeat coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Her family lived nearby when Mrs. Walsh had her first CABG surgery. They had moved out of town but returned to our institution, where the first surgery had been performed successfully. Mrs. Walsh remained critically ill and unstable for several weeks before her death. Her family was very anxious because of Mrs. Walsh’s unstable and deteriorating condition, and a family member was always with her 24 hours a day for the first few weeks.
The nurse became involved with this family while Mrs. Walsh was still in surgery, because family members were very anxious that the procedure was taking longer than it had the first time and made repeated calls to the critical care unit to ask about the patient. The nurse met with the family and offered to go into the operating room to talk with the cardiac surgeon to better inform the family of their mother’s status.
One of the helpful things the nurse did to assist this family was to establish a consistent group of nurses to work with Mrs. Walsh, so that family members could establish trust and feel more confident about the care their mother was receiving. This eventually enabled family members to leave the hospital for intervals to get some rest. The nurse related that this was a family whose members were affluent, educated, and well informed, and that they came in prepared with lists of questions. A consistent group of nurses who were familiar with Mrs. Walsh’s particular situation helped both family members and nurses to be more satisfied and less anxious. The family developed a close relationship with the three nurses who consistently cared for Mrs. Walsh and shared with them details about Mrs. Walsh and her life.
The nurse related that there was a tradition in this particular critical care unit not to involve family members in care. She broke that tradition when she responded to the son’s and the daughter’s helpless feelings by teaching them some simple things that they could do for their mother. They learned to give some basic care, such as bathing her. The nurse acknowledged that involving family members in direct patient care with a critically ill patient is complex and requires knowledge and sensitivity. She believes that a developmental process is involved when nurses learn to work with families.
She noted that after a nurse has lots of experience and feels very comfortable with highly technical skills, it becomes okay for family members to be in the room when care is provided. She pointed out that direct observation by anxious family members can be disconcerting to those who are insecure with their skills when family members ask things like, “Why are you doing this? Nurse ‘So and So’ does it differently.” She commented that nurses learn to be flexible and to reset priorities. They should be able to let some things wait that do not need to be done right away to give the family some.
Much has been made of the new Web 2.0 phenomenon, including social n.docxhelzerpatrina
Much has been made of the new Web 2.0 phenomenon, including social networking sites and user-created mash-ups. How does Web 2.0 change security for the Internet? Your submission should be between 500 words with references and following APA reference style. Please do not include a title page
.
MSN 5550 Health Promotion Prevention of Disease Case Study Module 2.docxhelzerpatrina
MSN 5550 Health Promotion: Prevention of Disease Case Study Module 2 Instructions: Read the following case study and answer the reflective questions.
Please provide rationales for your answers. Make sure to provide a citation for your answers. Deadline: CASE STUDY:
An Older Immigrant Couple: Mr. and Mrs. Arahan Mr. and Mrs. Arahan, an older couple in their seventies, have been living with their oldest daughter, her husband of 15 years, and their two children, ages 12 and 14. They all live in a middle-income neighborhood in a suburb of a metropolitan city. Mr. and Mrs. Arahan are both college educated and worked full-time while they were in their native country. In addition, Mr. Arahan, the only offspring of wealthy parents, inherited a substantial amount of money and real estate. Their daughter came to the United States as a registered nurse and met her husband, a drug company representative. The older couple moved to the United States when their daughter became a U.S. citizen and petitioned them as immigrants. Since the couple was facing retirement, they welcomed the opportunity to come to the United States. The Arahans found life in the United States different from that in their home country, but their adjustment was not as difficult because both were healthy and spoke English fluently. Most of their time was spent taking care of their two grandchildren and the house. As the grandchildren grew older, the older couple found that they had more spare time. The daughter and her husband advanced in their careers and spent a great deal more time at their jobs. There were few family dinners during the week. On weekends, the daughter, her husband, and their children socialized with their own friends. The couple began to feel isolated and longed for a more active life. Mr. and Mrs. Arahan began to think that perhaps they should return to the home country, where they still had relatives and friends. However, political and economic issues would have made it difficult for them to live there. Besides, they had become accustomed to the way of life in the United States with all the modern conveniences and abundance of goods that were difficult to obtain in their country. However, they also became concerned that they might not be able to tolerate the winter months and that minor health problems might worsen as they aged. They wondered who would take care of them if they became very frail and where they would live, knowing that their daughter had only saved money for their grandchildren’s college education. They expressed their sentiments to their daughter, who became very concerned about how her parents were feeling. This older couple had been attending church on a regular basis, but had never been active in other church-related activities. The church bulletin announced the establishment of parish nursing with two retired registered nurses as volunteers. The couple attended the first opening of the parish clinic. Here, they met one of the registered nur.
MSEL Strategy Mid-term Instructions Miguel Rivera-SantosFormat.docxhelzerpatrina
MSEL Strategy Mid-term Instructions Miguel Rivera-Santos
Format of the Mid-term
· You will find three recent newspaper articles describing a strategic move or a strategic decision in this document. Choose two out of these three articles and, for each of the two articles you have selected, answer the following two questions:
· Q1: What is (are) the issue(s) for the main company in the article? How do you assess the company’s strategic decision(s)? What additional information and what specific analyses would you conduct to fully understand the issue(s) and the decision(s)?
· Q2: What alternative recommendation would you consider in response to the issue(s)? What additional information/analyses would you need for this alternative recommendation? How could it be implemented?
· For each article, the combined answers to these two questions should be no longer than 2 single-spaced pages, in 12-point Times New Roman, with a 1-inch margin all around.
You can add as many appendices as you feel necessary, but remember that the page limitfor the mid-term (excluding exhibits) is 4 pages, i.e., 2 pages per newspaper article.
· You do not need to seek additional information beyond what is provided in the articles.
GOOD LUCK!
Geely to build satellites for self-driving cars - Financial Times (US), 3/4... https://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODN/FTUS/PrintArticle.aspx?d...
Automobiles
CHRISTIAN SHEPHERD — BEIJING
Geely is aiming to be the first China carmaker to design and build satellites to support its autonomous driving programme, the latest step by founder Li Shufu in his bid to build an industry leader.
Geely, which owns Swedish brand Volvo Cars, Malaysia’s Proton, and a stake in Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler, will invest Rmb2.27bn ($325m) in a new development centre and factory to manufacture satellites this year, the company said yesterday.
The announcement makes Geely the first known Chinese carmaker with plans to build its own satellites. Mr Li’s move sparked comparisons in China media with Elon Musk, founder of electric carmaker Tesla and private space exploration company SpaceX.
Last month Geely drew comparisons with Volkswagen when Mr Li’s holding group announced plans to merge Geely Automobile and Volvo Cars, moving the company towards becoming the first global Chinese carmaker.
Che Jun, Communist party boss of China’s eastern Zhejiang province, where Geely is based, said that the complex would be built in Taizhou city and that construction had begun.
The centre will design, test and manufacture low-orbit communication satellites, purpose-built to improve geolocation of vehicles and to support their connected functions, Geely said.
Geely has been pouring money into new technologies from self-driving cars to flying taxis, spending Rmb20bn on research and development in the past year.
The investments are part of the group’s spend on global expansion, such as buying a $9bn stake in Daimler.
The announcement comes as the coronavirus outbre.
Much of the focus in network security centers upon measures in preve.docxhelzerpatrina
Much of the focus in network security centers upon measures in preventing network intrusions and handling security events. There is also a growing debate about what proactive measures an organization should take. From a practical matter, what could some of these practical measures be? Also, are there any biblical principles around taking proactive measures against a probable attacker - and if so, to what extent should these measures go?
.
Mt. Baker Hazards Hazard Rating Score High silic.docxhelzerpatrina
Mt. Baker
Hazards
Hazard Rating Score
High silica content of eruptive products, >60% (andesite/dacite/rhyolite)
Major explosive activity within last 500 years
Major explosive activity within last 5000 years
Pyroclastic flows within last 500 years
Mudflows (lahars) within the last 500 years
Destructive tsunami within last 500 years
Occurrence of frequent volcano-seismic crises (volcanic earthquake swarms)
Occurrence of significant ground deformation within last 50 years
SCORE
Risk
Risk Rating Score
Population at risk >100
Population at risk >1,000
Population at risk >10,000
Population at risk >100,000
Population at risk >1,000,000
Historical fatalities
Evacuation as a result of historical eruption(s)
SCORE
TOTAL SCORE ___________
For each of the above queries to which the answer is yes, score 1. For an answer of no, score 0.
If no information is found, assume the answer is no and score 0.
Mt. Hood
Hazards
Hazard Rating Score
High silica content of eruptive products, >60% (andesite/dacite/rhyolite)
Major explosive activity within last 500 years
Major explosive activity within last 5000 years
Pyroclastic flows within last 500 years
Mudflows (lahars) within the last 500 years
Destructive tsunami within last 500 years
Occurrence of frequent volcano-seismic crises (volcanic earthquake swarms)
Occurrence of significant ground deformation within last 50 years
SCORE
Risk
Risk Rating Score
Population at risk >100
Population at risk >1,000
Population at risk >10,000
Population at risk >100,000
Population at risk >1,000,000
Historical fatalities
Evacuation as a result of historical eruption(s)
SCORE
TOTAL SCORE ___________
For each of the above queries to which the answer is yes, score 1. For an answer of no, score 0.
If no information is found, assume the answer is no and score 0.
Mt. Rainier
Hazards
Hazard Rating Score
High silica content of eruptive products, >60% (andesite/dacite/rhyolite)
Major explosive activity within last 500 years
Major explosive activity within last 5000 years
Pyroclastic flows within last 500 years
Mudflows (lahars) within the last 500 years
Destructive tsunami within last 500 years
Occurrence of frequent volcano-seismic crises (volcanic earthquake swarms)
Occurrence of significant ground deformation within last 50 years
SCORE
Risk
Risk Rating Score
Population at risk >100
Population at risk >1,000
Population at risk >10,000
Population at risk >100,000
Population at risk >1,000,000
Historical fatalities
Evacuation as a result of historical eruption(s)
SCORE
TOTAL SCORE ___________
For each of the above queries to which the answer is yes, score 1. For an answer of no, score 0.
If no information is found, assume the answer is no and score 0.
Mt. St. Helens
Hazards
Hazard Rating Score
High.
Motivation and Cognitive FactorsQuestion AAlfred Hit.docxhelzerpatrina
Motivation and Cognitive Factors
Question A
Alfred Hitchcock reputedly said, “When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, “It’s in the script.” If he says, “But what’s my motivation,” I say, “Your salary.” Discuss motivation based on extrinsic rewards in comparison to that motivated by intrinsic rewards. Are different types of motivations preferable for different tasks? Remember to explain and cite educational sources to support the ideas within the post.
Question B
Social cognitive theory suggests that our beliefs and feelings influence our behavior. What beliefs (cognitive factors) might be related to the specific behavior of going to college? Remember to explain and cite educational sources to support the ideas within the post.
OR
Select one of the personality tests from
Similar Minds
. Take the test, read your results and reproduce them in your journal. What parts of the results ring true to you? What do not? Remember to explain and cite educational sources to support the ideas within the post.
View your discussion
rubric
.
13
.
Motivation in OrganizationsMotivation i.docxhelzerpatrina
Motivation in Organizations
*
Motivation in Organizations
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 Preview:
Motivation in OrganizationsWhat do individuals need to do to meet a personal goal? What are the most important sources of work motivation (e.g., money? recognition? other?)What do you think makes for effective goal-setting? What happens when people feel that they are underpaid compared to their peers? What do people need to believe about a possible reward, in order for it to be motivating?
Components of motivation: What are the basic components of motivation? Page Ref: 214
Motivation: What motivates people to work? What are the most important sources of work motivation? Page Ref: 215
Guidelines for setting effective performance goals: What are they? Page Ref: 220-223
Equity Theory: What are some possible reactions to inequity? Page Ref: 226-227
Expectancy Theory: What are the three types of beliefs that people have, and what do they mean? Page Ref: 230
Copyright
Learning ObjectivesDefine motivation and explain its importance in the field of organizational behavior.Identify and explain the conditions through which goal setting can be used to improve job performance.
Learning ObjectivesDescribe equity theory and how it may be applied to motivating people in organizations.Describe expectancy theory and how it may be applied in organizations.
*
Today’s AgendaMotivationGoal SettingEquity TheoryExpectancy Theory
*
Today’s AgendaMotivationGoal SettingEquity TheoryExpectancy Theory
*
The set of processes thatarousedirect, and maintain
human behavior toward attaining some goal
Motivation
*
Motivation Components
*
Motivation
Key PointsMotivation and job performance are not synonymousMotivation is multifacetedPeople are motivated by more than just money
*
What Motivates You to Work?
*
What Motivates People to Work?
*
Today’s AgendaMotivationGoal SettingEquity TheoryExpectancy Theory
*
Goal Setting
*
Goal Setting
Do you have goals?Have you been successful in meeting them?What do you think are important characteristics of attainable goals?How does it make you feel to achieve goals?
*
Goal Setting Guidelines
For ManagersAssign specific goalsAssign difficult, but acceptable, performance goalsstretch goalsProvide feedback on goal attainment
*
Today’s AgendaMotivationGoal SettingEquity TheoryExpectancy Theory
*
Equity TheoryPeople strive to maintain ratios of their own outcomes (rewards) to their own inputs (contributions) that are equal to the outcome / input ratios of others with whom they compare themselves
*
Equity Theory
Possible Reactions to Inequity
*
Equity Theory
Managerial ImplicationsAvoid underpaymentAvoid overpaymentBe honest and open with employees
*
Equity Theory
Pay Practices in the NewsPay Practices at Reddit, Google and Gravity Payments
*
Equity Theory
Pay Practices in the NewsQuestions to co.
Motivations to Support Charity-Linked Events After Exposure to.docxhelzerpatrina
Motivations to Support Charity-Linked Events After Exposure to
Facebook Appeals: Emotional Cause Identification and Distinct
Self-Determined Regulations
Kaspar Schattke
Université du Québec à Montréal
Ronald Ferguson and Michèle Paulin
Concordia University
Nonprofit organizations are increasingly dependent on the involvement of Millennial
constituencies. Three studies investigated their motivations to support charity-linked
events: emotional identification with a cause, self-determination theory (SDT) regula-
tions, and context-related Facebook promotions. This article addresses the recent call to
expand SDT research from a simple analysis of autonomous versus controlled moti-
vation, to studying the effects of all the regulations in the SDT continuum, in particular,
the inclusion of the tripartite dimensions of intrinsic motivation and integrated moti-
vation. Results demonstrated that the greater the emotional identification with the
cause, the stronger was the tendency to support the charity-linked event. Also, the
results in these social media contexts revealed that specific intrinsic dimensions (e.g.,
experience stimulation) are motivators of online and offline support, as is the personal
value nature of integrated regulation. Whereas only autonomous motivational regula-
tions predicted support for the two events organized specifically a for charitable causes,
both autonomous and controlled regulations predicted support of a for-profit event
organized with a charitable cause as an adjunct. These findings can assist practitioners
in designing more effective social media communications in support of charity-linked
events.
Keywords: social media, self-determination theory, integrated regulation, tripartite
model of intrinsic motivation, charitable causes
Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/mot0000085.supp
Social media is a new domain offering excit-
ing opportunities to investigate research ques-
tions in social psychology (Greitemeyer, 2011;
Kende, Ujhelyi, Joinson, & Greitemeyer, 2015).
Our research examined motivation to support
charity-linked events of nonprofit organizations
that are currently faced with increased compe-
tition for resources and declining government
support (Paulin, Ferguson, Jost, & Fallu, 2014;
Reed, Aquino, & Levy, 2007; White & Peloza,
2009). Presently, they depend on an ageing set
of traditional supporters (Urbain, Gonzalez, &
Le Gall-Ely, 2013). However, their future suc-
cess lies in ensuring the sustainable involve-
ment of the Millennial generation (Fine, 2009),
distinguished from other generations by their
intense exposure at an early age to interactive
technology and social media (Bolton et al.,
2013).
Facebook, the most detailed social media, is
used primarily to maintain or solidify existing
offline relationships allowing people to develop
a public or semipublic profile and to emotion-
ally participate with those whom they can share
This article was published Online First December .
Mrs. Walsh, a woman in her 70s, was in critical condition after.docxhelzerpatrina
“Mrs. Walsh, a woman in her 70s, was in critical condition after repeat coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Her family lived nearby when Mrs. Walsh had her first CABG surgery. They had moved out of town but returned to our institution, where the first surgery had been performed successfully. Mrs. Walsh remained critically ill and unstable for several weeks before her death. Her family was very anxious because of Mrs. Walsh’s unstable and deteriorating condition, and a family member was always with her 24 hours a day for the first few weeks.
The nurse became involved with this family while Mrs. Walsh was still in surgery, because family members were very anxious that the procedure was taking longer than it had the first time and made repeated calls to the critical care unit to ask about the patient. The nurse met with the family and offered to go into the operating room to talk with the cardiac surgeon to better inform the family of their mother’s status.
· One of the helpful things the nurse did to assist this family was to establish a consistent group of nurses to work with Mrs. Walsh, so that family members could establish trust and feel more confident about the care their mother was receiving. This eventually enabled family members to leave the hospital for intervals to get some rest. The nurse related that this was a family whose members were affluent, educated, and well informed, and that they came in prepared with lists of questions. A consistent group of nurses who were familiar with Mrs. Walsh’s particular situation helped both family members and nurses to be more satisfied and less anxious. The family developed a close relationship with the three nurses who consistently cared for Mrs. Walsh and shared with them details about Mrs. Walsh and her life.
· The nurse related that there was a tradition in this particular critical care unit not to involve family members in care. She broke that tradition when she responded to the son’s and the daughter’s helpless feelings by teaching them some simple things that they could do for their mother. They learned to give some basic care, such as bathing her. The nurse acknowledged that involving family members in direct patient care with a critically ill patient is complex and requires knowledge and sensitivity. She believes that a developmental process is involved when nurses learn to work with families.
· She noted that after a nurse has lots of experience and feels very comfortable with highly technical skills, it becomes okay for family members to be in the room when care is provided. She pointed out that direct observation by anxious family members can be disconcerting to those who are insecure with their skills when family members ask things like, “Why are you doing this? Nurse ‘So and So’ does it differently.” She commented that nurses learn to be flexible and to reset priorities. They should be able to let some things wait that do not need to be done right away to give the famil.
MOVIE TITLE IS LIAR LIAR starring JIM CARREYProvide the name o.docxhelzerpatrina
MOVIE TITLE IS LIAR LIAR starring JIM CARREY
Provide the name of the movie, television series, or streaming series you chose, including a summary of the content, and explain why you selected it.
What are your impressions of the environments (include graphic elements)?
Pay attention to the relationships and communication occurring in the movie. How are people greeting each other? How are people interacting? Do you think you can tell the relationships of the people based on their verbal and nonverbal behaviors? Why or why not?
What are the cultural verbal cues that you notice in the movie?
What are the cultural nonverbal cues that you notice in the movie?
Describe two of the characters' use of language including word arrangement, word choice, and intended meaning.
Summarize how your content choice provided sufficient detail allowing you to describe the roles of verbal and nonverbal elements in communication and how the two forms of communication work in conjunction.
.
mple selection, and assignment to groups (as applicable). Describe.docxhelzerpatrina
mple selection, and assignment to groups (as applicable). Describe the process of obtaining informed consent, if applicable.
Data Analysis Procedures: Begin by describing your demographic data from your participants. How will you analyze this data using descriptive statistics? Restate each project question or PICOT question. For each question, describe in detail what inferential statistics you will use to analyze your data. Include steps to ensure your data meet the assumptions for each inferential statistic used. Describe the a priori alpha level you plan to use.
Ethical Considerations: Provide a description of ethical issues related to your project and how you plan to deal with them. Consider your methodology, design, and data collection. Compare to a randomized controlled trial. Address anonymity, confidentiality, privacy, lack of coercion, informed consent, and potential conflicts of interest. Discuss how you plan to adhere to the Belmont Report key principles (respect, justice, beneficence).
.
More and more businesses have integrated social media into every asp.docxhelzerpatrina
More and more businesses have integrated social media into every aspect of their communication strategies and there are many recent examples of employees being fired from their jobs for personal social media postings. Discuss the benefits and pitfalls of using social media within businesses and if you think it is ethical for business to fire employees for personal use of social media. How can you monitor and control your own social media activities to prevent such a professional conflict?
.
Module Five Directions for the ComparisonContrast EssayWrite a.docxhelzerpatrina
Module Five: Directions for the Comparison/Contrast Essay
Write a five paragraph essay, using sources and MLA style with a works cited page and include photos and illustrations, to document the similarities and differences of the two major NASA missions:
1. The past Apollo missions to the Moon
and
2. The planned future missions to Mars
NASA.gov is a primary source for both missions, use it for quotations and include it in your Works Cited page. Also, there are many other sources available through our library online databases and others via google.search.
A sample outline could be:
I. Introduction and thesis statement
II. How the two missions are alike
III. How the Apollo missions were unique for traveling to the Moon and back
IV. How the planned Mars missions are unique for traveling to the Red Planet.
V. Conclusion
.
Monica asked that we meet to see if I could help to reduce the d.docxhelzerpatrina
Monica asked that we meet to see if I could help to reduce the differences between them. When the time came, she started the conversation by saying that Richard wasn’t saving any money at all. They hadn’t started implementing. She said he spent a good deal of time buy- ing and selling stocks. He seemed to be influenced by the weekly ups and downs of the market. At least temporarily, however, he had raised the quality of the stocks he was buying.
Richard seemed a little annoyed and said that Monica never wanted to sell any securities. She almost always told him to wait. She said the shares would come back. When I asked what money meant to them, Richard said an opportunity to gamble and Monica replied a chance to lose what you’ve accumulated. As far as their long-term goals were concerned, Richard said he had no real long-term goals. The future was too fickle. He said who knew what fate had in store for them. Monica’s goal was to feel secure. I had the feeling that her remark was in response to Richard’s behavior. She wouldn’t allow herself to think of anything beyond security until Richard’s activities could be controlled.
Case Application Questions
1. What should be done about Richard’s spending?
2. What kind of investment behavior is Richard demonstrating?What can be done about it? 3. What is Monica’s investment behavior called? How can it be helped?
4. Contrast their two views of money. Do you have any recommendations?
5. How can Monica’s fears be dealt with?
.
Module 6 AssignmentPlease list and describe four types of Cy.docxhelzerpatrina
Module 6 Assignment
Please list and describe four types of Cyber crime.
Rubric for Assignment submission
Criterion
Description
Points possible
Content
Student posts and describes four types of Cyber crimes
40
Word count
500 words
10
Total Points possible
50
.
The Indian economy is classified into different sectors to simplify the analysis and understanding of economic activities. For Class 10, it's essential to grasp the sectors of the Indian economy, understand their characteristics, and recognize their importance. This guide will provide detailed notes on the Sectors of the Indian Economy Class 10, using specific long-tail keywords to enhance comprehension.
For more information, visit-www.vavaclasses.com
How to Split Bills in the Odoo 17 POS ModuleCeline George
Bills have a main role in point of sale procedure. It will help to track sales, handling payments and giving receipts to customers. Bill splitting also has an important role in POS. For example, If some friends come together for dinner and if they want to divide the bill then it is possible by POS bill splitting. This slide will show how to split bills in odoo 17 POS.
Welcome to TechSoup New Member Orientation and Q&A (May 2024).pdfTechSoup
In this webinar you will learn how your organization can access TechSoup's wide variety of product discount and donation programs. From hardware to software, we'll give you a tour of the tools available to help your nonprofit with productivity, collaboration, financial management, donor tracking, security, and more.
This is a presentation by Dada Robert in a Your Skill Boost masterclass organised by the Excellence Foundation for South Sudan (EFSS) on Saturday, the 25th and Sunday, the 26th of May 2024.
He discussed the concept of quality improvement, emphasizing its applicability to various aspects of life, including personal, project, and program improvements. He defined quality as doing the right thing at the right time in the right way to achieve the best possible results and discussed the concept of the "gap" between what we know and what we do, and how this gap represents the areas we need to improve. He explained the scientific approach to quality improvement, which involves systematic performance analysis, testing and learning, and implementing change ideas. He also highlighted the importance of client focus and a team approach to quality improvement.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
Palestine last event orientationfvgnh .pptxRaedMohamed3
An EFL lesson about the current events in Palestine. It is intended to be for intermediate students who wish to increase their listening skills through a short lesson in power point.
The Art Pastor's Guide to Sabbath | Steve ThomasonSteve Thomason
What is the purpose of the Sabbath Law in the Torah. It is interesting to compare how the context of the law shifts from Exodus to Deuteronomy. Who gets to rest, and why?
How to Create Map Views in the Odoo 17 ERPCeline George
The map views are useful for providing a geographical representation of data. They allow users to visualize and analyze the data in a more intuitive manner.
Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology:
Ethnobotany in herbal drug evaluation,
Impact of Ethnobotany in traditional medicine,
New development in herbals,
Bio-prospecting tools for drug discovery,
Role of Ethnopharmacology in drug evaluation,
Reverse Pharmacology.
Why Budgeting Kills Your CompanyHBSWK Pub. Date Aug 1 1, 2.docx
1. Why Budgeting Kills Your Company
HBSWK Pub. Date: Aug '1 1, 2003
Why doesn't the budget process work? Read what experts say
about not only changing your budgeting process,
but whether your company should dispense with budgets
entirely. by Loren Gary
The average billion-dollar company spends as many as 25,000
person-days per year putting together the budget. If this
all paid off in shareholder return, that would be fine. But few
organizations can make that claim. In fact, many firms
now question the ROI of traditional budgeting altogether and
are looking for alternatives that reduce time and better
align spending with strategy.
Look at your own company's budget process: Has it really
helped you do a better job of belt tightening during the
current slowdown? Many companies have reverted to more
centralized command-and-control procedures to keep a
tight rein on costs-but the dynamics of the budgeting proc3ss
ofter rmder.rqine this effort.
"In tough times like these, any signifrcant real cost growth feels
imprudent and is hard to justify for most businesses,"
writes Mike Baxter, a partner in the consulting firm Marakon
Associates (f{ew York City), in a recent company
publication. "Business units have used their budgets as a
bargaining chip, bidding high to get a larger slice of the pie
while keeping their cards close to their chest.
"The CEO has had no choice but to get them back into shape,
2. though he lacks any clear line of sight for identifying and
challenging the least valuable resources," Baxter continues. All
too often, the CEO must opt for across-the-board
cuts-even though he knows that this approach penalizes the
high-performing units and props up the underperforming
ones. The result is a decoupling of the company's resource
allocation process from the highest-value strategic
opporfunities.
The answer, some experts say, is to dispense with budgets
entirely-and
The answer, some experts say, is to replace them with a system
of rolling forecasts and key performance
dispense with budgets entirely. indicators that shifts strategic
decision making to customer-facing edges of
the organization. Others advocate less sweeping but still
significant
changes: Housing the budgeting and strategic planning
functions in one office, establishing top-down goals three to
four years out, and requiring all business units to explore the
budget implications of several strategic alternatives.
The following discussion will help stimulate your thinking
about how your own company's budgeting process can be
transformed from an exasperating exercise in pork barreling and
interdepartmental brinksmanship to a tool for
achieving strategic alignment.
How fi xed-p erfo rmanc e contracts ensure underperformanc e
At its simplist, a company's budget process consists of each unit
producing a sales forecast (assuming it's a profit
center) and a capital needs forecists. "I've seen some annual
budget processes that didn't take any time at all," says
William J. Bruns Jr., Henry R. Byers Professor of Business
Administration, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School and
3. a visiting professor at Northeastern University. After each unit's
sales and capital needs forecasts are complete, "senior
*unug.*.nt holds a three-day meeting to discuss them and then
makes its decisions. Of course, at the other end of the
spectrum, you have these 200-page budget books that get
produced, requiring months of meetings."
In some instances, the budget process consumes up to six
months and20 percent of management's time.
Most companies' approach to budgeting increases the chances
that the process will be arduous, expensive, and
frustrating; says Jeierny Hope, .o*ttroi with Robin Fraser of
Beyond Budgeting: How Managers Can Break Freefrom
h+r^. //hlacurlr hhc cdr r /f nnl c/nrinf ifern .ihf rn I ?i d:? 6) 2,
Rr t:fin qn e e r r /i103
the Annual Performance Trap (Harvard Business School Press,
2003). The culprit is what he calls thefixed-
performance contract "The targets for sales, costs, and key
ratios that are spelled out in the budget become an implicit
contract," he says. A recent Hackett survey found between 60
percent and 90 percent of the top 2,000 global
companies have this sort of contract. "And there are usually
hnancial incentives attached: Career prospects and
bonuses ride on this contract-incentives for hitting the targets
amount to as much as 97 percent of a U.S. manager's
annual salary.
"There's terrific pressure on everyone to make those targets;
hence the distortion, misrepresentation, and gaming that
can happen in even the most ethical companies," Hope
4. continues. "If you're a manager trying to increase spending or
get a eapital project approved, yo,tr put'itt.fuT'5Opercent mote
than you need, knowing you''ll get argued down by
senior management to what you originally wanted."
At the same time, the fixed-performance contract fosters the
fear in managers that if they don't spend what's 1eft over
in their budgets at the end of the year, their funding for the next
year will be reduced. Cost discipline thus takes a back
seat to furf protection. The budget process may help establish a
ceiling on costs, but the intemal politics of the fixed-
performance contract ensure that there is also a cost floor-in
other words, that the cost savings aren't as sizable as
they might be.
As long as budgeting, a vestige of the old command-and-control
approlch to management, remains in place, the newer
tools designed to decentralize strategic decision making wlti
t^er'er bcnrevti their fulIpotential, Hope and Fraser argue.
The solution is not better budgeting "but rather abandoning
budgeting entirely and building an alternative management
model," they write. Among the features of the approach they
recommend, which is currently being used by
organizations in a range of industries and countries, are the
following:
Goals based on longer-term external benchmarks instead of
internally negotiated annual targets. Adopt
benchmark goals based on "industry best-in-class performance
measures or direct competitors," Hope and Fraser write;
and give teams "an extended period of time to reach fl1srn"-two
to three years. Atlanta-based eye-care company
CIBA Vision found that the move to competitor and market
performance benchmarks--chief among them sales
growth, refum on sales, and economic value-added (EVA)
growth-not only helped it shorten and simplify its
5. budgeting process, it also reduced the amount of budget gaming.
Evaluation and rewards based on relative-improvement
contracts. Such contracts involve "a whole team ... setting
and meeting a range of performance benchmarks over a period
of time," write Hope and Fraser. "Performance is then
evaluated by a peer review group (using relative measures) with
the benefit of hindsight." At the Swedish bank
Svenska Handelsbanken, the company's eleven regions compete
like teams in a league, trying to beat one another's
return on equity. Similarly, the 550 branches compete on two
other key performance indicators: Cost to income and
profit per employee. The relative standings are publicized
throughout the company. The uncertainty of this relative-
performance approach drives success. Each manager knows
from the outset "what has to be done to improve his or her
usual performance," Hope and Fraser write. But it is only in
hindsight that they know how well they have performed
relative to the other managers. This leads them to focus on
"maximizing profits at all times rather than playing games
with the numbers" to meet artificial annual targets.
Continuous and inclusive action planning. A five-quarter rolling
forecast
that provides projections for each of the five subsequent
quarters can help
eliminate the distortion caused by having financial incentives to
meet a
fixed target for a single fiscal year. A typical rolling forecast
may have only
a few line items: Orders, sales projections, costs, profitability,
cash flow,
and capital investment. But this information is enough to enable
managers
to focus on long-term issues that are fundamental to the
business's
6. success-for example, why customers are leaving or what's
wrong with a
particular product.
I've seen some annual budget
processes that didn't take any time at
all.
- William
J. Bruns Jr.,
HBS professor emeritus
Resources that are made available as needed, instead of
allocated in advance. Handelsbanken gives its branch
managers the freedom to decide which products to sell and to
set their own prices and discounts. (Branch managers
h rrn. //hh swk. hbs. edu/tool s/ori nt i tem. i htm I ? id:3 623
&t:fi nance rU3t0.
know that whatever decisions they make about prices and
products, their costs must be about 40 percent of income,)
Similarly, each branch manager gets to decide what resources
the unit needs.
To make its central services more responsive to market
demands, Handelsbanken conducts an annual round of
negotiations in which cost estimates and the services
underpinning them are discussed by all involved. Regional and
branch managers can challenge the prices and even choose to go
with outside vendors. Since the early 1990s, branch
managers have had the authority to determine staffing levels
and set staff salaries. At first, senior managers predicted
7. that it would lead to an increase in the number of workers. But
the opposite has occurred; Hope cites this as ewidence
that the further out toward the customer-facing nodes of an
organization you push the profit responsibility, the more
cost-conscious and innovative the employee behavior you get.
Indeed, since Handelsbanken abandoned budgeting in
the early 1970s, it has bested its Scandinavian rivals on return
on equity, total shareholder return, cost-to-income ratio,
and customer satisfaction.
The budget as an agent of strategic alignment
Other experts are not as eager for a complete overhaul.
Harvard's Bruns suggests keeping budgets but restructuring
compensation programs so that managers no longer have an
incentive to favor short-term goals over the longer-term
health of the company, By getting rid of the inflexible approach
to short-term targets, you answer the problern that lies
at the heart of Hope and Fraser's critique of budgeting.
Although Marakon's Baxter also doesn't advocate the whoreral;
-upl-cilr,c.rr of traditional budgeting, he does believe
that changes must be made to reforge the link between a
company's strategic planning and resource allocation.
"Budgeting and performance are typically overseen by the
finance department," he says, "whereas planning is
coordinated by a strategy department. Often, the two processes
aren't well integrated, resulting in strategies that are
often dictated by the budget process instead of vice versa. When
it comes time for senior management to review the
units' investment proposals, their decisions are often blind to
their impact on long-term value.
"Resource allocation should be about putting funds behind the
right high-value opportunities," Baxter continues. He
recommends creating an all-in-one process in which the CEO
8. takes the lead in setting the strategic planning goals for
all units, reviewing altemative strategies with business units,
and linking resources to delivery of the alternatives with
the highest value and best performance characteristics. With
this approach, you're more likely to get not only the level
of performance you're seeking, but also the particular
implementation path that you're after.
Although you want to encourage bottom-up thinking about how
best to achieve the desired performance, you also need
to create some discipline. "Many business unit managers are
overly optimistic about the long-run performance
potential of their strategies, leading them to overinvest in the
near term," says Baxter. Senior management can provide
valuable top-down guidance here by using three- to five-year
strategic plans to define the boundaries of these
discussions and then making sure they're clearly communicated
at the outset of the resource allocation process. Next,
charge each business unit with developing several alternatives
as a way of helping the corporate center understand the
highest-value, highest near-term profit, and lor.vest-cost
options that exist in each unit. This helps create a genuine
dialogue between the corporate center and the units about the
resource and perforrnance tradeoffs involved in choosing
a particular alternative.
When you're clear on your strategic goals and have a process
that integrates strategic planning with resource allocation
and performance management, budgeting can actually work,
Baxter says. It becomep a mechanism for ensuring not
onlythat funds flow first to the strongest opportunities, but also
that those opportunities actually deliver on their
promise. EEI
Reprinted with permission from "Breaking the Budget Impasse,"
9. Harvard Management Update, May 2003.
See the latest issue of Harvard Management Update.
Loren Gary can be reached at [email protected],edu
L*+-. //1"1-c.rrL hhc er{r r /f nn'l c /nri nf i tem i hf-l ?i rl:? 61
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Annual Budgets: Companies Do Them All Wrong - WSJ.com
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Companies Get Budgets All Wrong
The annuol budgeting process leads ta bad decision-ntaking. It
needs a total ouerhtul.
3r, i{[r*iii:T I A. Lif.i?{]l-lAi.l i
Almost all companies prepare a budget, or annual operating
plan. And almost all companies do it wrong.
That shouldn't come as a surprise to managers, many of whom
are
10. highly critical about both the way budgets are prepared and the
way they are subsequently used. The typical budget process,
they
say, mainly serves to distract managers from doing their jobs
and
to discourage them from taking risks. It undermines integrity,
distorts information and leads to bad decision-making from
mailroom to boardroom.
They complain, for instance, about the endless meetings where
managers crunch and discuss numbers that have long since gone
out of date. They compiain that budget targets are almost
universally defined in backrvard-looking financial
terms and as a result don't reflect what successes*or failures*an
organization may currentlybe having.
At the same time, they say the budget processes too often serve
as
opportunities for self-aggrandizement-and enrichment-by
. undeserving andunscrupulous managers. Those who
earnthebest
, ',"' performance ratings are often the most skilled in
negotiating easily
achievable budget targets for themselves. Even more damaging,
many will manipulate numbers in their budget reports to inflate
results and artificialiy achieve short-term targets. And others
11. will
e spend money wastefully so as not to see a reduction in next
year'srF
budget allocation.
Can the problem be solved?
To a large extent it can, if companies can only recognize that
the annual budget process is too inflexible, too
infrequent, and too easy to manipulate, to accomplish alt of the
functions it is expected to-including
strategic planning, resource allocation, evaluating performance
and determining compensation.
Organizations need to blow apart the traditional budgeting
process, become more d5mamic and refocus on crucial
management functions individually' Here's a blueprint for doing
that.
Journal Report
lnsights from The Fxpcfts
Read more at WSJ.comileadershipRepo!'t
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Ai;enating CustsmelS.
lPJhen CFS$ Think Toa Fast.
C*n CFOs Alferd to lgnore Big Sata?
12. nnndng tl* *lldbi+ : :r,r!1. I .' , t lrr .x n',i{ri,, ": : z' i.
ilrrr# 4 [*Yir i'*;!* 9:ti.!!4
1. Start DYnamic Planning
Stop using annual budgets for strategic planning. Many
important
business decisions should be based on a realistic business plan'
But the traditional annual budget quickly becomes obsolete.
Some planning assumptions in such budgets
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0142412788732387390457857 1 8 10482331202.html
7t2412013
Annual Budgets: Companies Do Them All Wrong - WSJ.com
Page 2 of 3
inevitably turn out to be lwong. Managers need to update their
plans whenever something happens to change
their business unit's prospects in a material way. For most
organizations, updating plans annually, or even
quarterly, is not frequent enough. When relevant factors sueh as
interest rates, oil prices or competition
change, business plans have to adapt immediately. Incal line
managers are usually in the best position to
know when their plans have become obsolete. Trust them.
z. Allocate Money Where lt's Needed, Whenlt's Needed
No business unit or department should have to wait until next
year for more resolrrces when an unercpected
and important need arises. That discourages managers from
taking risks or otherwise deviating from the
13. actions proposed when the budget was prepared. After all,
managers who miss their budget targets could lose
theirjobs.
Additional budget allocations should be made whenever they are
requested. Since it isn't feasible for an
appropriations committee to meet constantly to review each
request, senior executives should move to relax
the financial constraints. They should trust managers to make
good decisions, and use minimal oversight
only over large commitments. If per{ormance and incentive
systems are effective, managers will be highly
motivated to make good decisions because they know they will
be held accountable later.
S. Don't Use Budgets to Euoluate Performance
Budgets are notoriously poor evaluation standards. It makes
little sense to judge performance based on target
numbers and assumptions that become quicHy out of date.
What's more, basing pay on budgets that the
managers themselves help create encourages them to
sandbag*that is, lower expectations*to give
themselves a better chance of meeting their goals.
The solution is simple Perforrnance evaluations must be kept
separate from the planning processes.
Managers should be judged based on how their organizations or
business units per{ormed in the actual
conditions faced in the given measurement period. Thus,
compare performance with that of peer
organizations facing the same, or similar, operating conditions.
If no such peers exist, come up with a
standard based on historical performance, adjusted for changes
in economic conditions, size of market,
interest rates, price ofoil and other key factors.
14. 4. Deuise a Richer Set of Performance Metrics
Compensation and other management committees shouldn't rely
soiely on financial results, such as profits
and returns, when measuring the performance of business units
and nunagers. Such measures are backward-
looking and aren't reliable indicators of performance in the
short-run. Companies shor.rld supplement the
financial measures with metrics specificto each organizational
segment, some of which are leading indicators
of coming financial performance. Depending on the company,
these could include attaining significant new
customers, successes in research and development, or
improvements in production, customer satisfaction or
employee morale.
5. Make Bonuses Incremental
Managers often are tempted to manipulate their performance
metrics because of the way they are
compensated. At most companies, budgets define a level of
performance below which no bonuses are paid,
Many also set an upper threshold, above which no additional
bonuses can be earned. Such thresholds
eneourage managers who otherwise would be "out of the
money" to manipulate their unit's results. If
companies aligned bonuses in direct relation to measured
performance, with no thresholds, there would be
less temptation to manipulate results.
***
These five steps will result in a more adaptive and innovative
organization that responds quicHyto new
opportunities and threats; managers who won't be motiyated to
lie about their prospects or manipulate their
numbers; and better decision making because of more up-tc.date
and unbiased infonnation.
15. Yes, the newprocesses maybe just as time-consuming as the old
budgeting system was. But there will be a
big difference: The time spent will no longer be largely wasted.
http://online.wsj.com/arficle/S810001424127887323873904578
57181}482331202.h1m1 7/24/2013
maker of specialty vehicles, the tomers in fresh ways such as
Dudng the lecession, as busi- recession triggered a massive
through social-networking sites.
ness forecasts based on seem- overhaul of strategic planning.
Mr. Ullman says the bri{ge
ingly plausible swings in sales Officials'used.to draft a,one-
year"* plan succeeded, and he cites
smacked up against reality, exec- _. strategic plan and a
&reelyear- Penney's irnproved margins and
utives discovered that strategic Jiaaacial plan-and then review
lack of layoffs. Next month, he'll
planning doesn't always work. each one every'quarter. Chief Ex-
offer fellow directors his views
Some busiless leaders came ecutive John Sztykiel says that
about reviving his 2007 strategic
away convinced that the new relatively inflexible method plan
after he analyzes "whet}er
priority was to be able to shift bears some of the blame for it is
as relevant as it was three
course on the fly. Office Depot Spartan's sharp drop in sales
,years ago."
Inc., for example, began'updat- and gross profit during the fust
Other 'executives have em-
16. ing-.its- annual budget"'every* hine montJrs of 2009. braced
"just-in.timetr-decision: rnonth, starting The Charlotte, Mich.,
manu- . making, a tactic that Lowell
PRACIICE Other companies enough to shifting aeman4 tre
sultants McKinsey & Co., thinks
started to factor says. will spread dwing the.recovery.
rDr,rategrc rlans Lose ravor
Slump Sltowed Bqsses Value of Ftexibtlity, Quick Decisions
Bv Joanrrr s. Lw'N ,l{h / oour., meetings. B
"/
things," he explains, while
AND DANa MArrrou ' | " I For Spartan Motors Inc., a speeding
up efforts to woo cus-
inore"-extreme -scenarios.;.into Last July, lvlr. Sztyhel inaugU-
Prematwe decisions can create
their thinking. A few even set'up rated a tree.yearstrategicalan.-
excessive risks, he says, b,ut iop-
l'situation rooms,". where staff- that*re.-and.his lieutenank up-
portunity costs, are faritaiticr
erS glued to cirmputer screens date.every-monti;ifhe Spartan
when decisions are delayed for
monitored developments affect- CEO has started to see a payoff.
too long. McKinsey itself sogght
ingsalesandfinances. In November, the company ,to capitalize
on the recession-.
Now, even.though the econ- agreed to buy Utilimaster Corp.;
rattled environment with iti Ocr
omy is slowly pickhg up, those a maker of delivery vals an{l
tober 2008 opening of a Center
fresh habits aren't fading. 'lltris , custom chass'rs, for $45
17. millioh: for Managing Uncertainty
downtqr4 has changed the way Mr. Sztykiel is sure the deal .
headed by Mr, Bryan.
we will- think about oi:r business wouldn't have crossed his
radar : ill'ing decision'makfungclgsely*
for manyyears to come," says in time if he had.stuck with'
to'evolvingfacts'helpedamajor
Steve Odlan4. Office oepoi's,'quarterlystrategyreviews. .
U.S.produterof indus$-i4goiids
chaiiman and chief'executive. Martin Reeves, a senior part-'.
avoidswitching gears too sooni
Walt Shill, hehd of the North' , ner at' Boston . Consufting l..,
Batterqd by ijre downturn last
American management consult- Group, believes more busiless
,spring, the MqKinsey client
ing practice for Accenture Ltd., leaders will start to rely less-on
.'(which Mr. Bryan wouldnit
is even more blunt:.r'Stratery;as .static-dve:year-
strategic:ptans.: name) considered do-sing a large
we:4<nr!w'i!.js;'dead,4 he con- .and-more on roggh-
'Iadapti.re".. 'blant- Officials earefiilbf aslegSed
tends. "Cogperate clients idb- strategie-
sthatconsidei"rnqltiple.;,fte pluses and minuses of shgt-
cided that increased'flexibility-;scenaios. Before the fecessi,or
.:tinglit sdoner rather than later,
and'acceleratbtl decisionmaking - and the housing crisis,
appliance
tlutr,
Bryan recalls. ' .' ' ''
are much more impohant thai I maker Wttirtp6ot Corp. con5id-,
I They agreed instead to keep
simply predicting the future." "ered scenarioi based on dSyoln.
the plart open unless orders fell
18. Companies have long planned crease-or-decrease'in.demand" to
a predetermined "trigger
for changing circumstances. Now, Chief Executive Jeff Fettig
point,o he says. The trigger was
rVhat's new-and a switch from has broadened that to consider
never trippe4 so the plant
the distant calendars and rigid swings.as.wideas"l5%:' stayed
ope& and the company
forecasts of the past-is the 'The rate bf drange and width was
ready when orders recov-
heavy dose of opportunism. Of- of volatility is much wider and
ered rapidly tast fall.
fice Depot stuck with its three- faster than what we would have
A big U.S. services-sector
year planning process after the assumed coming into this," Mr.
business hurt by. inadequate
recession hit, largely to make Fettig says. The company real-
strategic planning has decided to
sure employees had a common ized it could no longer count on .
create a situation room modeled
plan to rally aroun4 Mr. Odland 'a reasonable set of assump-
after the oires recently estab-
says. But the CEO decided tgJ-q- tions," he adds, "so we
modeled lished by an Asian electronics
viiw'the-bufuef eV6ri-froiith very significant changes in sce-
concern and a Scandinavian
,ratherthanquarterly'so th6"o:fr narios." , bank, accordilg to Mr.
Bryan.
fice,supply-".thain-could,-,react- J.C. Penney Co. put its long,
This McKinsey client wasn't pre-
faster--ts customersL,needs: term strategy on hold and called
pared last year when a financing
In one review session, man- in a substitute. In April 2007,
window suddenly opened, caus-
19. agers told Mr. Odland that nu- Chief Executive Myron E. 'Mike"
' inC it to pay more to raise bil-
merous cash-strapped consum- Ullman Itr had unveiled an ambi-
Iions of dollars than a faster-
ers no longer wanted to buy tious five-year plan as the Plalo,
moving company would have
pens or printer paper in big Texas-based retailer launched its'
had to, Mr. Bryan says.
packages.- The combany soon biggest expansion ever. But amid
McKinsey, along with several
ireated special displiys promot- tlr,e slowing economy in early
rivals, saw demand for i_ts strat-
ing singl! Sharpie pens and in- 2008, Mr. U[man realized tat t
egy consulting,services fall dw-
troduced five-ream packages of "there's no way you can have all
ing the dovmturn. "But noW we
paper, haif the sizebf the nor- gun barrels bazing]'So he de- are
seeing a huge pickup," Mr.
mal big bundle. Pleased by those vised a tentative "bridge" plan
Bryan says. 'tsusinesses are say-
I itums'- popularity, Mr. Odland that lasted through 2009. 'nVe
ing, 'It's time to thirk about go-
I vows to continue the monthly hit the pause button on a lot of
ing on offense again."' ./