- Kristin Segal
Before this discussion, I can honestly say I’ve never gone around and identified where items around my household were made. It seems like the natural thought process is slightly ignorant of the fact that so many things are made elsewhere. I was amazed that such simple everyday items were not made here! From the hand soaps from target in the restroom, to signs purchased from Hobby Lobby. The vast majority was made in China. The United States is known for its patriotism and loyalty to our country. Proud to be an American! Which flows smoothly into the concept of “Buying American”. In other words, buying products made and sold on U.S soil.
The implications for buying American vs. international are relatively simple. Buying/selling goods elsewhere takes jobs away from our own country’s general population. Generating increased revenue for businesses, maintaining the economy rather than seeing so many unemployed and out of work! President Biden’s executive order “Ensuring the Future is Made in All of America by All of America’s Worker’s” further agrees with buying American! Ensuring government agencies increase buying products manufactured right here in the U.S. (Tannenbaum, et al. 2017).
References
Tannenbaum, C. R., Bangalore, A., &Mital, A. (2017, May 12). What Does It Mean To “Buy American?”. https://www.advisorperspectives.com/commentaries/2017/05/12/what-does-it-mean-to-buy-american
Week 4 Discussion 2 Is it really American made.
- Karl Okonek
Being a big fan of Ford Motor Co I always like to think I’m buying an American made product but when I look into the parts, the process and all the manufacturing that goes into a modern vehicle I feel less confident. Ford has assembly plants and part manufacturing factories all over the world according to Ford corporate. Ford is also partnered with Mazda so some of the plants across the world assemble Ford and Mazda vehicles right next to each other. According to Saur Energy, of the top five semiconductor manufacturers only one is in the US otherwise all other semiconductors are manufactured worldwide. According to NY Times Ford Motor Co also uses a smaller semiconductor manufacturer in the US however even with two possible sources of such a necessary part of a vehicle there is a good chance at least the semiconductor came from overseas. Ford is just one example of a worldwide company based in the US, the name and the roots of the company are American but to be truly American made every part would have to be made in America but this is not the case. America, much like most other developed countries, has exported manufacturing to other countries, these countries have become adept at the tasks and almost irreplaceable.
The ultimate question is then, is Ford an American company? the shortest answer would be, yes, but the real answer would be that it’s more of a worldwide company stationed in the US.
References
Ford Corporate
https://corporate.ford.com/operations/locations/global-plants.html
The Top 5:Biggest Automotive Semiconductor Manufacturers, Junaid Snah Mar 2022
NY Times
- Vanessa Eaton
The first method of communication used by businesses that comes to mind would be email. This would be because every day I have numerous emails from various businesses, alerting me of promotions and things happening within their company. It’s so overwhelming that I have two separate email accounts, one for the subscriptions and “spam”, and another for more important business, like my electric company or veterinarian. It is because of the overload of emails that businesses send that I appreciate when a business can send out SMS or text messages. As mentioned in the article from Business Community, 90% of text messages will be read within three minutes, making it an effective way to reach customers (Blanckenberg, 2020). That same information sent in an email is likely to be lost within the hundreds of other emails a person receives in a week. With that said, I think that text messages should be kept to a limited basis and for things that need closer attention. If a business were to send me weekly texts about promotions, they would quickly become as irrelevant to me as spam emails. However, if they reserved the text feature for outages or service reminders, I would appreciate receiving that information in a more urgent format than an email. I believe this applies to professional communication in the workplace as well. If an email can suffice, or if the topic is longer than a short message, then email is going to be the most professional way. My views of texting align with the tip found in the Business Communication for Success textbook, “Contacting someone too frequently can border on harassment. Texting is a tool. Use it when appropriate but don’t abuse it.” Text messages relay a sense of urgency and should be left for close contacts and important, urgent matters, otherwise I believe that emailing is more professional and respectful of that person’s time.
A few things that I find to be unprofessional in an email are typos and abbreviations. I believe that when sending an email, you should take the time to present it as if you were approaching a colleague in person. Just as you would dress yourself professionally for work, you should present yourself in the same manner when communicating through email. Typos and abbreviations show me that it was not thought through or proofread, and instead was a quick, unfinished thought. In my opinion, it undermines a person’s credibility and the importance of the message.
Blanckenberg, N. (2020, November 12). 90% Open Rate? It’s Time to Invest in an Ecommerce SMS Marketing Strategy. Business Community. https://www.business2community.com/ecommerce/90-open-rate-its-time-to-invest-in-an-ecommerce-sms-marketing-strategy-02361926
Business Communication for Success. (2010). Chapter 9.1. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. https://open.lib.umn.edu/businesscommunication/chapter/9-1-text-e-mail-and-netiquette/
- Travis Hatfield
Hi class,
Understanding that email is how most businesses get their news and announcements to their consumers, having to manage 9999+ emails can be annoying. Recently I was looking at Zillow for a new place to move to and since I have stopped looking, I continue to get a weekly market update for all 32 zip codes that I was looking at. Each individual zip code has to be unsubscribed individually to stop receiving those emails. As I am writing this, I am going to Zillow.com and changing the notification settings, which I should have done before. Often when signing up for things you have to opt into receiving a newsletter which I never subscribe to. Not all companies separate promotional emails from important emails either, so when you opt-in, you get both. I want to receive emails from the company only pertaining to important updates regarding my service or product.
Selling my personal email address is extremely unprofessional in my opinion. I know it’s done without my permission but is also legal and there is not much I can do about it other than keep my email folders well organized. Not separating promotional emails from important emails is unprofessional as well.
I definitely agree they should be used in business as they are a strong tool to be used to communicate information without being overly intrusive. But as I stated in the first paragraph, managing what information is conveyed can be difficult.
11 Pros and Cons of Email for Business Communication. (2022, September 13). Indeed. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/email-business-communication
