Toshiba Essays (Examples)

Toshiba Networking Case Study

Toshiba: How Personal Networking Can Be Used to Avoid High-Turnover

Electronics giant Toshiba Corp.'s American business unit is facing a class-action lawsuit over how it pays and promotes women. (6), (7)

ecently, the law firm Sanford Wittels & Heisler brought a $100 million gender discrimination lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan on behalf of a potential class of 8,000 women working for Toshiba in the U.S. Ibid.

Sanford Wittels earlier represented the class of litigants in a long-standing case against Novartis's U.S. unit by women in its sales force. The lawsuit settled for $175 million in July, 2010, following a $253 million jury verdict. Supra.

The lawsuit alleges that Toshiba America Inc. with regularity regularly fails to pay women equal salaries and bonuses, intentional segregates women into lower pay-grade positions and shows favoritism to men for promotion. Elaine Cyhers, a human resources manager in the Toshiba's…

Once this takes place, it could mean that Toshiba may have a parts shortage (which is having an adverse effect on productivity). To address this issue, the line should be redesigned to ensure each station has its own extra supply of parts. This will help to prevent possible supply disruptions and can maintain the 300 units per day target. Where, the strategy will allow the line, to continuously function, without having any kind of slowdowns or disruptions. Once this takes place, it will increase productivity and maintain the current labor cost structure.

The efficiency of this new design is that it will eliminate the wasted amounts of time during the work week, by ensuring that there is no reason for the line to slowdown. The constant monitoring for employee exhaustion / productivity addresses the human factors of the production line. While the parts shortage will ensure that the there will…

Organizational Structure

According to Pugh (1990), the organizational structure is an instrument that appears from the need to fulfill the organizational aims and objectives with the tools and activities that are available. Following the way that this process is managed, several types of organizational structures can be identified, including pre-bureaucratic structures, bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic structures, functional structures, divisional structures and matrix structures.

Westinghouse organizational structure falls into several different categories. On one hand, it is a bureaucratic structure. Among the characteristics of such an organization, Weber (1948) identifies several: "precision, speed, unambiguity, & #8230; strict subordination, reduction of friction and of material and personal costs- these are raised to the optimum point in the strictly bureaucratic administration."

The bureaucratic nature of the organizational structure at Westinghouse is motivated by at least two aspects: (1) the nature of the industry in which Westinghouse operates: the nuclear industry, highly regulated, which implies…

Bluray Player

The Blu-Ray player is a media player that is produced and marketed by the Sony Corporation. It was first introduced in Japan in 2000. Over the course of the next several years, the Blu-Ray entered into competition with the DVD, in particular the HD DVD that was championed by rival Toshiba. In early 2008, Toshiba announced that it was going to discontinue the HD DVD, effectively ceding the market for movie playing formats to Sony (Toshiba, 2008). The two products were competing as digital video formats for playing movies and television shows in particular. The result of this move is that the Blu-Ray was expected to be the dominant format for this service offering. That has not come to pass, and this paper will seek to explain why, from a marketing perspective.

Historical Context

There is a brief note to be made about the historical context. Sony engaged…

computers for the organization. All three are high-end ultra-slim laptops for the sales force. These are compared according to a number of key variables -- weight, size, performance, memory, communications, power, software, operating system and price. The three models are the MacBook Air, the Toshiba Portege R830 and the Samsung Series 9. A recommendation is made at the end of the paper.

This essay will compare three different computer models for the organization to meet its needs. It is assumed that the computer chosen will have a high need for portability and performance, so the focus is going to be on three high-end lightweight laptops. They are the MacBook Air, the Toshiba Portege R830 and the Samsung Series 9. They will be evaluated on a number of different metrics and considerations.

eight and Size

Each of the three computers has a 13.3" widescreen display. The material that is used is…

All products have to be returned in the original packaging and be in the same condition that they were in when the customer got them. The return may be rejected, or costs deducted for missing parts, non-original packaging, abuse, misuse or user negligence (Toshiba Laptops, 2010).

If I were to buy this computer and wish to return it not only would I be responsible for the shipping costs to send it back there is a chance that it would be rejected by the company. As long as the product is returned in the original packaging and in the same condition as I received it then I would be given a full refund minus any shipping costs that I had originally paid. This is basically saying that if I were to receive the computer in good working condition and would then decide that I did not like it or want it…

The approach Sony continues to take is one of concentrating on continual process improvement to become more agile and resilient in the face of environmental factors (Olenick, 2010) while at the same time seeking to comply with national requirements for sustainability and green initiatives including supply chain compliance (Svensson, 2009).

Legal Factors -- Sony has a culture that embraces learning as a virtue, and continually strives to gain insights from the experiences of other Japanese companies and their legal and regulatory lessons learned. The case mentioned earlier of Toshiba Machinery Company and their sales of unauthorized milling machines to the ussians decades ago still is a foundational element of Japanese ethical training for managers (Ohishi, Naoto, 1993). As the United States and other western nations have continually seen the level of compliance and reporting escalate up through government edict, Sony has continually had to increase its focus on contract management…

For IBM, it took Louis Gerstner getting angry about unfulfilled opportunities for new businesses to create the EBO structure. For Nokia, the similarities with IBM are at a very high structural level, yet Nokia relies on a completely different set of processes for fostering innovation and corporate entrepreneurship. The rapidly changing world of laptop computers needed a corporate nonconformist to accomplish what carefully defined processes in Toshiba could not. In the case of Trilogy the need for creating a steady stream of significant new innovation forced the creation of a proving ground where PhDs in software and mathematics could quickly define entirely new product and business concepts.

eferences

Abetti, P (2004) - Informal corporate entrepreneurship: implications from the failure of the Concorde alloy foundry and the success of the Toshiba laptop;. J. Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Vol. 4, No. 6, 2004, pp. 529-545

Arthur D. Little (2002) - Developments in…

This conclusion is based on the high degree of commonality of its components, the length of time it has been in the market and potential for very low TCO over the life of the laptop,

eferences

Venkatesha Babu. (2007, April). "Lenovo Is At A Tipping Point." Business Today,96. etrieved April 10, 2009, from ABI/INFOM Global database. (Document ID: 1267755651).

Britt, P. (2009, April). Securing the Mobile Landscape. Information Today, 26(4), 1-11. etrieved April 12, 2009, from Business Source Premier database.

Cisco Cheng. (2006, August). Ultraportable Notebooks; Whether you're flying first-class around the country or backpacking through rush hour, you want a laptop that's petite and portable, yet powerful and feature-rich. PC Magazine, 25(13), Fl05. etrieved April 10, 2009, from ABI/INFOM Trade & Industry database. (Document ID: 1105509881).

Steven Cherry. (2008). Wi-Fi Takes On Bluetooth. IEEE Spectrum, 45(8), 14. etrieved April 11, 2009, from ABI/INFOM Global database. (Document ID: 1537186951).

Gladstone,…

This RIS includes Toshiba digital desktop telephones, plus 24 SpectraLink wireless telephones; these wireless phones were programmed to extend the features and capabilities of the users' desktop telephones to anywhere they roam at the 22-bed hospital; however, other wireless technologies such as cellular, could not be used due to the interference with sensitive medical equipment (Just the right prescription 24). The hospital's chief operating officer, Darryl Thornton, reported, "Being able to be mobile, yet still receive all our telephone calls, has greatly improved our efficiency and productivity. Toshiba's SpectraLink solution was the only one we found that would extend our desktop telephones to the palms of our hands" (Just the right prescription 24). The RIS also accommodated the needs of the hospital's remote users: "The system is so flexible that we were able to connect our remote users and still have it look like they are located at our corporate…

Blu-ay Technology

"It [technology] has surely reduced the world to a global village, greatly reducing distances between people and nations" (How Does Technology . . ., 2009, ¶ 1).

Blu-ray

During June 2006, even though only total of 24 Blu-ray movies were available at that time, stores advertised and sold the first Blu-ray DVD player, Samsung's BD-P1000, for $1,000. In the article, "Blu-ay or HD-DVD? A format battle rages for supremacy over the new generation of high-definition DVD Players," Johnson (2006) explains that "Blu-ray was jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association, a group of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer, and media manufacturers" (Johnson, 2006, p. 82). Its future, albeit, as well as the future of HD DVD, the contemporary contender for next generation digital video players appeared unclear, Consequently, electronics manufacturers waged fierce battles in their war to determine whether the Blu-ray or HD-DVD format would the…

Buyer Power:

etailers are the primary tier of buyers in the television segment of the global consumer electronics market. There are a variety of retailing channels used in this industry. The primary channel of distribution is through electronics retailers, like Best Buy, which comprises 65% of the total market value. Hyper and supermarkets, such as WalMart and Target, make up only 14.4% of the market. Sales via department stores, like Sears, only contributes 3.7% of the market's value. Although they typically don't sell televisions, music, video, books, and stationery retailers do contribute 3.1% of sales for the overall consumer electronics market. Lastly, a variety of other retailers make up 13.8% of the sales in this industry ("Global consumer," 2010) (See Figure 3).

The primary manufacturers in this market segment, like Sony, are often highly valued by retailers, as they provide branded products that retailers' buyers, the end consumers, have come…

Undoubtedly, the main beneficiary of such fierce competition is the customer who will be able to choose among several reliable products (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/iPod).

Thirdly, iPod has proved to be an excellent consumer-oriented item as it has made available revolutionary features (like modern design, lighter weight, high capacity) to the masses due to the average price established. Thus, in return for a moderate sum of money, people can take with them their favorite songs.

Fourthly, iPod has had a considerable social impact as it has succeeded in warming up human relationships. Steven Levy (2006) suggested that: "Music hits people's emotions and the purchase of something that opens up one's entire music collection...makes for an intense relationship." This idea was also reiterated by professor Katch from the University of Michigan who said that when students saw him with his iPod, "a sort of bounding" occurred (Levy, 2006).

Consequently, the generation gap is overcome…

This helps to provide a higher level of value to charitable organizations and encourages volunteerism on an ongoing basis. But One Dell: One Community is more than just volunteering.

Dell have been introduce some special edition laptop in Malaysia like studio 14 and 15 which comes with some artistic style designed by Mike Ming, Derek Welch, Andrea Rosenberger and (PRODUCT) RED. All this laptop offers 10+ original designs for customers to choose from. It is an extension of one's personality which include restrained, expressive, wild and sublime. Furthermore, when customers buy the (PRODUCT) RED laptop, part of the proceeds will go to the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa.

Competitors

The Dell Company faces major competition from other companies, this include Apple, Sun Microsystems, Gateway, Sony, Asus, Toshiba and Hewlett Packard which is also mentioned to as HP. All of these companies are its competitors but HP is…

In its Pavilion dm1-3101ea laptop, Hp has used the latest technology to make this product the most innovative, fastest, and the most liked electronic gadget in the market (Dixons 2011). To stay competitive, HP has to keep on introducing the latest models of its Pavilion laptops so that no other competitor can snatch its market share.

Social factors:

Social factors such as education, income levels, preferences, and other cultural factors influence demand patterns in the different regions and therefore affect how a company operates in different regions. The education and income level of consumers affect the perception of brand of different laptop manufacturers (Oliver 1999). The prices of laptop must be ascertained considering the income levels and other social factors affecting the purchase decisions of the consumers. HP has to keep in mind all these factors in order to attract the most potential customers from the target market (Farley 1964).…

Channel signaling systems are communications systems that are used for controlling, accounting for, and managing traffic during communication. Generally, signals are transmitted between controllers either over the talking route or over different data networks. One of the most commonly used paths is telecommunications networks that provide various methods of developing and bringing down circuit links like signaling. Signals can be classified into four major functions i.e. supervising, alerting, call progress tones, and addressing. Supervising function entails monitoring the status of a path or circuit to decide whether it is idle, busy, or requesting service. Alerting provides indications of incoming call whereas call progress tones notify users of the status of the call setup process. On the other hand, addressing refers to the procedure of transmitting path and purpose signals across the network like tone pulses ("Signaling Systems," n.d.).

Channel Signaling Systems in Voice Communication:

As previously mentioned, signaling systems are…

Sony: A case study

Change is constant in the technology industry and in contrast to some other product categories, there is relatively little consumer loyalty when the next new thing is looming on the horizon. Although the Sony Corporation had distinguished itself in the past, its fortunes were flagging in the early 21st century. Critical to its lack of development was the absence of cohesion: different divisions were more interested in preserving their territory than advancing the interests of the organization (Jones, 2007, p. 118). Operating costs were nearly double as a result of organizational inefficiencies. The new CEO Howard Stringer worked to downsize the organization, eliminating divisional leaders whom he perceived did not have the organization's interest at heart. Stringer had a difficult task because he was attempting to streamline the organization's bureaucracy and managers were inevitably protective about their jobs and power.

As the company continued to flounder,…

For second-tier PC manufacturers this is the phase of the product lifecycle where pricing becomes the competitive weapon of choice, and in many cases, the other aspects of the marketing mix are ignored. Pricing as the only differentiator used during this phase often impacts the largest, most capital-intensive vendors the greatest. Prior to their acquisition by HP, Compaq was well-known for having one of the highest cost structures in the industry, which inevitably lead Compaq to offer price protection on inventories that are obsoleted due to lack of sales through distribution channels (Lee, Padmanabhan, Taylor, and Whang 2000).

The next phase of the product lifecycle is typically called the maturity phase. For products that have been successfully launched and nurtured through their lifecycles, this is the phase where sales are at their peak, the cost per customer is low, and as costs of the products' development have been covered in…

S. And throughout Europe, Panasonic painstakingly interviewed each American photography store dealer and distributor they could. This resulted in the SL series of cameras they pioneered and eventually dominated the market with (Johansson, Nonaka, 1987). Panasonic had transformed their customer listening systems into a new product development platform with the ability to transform an entire market. They successfully penetrated the U.S. market and took huge amounts of sales from Kodak as a result (Johansson, Nonaka, 1987).

A third example is the continued development of the netbook and tablet PC. Lenovo purchased IBM's PC business in 2005 and quickly re-vamped the entire product line to be more aligned to the needs of the Asian market (Millson, Wilemon, 2009). The result has been continued market share growth and the launch of a state-of-the-art tablet PC that rivals the iPad, using an Intel-based processor however running Windows operating system internals. This was all…

Organizational Case Analysis

Organization Overview

Apple Inc. is a multinational companies specializing in the designing, manufacturing and marketing of mobile communication devices such as personal computers and digital music players. The company also sells varieties of mobile telecommunication devices such as iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac. Additionally, Apple Inc. sells some professional software application such as Mac OS, iOS, iCloud and other varieties of communication accessories. Apple Inc. sells its products through retail stores, online stores, value-added resellers, direct sales, wholesalers, and through third party cellular network carriers. (Apple Annual eport, 2011). Apple Inc. was Incorporated in 1977 in California, and presently Apple Inc. has become one of the most successful companies in the United States and globally. Apple Inc. is committed to bring best computer experience to its customers, and the company business strategy is to develop high quality products to reach more customers. Major customers of Apple Inc.…

BluetoothTM is a low cost, low power, short-range radio technology- originally perceived as cable replacement alternative for the cable / wire connected devices such as mobile phone hand, headsets, and portable computers. The BluetoothTM's goals expanded to include standardized wireless communications between any electrical devices and created a notion of Personal Area Network. The write-up traces history of BluetoothTM starting with its unusual name to formation of Special Interest Group, SIG's formation, its growth culminating into implementation of version 1.0b.

Version 1.0 of the Bluetooth came out in 1999-starting as early as 1994 by engineers from Ericsson. The specification is named after Harald Blatand- a tenth century Viking. Ericsson Corp. founded the Bluetooth SIG in February 1998, Intel Corp., IBM Corp., Toshiba Corp., and Nokia Mobile Phones. In December 1999, core promoters group enlarged to include four major players, namely, Micorsoft, Lucent, 3 Com and Motorola.

Then, the components of…

Dell Computer Future Market Condition: Outlook & Analysis

Market structure

At present, the current structure of the PC market is a market structure closer to one of perfect competition, with a very buyer rather than seller friendly focus. Many buyers and sellers and a high level of price volatility characterize the PC industry. However, no market is a textbook definition of any market structure. Although there are many products in the PC industry, they are not all exactly similar in nature and with many substitutes, and there are higher barriers to industry entry than in other competitive market structures -- thus this state of perfect competition is somewhat limited. (Investopedia, 2005) But overall, Forbes Magazine has said the PC market growth will moderate in 2005 due to a lack of significant new product introductions in a too-competitive marketplace. ("Market Share," 2005)

Impact of New Competitors

No new competitor has quite…

biggest factor that a college student or a business executive should consider when shopping for a microcomputer is what that computer will be used for. For example, if the computer is going to be used primarily for data storage, then the hard drive is the most important component of the computer. However, if the computer will be used for internet research, then the CPU is the most important component. Another factor to take into consideration are how long the user will be sitting in front of the computer at each usage. If the user will be spending long hours staring at the monitor, an anti-glare LCD monitor would help prevent eye strain. Other questions to ask include: "Will the user need a laptop or a desktop?" "Does the user want a cordless mouse and keyboard?," and of course there is the question of the operating system - is the user…

Director's equirements: Laptop -- Tablet Computer

ecommended Computer

Manufacturer

Model

Weight

Dimensions

Laptop tablet

Lenovo Inc.

Yoga 3 Pro-Orange

kg max

330 x 228 x 12.8 mm

Hardware Components

Devices

Model

Supplier

User equirements Met

Input devices

Mouse

Webcam

Presentation pointer

Dual mode WL Touch Mouse N700 (Orange)

Integrated 720p HD camera, 30 FPS

Logitech professional presenter 800

Logitech

Lenovo

Logitech

Sculpted right-handed shape and unique thumb controls, allowing for rapid web-browsing; effective zooming, creation and transfer, editing of files and emails, file-conversion to various formats at the touch of a button; rapid-fire scrolling of long databases and bulky files

Creating video and photo files

Facilitating video-conferencing

Delivery of presentations for staff as well as director during lectures

Output Devices

Printer

Sound output

Epson XP-310 Wireless color printer

Integrated JBL stereo speakers

Epson

JBL

Multiple toner cartridges allowing the printing of high-quality color files and photos

Creation of high-quality audio…

("HP") These different elements are important, because they are showing the overall financial strength of HP. Yet, they are also illustrating how they face tremendous amounts of competition in the industry. Part of the reason for this is because, of shifts in demand and the ability of new rivals to quickly enter the field. As a result, the company must be able to capitalize upon these changes, in order to maintain their domination.

Framework for Strategic Analysis

In the case of HP, there are a number of different issues that must be analyzed to determine the overall strengths of the company (strategically speaking). This involves, examining various elements to include: the nature of the product / service, the degree of integration within the value chain, the degree of geographical and industry diversification. These different elements are important, because they will tell you how quickly the company is adapting to the…

It initially failed to attract the desired audience, but it is believed that the recent innovations of the re-launched tablet PC would ensure its success (Search Mobile Computing, 2010).

While Apple stated that they were the first creators of tablet computers, Microsoft comes to argue the same. Thorn Holwerda (2010) however states that neither of the two it monoliths were the creator of tablet PC. "Well, no. They're both wrong. oth Microsoft and Apple were late to the game when it comes to tablet computing, and so far, neither of the two companies have been able to popularize the paradigm in any meaningful way - but boy, did they try" (Holwerda, 2010).

In understanding the history of the tablet computer, it is first necessary to differentiate between the concept of the tablet computer and the resulting final product. The concept of the tablet computer was introduced by Alan Kay and…

Corporate Level Strategy

Corporate level strategy is the decisions made at the corporate level that can affect the operations of the entire company. Typically, decisions related to the selection of new businesses, mergers, business environment and competition are corporate level strategies. These strategies will have a reach across the entire company. The aim is to improve the overall profitability of the company and tap any possible future niche besides tackling competition. Creating a competitive advantage is also a part of corporate level strategy.

Its working and implementation has been explained by Watson and Wooldridge (2005; p.1) as, Corporate level strategy "allows the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the "corporate office" to set corporate strategy, while delegating more detailed matters to the managers of business-specific subunits. It might thus appear that, although these business unit managers may be formulators of business strategy, they are implementers of corporate strategy."

Sony implemented a…

There is a risk, however, that the company begins to lag the pace of technological change, and in such a situation would see reduced relevance in its industries. hat the PEST analysis shows is that in general the external environmental forces have either a favorable or neutral impact on Apple's operations. Traditional sources of external risk (political/legal) are minimal and the other key risk source (technological change) has traditionally been an area of strength for Apple. The trends for the future are positive, so Apple is likely to continue to succeed simply by staying the course.

In the external environment, a firm like Apple has innumerable opportunities. The ones most appealing are closely related to either Apple's technology or media properties. Extensions of Apple TV to compete with Netflix could be an opportunity. Video game consoles are a related business where Apple can succeed, just as rival Microsoft has. There…

For the parent company, the potential market is significant; Body Scanner should be test-marketed with one or two key partners prior to full scale release. It is expected that Body Scanner will be in full launch in time for the holiday shopping season.

Ethical Implications

There are two major types of ethical implications that can arise from Body Scanner software. The first is that consumers are going to have three-dimensional images of themselves loaded onto the Internet. Thus, security concerns are paramount as these images may be considered sensitive, especially if consumers are partially undressed for the pictures. It is necessary that Body Scanner protect its consumers and their images using all available measures. This is especially true it dealing with partners, since those images may need to be made available to the partners (or not, depending on how the system is designed). There are also security issues associated with…

The company can no longer look to its production model as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Although it can still provide competitive advantage, evidence over the past few years indicates that any such advantages will be temporary. Production cost control is only a core competency, therefore, not a source of sustainable competitive advantage. The company's brand is a source of sustainable competitive advantage as the Dell name has opened doors into other product lines, some of which have been successful for Dell. The company name, however, is no stronger than that of Hewlett-Packard or Apple, two of its main competitors, and is arguably weaker than either two. Thus, while the brand value of Dell is more easily sustained it is not necessarily a source of competitive advantage.

This leaves Dell in a challenging position. It has built its market share on its ability to deliver the lowest-cost computers and…

"Bricks-and-mortar" vs. "clicks-and-mortar": An equilibrium analysis. " European Journal of Operational esearch 187.3 (2008): 671.

Bala Chakravarthy, Peter Lorange. "Continuous renewal, and how Best Buy did it. " Strategy & Leadership 35.6 (2007): 4-11.

Elizabeth Gibson, Andy Billings. "Best practices at Best Buy: a turnaround strategy " The Journal of Business Strategy 24.6 (2003): 10-16.

Erik Gruenwedel. "Best Buy Q4 Sales Grow, Profit Dips. " Home Media Magazine 30 Mar. 2009: 3.

James B. Kohnen "Big Change at Best Buy: Working Through Hypergrowth to Sustained Excellence." The Quality Management Journal 11.3 (2004): 69.

Bill Stopper. "Best Buy: Customer-Centric Innovation" H. Human esource Planning 29.3 (2006): 34-36

Greg Todd. "etailers Using Analytics are Outperforming ivals. " DM eview 18.6 (2008): 35.

Appendix

Table 1: Best Buy Income Statement Analysis

(2005 -- 2009)

2/28/2009

3/1/2008

3/3/2007

2/25/2006

2/26/2005

evenue

$45,015,000

$40,023,000

$35,934,000

$30,848,000

$27,433,000

Cost of goods sold

$34,017,000

$30,477,000

$27,165,000

$23,122,000…

In an earlier article, Michael Caton (2004), also mentions the standardization issue.

In order for RFID technology to be a viable replacement for the currently used bar code system, standardization is vital. EPCgloble Inc. provides the standards of universal product code information in both bar codes and RFID chips. According to Caton, this company will then also work towards establishing standards for the standardization of RFID use in terms of a variety of applications in the supply chain. This will simplify the interaction between shipping companies, as well as the way in which goods are stored and shipped within each company.

The company also addresses privacy concerns by dictating how RFID data can be erased. Erasing this data is however the retailer's responsibility. Mainly, concerns are that retailers may not take the responsibility of erasing individual item data after these are purchased by customers. This concern is legitimate and will…

The IBM logo could only be used on IBM Think-family products. For any type of advertising, the IBM logo could only be shown on the product within the ad, not as a separate logo in the ad. The use of the IBM logo on the Think-family products would change over time. In return, Lenovo promised not to compete with IBM's services and consulting groups. IBM would continue to provide global support for the computers for five years. Finally, Lenovo also had access to IBM's 30,000-member enterprise sales team and ongoing support from partner and channel management programs.

Acquisition of the IBM PC business allowed Lenovo to move quickly into the international marketplace: the expanded firm claimed customers and businesses in 138 countries. The way IBM and Lenovo sold PCs was very complementary. In China, 70% of sales were transactional (made through business partners) and 30% by relationship (through consulting). Globally,…

The industry has a heavy exposure to the consumer electronics and cellular technologies, as these areas are already dominated by contract manufacturers who are looking to bring MP3 capabilities to these devices, especially cellular phones. All companies in this industry including Apple has seen some cannibalization of its products in recent times, as sales of some of its newly released products have an affect on sales of some of its more established MP3 products. Pervasively impacting Apple and its product positioning is the supply of raw materials continues to influence future product designs and production strategies, and is a potentially significant weakness if there is a disruption to memory or electronics. The fact that every music player on average generates $250 in incremental sales revenue of music is what sustains the entire industry today. There are signs however that this is reaching a saturation point, according to Credit Suisse, 2006.…

2007).

While the above refers to some essential aspects of company growth, there are many other areas that could be improved. The following is a summary of some of the areas that could be enhanced and adjusted to increase viability and consumer perception of the company.

Financial streamlining in the business and service area is an important aspect that has been recognized by Dell and which is in need of improvement.

Customer Service. As has been noted in many studies customer services are an area that has been singled out as not being up to standard in Dell. As one article states; "Consumer eports rates Dell's customer service below that of every other company it examined, a group that includes Apple, Sony, Gateway and Hewlett-Packard" (Smith a. And Godinez V. 2007). There are already plans by the company to launch a major customer initiative. According to reports, Dell will, "...spend…

he function of marketing communications is also the integral part of any new product introduction process in a company as well. In fact, oshiba America, known for their laptop computers, has the product launch and introduction managed as a project inside marketing communications to provide for greater coordination and synchronizing with other departments. Marketing communications acts in many companies as the activity hub for all strategies, as this department is often serving the sales force, product management, product marketing, service, finance, and very often the executive managers who are the spokespeople for strategies and products.

Societal functions of Public Relations

In a sense government agencies and their constituents, the citizens of a given region or nation, are "customers" of the services of the societal institutions and governments. he only difference is of course that to shop between governments is to have to move, while consumers can choose between organizations by…

S. jobs, or approx. 25% of its employees, overseas by end of 2004. The plan is to ultimately move EVERY job that supports an internal account. I also hear they are behind schedule at the moment.

Certainly, this is a very significant proportion of the computer giant's American workforce. Yet, IBM's management justifies such drastic demographic changes by appealing to the humanitarian side of the globalization debate.

It's not about one shore or another shore," an I.B.M. spokeswoman, Kendra R. Collins, said. "It's about investing around the world, including the United States, to build capability and deliver value as defined by our customers.

And to further emphasize their socially-redeeming values,

Executives at I.B.M. And many other companies argue that creating more jobs in lower cost locations overseas keeps their industries competitive, holds costs down for American consumers, helps to develop poorer nations while supporting overall employment in the United States…

It is noteworthy that most recently the government started soliciting opinions from legal academies, interested groups and the general public when drafting a major piece of legislation, to achieve democratic lawmaking and advance further compliance with the law (Lo, V.I., 2007).

The most important economic event at this stage or in the years following the 1978 economic reform in China is undoubtedly its accession to WTO at the end of 2001. Following 15 years of numerous negotiations and adjustments of policies, China eventually entered the mainstream world economy and started enjoying the benefits and facing the challenges of WTO.

In response to WTO requirements, China underwent a "make-over" in many aspects. A brief summary of China's WTO promises is shown in Figure 9A. According to the WTO agreement, China is subject to reviews by the WTO in the 8 years following its accession. The most recent one was announced in…

Purchasing and Supply Chain Management: Apple

Apple Inc. (previously Apple Computer, Inc.) is one of the largest American multinational companies that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers. The company began in the business of personal computers but has expanded into a giant of global reach (lLinzmayer 1999). Currently, they are best known for McIntosh computers, the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. They are the proprietors of the Mac OS X operating system and the iTunes media browser. They offer the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software, iWork productivity software, and Aperture for professional photographers. Their current list of offerings is extensive and includes other applications for specific industries or uses.

Apple's current distribution system includes a chain of their own retail stores in ten different countries around the globe. They also have an online store where they hardware and software products are sold. Apple's major competition…

One authority describes the transition in telephony thusly: eally smart engineers advanced technology to evolve phones from wall hanging boxes with an operator making phone connections to little, fold-up cellular devices. Now the world of everything integrated - computer chips, display screens and communicating - has spawned the age of smartphones" (Oppenheim, 2011, p. 17).

Written methods

Written messages were passed through a variety of media, including circulars, memoranda, policy letters, notices, forms, and reports.

All of the 1991 methods as well as e-mail, facsimile machines, and SMS together with the above-mentioned wireless "look-at" devices that are internet enabled.

Visual methods

Manually prepared bar graphs; tape-based video recordings

PowerPoint presentation, digital video recordings, clip art, stock graphics and pictures; user-friendly touch-screen devices (Gentry, 2011).

Audio and/or sound methods

Tape recordings (20mm et al.), vinyl disks, CB

VoIP, stock sounds, computer-based recordings and editing

As can be readily discerned from the…

2SWOT analysis of Citigroup UAE

Global network

The Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

The Porters 5 forces analysis

PESTEL Analysis

Business Strategy

The future trends in the internet banking arena

Benefits of e-banking

The legal and ethical issues surrounding e-banking

Alan, F (2002).Your e-banking future. Strategic Finance. Available online at Citibank is a bank that is a subsidiary of the larger Citigroup. Citigroup is a leading financial institution that has services an excess of 100 million clients, close to 6 million online relationships as well as worldwide presence that spans 100 nations. Citibank UAE began its operations in 1987 in an environment that was very competitive. It rolled its services that included a comprehensive array of top notch financial services that targeted the high class and the middle class households. The bank employed cutting edge innovation in order to leverage its global expertise. This positioned it in the UAE region as…

Internal Supply Chain at a Local McDonald's

Description of the company from an Australian market perspective, the products offered in the store visited, and the supply chain in which the store operates

The Australian McDonald's corporate Web site indicates that the company opened its first restaurant in an Australian suburb in 1971 and there are currently almost 800 McDonald's restaurants throughout the country, employing approximately 85,000 people (About us 2011). Although Australian McDonald's typically feature a majority of the standard fare offered at the company's restaurants around the world, some also feature regional specialties as shown in Table 1 below.

epresentative products from a Sydney-based McDonald's restaurant

Meal

Product

Breakfast

Boston deli bagel

NYC benedict bagel

Bacon and egg McMuffin

Bakehouse brekkie roll

osti brekkie wrap

Assorted beverages

Lunch/Dinner

Hamburger/cheeseburger permutations

French fries

Baked fruit pies

McChicken sandwich

Chicken McNuggets

Filet-o-Fish

Various "combo" meals

Various family "dinner box" meals (available…

In China, that is not the case and there are tens of millions of peasants who would read such descriptions and think those workers lucky. Such context would have made for a more balanced and honest article.

Indeed, the initial article is one of the more flawed in the series of reports that the Times put out on the Foxconn issue. The article begins with an anecdote about a worker who was killed in an accident. The reality is that workers are killed on the job every day in America, too. The company paid his family quickly with a check as compensation. Again, the article makes this sound somewhat harsh, but an American firm might drag the case through the court system for years. There is no sense of contrast provided in the scathing original article that would allow a reader to have a better sense of why China's working…

The result of the innovation chain at Apple is that the company has delivered products that are not innovative, but are used and designed in innovative ways. The vertical integration is unique, the design is unique, and Apple's vision for how its products are used is also unique. Put together, the company is one of the most innovative in consumer electronics, and many firms follow Apple's lead. This has enhanced the company's reputation by positioning it as the innovator. With groundbreaking products, Apple also has a strong employer brand. The company therefore is able to attract top talent, on the idea that this talent will be put to good use in developing leading edge products.

The company's supply chain is typical of the industry. Apple sources finished products primarily from China, from OEMs that manufacture consumer electronics for a number of different companies. The key benefit of Apple's supply chain…

The initial MP3 founders backed by the open source model coded the MP3 software that speeded up the recognition of the MP3 audio format. (Behind the Files: History of MP3) at the time of writing the code for MP3 format, an array of compression intensities can be programmed. To take an example, an MP3 made with 128 Kbit compression intensity will have enhanced sound reproduction quality and bigger file size compared to a 56 Kbit compression, hence indicating that lesser the compression intensity, the lesser the reproduction of sound quality. (What is MP3, How does it work, what is (MPEG)

This accounts for growing acceptance of the MP3 format music files with the Internet devoted music enthusiasts since it is the perfect medium for receiving music files through the Internet compared to WAV/AIFF files with takes much longer time to get downloaded. (What is MP3, How does it work, what…

Ayers (2000, p. 4) describes a supply chain as "Life cycle processes supporting physical, information, financial, and knowledge flows for moving products and services from suppliers to end-users." A supply chain can be short, as in the case of a cottage industry, or quite long and complex as in the manufacture, distribution, and sales of automobiles. In fact, the automobile supply chain has its origin in the mining of the iron ore used to make many of its components.

Forward-looking companies and industries are beginning, now, to leverage the communication power of the Internet to improve their supply chain efficiencies. In the same way that early computers offered improved efficiency within the walls of a company, the promise of "Internet Technologies" (IT) now offers potentially far-reaching positive effects throughout a company's entire manufacturing supply chain. If the changes brought about by an "Internet revolution" such as thin-client technology; seamless integration…

Some of the paradoxes are quite complex and can lead to any kind of discussions, including game theory. I am referring, for example, to the network level strategy, with companies in a constant competition with one another, but needing to cooperate in order to maximize their profits. The prisoners' dilemma comes to mind in this sense, applied to the business environment: if you choose to increase your price, for example, your competitor will increase his as well and it is most likely none will win. On the other hand, if your competitor decreases the price in order to attract more customers, you need to be able to take the right decision keeping in mind that of your opponent.

Globalization vs. localization, national vs., global or control vs. chaos are all paradoxes which companies operating in today's business environment find themselves are facing. If we look at the paradoxes presented by…

Secondly, that a positive correlation exists between the instruments CNSVS and the PMC-Q and therefore improve road craft awareness. The alternative null research hypotheses are that: Firstly the intervention program did not produce any significant difference in the concentration levels of Police motorbike riders, and secondly that no positive correlation exists between the instruments CNSVS and the PMC-Q. Therefore there is credence to suggest that a program of cognitive training should be implemented to improve the Police motorbike riders' concentration levels.

As this study is a pioneering study there is a great importance placed upon conducting a pilot study prior to the main study. Thomas & Nelson (2001) report that 75% of research papers are not publishable and make no contribution to theory or practice because of crucial methodological blemishes that could have easily been eradicated if a pilot study had been conducted first. A pilot study helps to develop…

For example, this year the company would have been affected by the weather disasters, energy changes, the War in Iraq, economic fluctuations and political changes and, from an employee standpoint, anything that would influence the well-being of their personnel.

Financially GE is a very strong company. GE has paid a dividend each quarter for over one hundred years. In addition, GE's dividends have been raised for 29 consecutive years. Recently, some of its financial honors include: In Fortune Magazine's 2005 "Global Most Admired Companies" list, GE ranked first overall; In Fortune Magazine's 2005 "America's Most Admired Companies" list, GE ranked second overall; GE was ranked first in the Financial Times' 2004 "World's Most Respected Companies Survey" for the seventh consecutive year since the Survey's inception in 1998; GE was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index as one of the world's leaders in environmental, social and economic programs. In…

As is shown in the low penetration globally an enhanced media platform is also critical for the company to take advantage of these trends.

Apple echnology Sourcing and Internal Innovation

he company is susceptible to a supply risk for key components. IBM is currently the company's sole supplier of the PowerPC G5 processor, which is used in its current Power Mac, Xserve, and iMac G5 products. Freescale is the sole supplier of the G4 processor, which is used in the company's eMac, Mac mini, and portable products. IBM experienced manufacturing problems with the PowerPC G5 processor, which resulted in delaying the shipment of various products and constrained certain product shipments during 2004, 2005 and in the first quarter of 2006. In a market where speed to market is critical, Apple's dependency for key components could put it at a competitive disadvantage.

Apple outsources the majority of its manufacturing for both…

WACC

Cost of Capital for Goff Computers

The 10Q book value debt for Dell was $6,430,000,000. The 10Q book value equity for Dell was $8,663,000,000. The 10K book value debt for Dell was $5,146,000,000. The 10K book value equity for Dell was $7,766,000,000.

What is the most recent stock price listed for Dell?

What is the market value of equity, or market capitalization? 30.95B

How many shares of stock does Dell have outstanding? 18,703,176

What is the beta for Dell?

What is the yield on 3-month Treasury bills? .03

Using a 7% market risk premium, what is the cost of equity for Dell using the CAPM?

Kc = f + beta (Km -- f)

Kc = .03 + 1.26(7 - .03) = 6.99

Dell's Competitors and Beta:

Apple Inc.

Hewlette-Packard Company

Acer Inc.: .92

Toshiba Corporation

Sony Corporation

Lenovo Group Limited

International Business Machines Corp: .67

Samsung Electronics: .54

EMC…

Dell

The current situation for Dell is that it is trying to recover from a downturn in its business. The company has a good brand name, a strong online distribution channel and good relationships with its suppliers. Key weaknesses are a lack of innovation, poor offline distribution channels and the company's finances are not great anymore. There are opportunities for Dell to rebuild its corporate business, or enter new consumer segments like tablets. The company could also focus on growth in overseas markets, as these remains a major source of growth in the PC industry. There are a lot of different threats for Dell, however. The company is threatened by competition, the state of the economy, by increasing costs at suppliers and technological changes such as the commodification of PCs, even though this was once an opportunity for Dell.

In order to succeed again, Dell has undertaken a number of…

Gateway Computers SWOT

Gateway Computers

Gateway was acquired by Acers, Inc., a multinational electronics company that has, through several acquisitions, become the second largest PC company in the world (Satariano, 2011; "Yahoo! Finance," 2011).

Product Strengths

March 2004, Gateway acquired eMachines, one of the world's fastest growing and most efficient PC makers. The eMachines brand complements Gateway products in terms of efficient manufacturing processes, and customer-pleasing technical support ("Gateway, Inc.," 2011).

Pricing Strengths

eMachines quality at low prices.

Promotion Strengths

Distribution Strengths

Gateway is sold through leading retailers, e-tailers, and channel partners in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Japan, and China. Acer is expanding market share the South American and Asia-Pacific regions ("Gateway, Inc.," 2011).

Customer Strengths

Weaknesses

Product Weaknesses

The total Asian PC share of worldwide shipments is expected to decline to 16.5% in 2011 from 18.2% in 2010. This is a burden for Acer because of its focus…

Laptops

Technology is the in-thing in the current world. All sectors and institutions that exist rely on technology and technological advances. Since the invention and incorporation of computers by the for-father of the computer era, several progressive steps have been achieved towards enhancing the quality of these computers. The initial and founding machines are renowned worldwide for their extremely large sizes. The first computers being as large as to occupy more than a standard room space. Continued improvements and studies into more efficient and effective technology re-sized these magnanimously large machines into the current small sized desktops and stand-alone (Howard, 2009).

The technological progression did not, however, stop there. The advent of the technological era in the early 1960s saw the designing of the first, smallest and more portable machines that later came to be called laptops (Chambers, 2008). The name laptop originated from the fact that these devices are…

Integrated Corporate Communication (ICC) and Corporate Communication (CC)

The established limitations are severely customized by globalization: the size of the company (where there is not a major link with the area of the performance, delocalization and outsourcing and being dependent on the network), design of the product and sales (where the relation with the competitors may be competitive cooperative) somewhat similar to the frequency of motor industry), competitive relations of space-time, the consumer models (which is focused with a turn down in the analogical media. The increasing significance of digital media and internet is also included. The most important of them is the advertising of television and the television itself); the importance of communication in the competitive environment, less protectionist measures of the economic systems, open spaces of competition, complex differentiation (Walther, 2007).

The incorporation of the global markets struggle to remove the inert environment and change them with the…

Machine Translation, And the Future

Computers are being used in many areas to speed and automate tasks that are tedious or strenuous on human beings. Computers aid us in making our daily lives better in many ways. Computers are being used for a variety of tasks. As the world moves toward a global economy, communication has become a major issue of the agendas of almost any industrialized nation. Machine translation is the growing wave of the future; these machines can translate passages into another language almost instantaneously.

There are some that fear the professional translators will become obsolete in the near future. However, an exploration of the current state of the art and future trends indicated that these fears are unfounded and that the field of Professional translation will enjoy man years of stability and prosperity, reaping the benefits of an expanding global economy.

Introduction

Rationale

Thesis

Literature Review

Machine…

luetooth

Wireless technology has developed a large way from its infancy and is fast becoming the latest trend in communication. Wireless LANs have added an entirely new dimension to the communication sector. The advent of cellular technology, infrared and spread spectrum radio services have bought about a huge change to our world of communication and wireless technology has materialized our dream of a mobile workforce. Today there is no single standard in the industry and there are different wireless technologies available. Let us have a brief outlook of the 'IEEE 802.11' and 'luetooth', two of the important wireless LAN technologies.

IEEE 802.11 Protocol

The IEEE 802.11 (First adapted in 1997) is primarily a standard developed to provide time bound and asynchronous wireless services. The MAC layer is meant to handle different physical layers with distinct medium and transmission characteristics. The standard uses 2.4 GHz ISM band and a minimum data…

entepise wide netwoking has been the topic of discussion. Advances in technology and netwoking systems have caused oganizations to develop new management techniques fo entepise wide netwoks. The pupose of this pape is to discuss the Management of entepise-wide netwoking. We will focus on fou aspects of entepise wide netwoking including; legacy systems, Intenet Secuity, offshoe development and suppot and Mobile computing. We will investigate how each of these aspects is handled within an entepise.

Legacy Systems

Legacy systems wee once popula in the business wold but have become less popula in ecent yeas. (Sinn 2003) legacy system is loosely defined as "a softwae platfom developed in a pocedual language such as Cobol o RPG, hosted on a mainfame o an IBM iSeies. In most cases the maintenance costs of the system tend to incease ove time while the available technical expetise aound it deceases (Ludin 2004)."

Many entepises ae…

Social Performance Organizations

For organization to succeed it should have a solid management structure. How the structure is formed will specifically affect its failure or success. They have to be organized and formed in a manner that will best meet their objectives and requirements. Despite the fact that the organizational focuses mainly on the organization's objective and goals, it likewise directs how to report the main percepts and techniques of upper levels of administration. By understanding an organizations' authoritative structure it can likewise project relationships across functional parts to coordinate job requirements and hence achieve desired outcomes (Hendrix, 2014).

Apple Inc., by making the first Macintosh machine in 1984, is known as the organization that was the pioneer of change. At what a computer was or how to put it to use was not known to a vast majority by any stretch of imagination. This machine was actually very user-friendly.…

innovation is a group of steps and activities visualized for translating ideas into actual products / services / processes. The innovation process commences with identifying and defining the source problem (Sva?, 2012).The building blocks of an innovative culture are as follows:

Values

Resources

Climate

Success

ehavior

These aforementioned building blocks are linked. For instance, the values of an enterprise affect the employee's behavior, workplace climate, and how success is perceived and quantified.

An innovative culture inherits ideas from research conducted by multiple authors. For promoting innovation, most enterprises generously invest time in resources, processes, and quantifying success. However, most companies have neglected to evaluate the more difficult to identify and/or measure factors of innovative culture with respect to people - including climate, behavior, and values.

To date, apparently, most companies have quantified innovative culture in terms of processes, management of resources, and measuring success of innovation rather than measuring building…