Kaplan MT460 unit 1 Discussion Topic: You the Consumer How does competition amongst companies affect you in your daily life (personal and or professional)? Provide a real-world experience that might apply. For instance consider how you recently chose between at least two products or services offered from rival companies. What factors made you decide to purchase one over the other? How do these companies compete? Please respond to this topic in the Discussion Board link in the left navigation. Be sure to review the Discussion Rubric in the Syllabus. Kaplan MT460 unit 2 Discussion Topic: BB&T Vision and Mission Statements In preparation for your Discussion topic please read Chapter 2 Appendix BB&T Vision Mission and Purpose in the Pearce and Robinson text. Post your answer in the Discussion Board along with your source citation in APA format. BB&T Vision Mission and Purpose statement is considered an exemplary Mission Statement. Please read it comment on the positives and negatives of this statement and defend your answer through APA citation. Take time to review the responses of your classmates and provide feedback to them. Kaplan MT460 unit 3 Discussion Topic: VCA RBV and SWOT Analyses Discuss how you can use VCA RBV and SWOT analyses to gain a stronger sense of what might be a firm’s key building blocks are for a successful strategy. Choose a Fortune 1000 company to demonstrate these aforementioned analyses. Please remember to use APA citation (text and list references) to further validate your initial responses. Take time to review the responses of your classmates and provide your feedback. Kaplan MT460 unit 4 Discussion Topic: Porter’s Five Force Analysis Choose an industry in which you would like to compete globally. Use the Five-Force method of analysis to explain why you find that industry attractive for business. Please remember to use APA citation (text and list references) to further validate your initial responses. Take time to review the responses of your classmates and provide your feedback. Kaplan MT460 unit 5 Discussion Topic: Business Level Strategy Visit the websites of two luxury car makers: · Lincoln athttp://lincoln.com · BMW athttp://www.bmwusa.com These two automotive giants compete in the same strategic group. Browse each website and search for each company’s business-level strategy. How are the luxury car competitors’ strategies similar? In what manner are they different? Which company has the competitive advantage and why? Kaplan MT460 unit 6 Discussion Topic: Team Exercise About Outsourcing Why have outsourcing initiatives become a key element in shaping functional tactics for today’s global companies? As a team choose a Fortune 1 000 company that has adopted the use of outsourcing and has done so successfully. Work with your assigned teammates in the Team Discussion Area to create a collaborative post in this Discussion Board addressing the outsourcing question per your team’s company of choice. Support your finding through proper citation. Take time to review the responses of your classmates’ team and provide your feedback. Cite your sources in APA format and style. Once your team has fully addressed the topic please post your team response to the General Discussion. Only one team member please to post. Please note you will be broken up into teams for this Discussion and only your team members will be able to see and participate in the Discussion. In this team Discussion on outsourcing initiatives you will engage in developing the following professional competency: · Working effectively in teams to meet project deadlines Kaplan MT460 unit 7 Discussion Topic: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Future Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an “idea that business has [as] a duty to serve in general as well as the financial interest of stockholders” (Pearce & Robinson 2013 p. 57). Do you believe society’s expectations for CSR will change in the next decade (p. 85)? Please explain. Kaplan MT460 unit 8 Discussion Topic: The Importance of Strategic Controls Retail companies like Walmart are heavy users of strategic control systems. Think about how it utilizes RFID technology to track products from inventory to the market shelves. Discuss how Walmart relies upon strategic surveillance special alert control and implementation control. What improvements might you suggest to the company’s COO relative to strategic control and why? Kaplan MT460 unit 9 Discussion Topic: Policies and Organizational Culture In preparation for this week’s Discussion your ethical principles will be tested with a short case study where Duke’s Fuqua School of Business was under scrutiny in the manner it addressed the ten percent of MBA Program learners of cheating on a take home test. Another college from New Jersey had a similar incident with its Chinese-based MBA Program learners for plagiarism. Read the Test Your Principles Exhibit 12.3 page 361 article in your text and respond to the following questions: 1. If you were asked to serve as an Ethics Review Arbitrator what decision would you have rendered in support of the Duke University MBA Program learners’ issue? The Centenary College Chinese MBA Program? 2. In support of your ruling as Ethics Review Arbitrator explain your key reasons for your decision. Spend some time to review the responses of your fellow learners and provide feedback and challenge them. Cite your sources in APA format. Kaplan MT460 unit 10 Discussion Topic: Corporate Entrepreneurship Please refer to Exhibit 14.7 Who Is The Entrepreneur? In your text the top right-hand quadrant defines an entrepreneur as being one who has high creativity and innovativeness but not necessarily high management skills and business know-how (Pearce & Robinson 2013 p. 414). · What is intrapreneurship and how is it best enabled? Spend some time to review the responses of your fellow learners and provide feedback and challenge them. Cite your sources in APA format.
