Business ProjectCustomer Relationship Management

Question: Examine about theBusiness Project for Customer Relationship Management. Answer: Presentation CRM alludes to Customer Relationship Management, a term that was instituted in 1990s by some prominent administration masters, namely,John Kotler, Philip Kolter, Robert S. Kaplan and John C. Maxwell. Alluding to the procedures, practices and advances the organizations and a firm uses to oversee client communication and to examine information during the time of client lifecycle so as to improve the business relationship with clients so it prompts client maintenance and drives deals development. Through CRM witness can be accumulated about the clients from various stations like phone, live visit, site, standard mail, web-based social networking and promoting materials.CRM likewise can give the subtleties of the staff who is managing the client with the goal that the buy history, purchasing inclinations and individual data of the clients can be acquired (Zakaria et al. 2014). The paper talks about a writing survey about CRM for cutting edge staff. The fundamental thought is to investigate the significance of client support staff and perceive how it affects the creating and keeping up the relationship with the clients. The cutting edge staffs are the individuals who manages the questions of the client and are the first to communicate when the client look for any direction or help. They do assume a significant job in building the impact on the client and holding the client. So it merits reading the CRM for cutting edge staff them (Taylor and Barber 2016). The paper begins from the essential ideas of the important terms like CRM, bleeding edge staff, faithfulness and others to comprehend the connection among CRM and the related terms. It talks about CRM as a business apparatus that assists with increasing higher benefit from the client and where forefront staff assumes the significant job as they helps in gain the steadfastness of the client. Further the paper makes a detail investigation of the writing accessible in the territory and attempts to locate the expected hole in the writing that can prompt surrounding of an examination question. Definition The paper begins with characterizing the term Customer Relationship Management (CRM). In the writing of promoting, it has been seen that the terms relationship advertising and CRM are conversely utilized. Probably the most established meaning of CRM alludes to keeping up solid enduring promoting focused relationship with singular record. The idea of individual record was applied in the modern market in characterizing CRM. Nevin (1995) calls attention to that the CRM expression is utilized to show alternate points of view and subjects. A few topics are talks about utilitarian showcasing from restricted points of view while different thinks about wide methodology. The previous is fundamentally a database advertising that underlines on the limited time exercises of promoting while the last underscores on client maintenance procedures and trusts in utilizing distinctive showcasing strategies that lead to create holding with the client and make conceivable to keep in contact with the clie nt ever after the deal. The more famous way to deal with CRM in the time of data innovation is to think relationship with singular clients so the database can be coordinated with long haul development procedure and client maintenance approaches .( Stock and Bednarek 2014) The meaning of CRM can be summed up as it alludes to the various practices that is trailed by the association to create and hold solid and powerful relationship with the clients with the appropriation of current advancements. Client devotion is one of the significant goals to get in CRM. Building up a base of steadfast client is advantageous for the firm and dominant part of the organizations attempt to acquire client faithfulness and because of colossal rivalry in the vast majority of the segments, the test to pick up client steadfastness increment further. It has consistently been considered as a significant component of holding the client yet in todays intense serious world, regardless of whether the client is by all accounts fulfilled, there is no assurance that the individual in question will hold with the organization (Hsiao and Chiou 2014). In this way it requests progressively thorough examination to distinguish the variables that hold the fulfilled clients and addition their dependability as these clients will consistently produce benefit for the firm in since quite a while ago run. The client don't generally change the organization because of disappointment, now and again the clients are impassi ve among the selection of organizations because of their absence of definite information about the market and friends (Stein et al.2013). In advertising, consumer loyalty is the most significant and each association attempts to upgrade its capacity to fulfill the client. A disappointed client may look for change cell and requests consideration. On the off chance that the organization neglects to address the disappointed client appropriately than it can prompt antagonistic effect in the companys picture and benefit. Then again, the potential odds of a fulfilled client to return to the organization are high. Additionally a fulfilled client will consistently spread well about the organization and through verbal, the organization may wager new clients also. Thus every association attempts to accomplish consumer loyalty through various procedures (Wang and Feng 2012). Client maintenance become significant for the organizations and can be accomplished by picking up client devotion. Be that as it may, it relies upon a few different factors other than consumer loyalty. The elements are better cost, item decision, more noteworthy comfort and expanded pay. At some point consumer loyalty is additionally considered as a marker for the companys future market seriousness and benefit. On the off chance that the client is fulfilled, at that point there are higher odds of picking up client steadfastness and thus it has become a significant objective for dominant part of the corporate (Shapiro et al.2014). There has been a solid connection between consumer loyalty and client dedication. In any case, there have been different investigations to get familiar with the sort of relationship. It may not be straight consistently and relies upon a few qualities of shopper. One of the well known mottos in advertising that features the targets of the organization of offering significance to client fulfillments is Customer is a ruler (Rayport et al. 2005). Client faithfulness has been one of the vital destinations of the corporate. It is costly to get clients however once the organization gain their reliability, it become simple for the firm to acquire premium cost from the organization. The best strategies for creating client steadfastness are to please the clients and to convey incredible assistance and quality items to set up predominant client esteem. Anyway here and there exchanging cost become a significant determinant for the client to adhere to the organization and firm should guarantee that exchanging cost for the client ought not be not exactly the administrations and fulfillment level of the client. Consequently client steadfastness has been a famous idea and alludes to winning the clients certainty. It tends to be viewed as one of the significant worry for CRM (Rababah et al. 2011) CRM as a Business Tool CRM can be seen in various manners. It very well may be viewed as a reaction to the developing condition of client situated advertising system and significance of building brand devotion. It can assist the association with becoming client driven and upgrade data innovation in business. Further, it very well may be viewed as the most significant way increment client worth and gainfulness of the association. As it were, CRM can be the best business device that expansion benefit and makes an incentive for the client (Quinton 2013). Overseeing database is one of the significant assignments of association to have successful correspondence with the clients. CRM has given it effectively by bringing IT based arrangement CRM has gotten one of the significant apparatus in todays developing business sector of solid rivalry and especially for medium size venture; the CRM practices can average the distinction among disappointment and achievement and in todays time lion's share of the organization is trying to comprehend the idea and instrument of CRM. CRM essentially brings IT based answer for any issue in the corporate by utilizing various instruments and applications and making client assistance surface. Be that as it may, hardly any finds the criticality of the database and its administration and improvement confused. In a more extensive idea, CRM is an IT face of business preparing whose goal is to build up helpful relationship with the client so as to acquire client maintenance, higher benefit and client esteem (Nguyen and Mutum 2012). ID of the clients is imperative for any association. The firm first need to recognize them and afterward attempt to procure them by giving their prerequisites and ultimately needs to support them to pick up their dependability and continue the relationship with the client CRM helps in enlarging the showcasing endeavors of a firm and carry shared advantage to the organization. It constructs relationship with the client using compelling innovation and help with building durable relationship with the client. Further, CRM likewise helps in building agreeable relationship with the showcasing association to expand the volume of the business and productivity of the undertaking. Along these lines CRM can be considered as a device, technique for promoting association and procedure that manages first recognizing the clients, at that point getting them and supporting them to hold the client for since a long time ago run connection which lead to an improvement of valuable relationship between showcasing association and clients (Neslin et al.2013). Innovation unquestionably assumes a crucial job in getting effectiveness work and successful correspondence with the clients with transparency.CRM has helped in utilizing the innovation proficiently and viably. CRM assumes an essential job in creating business and upgrading benefit. It is overseen viably by utilizing innovation based arrangement and improves business action. I

Essay on Public Speaking Essay Example

Exposition on Public Speaking Paper Open Speaking Open Speaking and Communication 1. Genuine belief on Public Speaking. Proposed answers: Public talking implies giving a discourse to a gathering of individuals on an uncommon event like Teachers Day, opening service of an occasion, graduation. I) Nervous, hesitant, butterflies in the stomach, frightened; testing, fun, certainty sponsor, engaging. ii) To be an increasingly certain, familiar, compelling open speaker; to pick up certainty, improve the order of English, beat the dread of talking before a group of people. 2. What should you do to give a decent discourse. Proposed answers: work out the discourse and retain the content;- practice, practice, practice! pick an intriguing title; make it short, amusing and dazzling; talk unmistakably with a moderate speed; utilize basic language and ensure one thought is associated with another normally. 3. Morals. Answers: I) Because speechmaking is a type of intensity, it conveys with it overwhelming (moral, sociological, mental) obligations. ii) (Rhetoric, Ethics, Theology) is a part of theory that manages issues of good and bad in human issues. iii) in broad daylight talking, sound moral choices included gauging a potential strategy against A. a lot of moral principles of rules. B. the common sense of going in that direction. C. a lot of lawful standards for adequate discourse. D. the speakers objectives in a given circumstance. iv) Which of the accompanying abuses the speakers moral commitment to be straightforward in what she or he says? A. shuffling measurements. B. citing outside of any relevant connection to the issue at hand. C. refering to strange cases as run of the mill models. D. the entirety of the abovementioned. v) Even however it is difficult to survey a speakers objectives, it is as yet important to pose moral inquiries about those objectives. Genuine/False We will compose a custom article test on Essay on Public Speaking explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now We will compose a custom paper test on Essay on Public Speaking explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer We will compose a custom paper test on Essay on Public Speaking explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer vi) The bigger the crowd turns into, the more prominent is the moral obligation of the speaker to be completely arranged. 4. Offhand Speech: Self-presentation Suggested answer: hello to everybody. My name is John Ooi Teck Leong, you can call me John or my moniker TL. My old neighborhood is Sitiawan, Perak. My folks maintain a little privately-owned company around. I have a senior sister and two more youthful siblings. When Im free, I like to spend time with my companions, play ball and watch the TV. I come to UTAR on the grounds that I need to turn into a bookkeeper, and my folks trust UTAR is the ideal spot for me. Later on, I plan to turn into an effective bookkeeper, run my own examining firm, purchase a major house for my family and travel the world over. That is all, bless your heart! 5. Popular compelling speakers of the world. Proposed answers: Mahatma Gandhi political profound pioneer of India who battled for autonomy Aung San Suu Kyi political dissident of Myanmar Sir Winston Spencer Churchill - Prime Minister of the U. K. during WWII John F. Kennedy 35th President of the USA (1917-1963) Martin Luther King social liberties dissident, USA (1929-1968)

Environmentally Friendly Essay Samples

Environmentally Friendly Essay SamplesThe environment can have a great impact on writing success. Environmentally friendly essay samples will help you if you are working in a more non-natural setting. These days the environment has a big impact on every aspect of our lives. They can be beneficial for you whether you are an individual looking to improve your performance or a business owner trying to attract employees with a productive work environment.While there are many free essay samples online, most of them focus on technical topics. While technical writing will definitely get you further than more general type of writing, this is not the case for all essay writing. You can use these free essay samples to supplement your technical work. These written essays should be used alongside a more general written composition to get more effective results.Environmentally friendly essay samples can be really useful if you work in a more natural, non-technical environment. Research has shown that individuals who enjoy nature have a greater chance of excelling in their chosen career. Nature brings in a sense of calm and relaxation, which is a definite positive for productivity. It can also help reduce the amount of stress, which in turn improves the overall well-being of an individual.Every day we see people jumping on the bandwagon of a new product, a new trend or new behavior. This type of behavior is more often than not destructive and is more about spending time than doing work. The environment in which people are able to engage in more productive, long term behaviour is often perceived to be more relaxing and peaceful. If you are looking to find out more about environmental environment for writing you may want to explore some of the free essay samples online to see if they match up to your environment.Just as your environment can play a role in your writing environment, so can the environment for your products. In fact, in some cases the product may be better if it is marketed in a less hostile environment. People should be thinking about this when purchasing products, but due to corporate marketing they do not.Free essay samples are an easy way to provide your products with a natural, non-corporate look. While this might not fit your needs, it is a great way to get a start on an environmental writing project. If you are not a writer, you can also get some sample essays for non-writing positions. These can be used by you to help you determine what type of environment you would prefer to work in.Environmentally friendly essay samples can be a great way to improve the conditions in which your products are sold. While they are not the only way to improve the environment, they are certainly a great place to start. This is particularly true for products that are aimed at children, where people need to work with a little less stress.If you are a business owner or someone who writes for a living, it is best to use these essay samples to supplement yo ur work. Even if you only write for your own personal enjoyment, having a healthier environment can give you more freedom and more focus. Having a few environmental, free essay samples can make a big difference in your company.

What If Airline Regulations Never Existed - 1606 Words

Many years before the Federal Aviation Act was created, the airline industry grew with little to no rules for safety. The skies filled with aircraft each year, always adding more numbers than the previous years. Imagine an aviation world where safety was never even thought of. How do we control and monitor all the aircraft in the skies to ensure they all reach their destinations safely. What if airline regulations never existed? Would aircraft just fly till parts literally fell off? Who would be the responsible party to clean up after an aircraft accident? These are the reasons that the Federal Aviation Administration was created. The modern age of powered flight began with Orville and Wilbur Wright making their first sustained powered flight at Kitty Hawk N.C. in December 1903. The Wright brothers along with other aviation pioneers like Glenn Curtiss, Samuel Langley, Thomas Baldwin, and Octave Chanute all new the extreme danger that flying presented. As the aviation pioneers began to perfect the art of flying, the need for safety grew as well. As time passed new planes and technologies were being made to enhance safety. Commercial operations like the use of aircraft in World War I and the early service of the airmail furthered these advances in flight safety. Airmail operation began as an idea that airplanes could be useful in delivering the mail faster than the railroads (Lawrence, 2014 pp.79). This idea subsequently kicked off commercial aviation. By 1911 experimentalShow MoreRelatedRed : Chinese Triads : An Example Of A Red Organization1324 Words   |  6 PagesRed – Chinese Triads Red organizations have existed since the beginning of life. The textbook uses the wolf pack example to illustrate how leaders in red organizations need to harness their power to control others. A leader within a red organization must maintain their power so that no one below them attempts to take the crown. (Laloux, pg. 18) The Chinese Triads date as far back as the mid-seventeenth-century during the Ming dynasty. (Chu, pg. 11) The Chinese Triads are essential a gang thatRead MoreIndustrial Revolution Essay766 Words   |  4 Pagesservices existed and offered in the mid-nineteenth-century, the hospital, postal, banking system, railroads, hotels, social welfare, housing, and agriculture were not all accessible to all population. Private homes converted into hospitals and doctor’s offices, even hospitals in big cities were known for being dirty that causes infectious disease and affected many people. From the establishment of the First Bank of the United States in 1791 to the National Banking Act of 1863 banking regulation in AmericaRead MoreThe Aviation Safety Action Program1960 Words   |  8 Pagesproblem if they didn’t know that it existed. The Federal Aviation Administration has to be credited in improving safety in a multitude of ways. The best way to do that is transform safety pro gram from being retroactive to proactive. One of the well-received programs that FAA has created is the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP). This program works to the benefit of every airman, as well of most aviation organizations. This program emphasizes why things happen and what can be done to correct it. PartsRead MoreFlight 1420, A Preventable Disaster2453 Words   |  10 Pagestime to arm the MD-82’s spoiler system and the flight would have touched down safely. On June 1st, 1999 American Airlines flight 1420 experienced a tragic accident that claimed many lives and made an impact on aviation worldwide. The event and it subsequent investigation shed light on issues and pressures airline pilots face and resulted in new technologies and new regulation that have made aviation safer for all pilots and passengers. Any aviation accident that results in the death of pilotsRead MoreThe Impact Of Aviation On The United States1986 Words   |  8 Pagestook control of four commercial airliners and aimed the planes at targets in the United States. These terrorists’ attacks, referred to as 9/11, created the need for improved airport and airline security and reformed the United States Government’s entire security strategy and infrastructure. Aviation has long existed as target for criminals, mentally deranged, and more recently, terrorists. John Graham blew up United DC-6 over Colorado in 1955 with twenty-five sticks of dynamite in his suitcase. InRead MoreCase Studies: Sas Airline Ryanair80169 Words   |  321 PagesHow did the deregulation of air transportation in Europe foster entrepreneurial behavior and innovation in the European airline industry over the last twenty years? Case studies: SAS Airline Ryanair Master Thesis in Entrepreneurship and Dynamic Business Contexts Spring 2007 Supervisor: Hà ¥kan Bohman Entrepreneurship Master Program Authors:
Gilles Helterlin and Nuno Ramalho
Acknowledgements We would like to express our gratitude to all who have contributed to the realization of this Read MoreInternational Business Case Study on Boeing4493 Words   |  18 Pagesgovernment loans. Boeing’s scandal with Lockheed and the discovery of wing cracks in the Airbus A380s have damaged both companies’ ethical reputations. The following recommendations will ensure that, while Boeing and Airbus compete in the commercial airline industry, their actions will be ethical and legal, while adapting within the current cultural and political bounds of the global market. Introduction Boeing: the world’s largest aerospace company Since its foundation in 1916 in the Puget SoundRead MoreAir Canada Summary9825 Words   |  40 Pagestheir customers. The terms and conditions cover every aspect of the flight process from the purchase of the ticket to the moment you have reached your destination. All of these regulations have will be looked over clause by clause. After first glance, one may say that many of the conditions are unfair and harsh. What people must realize is that a contract is not made for their sake; it is made for the sake of the company that they are dealing with. In this case, it is made for the benefit ofRead MoreThe Business Model Conceived By Ceo Michael O Leary3225 Words   |  13 Pagesrunning from Gatwick Airport in London to Waterford, Ireland. Although deregulated within the United States, European airlines remained largely regulated in 1985. Host nations exercised a significant amount of control over international route structures and fares. Furthermore, if a prospective airline w ished to compete with a major carrier internationally, the fledgling airline would have to obtain permission from each destination country to operate in competition against national major carriersRead MoreEssay on Denver Airport Case3051 Words   |  13 PagesDenver Strategically a Sound Decision? 2) Perform a SWOT analysis on the Decision to Build? 3) Who are the Stakeholders and what are their interests or objectivies? 4) What Appears to be the Single Greatest Risk in the Decision to build DIA? 5) Do Scope changes reflect upon the ineffectiveness of a project Management Team? 6) Why did United Airlines decide toact as the project manager for the baggage handling system on Concourse B? Denver International Airport The Strategic

Essay on The Use of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley...

The Use of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson In The Lottery, Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to make us aware of the pointless nature of humanity regarding tradition and violence. The story starts off on a beautiful summer day in a small town. The author describes the day as very euphoric but strikes a contrast between the atmosphere of the town and the atmosphere of the people gathered in the square. The atmosphere is subdued, where the children are gathered around quietly. The black box is the central theme or idea in the story. It symbolizes at first some type of mystery, but as we read the ending we realize that it is synonymous with doom. Someones fate lies in an inanimate object, the†¦show more content†¦We see that even as Tessie is being stoned to death does she not question the reasoning behind the lottery, but why it should be her that has to die. The story also has some symbolic relevance to when it was written in 1948. This was a time where a lot of countries were rebuilding there nations due to the destruction they undertook in World War II. These nations were restructuring how they handled world problems, and how they ran there own countries. There was a lot of change after the war; people were not the same because so many had been affected by it. I think that this story tries to capture some of that. One example in the book was, ?There had been , also, a ritual salute, which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person who came up to draw from the box, but this also had changed with time, until now it was felt necessary only for the official to speak to each person approaching.? I feel that this shows that she interpreted the story to what was going on in the world around her, and how the world was changing so much. Traditions that people used to feel very strong about were starting to be broken down by the change in time, and world around them. As much as The LotteryShow MoreRelatedUse of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson1146 Words   |  5 Pageswhat is known as Symbolism. Symbolism is the use of object, name, or person to represent an idea. If a name is being use, a name such as autumn can represent the adulthood of a human. Creatures such as an Eagle, represents ‘Freedom’ and ‘America’. Even inanimate objects can represent ideas; the light bulb represents ideas that just sparked into a character’s head. In the short story, â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson, a village has just entered the month of June, meaning that the lottery is to begin.Read MoreUse of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson954 Words   |  4 PagesSymbolism means like any place, person or thing that is something but can be interpreted in a different way. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a short story that shows symbolism, to give hints about the story in all the characters and objects in the story. This Short story takes place in the summer where a small town has a lottery every year round. The person that wins the lottery has a huge impact on the town and the crops that grow in it. Old man Warner is the oldest in the town andRead More The Use of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Essay938 Words   |  4 PagesThe Use of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Within the first few lines of Shirley Jacksons The Lottery we are faced with such adjectives as clear, sunny, fresh and warmth. She goes on to paint a picture of small children just out of school for the summer, as the townspeople gather for the annual Lottery. This leads us to believe that the rest of the story is as cheery as the summer day initially described. We as the readers are virtually unaware of the horrible senseless eventsRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of The Lottery By Shirley Jackson910 Words   |  4 PagesLiterary Analysis of the Short Story â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson Shirley Jackson explores the subject of tradition in her short story â€Å"The Lottery†. A short story is normally evaluated based on its ability to provide a satisfying and complete presentation of its characters and themes. Shirley describes a small village that engages in an annual tradition known as â€Å"the lottery†. Narrating the story from a third person point of view, Shirley uses symbolism, foreshadowing and suspense to illustrateRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Lottery 916 Words   |  4 Pages The Foreshadowing in â€Å"The Lottery† On a warm day in late June, villagers gather in the square to participate in a lottery run by Mr. Summers. The children arrive first and begin collecting stones until their parents call them to order. Mr. Summers calls each head of the household forward to a black wooden box, where each selects a slip of paper. Once the men have chosen, Mr. Summers allows everyone to open the paper and see who wins. Bill Hutchinson wins and his wife immediately starts protestingRead MoreThe Lottery By Shirley Jackson972 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson, is a short story about an annual lottery draw in a small New England town. The town’s people have performed the lottery for more than seventy years. Shirley Jackson gives â€Å"The Lottery† a whole different meaning . The lottery is used for a public stoning, opposing to the very first thing that approaches to a reader s mind when they think of the lottery; a big amount of money . The reader sees both l iteral and metaphorical meaning of the Shirley Jackson’s short storyRead MoreHuman Corruption Of Human Nature1140 Words   |  5 PagesHuman Corruption in â€Å"The Lottery† â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson is a classic short story in U.S literature. Written in 1948, the short story has been published in multiple languages around the world. It is still a required reading in U.S today. The story was later adapted into both a TV short and a play (â€Å"Shirley Jackson’s Bio†). Jackson uses irony and symbolism in â€Å"The Lottery† to show the corruption of human nature. The story opens up on a clear June day. It continues to describe an ominousRead MoreThe Lottery, By Shirley Jackson And A Rose For Emily By William Faulkner960 Words   |  4 PagesThe Use of Symbolism in â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson and â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner The use of symbolism is used in literature to enhance writing and add meaning to a story, this is evident in the two short stories â€Å"The Lottery† written by Shirley Jackson and â€Å"A Rose for Emily† written by William Faulkner. With the authors use of symbolism Jackson and Faulkner are able to add depth to their writing in a way that connects with the readers. By adding symbolism to the short storiesRead MoreUse of Symbols in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson981 Words   |  4 PagesMany great authors use symbolism numerous of time in their stories. A symbol is a noun or word that represents a different idea. An author displays the symbols as a hit rather than blurting it out. Symbols are not only used in novels or poems, they are also used in everyday use. For an example, the American flag has fifty stars on it which each star represents a state. On the other hand, the thirteen stripes plays the part of our thirteen colonies; the beginning of our country. Even w ith our highRead MoreAnalysis of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson993 Words   |  4 Pagesgrow. Shirley Jackson was born in 1919 in San Francisco, California to Leslie and Geraldine Jackson. She is most well known for her short story titled â€Å"The Lottery† which was first published in The New Yorker to overwhelming and mixed reviews. The lottery, as portrayed in the short story, is a religious, annual ceremony in the afternoon of June 27. This event is said to be older than Old Man Warner and has lost most of its meaning. Every year, a â€Å"lucky† winner is blindly chosen with the use of a magical

Psychology As Storytelling Essay - 1987 Words

lt;a href=quot;http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/quot;gt;Sam Vaknins Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites Storytelling has been with us since the days of campfire and besieging wild animals. It served a number of important functions: amelioration of fears, communication of vital information (regarding survival tactics and the characteristics of animals, for instance), the satisfaction of a sense of order (justice), the development of the ability to hypothesize, predict and introduce theories and so on. We are all endowed with a sense of wonder. The world around us in inexplicable, baffling in its diversity and myriad forms. We experience an urge to organize it, to quot;explain the wonder awayquot;, to†¦show more content†¦Though his disciples (Adler, Horney, the object-relations lot) diverged wildly from his initial theories - they all shared his belief in the need to quot;scientifyquot; and objectify psychology. Freud - a medical doctor by profession (Neurologist) and Bleuler before him - came with a theory regarding the structure of the mind and its mechanics: (suppressed) energies and (reactive) forces. Flow charts were provided together with a method of analysis, a mathematical physics of the mind. But this was a mirage. An essential part was missing: the ability to test the hypotheses, which derived from these quot;theoriesquot;. They were all very convincing, though, and, surprisingly, had great explanatory power. But - non-verifiable and non-falsifiable as they were - they could not be deemed to possess the redeeming features of a scientific theory. Psychological theories of the mind are metaphors of the mind. They are fables and myths, narratives, stories, hypotheses, conjunctures. They play (exceedingly) important roles in the psychotherapeutic setting - but not in the laboratory. Their form is artistic, not rigorous, not testable, less structured than theories in the natural sciences. The language used is polyvalent, rich, effusive, and fuzzy - in short, metaphorical. They are suffused with value judgements, preferences, fears, post facto and ad hoc constructions. None of this has methodological, systematic,Show MoreRelatedAlice Munros an Ounce of Cure1548 Words   |  7 Pagesliterary analyses and studies make the link between literary techniques such as narrative and storytelling and several other disciplines. Thus, one may find the theories of narrative and storytelling extending up to several major disciplines, such as philosophy, psychology, and literary criticism. In the view of different experts in literary analyses, there is a close connection between narrative or storytelling and the definition of the nature of self and personal identity. The former has been understoodRead MoreThe Point Of Theatre And Motion Picture Technology1581 Words   |  7 Pagespublished in the Times of London, is central to the connection between theatre and motion picture technology. Since the rise of film in the early twentieth century, these elements have been influencing each other, and working together, to elevate the storytelling and experience of each medium and, in turn, better connecting them to the modern audience. The collaboration of these two mediums has resulted in a new form of theatre, known as digital theatre, that shows â€Å"theatrical entertainment does not haveRead MoreAn Analysis of Seinfeld1508 Words   |  6 PagesSeinfeld Examine the use of stereotypes in the representation of gender, race, and class. Investigate the way social situation is depicted? Describe how the psychology of the characters is simplified or exaggerated and why? Choose the object of analysis In Seinfeld stereotypes are used to show the reflections of different classes of people. For women, this is demonstrated through the various girlfriends that Jerry has and how he is easily able to have a sexual relationship with them. To expandRead MoreInterpretation in The Deaf Community Essay1391 Words   |  6 Pagestwo parties† (Brunson and Lawrence, 2002). This method establishes boundaries and a balance for the triad to be successful. Interpreters offer insight into the world of Deaf. Tools, such as the use of storytelling through visual and action metaphors is a way to move the process along as â€Å"storytelling is a central value in Deaf culture, and it is perhaps the most popular form of signed entertainment† (Williams and Abeles, 2004). In a book review written by Martha Sheridan, she stated, â€Å"talk andRead MoreCoping With Fear in Life of Pi Essay1297 Words   |  6 Pagesdarkest points in his life, he is still able to somehow remain both faithful and hopeful. Pi clings to his religious faith as a way of coping with his fears as opposed to acknowledging conventional methods. He is able to do so through praying, storytelling and various interpretations. Fear takes a lot out of an individual as it can be the very substance that destroys them. As the Japanese proverb goes, â€Å"fear is only as deep as the mind allows.† That being said, fear is not as easy to let go of, asRead MoreChapter Analysis: Anxiety Disorders From Understanding Abnormal Child Psychology by Mash and Wolfe693 Words   |  3 Pagesï » ¿Chapter 7 Anxiety Disorders Mash and Wolfe (2012),Understanding Abnormal Child Psychology 5th edition Most of this chapter is explanatory in nature and there is no controversial information related to anxiety disorders in children. Mash Wolfe (2012) define anxiety as a strong negative emotion, but note that some anxiety is an adaptive response to genuine environmental threats. Anxiety becomes problematic when it arises for no reason or out of proportion to the perceived threat. Children whoRead MoreThematic Apperception Test Personality Assessment1715 Words   |  7 PagesPark University Test and Measurement September 2010 Abstract The history of the Thematic Apperception Test is controversial. This test was published in 1943 and is still widely used today. Being able to look at a photo card as a stimulus for storytelling was a breakthrough for personality testing. This test has its share of controversy as far as reliability, validity and cultural implications. Key words; thematic, validity, reliability, personality. Thematic Apperception Test for PersonalityRead MoreMarketing Analysis : The Economic Base Over The Past Fifty Years1593 Words   |  7 Pagesmenu to novelty prize giveaways. Storytelling forms another prominent tactic that managers could adopt. It has the power of changing consumer perceptions of a brand, enabling consumers to think beyond the functionality and material rewards of products and rather it encourages consumers to share rewards in terms of experiences (Papadatos C, 2006). 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And winning will not be determined on whether we are â€Å"more left† or â€Å"more centre†. For four straight election cycles, Labour has ignored research from the fields of cognitive linguistics and psychology that the most effective way to communicate with other humans is by telling emotional stories. Instead, we have focussed on policy content and the cumbersome, awkward and broken relationship between what policies parties have and their attractiveness

Diagnosis Prevention Management Of Delirium -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Diagnosis Prevention Management Of Delirium? Answer: Introduction Delirium is a common yet often under-diagnosed or mismanaged disorder. As a result of the aging population, the disorder is becoming more prevalent (Martins Fernandes, 2012).Delirium is characterized by an inability to focus, change in cognition, reduced awareness clarity, and distractibility(Martins Fernandes, 2012).Delirium, which affects up to 50% of elderly patients, can be clinically categorized as either hyperactive or hypoactive delirium. This healthcare improvement plan will concentrate on hypoactive delirium. Under hypoactive delirium, patients are usually withdrawn and quiet (Schuurmans, Duursma Shortridge, Baggett, 2001). Although there existstrategies to detect and diagnose delirium, the disorder is oftenmisdiagnosed as dementia or not detected at all (Cole, 2005). Studies by Fick, Agostini Inouye (2002) emphasize the importance of recognizing and consequently preventing delirium. Better knowledge and understanding of delirium among professionals in the healthcare sector can lead to early detection,reduction of risk factors, and better management in the acute phase (Saxena Lowley, 2009). It is important to give attention to the identification of delirium because more than half of the cases are potentially reversible. Immediately delirium is detected, prompt management and intervention arecritical. Early patient mobilization, removal of precipitating factors and environmental changes are all warranted as soon a delirium is recognized. Once detected, delirium should be treated as an emergency. Its important to note that delirium causes a lot of distress to the patient, his or her family, the healthcare staff and even the medical institution.The families delirium patients describe the behavior and emotional manifestations as disturbing(Mailhot et al., 2014). Proper care is necessary especially for patients with hypoactive dementia. The hospital and staff should care for these patients so as to prevent the patients prolonged stay or more adverse effects. Gaps Research and treatment gaps exist in the early detection and management of hypoactive delirium. Hypoactive delirium is characterized by a quiet and withdrawn behavior, and although its presentation is more common than hyperactive delirium, the disorder is usually overlooked(Hosker Ward, 2017). Most of the patients with delirium are therefore often undertreated or underdiagnosed. It is assumed that delirium is not a problem on its own but merely a clinical symptom of other pathologies. Furthermore, although there is growing research on hypoactive delirium, there is no conclusive evidence regarding symptom association and presentation (Peritogiannis, Bolosi, Lixouriotis Rizos, 2015 ). A lot of research focusing on the primary care setting is needed. It is important to regularly assess all patients diagnosed with delirium for signs of hypoactive delirium. Diagnosing delirium earlyon is necessary so as to enable the patient and supporters to understand and accept the changes soas to pl an for the future. Providing an enriching environment to patients with hypoactive delirium is important.Delirium is usually treated through combining the treatment of presumed underlying cause and by optimizing the patient's conditions. This treatment of deliriumshould, however,be supplemented by initiating therapy and person-centered care(Hosker Ward, 2017).To facilitate their recovery, the patients need support from both their families and healthcareprofessionals. Due to the symptoms of their disorder, patients with delirium are often stigmatized. Another critical gap in relation to hypoactive delirium manifests in the educating the medical staff. Professionals and care staff who deal with delirium related cases quite oftenmisdiagnose delirium patients. Measures must be taken to sensitize the staff on ways to detect the onset of delirium at the early stages. Patients with hypoactive delirium due to their characteristic withdrawal are easily ignored. Without proper care mechanisms, these patients may end up staying in hospital longer or even agitating their symptoms. Person-centered care In relation to delirium patients, person-centered care is an approach by a medical institution that treats the staff, patients and their family as partners in developing and administering care to meet their needs. It involves considering what the people desire and want. Person-centered care is a term associated with high-quality care (Brooker, 2003). By utilizing a person-centered approach, operations can provide flexible, responsive and accessible services that meet the preferences and needs of the community. With the demographic shift in Australia and New Zealand whereby the number of old population is rapidly increasing, a person-centered approach is important to provide support in managing delirium(Australian hospital statistics 2008-09, 2010). A person-centered care approach enables patients and staff to make their own decisions and control the services their lifestyle ( Richard, Coulter Wicks, 2015). The medical care staff will have a sense of responsibility for the people they take care. The organization will also be well placed to provide responses that are culturally appropriate especially to patients with delirium. A person-centered approach in treating patients with delirium will consequently help in alleviating issues related to the identification and diagnosis of patients with delirium. The personalized care with also contribute to reducing adverse effects of delirium that often result in a prolonged stay in hospitals ( Brooker Latham, 2015). This approach will especially be significant to patients with hypoactive delirium. Such patients are often ignored because of their undemanding nature. Since the approach is community-based involving friends and family, it enables a wholesome health care system. Therefore, p erson-centered care can have significant effects on the well-being of dementia patients by helping in the prevention of delirium, its early detection, response, and management. (Dewing, 2009) Action plan. Delirium is an overlooked yet pressing concern in our health care system. It is necessary to identify the existing gaps relating to the detection, management and care services provided to the patients. Gaps in the early detection and management of delirium, environmental factors relating to delirium and the level of awareness and education exhibited by the health care practitioners need to be addressedso as to improve delirium care. This healthcare improvement plan utilizes a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle conducted by a focus group to analyze and provide possible courses of action to address issues the gaps identified. Focus groups are commonly used to discuss a specified topic in a short period.A focus group allows a range of opinion to be discussed in a short period and provides a chance to mingle with others, the groups composition may inhibit some member (Whittaker, 2012). A PDSA cycle is often used to turn an idea into action and in turn connect the action to a learning experience (Langley et al., p. 97).In relation to delirium, the health care improvement plan will provide a plan to improve the healthcare practices and culture, implement the plans, determine their effectiveness in solving the issue and finally refine the procedure based on the findings. By utilizing the PDSA cycle, the first step in the action plan will be to define and design the intervention into the gaps in delirium health care. After planning how to mitigate the gaps, the actual changes will be implemented and documented. The documented information on the intervention process will then be analyzedafterwhich the finding wi ll be used to identify additional gaps or improve on the existing delirium healthcare improvement plan. Early detection and management of hypoactive delirium Hypoactive delirium, whichis characterized by a quiet and withdrawn behavior is usually overlooked (Hosker Ward, 2017). To further complicate its early detection and subsequent management, studies into hypoactive delirium have provided inconclusive evidence regarding symptom association and presentation. These characteristics have resulted in people, and healthcare practitioners having an assumption that delirium is not a problem on its own but merely a clinical symptom of other pathologies. With the number of people with delirium expected to increase as a result of an aging population, it is prudent to improve on the detection and management of hypoactive delirium(Hosker Ward, 2017). Interventions to increase early detection and management of hypoactive delirium include reducing the time between the onset of delirium symptoms and communication of diagnosis, improving on research related to identification and management and, improving the approach of health care practitioners to treating delirium.These interventions will be implemented by improving the quality of healthcare services offered in theinstitution. This will be achieved by improving the processes involved in assessing a potential case of delirium and admitting the diagnosed patient for care(Spiller Keen, 2006). An efficient system will facilitate the quick and accurate communication of diagnosis making the management of delirium easier. The support staff should also be educated on the appropriate methods of taking care of patients. To properly manage delirium, all parties involved should have all the relevant information on how to identify symptoms of hypoactive delirium and how to handle affected pati ents.The success of the intervention will be assessed based on the number of newly detected cases together with the amount of time spent in the institutions. The core limitation to this intervention is the lack of conclusive evidence on symptom association and presentation (Spiller Keen, 2006). Providing enriching environment Most patients portraying symptoms of hypoactive delirium are often misunderstood and even discriminated. An enriching environment comprises of relevant, psychological, physical, and sensory support (Bridges, Flatley Meyer, 2010). Since patients with delirium need a supportive environment of family, friends, and carers, it is necessary to design a plan that facilitates this kind of enriching environment. An enriching environment should also be safe, comfortable, and sensitive to the needs of the diagnosed patient. After discussions in the focus group, a possible strategy to mitigate risks associated with the environmental conditions surrounding delirium patients is to incorporate a comprehensive person-centered care system into the health institutions and community. The relevant institutions should provide a personalized care system that incorporates the patients, their family, and the community. The key objective in delirium management is maintaining the patients and carers quality of life(Young, Murthy, Westby, Akunne O'Mahony, 2010). This can be done by sensitizing the community and carers on the importance of knowing the characteristics of a patient with possible hypoactive delirium and why/how to respond to diagnosed patients. This strategy is expected to create awareness and bring the whole community together to tackle the delirium issue.To improve community care especially in care homes, it is important to reduce the inappropriate use of antipsychotic drugs. With a successful campaign, family, friends, and carers will have the necessary knowledge and understanding of how to take care of patients. The strategy may, however, be limited by the complex nature of hypoactive delirium in that it is characteristically hard to detect and manage. Educating staff The support staff of patients with hypoactive delirium have oftenbeen accused of ignoring the patients due to the reasoning that the patients are un-demanding.' It is therefore important to educate the staff on ways of managing and taking care of patients diagnosed with delirium.To improve the patient and staffs quality of life, an intervention to educate the healthcare staff is necessary. There exists a service delivery gap between the actual services offered by staff and what is appropriate.Patients are often misdiagnosed due to lack of crucial information. Educating the staff will help in early detection of delirium and its management. The healthcare improvement action plan will employ a comprehensive educational package that delivers information on delirium, preventive measures, treatment, and management.This will be done using small group presentations, formal presentations, and guidelines on how to detect, prevent and manage hypoactive delirium coupled with follow-up lessons (L aw, Connelly, Prentice, Rooke, 2009) Evaluation of clinical practice context PARIHS is a conceptual framework that postulates the important elements influencing the successful application of evidence-based practices (Helfrich et al., 2010). To evaluate the clinical practice contexts readiness for the suggested changes, the healthcare improvement plan used the PARIHS framework. The framework explains interactions between the context of a study, the evidence available, and facilitation of the change (Kitson et al., 2008). This tool was embedded in the evaluation because it provided a relevant guide to help in the development of the healthcare improvement plan and evaluation of the implementation process. The PARIHS tool was used to guide decisions on the design of the intervention, collection of data and the analysis of the processes while focusing on early detection and management of hypoactive delirium, providing the enriching environment and educating employees. So as to fully understand the process of implementation and the impacts to the management of deli rium, a process evaluation embedded with PARIHS was designed. Strategies for the implementation of the three evidence-based recommendations were designed. The guidelines include that institutions should adopt a person-centered care approach, the health care staff should be educated and trained on effective ways of caring for delirium patients, and effective ways of detecting and managing delirium.The core purpose of the evaluation is to determine how the interventions will be received in a delirium healthcare setting, impacts observed, and how the changes played out. In relation to the evaluation framework, the hypoactive delirium interventions can function at multiple levels within healthcare organizations context based on an assessment of the readiness using PDSAcycle.Data will be collected pre-intervention and post-intervention from healthcare institutions managing patients with hypoactive delirium.This will be obtained from pre-existing case studies, focus groups and interviews conducted afterward. Interview topics for both staff and patient interviews will be developed based on the framework and hence will include questions on early detection and management of delirium, staff education and provision of an enriching environment. The inductive and deductive analysis will be used based on Ritchie and Spencers (2002) approach to analysis. The influence that contextual factors such the individual patient (micro), the care staff (meso) and healthcare institutions(macro) will have on the implementation of the changes mustbe considered(Rycroft-Malon e et al., 2013). These themes usually interact with each other in a practical setting.Finally, facilitation is necessary to make implementation easier To enhance the chances for successful implementation of the initiatives, the suggested changes may be aligned with existing initiatives related to improving the health care of patients with hypoactive delirium. For the successful implementation of this healthcare practice improvement plan, the recommendations highlighted will need to be used in practice and impacton the management of delirium and related issues(Rycroft-Malone et al., 2013).Findings will be presented based on the main criteria of the PARIHS framework: context, evidence, and facilitation. In a practical clinical setting, it is expected that there will be dynamism and complexity underlying the findings. Quality Plan According to Donabedian (2005), the quality of health care should be measured by taking the processes, structure, and outcomes into account. Under process, we measure thedelivery of services by providers. Structure is concerned with the availability, accessibility, and quality of resources. The outcome indicates the resulting effect of the healthcare process and includes factors such as patient satisfaction, mortality, or improved health status. The healthcare improvement plan will adopt a collaborative approach to come up with a change framework to support improvements. Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) is a harmonized evidence-based method, which gives health practitioners not trained in the psychiatry field the ability to detect and correctly diagnose delirium at an early stage in research and clinical settings (Waszynski, 2004). The method utilizes four steps that collectively provide delirium healthcare practitioners the best ability to differentiate delirium from other types of disorders. The main advantages of the CAM method are that the hospital staff can adopt it in their normal day-to-day evaluation of patients. The method can also be translated into different languages so that as many patients as possible can be treated correctly regardless of the language they understand. Due to its short administering period, this delirium diagnosis and assessment tool can help in the early detection and management of hypoactive delirium. Implementing CAM, therefore, results in an improvement of delirium health care but only if the staffs are properly tr ained (Ely et al., 2001). Nurses from other wards can be trained on how to identify and care for deliriumpatients so that incase they encounter one as they are treating patients, they know how to handle the situation effectively.This will help solve the healthcare gap relating to staff education. Training the nurses the fellow nurses on skills that will help in the early detection and management of hypoactive delirium will contribute to the overall mitigation of delirium in the hospital and community.This will contribute towards bringing about change in the diagnosis and treatment of hypoactive delirium in the long run. An online training course for staff on identifying and managing delirium can be done regularly so that the healthcare practitioners are upto date with the effective ways of preventing, identifying, and managinghypoactive delirium. An online training program is an appropriate tool,especially where the medical staff are on busy schedules or need reference material as and when they suspect manifestations of hypoactive delirium symptoms. This activity will facilitate change in the healthcare system by educating employees on how to detect the onset of delirium and manage diagnosed patients. Although most health carepractitionersare trained on identification and management of delirium, new studies are being conducted to improve our understanding and response to this clinical diagnosis (O'hanlon et al., 2013). Therefore, to facilitate the implementation and success of the suggested interventions into delirium health care, the staff need to be re-trained. While staff members are re-trained on delirium care practices, the training sessions should be well documented so that future groups can reference and learn from them.This will ease the process of conducting similar re-training activities. It is, however, important to note that training activities are costly and time-consuming. Re-training session should, therefore,be conducted on a need basis. This activity will facilitate the reinforcement of existing knowledge while updating the medical staff on recent developments or approaches to hypoactive delirium. To help enforce the changes suggested, being part of the delirium representatives in the ward will provide a field experience on the conditions present in a real-world setting. The best way to ensure that the suggested changes are implemented is by personally facilitating their implementation. By being part of the delirium representatives in the ward, it will be easier to monitor, evaluate and enforce necessary adjustments aimed at implementing changes in the hypoactive delirium health care system in the particular health facility. It will make it possible to contribute towards providing an enriching environment, educate fellow staff members on important issues related to delirium, and improve the detection and management of hypoactive delirium in a clinical setup. According to Rudolf et al., (2011) delirium does not have a single causal pathway.A basicdeliriummanagementpathwaystarts from determining the risk factors for delirium based on a patients history, a clinical assessment to diagnose delirium symptoms, measures to manage the underlying causes, admission, and supervision if its determined to be an emergency, reduction of delirium, and finally managing the diagnosed patient. A person-centered collaborative care system that incorporates the patients, their family, and the community, with help in the management of delirium patients. According to Young, Murthy, Westby, Akunne O'Mahony (2010), the key objective in deliriummanagement is maintaining the patients and carers quality of life. This can be donethrough the collaboration of the patients, their family, hospital staff and thegeneral community on the importance of knowing the characteristics of a patient with possible hypoactive delirium and why/how to respond to diagnosed patients. This care system is expected to create awareness and bring the whole community together to tackle the delirium issue.A successful care plan with becharacterized by a situation where the family, friends, and carers will have the necessary knowledge and understanding of how to take care of patients The effectiveness of this health care improvement plan with be evaluated using a survey on the healthcare facility staff. The survey with collect and evaluate information so as to determine whether there was a significant improvement in early detection of hypoactive delirium and the management of diagnosed cases. This information will be collected from statistics relating to the number of new delirium patients admitted, the gap between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis and the length of stay by hospitalized delirium patients. Information related to the intervention on staff education will be collected by randomly surveying the retaining delirium knowledge. Conclusion In conclusion, hypoactive delirium remains a clinical diagnosis that needs to be critically evaluated and managed. Its presence should be approached as a medical emergency. The overall approach when dealing with delirium should start with assessment using appropriate tools or methods. Once hypoactive delirium is detected, the next step is to identify and remove the underlying cause.The only strategy that conclusively improves outcomes is the early mobilization of delirium patients. It is also important to note that patients without delirium posses the risk of developing delirium in the course of their hospitalization. The examination of delirium provides a chance for us to improve health care service towards the elderly(Inouye, Schlesinger, Lydon, 1999). Fueled by an aging demographic structure, there has been an increased need to focus on effective methods of detecting delirium early so as to better manage the disorder. The healthcare staff overseeing patients with delirium have often misdiagnosed, mistreated or ignored patients with hypoactive delirium. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate and implement changes that will assist in the early detection and management of hypoactive delirium, provide an enriching environmentconducive for delirium patients, and to educate the healthcare staff on matters pertaining to hypoactive delirium. Evaluation of the interventions aimed to ensure the changes had a positive impact and that they helped mitigate the existing service delivery gaps in hypoactive delirium healthcare. This healthcare improvement plan emphasized on the importance of a person-centered care approach. References Australian hospital statistics 2010-11. (2012). Canberra. Bridges, J., Flatley, M., Meyer, J. (2010). Older people's and relatives experiences in acute care settings: Systematic review and synthesis of qualitative studies.International journal of nursing studies,47(1), 89-107. Brooker, D. (2003). What is person-centred care in dementia?.Reviews in clinical gerontology,13(3), 215-222. Brooker, D., Latham, I. (2015).Person-centred dementia care: Making services better with the VIPS framework. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Cole, M. G. (2005). Delirium in elderly patients.Focus. Dewing, J. (2009). Caring for people with dementia: noise and light: Sensory stimulation can have a significant effect on the wellbeing of people with dementia. Jan Dewing explains how, with some simple modifications, the care environment can be made more therapeutic.Nursing Older People,21(5), 34-38. Donabedian, A. (2005). Evaluating the quality of medical care.The Milbank Quarterly,83(4), 691-729. Ely, E. W., Margolin, R., Francis, J., May, L., Truman, B., Dittus, R., ... Inouye, S. K. (2001). Evaluation of delirium in critically ill patients: validation of the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU).Critical care medicine,29(7), 1370-1379. Fong, T. G., Tulebaev, S. R., Inouye, S. K. (2009). Delirium in elderly adults: diagnosis, prevention and treatment.Nature Reviews Neurology,5(4), 210-220. Fick, D. M., Agostini, J. V., Inouye, S. K. (2002). Delirium superimposed on dementia: a systematic review.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society,50(10), 1723-1732. George, J., Bleasdale, S., Singleton, S. J. (1997). Causes and prognosis of delirium in elderly patients admitted to a district general hospital.Age and Ageing,26(6), 423-427. Helfrich, C. D., Damschroder, L. J., Hagedorn, H. J., Daggett, G. S., Sahay, A., Ritchie, M., ... Stetler, C. B. (2010). A critical synthesis of literature on the promoting action on research implementation in health services (PARIHS) framework.Implementation Science,5(1), 82. Hosker, C., Ward, D. (2017). Hypoactive delirium. BMJ, j2047. https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j2047 Inouye, S. K., Schlesinger, M. J., Lydon, T. J. (1999). Delirium: a symptom of how hospital care is failing older persons and a window to improve quality of hospital care.The American journal of medicine,106(5), 565-573. Kitson, A. L., Rycroft-Malone, J., Harvey, G., McCormack, B., Seers, K., Titchen, A. (2008). Evaluating the successful implementation of evidence into practice using the PARiHS framework: theoretical and practical challenges.Implementation science,3(1), 1. Langley, G., Moen, R., Nolan, K., Nolan, T., Norman, C., Provost, L., (2009). The improvement guide: a practical approach to enhancing organizational performance (2nd edition). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Law, E., Connelly, P., Prentice, N., Rooke, D. (2009). Educating staff about delirium in an acute hospital setting.Progress in Neurology and psychology,13(6), 37-39. Mailhot, T., Cossette, S., Bourbonnais, A., Ct, J., Denault, A., Ct, M. C., ... Guertin, M. C. (2014). Evaluation of a nurse mentoring intervention to family caregivers in the management of delirium after cardiac surgery (MENTOR_D): a study protocol for a randomized controlled pilot trial.Trials,15(1), 306. Martins, S., Fernandes, L. (2012). Delirium in Elderly People: A Review.Frontiers In Neurology,3. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2012.00101 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence,Clinical Guideline 103Delirium, NICE, London, UK, 2010. O'hanlon, S., O'regan, N., MacLullich, A. M., Cullen, W., Dunne, C., Exton, C., Meagher, D. (2013). Improving delirium care through early intervention: from bench to bedside to boardroom.J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, jnnp-2012. Ouldred, E., Bryant, C. (2011). Delirium: prevention, clinical features and management. Nursing Standard, 25(28), 47-56. https://dx.doi.org/10.7748/ns2011.03.25.28.47.c8398 Peritogiannis, V., Bolosi, M., Lixouriotis, C., Rizos, D. (2015). Recent Insights on Prevalence and Corelations of Hypoactive Delirium. Behavioural Neurology, 2015, 1-11. https://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/416792 Richards, T., Coulter, A., Wicks, P. (2015). Time to deliver patient centred care. Ritchie, J., Spencer, L. (2002). Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research.The qualitative researchers companion,573(2002), 305-329. Rudolph, J. L., Boustani, M., Kamholz, B., Shaughnessey, M., Shay, K. (2011). Delirium: a strategic plan to bring an ancient disease into the 21st century.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society,59(s2). Rycroft-Malone, J., Seers, K., Chandler, J., Hawkes, C. A., Crichton, N., Allen, C., ... Strunin, L. (2013). The role of evidence, context, and facilitation in an implementation trial: implications for the development of the PARIHS framework.Implementation Science,8(1), 28. Saxena, S., Lawley, D. (2009). Delirium in the elderly: a clinical review.Postgraduate medical journal,85(1006), 405-413. Schuurmans, M. J., Duursma, S. A., Shortridge?Baggett, L. M. (2001). Early recognition of delirium: review of the literature.Journal of clinical nursing,10(6), 721-729. Spiller, J. A., Keen, J. C. (2006). Hypoactive delirium: assessing the extent of the problem for inpatient specialist palliative care.Palliative medicine,20(1), 17-23. Travers, C., Byrne, G. J., Pachana, N. A., Klein, K., Gray, L. (2013). Delirium in Australian hospitals: a prospective study.Current gerontology and geriatrics research,2013. Waszynski, C. M. (2004). Confusion assessment method (CAM).Medsurg Nursing,13(4), 269. Whittaker, A., (2012). Research skills for social work (2nd edition). London: Sage Young, J., Inouye, S. K. (2007). Delirium in older people.BMJ: British Medical Journal,334(7598), 842. Young, J., Murthy, L., Westby, M., Akunne, A., O'mahony, R. (2010). Diagnosis, prevention, and management of delirium: summary of NICE guidance.BMJ: British Medical Journal,341.

Strategic Management and Amazon free essay sample

TMA 05 Block 4 Collaborative analysis Contents Part 1 External analysis (group A) 2 Internal analysis (group B) 4 Stakeholder analysis (group C) 10 Corporate-level strategy analysis (group D) 14 Competitive-level strategy analysis (group E) 17 Part 2 Critical assessment of the analysis 23 Part 3 Evidencing of contribution to groups 28 Part 4 Reflection on group decision making 30 Appendix 32 Part 1 1. Group A analysis INTRODUCTION Each member of team A used one of the many available frameworks to analyse the external environment of Amazon. com, focusing on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the organisation. The findings of each member’s analysis were amalgamated to form the content of the following report. Using the following frameworks we have identified the SWOT factors facing Amazon. com: STEP, Strategic Group Analysis/Strategic Group Map, Porter 5 Forces, Porters Generic Strategies and Competitor Analysis. ANALYSIS The far external environment STEP analysis has shown: High barriers to entry for new competitors in the same cluster as Amazon. com, as there is a large investment in technology and marketing required in order to compete. We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Management and Amazon or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Economic factors can affect the cost leadership approach of Amazon. Political issues are linked with sociological and therefore, are amplified for Amazon’s market. The near external environment Porter’s 5 forces: Supplier power is limited, as Amazon is potent customer, suppliers would not wish to lose them. Buyer power is low, as Amazon tends to offer the most competitive all round customer experience. The threat of substitute products is low due to the high barriers to entry, and there are no switching costs for customers (easy to buy from competitors) Amazon has joined forces with competitors (or hosts a web site for them) and therefore it can profit from their sales. Competitive environment Strategic group analysis has shown that Amazon stands alone, with its nearest competitor being eBay. This tends to show that it is a market leader. Amazon is successfully implementing a cost leadership / differentiation strategy enabling it to increase its market share. This helps Amazon to continue as a market leader. Amazon’s collaboration with its competitors has allowed it to source new items and gain economic rents from its partners. Amazon’s cash flow cycle allowed it to receive money from a customer before it has paid its supplier giving the financial market more faith in Amazon allowing it to finance itself more easily. CONCLUSION Team A has identified Amazon. coms key opportunities and threats through framework analysis. Growth, Technological, Collaborative and Flexibility opportunities enable Amazon to take advantage of changing STEP factors, conversely, Growth and Operations  threaten  Amazons  current and future position. Amazon has been able to use leverage within the market in order to persuade competitors to collaborate with them and therefore, gain economic rents from these partnerships. This has enabled Amazon to create intense market growth, which has both opportunities and threats and Amazons response will determine its future success within these fluid markets. TEAM PROCESS The activity was split into smaller tasks assigned to each team member in order to carry out our individual analysis reports on Amazon’s external environment, with each of us responsible for a certain framework. Due to our different availability, we were unable to organize teleconference meetings to make real-time decisions, and we communicate through asynchronous means on the Team A forum instead in order focused on coordinating our final report analysis, in which we used a consensus with qualifications approach. Appendix 1: SWOT [pic][pic]Bottom of Form [pic] Appendix 2: Strategic group map for e-commerce originations[pic] [pic] [pic]Bottom of Form 2. Group B analysis 1. Introduction Amazon. com is one of the largest online retailers offering a one stop shop solution to their customers. This reports objective is carrying out a SWOT audit of Amazons resources and capabilities using conceptsmodels from Unit 2 of Block 3: VRIN/VRIS, Porters value chain, and links between resource, capabilities and competitive advantage from Unit 2 of Block 3 (The OU, 2010). This is an outcome of individual analyses in 3 subgroups, team discussions and collaboration through agreement on tools, responsibilities and wiki structure. 2. Internal Analysis, a Resource Based View Internal analysis is used to determine relationships between resources and capabilities and how they are used to create value. The RBV suggests that sustainable competitive advantage determines organisations distinct capabilities (Johnson et al, 2008). Amazon therefore needs to exploit their capabilities (Hooley et al. 2008), in order to develop sustainable competitive strategy. The audit of Amazons resources and capabilities is shown in Appendix 1. Figure 1 highlights Amazons resources and capabilities using Barneys (1991) VRIS/N concept: to achieve sustainable competitive advantage, a resource must have four attributes; it must be valuable, rare, inimitable and not easily substituted (Block 3, The OU 2010 p. 61-64) a strength for Amazon. [pic] Figure 1, VRIS analysis (Unit 2, Block 3) 3. Resources and capabilities in the Value Chain The Value Chain analysis (Appendix 2) highlights how value is created or lost through internal activities and can indicate a need to extend the development of resources / capabilities: primary activities are those directly concerned with creation and delivery of Amazons services (Unit 2, The OU, 2010). It is clear where Amazon is able to create value through efficient activities and a well established process. Since sustainable competitive advantage is based upon resources and capabilities, value needs to be maintained or enhanced for Amazon. om to retain their position of sustainable competitive advantage (Unit 2, The OU, 2010, p. 60). Amazons business model offers a synergistic combination of the following benefits which help them to remain competitive: †¢ Shopping convenience †¢ Ease of purchase †¢ Speed †¢ Decision-enabling information †¢ A wide selection †¢ Di scounted pricing †¢ Reliability of order fulfillment Amazon. coms combination of services and logistical processes creates value for their customers which in-turn creates  sustainable  competitive advantage. Although these links can be hard to substantiate (causal ambiguity) (Unit 2, The OU 2009), Amazons resources/capabilities are valuable as they are difficult to replicate (e. g. knowledge). 4. Amazon. coms Dynamic Capabilities Amazons capabilities can be described as dynamic: processes used to manage resources in response to dynamic environment (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000). The impact Amazon. coms dynamic capabilities have: †¢ proactive flexible strategy †¢ re-shaping competitive environment / industry standards †¢ superior response to customers demand / KSFs (Unit 2, The OU, 2010) †¢ gathering knowledge utilise resources to their best potential Since Amazon. com operates in a dynamic enviroment, they should avoid risks or exploit new opportunities (SWOT The OU 2010, p. 191) by combining strategic flexibility with adequate resources, supported by their capabilities. 5. Conclusion In this report we collaboratively analysed Amazons resources and capabilities which informs their strengths and weaknesses (The OU 2010, p. 190), as illustrated in Appendix 3. For Amazon. com to manage change and to implement competitive strategy (Block 3, p. 92) is a challenge since they operate in a dynamic and global environment. Amazon. com will therefore need to continually renew resources and capabilities to react to the opportunities and threats in their external environment and to ensure that their cross functional capabilities are integrated. 7. References 1. Block 3, Reading 10: Hitt, H. A. , Keats, B. W. and DeMarie, S. M. (1998) Navigating in the new competitive landscape: Building strategic flexibility and competitive advantage in the 21st century, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 12, No. 4 Academy of Managment 2. Block 3, Reading 3: Grant, R. M. 1991) The resource-based theory of competitive advantage: implications for strategy formulation,California Management Review, Vol. 33, Issue 3. By permission of the Regents. 3. Eisenhardt, K. and Martin, J. (2000) Dynamic capabilities: what are they? in The Open University (ed. ) Readings for Block 3, Milton Keynes, The Open University pp. 77-84 4. Grant, R. M. (2008), Contemporrary Strategy Analysis (6th edn), Oxford, Blackwell. 5. Leschly, S. , Roberts, M. J. and Sahlman, W. A. (2003) Amazon. com 2002, Harvard Business Review. 6. Lester, H. (2006), Creating a unique multi-channel customer experience, London, Fifty Lessons Ltd [online], http://openuniversity. fiftylessons. com. libezproxy. open. ac. uk/viewlesson. asp? 1=534 (accessed July 2009/2011) 7. Porter, M. E. (1985), Competitive Advantage, New York, Free Press. 8. The Open University (2009) B301 Making sense of strategy, Block 1 Introducing strategy, Milton Keynes, The Open University 9. The Open University (2010) B301 Making sense of strategy, Block 3 The strategy toolkit, Milton Keynes, The Open University 10. Viney, H. , Winchester, N. and Boojihawon (2010). B301, Block 3 The Strategy Toolkit: The Open University. 8. Appendices Appendix 1 [pic] Figure 1 Links between resources, capabilities and competitive advantage (adapated). [pic] Figure 2 Resources and capabilities of Amazon. Figure 3 The hierarchical structure of capabilities (The Open University, 2010 p. 80) (Adapted) Appendix 2 [pic] Appendix 3 [pic] 3. Group C analysis Introduction View comments on separate page Add your own comment Team Cs analysis is based on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Amazons stakeholders as highlighted in the case study Amazon. com- 2002. The analysis is informed by a range of models including a stakeholder map and analyses of their power, classes and salience. Outcome of Group Analysis 3 most recent shown (view all) Add your own comment Strengths Amazon uses a superior online platform which can lead to competitors becoming partners so they can tap into that resource. This is a core organizational capability and exploits the technological skills of its highly qualified workforce, putting Amazon in a very strong position to build its businesses effectively, as evidenced by its other business areas (including warehousing, buying, shipping, security and distribution) and mutually beneficial partnerships (i. . with Toys R Us). Amazon has an experienced and accomplished CEO who has developed the Amazon brand into a household name following its successful diversification strategies. Customers use Amazon as a means of achieving convenience through shopping online with an established and recognized retailer with a reputation for secure handling of information and online safety. Weaknesses Amazons collaborative strengths also form part of its weakne sses in respect of reliance on third party distributors. This implies a shortage of expertise in some areas of Amazon’s operation, since they require this kind of collaborative relationship. Having such a strong reliance on the internet delivery model also leaves Amazon vulnerable to technological problems which could lose business and drive customers to its competitors who operate in broader ways (such as high street stores). The hasty expansion of Amazon’s businesses may affect internal procedures and systems. This could have a negative effect on levels of staff productivity and motivation which could have a detrimental effect on Amazon’s overall success. Opportunities Diversifying into new markets is an opportunity to grow its collaborative-focused businesses such as using Merchant. com to help other organisations manage their online services for a fee. This enabled Amazon to simultaneously exploit its superior technology and benefit its collaborative partnerships. Amazon has the potential to develop its technological advantages further in a similar way that it has with its Kindle. This could open up opportunities for collaboration with other high profile technology-focused companies such as Apple or Sony to design the next big gadget. Amazon has the potential to become ambassadors for Corporate Social Responsibility due to its local distribution channels (which are relatively green) as evidenced by the Kindle which has reduced the need for paperback books. This could support political affiliations, helping its long-term planning. Threats Hackers are a threat to Amazon’s online platform. If the wrong people get access to customer data it could destroy Amazon’s reputation for online safety. This could stop customers buying its products, and partners from collaborating. Changes in consumer buying habits can pose a significant threat. Between 2002 and 2007 the difference in spending between books and consumer electronics rose from $843m to $4,319m. Low entry barriers form a threat because there are potential competitors which Amazon must look out for to craft its strategies effectively. This, coupled with the potential for partners with ploys to gain best practice and then compete without collaboration means that Amazon must consider the true motives of its partners. Stakeholder Map I have identified Amazons stakeholders and attached a link to the stakeholder map. Stakeholders are described by Freeman ‘any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the firm’s objectives’ (Freeman, 1984, p. 25) The stakeholders are prioritised by power, legitimacy and urgency, dependant on the number of categories they fit into they can be categorised in following sections: Latent Stakeholders – stakeholders who only have one attribute. Expectant Stakeholders – stakeholders who have two attributes. Definitive Stakeholder – stakeholders who have all the attributes. The more attributes stakeholders have the more of a priority they are to an organisation. Stakeholder Power Matrix View comments on separate page Add your own comment How should a business respond to variations in stakeholder power and influence? Completing a power matrix will help Amazon develop a communication plan that is aligned to each stakeholders focus and concerns. The matrix prioritises Amazon stakeholders in order of importance. The positioning on the grid is important; High power, interested people: these are the people with the greatest influence, every effort must be made to engage these stakeholders †¢ High power, less interested people: put enough work in with these people to keep them satisfied, but not so much that they lose interest. †¢ Low power, interested people: These people can often be very helpful with the detail of your project. †¢ Low power, less interested people: moni tor these people, but do not overburden them with excessive communication. †¢ Figure 1: Stakeholder power matrix of Amazon |High level of interest |Low level of interest | |High level of power |Shareholders, Partners, Customers |Government, Suppliers, creditors | |Low level of power |Pressure groups, the press, local communities, environmental agencies,|Every stakeholder will have some form of | | |employees |power | Stakeholder Classes Analysis Amazon. om stakeholder classes In carrying out stakeholders’ analyst (Mitchell et al, 1997) identify three attributes:   Power, legitimacy and urgency. He then formulated seven areas to class them in. |Stakeholder |Attributes: |Classification |   | | |power | | | | |legitimacy | | | | urgency | | | | | | | | |Management |X |Dominant |Bezos and his team are the brains behind | | |X | |Amozon. om | | |X | | | | | | | | |Third party sellers |X |Dependent |Z-shops/auctions | | |X | | | | |   | | | | | | | | |customers |X |dema nding |Always looking for new changes | | |X | | | | |   | | | | | | | | |employees |  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   X |Dangerous/dependent |The back bone of the company | | |X | | | | |   | | | | | | | | |partners |X |Definitive |Large corporation/Toys R Us | | |X | | | |   | | | | | | | | |suppliers |X |Definitive |close proximity | | |X | | | | |   | | | | | | | | |Government |X |   |Amazon. com have to abide by certain rules | | |X | |and regulation | | |   | | | | | | | | Stakeholder Salience Analysis The following analysis considered the salience of amazon. com’s stakeholders. STAKEHOLDER SALIENCE |  Ã‚   |Attributes Possessed |Stakeholder Classification | |Stakeholder |Legitimacy |Power |Urgency |   | |Bezos (owner) and Senior Management TeamBoard of Director|   |   |X   |Stakeholder dominant | | |X |X | |   | |Partners suppliers (eg Sotheby’s)    |   |   |Mutual power- dependence | | |X |X |   |relationship | |Shareholders |   |   |   |Mutual power-dependence relationship| | |X |X | | | | |   | | | | |Specialist employees and managers |   |   |   |Mutual power-dependence relationship| | |X |X | | | |Non specialist employees |   | | |Firm dominant | | |X | | | | |Small businesses Individuals that sell stock on website |   |   |   |Stakeholder interests – legitimacy | |   |X | | |not implied | |Third party sellers incl. mall Medium sized   traders |   |   |   |Basis for legitimacy of relationship| |that amazon purchased equity in |X | | | | |Media, Government, Customers |   |   |   |A relationship exists | | |X | | | | NB. Some legitimate stakeholders have little influencepower but it is important to remember that power can be acquired or lost (Mitchell et al, 1997). In addition, I have amended the table to reflect that stakeholders are more likely to move temporarily into a state of urgency. Managers need to pay particular attention if this occurs with stakeholders that possess both legitimacy and power. The first two listed have the highest salience  for managers. However, the needs of the other stakeholders need to be  considered in particular dormant shareholders who can  exert power  with urgency if necessary. References View comments on separate page Add your own comment The Open University, (2010) B301, Block3, The Strategy Toolkit, Milton Keynes, The Open University Stakeholder Map ( The Open University, Block 3, The Strategy Toolkit, 2010, p. 81-82) Stakeholder Power Matrix The Open University, Block 3, The Strategy Toolkit, 2010, p. 106) The Open University, (2010) B301, readings for Block 3, Milton Keynes, The Open University Stakeholder Classes (The Open University, Block 3, The strategy Toolkit, 2010, p. 101) The Open Univers ity, (2010) B301, Block 4,Collaborative Analysis, Milton Keynes, The Open University Amazon. com Case Study (The Open University, Block 4, Collaborative Analysis, 2010, p. 40-70) 4. Group D analysis Outcome of Group Analysis TEAM D – AMAZON. COM’S CORPORATE-LEVEL STRATEGIC CHOICES Bottom of Form ANSOFF’S VECTORS Top of Form Bottom of Form Recommendation: Amazon continues to pursue both market penetration and diversification. Market penetration: †¢ Amazon places an emphasis on customer experience; there’re no switching costs for their ‘customers for life’. †¢ Their technological platform makes it hard to compete due to start up costs and high levels of technical staff required to run the website (valuable, non imitable). Diversification: †¢ It already meets minimum requirement for the market’s KSF, and capitalises on the organisations resources and capabilities. †¢ There’s no unacceptable financial risk to endanger liquidity of the capital structure. †¢ Should not affect the organisations internal systems and procedures, or relationship with its stakeholders. Weaknesses: Possible over-dependence on third parties: contingencies would be required. †¢ Non English speaking market is as yet untouched potential – forming new partnerships where necessary to allow for diversification into new geographic markets of non English speaking readers is suitable, feasible and acceptable. CORPORATE RELATEDNESS Bottom of Form Recommendation: diversification. †¢ Amazon. com offers a single portal to provide convenience to their customer for the online shopping experience. †¢ Book business success expanded to shippable consumer goods. †¢ Diversification approach born through strategic alliances. †¢ Intangible resources were developed forming foundation for capabilities and core competencies. Used expertise and scaling capabilities to enter new markets and offer backend services, therefore gaining positioning with a USP. †¢ Foundation and infrastructure in place, therefore allowing to support the diversity of the offering concurrently. †¢ Synergies between organisations provided an entry point for everyone but allowed each organisation to operate independently. Using the value-creating strategies of diversification table (Hitt et al, 2003), Amazon is located within the Low opportunity of sharing assets/h igh corporate relatedness quadrant (APPENDIX 2 – CORPORATE RELATEDNESS). The high corporate relatedness could partly be explained as the result of their strategic alliances. Although having positioned the company as low operational relatedness, in this company synergy exists as the value created offering several products in a single website exceeds the value the user would have in the possible event they had to pay double shipment costs. SUITABLE, FEASIBLE, ACCEPTABLE Bottom of Form Suitable: Diversification complies with Amazon’s KSF (Selection, Price and Convenience). It also maximises resources and capabilities through the application of Barney’s VRIN model. Diversification overcomes threats including reducing competitors through forming mutually beneficial alliances. It operates according to Bezos’ vision for an online shop where anything can be bought. Feasible: Amazon’s strategy can be resourced because it uses a relatively inexpensive online platform and draws on trustworthy suppliers and skilled staff. Diversification shouldn’t affect Amazon unless they use unknown partners who don’t deliver. The competition’s likely to emulate Amazon or form partnerships with them. Neither approach should pose a threat. Acceptable: Amazon has a developed marketplace platform meaning low input costs and the ability to exploit its existing technology. It’s well established partnerships, meaning that its stakeholder relationships are likely to remain positive. Amazon’s able to rapidly deliver its provision meaning that diversification is unlikely to cause problematic procedural issues. TEAM PROCESS Bottom of Form Project Lead was the only assigned role. Due to larger group-numbers and less areas to cover 3 subgroups were formed and final allocation for separate report areas were agreed upon. Individual reports were put forward and best-bits merged to create a summarised version. These summaries were merged once again for the final  wiki. Wordcount: (545 words) APPENDIX 1 ANSOFFS VECTORS APPENDIX 2 – CORPORATE RELATEDNESS REFERENCES. APPENDIX 1 ANSOFFS VECTORS Market Penetration The use of the internet and access to high speed internet connection has enable Amazon. com with the use of its open minded and innovative team, to launch and develop what is today the biggest online bookstore anywhere in the world. The results of the stage 2 analyses indicate that a market penetration strategy was used effectively. Strategically located, Amazon developed brand eputation through its superior technology, skilled workforce and logistical capabilities that facilitated rapid growth and allowed Amazon to gain price advantage. Market Development At one point Amazon was roughly doubling its sales every quarter: at this stage they had nearly 340,000 customers with further hits numbering 80,000. However despite some countries having internet restrictions, as more of the world becomes internet-enabled, there is still potential for further growth here. Another weakness is that there are a limited number of offers for non English titles. Product Development From their original market plan which was sales of books, Amazon not only developed their product range, but they also developed their services as well, providing the ‘ultimate customer experience’ They then went on to launch an entire host of other items, including the launch of the Kindle eBook which resulted in an existing product (books) being made available to Amazon customers in a new way. Diversification Five years after starting up Amazon. com embarked upon a new strategy â€Å"the marketplace initiative. †   Online auctioning was implemented by the firm; this however was done by third party companies and individuals. Amazon was just the source through which these third party products were sold and Amazon was not accountable for these goods and services. This lead Amazon to realise they now served 2 different sets of customers: buyers and sellers. APPENDIX 2 – CORPORATE RELATEDNESS [pic] Adapted from Block 3 The strategy toolkit p. 223 REFERENCES.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Block 3 – The strategy toolkit Making Sense of Strategy.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Block 4 – Collaborative Analysis Making Sense of Strategy.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Readings for Block 3 – Reading 15 Making Sense of Strategy.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Team A, B C wikis. 5. Group E analysis Outcome of Group Analysis Introduction Team E undertook an evaluation of Amazons competitive level strategy, reporting back using Gerry Johnson et al. (2006) three sets of generic testing criteria: a) Suitability: In line with Jeff Bezos vision of uilding a place where people find and discover anything they might want to buy online (Amazon2002), Amazon is consistent with and fulfils the market KSF (A ppendix, Fig. 1) that it operates within by offering product variety, order fulfillment and competitive prices in a truly virtual model that eliminates a large portion of fulfillment costs and inventory risk. In theory, Amazons cost-leadership and differentiation strategy is suitable, since they are able to meet their customers’ needs (Fig. 2) and it gives them the opportunity to exploit their strengths[i]. Their strategy can become problematic if their technology platform is not continually being developed and therefore able to cope with Amazons continuous expansion. Amazon capitalized their resources and capabilities,[ii] to build awareness, increase traffic and sales. They were also pursuing their online commerce opportunities and solidifying and extending their position in the large markets where they noticed substantial opportunities. [iii] Amazon has accelerated their online commerce by creating value for their customers (Appendix, Fig. 3) and obtaining sustainable competitive advantage. b) Feasibility In practice, Amazon can achieve the required level of operational performance by delivering cost leadership advantage (Fig. 4 and Table1), assigning the necessary market capital due to its IPO, to raise capital and invest $800 million in technology (Grant: economies of scale and learning. Drivers: Quality of purchased products, features and performance and complementary services), creating market share, which stems from its original success and good name (Grants input costs/economies of scale and learning) and lowering costs by initiating redundancies and closing distribution and customer service centers (Grant: residual efficiency / input costs. Drivers: Technology embodied in design, the skill and experience of employees, location and degree of vertical integration). c) Acceptability There is a risk that Amazons relationships with their stakeholders (Fig. 5) can be affected if their increased purposed growth does not take in account that: †¢ International growth can add pressure to their internal systems and procedures which could affect profits. †¢ Increase in oil prices affect delivery costs. †¢ Not enough expertise in markets they are diversifying into a loss in returns. Increased third party suppliers/sellers may not provide same level of servi ce as Amazon directly, could impact the reputation potentially losing customers One of the key issues in shareholders management is the maximization of the long term cash flow by maintaining dynamic capabilities to preserve a degree of flexibility that can allow it to react to changes and keep the shareholder returns acceptable. Recommendations †¢ Have service level agreements of what is expected of suppliers and continue to monitor and develop customer feedback. †¢ Source local suppliers and distributors in countries such as Germany, UK, China Amazons overall sales, resulting in higher efficiency and better quality service. Setup business in countries with stable economies and governments †¢ Ensure their technology platform is continually being developed †¢ Carry out market research into the suitability, feasibility and acceptability of new strategies, products and services offered Process used by the team Team E was split in three sub-teams that bought together all three headings of the framework into one single agreed final report. [pic] [i] (Team A wiki, Appendix1 SWOT) [ii] (Team B wiki Fig. 2 RC Amazon) [iii] (Team A wiki, Appendix 1 SWOT) References 1. Leschly, S. , Roberts, M. J. and Sahlman, W. A. (2003) Amazon. com 2002, Harvard Business Review. 2. Viney, H. , Winchester, N. and Boojihawon (2010). B301, Block 3 The Strategy Toolkit: The Open University. 3. Grant, R. M. (2008), Contemporary Strategy Analysis (6th edn), Oxford, Blackwell. 4. Porter, M. E. (1985), Competitive Advantage, New York, Free Press. 5. Lester, H. (2006), Creating a unique multi-channel customer experience, London, Fifty Lessons Ltd [online], http://openuniversity. fiftylessons. com. libezproxy. open. ac. uk/viewlesson. asp? 1=534 (accessed July 2009/2011) 6. Block 3, Reading 3: Grant, R. M. (1991) The resource-based theory of competitive advantage: implications for strategy formulation, California Management Review, Vol. 33, Issue 3. By permission of the Regents. 7. Block 3, Reading 10: Hitt, H. A. , Keats, B. W. and DeMarie, S. M. (1998) Navigating in the new competitive landscape: Building strategic flexibility and competitive advantage in the 21st century, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 12, No. 4 Academy of Management. 8. 8. Viney, H. , Winchester, N. and Boojihawon (2010). B301, Block 3 The Strategy Toolkit: The Open University. 9. Leschly, S. , Roberts, M. J. and Sahlman, W. A. (2003) Amazon. com 2002, Harvard Business Review. APPENDIX Bottom of Form 1. Amazon. coms Key Success Factors. [pic] 2. Amazons customer needs. [pic] Figure 2, Amazon’s customer needs. 3. Markides'(1999) who, what, how’ framework (Block 3, p. 231). [pic] Figure 3, Markides'(1999) who, what, how’ framework (Block 3, p. 231). 4. Grants eight drivers of cost advantage (Block 3, p. 235) [pic] Figure 4, Drivers of cost advantage. 5. Drivers of Amazon’s cost advantage (Block 3, p. 242) |  Economies of scale |Technical input–output |Amazon can purchase in bulk the firm is able to spread the costs | | |relationships; |of the items over a larger volume of output. Large warehouse | | |indivisibilities; |stores like Amazon dominate the retail industry that used to be | | |specialization |made of small, local stores. The threat of substitute products is| | | |low due to the high barriers to entry, and there are no switching| | | |costs for customers (easy to buy from competitors) | |Economies of learning |Increased individual skills; |Organizations ‘learn by doing’. One of Amazon’s KSF is its | | |improved organizational |technologically experienced employees. . | | |routines | | |Production Techniques |Process innovation; |Amazon. com sells its entire inventory every 25 days! | |re-engineering of business | | | |processes | | |Product design |Standardization of designs and |Amazon have diversified into e-books via the Kindle, made | | |components; design for |possible by their knowledge of technology, research/development | | |manufacture |and unique resources | |Input costs |Location advantages; ownership |Amazon is successfully implementing a cost leadership / | | |of low-cost inputs; non-union |differentiation strategy enabling it to increase its market | | |labour; bar gaining power |share. Supplier power is limited, as Amazon is potent customer, | | | |suppliers would not wish to lose them. Buyer power is low, as | | | |Amazon tends to offer the most competitive all round customer | | | |experience. | |Capacity utilization |Ratio of fixed to variable |Amazon’s cash flow cycle allowed it to receive money from a | | |costs; fast and flexible |customer before it has paid its supplier giving the financial | | |capacity adjustment |market more faith in Amazon allowing it to finance itself more | | | |easily. |Residual efficiency |Removal of organizational |Team A identified Amazon’s $800m investment made in advanced | | |slack; achievement of |technology in order to stand as the platform above competitors. | | |X-efficiency; presence of |Team B identified that Amazon’s skilled staff and e-business | | |employee motivation and strong |systems as two of its most valuable attributes. | | |organizational culture; | | | |managerial effectiveness. | | Table 1, Drivers of cost advantage. 6. Amazon’s stakeholder map. [pic] Figure 5, Amazons Stakeholders. Amazon needs to consider the implications their strategic decisions have on their Stakeholders â€Å"any group or individual who can effect or is affected by the achievement of the firm’s objectives† (Freeman, 1984, p25) Part 2 Critical assessment of group analysis a) External analysis (Group A) Amazon’s internal environment was analysed to identify their opportunities and threats (Appendix 1, figure 3). The distinction of Amazon’s far, near and competitive environments (appendix 1, figure 1) could have been illustrated (Block 3, p. 18). a) Far environment Amazon’s far environment’ (Block 3, p. 18) include ‘sociological, technological, economic and political’ forces (STEP model Block 3, p. 18). The relationship between these factors was explained, but not identified. The ‘online retail spending forecast’ (Block 4, Exhibit 3, on p. 57) identifies a sociological force, showing the changes in their customer behaviour and the apparel opportunity. The increase in active and new customers and a rise in internet purchases are shown in Exhibit 1b (Block 4, p. 54). Technological development provides a opportunity for growth and is supported by the international internet statistics, 2002 (Block 4, Exhibit 11 on p. 0). ‘Legal’ and ‘environmental’ considerations should have been considered, referring to the extended model of Fahey and Narayanan’s framework (Block 3, p. 23). Amazon’s international expansion (Block 4, Exhibit 4b) lead to increased legal factors affectin g their operations due to different governments and regulations and can impact profitability (Block 3, p. 25). b) Near environment The failed to illustrate the analysis of Amazon’s near environment using Porter’s five forces framework (Block 3, p. 27). International internet statistics, 2002 (Block 4, Exhibit 11 on p. 70) shows that ‘government’ should be included as a sixth force (Block 3, p. 18 – Rugman and Verbeke), since it affect the structure of Amazon’s industry and profitability (Readings for Block 3, p. 17). See Appendix 1, figure 2. ‘Growth, technological, collaborative and flexibility opportunities’ was vaguely mentioned and further influences could have been identified i. e. brand development (Doyle, 2002), advanced technology and infrastructure which is not imitable (Block 3, p. 60 – Barney’s VRIN) and differentiation. c) Competitive environment The strategic group map (Block 3, p. 45 – Grant, 20 08, p. 118) clearly showed Amazon’s position in ‘geographical scope’ and ‘product range’. Amazon is a market leader since it is not easy to imitate their brand, their infrastructure or the way they do things (Barney’s VRIN). Although all the criticism on organisations pursuing a dual strategy I feel that they are correct in stating that Amazon compete both on a cost leadership and differentiation strategy (Block 3, p. 46 – Porter, 1985, p. 12). Porter’s generic strategies (Block 3, p. 46) could have been used to support this, as illustrated in figure 4. This report gave me an insight of Amazon’s industry, their competitors and competitive environment; they pursue both cost leadership and differentiation strategies. To identify the opportunities and threats they should have referred to the SWOT analysis in their appendix. b) Internal analysis (Group B) Amazon’s internal environment was analysed with the objective to identify their strengths and weaknesses. See appendix 1, figure 3 for the SWOT ordering framework (Block 3, p. 191). ) Internal Analysis, a Resource Based View Figure 1 (appendix 1) illustrates the ideal relationship between Amazon’s resources, capabilities a nd competitive advantage (Block 3, p. 67); which should have been adapted more specifically to Amazon. ‘Casual ambiguity’ (Block 3, p. 61) is noticeable due to the difficulty to link and establish Amazon’s resources, capabilities and competitive advantage. Their KSFs should have been identified, since resources and capabilities arguably will only have value if they permit to satisfy the KSFs (Block 3, p. 61). Amazon’s tangible, intangible resources and their capabilities were illustrated in figure 2, appendix 1. Further referencing could have been made to the case study for example Exhibit 2b (Block 4, p. 56), the comparison between Amazon and a typical book retail operating cycle. This shows Amazon’s unique resources and capabilities which are not easily imitable. Grant’s (1991) steps of strategy formation (Readings for Block 3, p. 49) could have been included and annotated with an example within Amazon. Barney’s VRIS concept (Block 3, p. 61) was illustrated well and it has been reported back to the SWOT analysis. The analysis did not identify which of Amazon resources have all four attributes and if it provides sustainable competitive advantage. b) Resources and capabilities in the Value Chain Value creation was shown (Appendix 2) using Porter’s value chain. Amazon’s services and logistical processes are seen to add value, for example their operating cycle in comparison to a book retailing operating cycle (Block 4, Exhibit 2b). This highlights the importance of Amazon’s assets in achieving competitive advantage. The limitation of the value chain analysis is that it mostly concentrates on identifying an organisation’s strengths and not their weaknesses. c) Amazon’s Dynamic Capabilities Appendix 1 the ‘hierarchical structure of capabilities’, illustrated Amazon’s excellence of customer support through their cross-functional capabilities. Capabilities are dynamic since Amazon is required to adapt their resources and capabilities to the changes in their competitive environment and to the industry’s KSFs. Amazon’s dynamic capabilities allow them to have a proactive flexible strategy which helps building on their strengths with the support from resources and capabilities to exploit opportunities or avoid risks. They concluded with a focus on Amazon’s strengths and weaknesses and looking at their resources and capabilities. They should have identified where Amazon need to renew their resources and capabilities to react to the opportunities. c)   Stakeholder Analysis (Group C) Team C analyzed Amazon’s stakeholders reporting back on SWOT. a) Stakeholder Map and Power Matrix The stakeholders map identifies Amazon’s stakeholders and is supported by the stakeholder power matrix which indicates whether stakeholders have the capacity to influence the implementation or the criteria upon which Amazon’s strategy is based. It is not clear if Amazon’s strategy is based on ‘criteria or operational power’ (Block 3, p. 106). This can be referred back to the ‘resource dependency theory’ (Block 3, p. 97 – Pfeffer, 1981), showing how one business unit within Amazon can be dependent on another. Amazon therefore needs to take stakeholders into consideration who contributes significant resources when strategy is formulated. b) Stakeholder classes To identify stakeholder types emerging from combinations of attributes: power, legitimacy and urgency (Readings for Block 3, p. 9) they should have used the ‘qualitative classes of a stakeholder’ (Readings for Block 3, p. 99). The analysis of Amazon’s stake holder groups, classified them with the use of the former mentioned attributes. It involves a different aspects to take into consideration which they supported with examples from Amazon but did not report back to the weaknesses and threats. c) Stakeholder Salience Analysis Amazon’s stakeholders were categorised in terms of salience. The possession of attributes should be treated as dynamic, since situations might arise due to urgency and this would influence the decision (Mitchell et el. , 1997). Stakeholders can affect Amazon’s objectives (Block 3, p. 6) due to salience which is linked to CSR i. e. they are using environmentally friendly packing. A stakeholder working in warehousing or distribution might have felt that this is urgent where others did not, but since more customers are environmentally focused this provided a coalition of power to make the decision. a) SWOT analysis This group should revise the structure of their outcome by ending with the SWOT analysis where they mainly had to focus on the threats and weaknesses (Appendix 1, figure 3). Amazon’s weaknesses such as their dependency on third party distributers could also be an opportunity to exploit, using their resources and capabilities. The changes in consumer behaviour identified as a threat; could also be an opportunity for them if the changes in the market are in their favour. They supported this with facts from the exhibits, increase in spending. Further evidence could have been used to confirm what attributes (power, legitimacy and urgency) their consumers have. From a stakeholder perspective they have identified Amazon’s strengths, weaknesses and opportunities and threats well. d) Corporate Analysis (Group D) Amazon’s corporate-level strategy was evaluated using Ansoff’s vectors with the recommendation to pursue both market penetration and differentiation strategies and reporting back to suitability, acceptability and feasibility (Johnson et al. , 2006). I do not agree with their recommendation; as they need to pursue another strategy when the market is saturated to continue growing. Amazon’s business plan included both the ‘retail model’ and their ‘marketplace model’ (Block 4, p. 40) which they then later integrated showing Amazon’s different growth strategies. a) Retail Model Amazon started as a book retailer with modest inventories, depended on distributors with a focus on growth following a ‘market penetration strategy’ (Block 3, p. 208 – Ansoff’s growth vectors). Amazon then evolved towards a ‘product development’ (Ansoff, 1987) growth strategy to incorporate a wider variety of products (Block 3, p. 40). During the expansion in 2000 (Exhibit 4, p. 8) they pursued a market development or a diversification strategy depending if they entered the new markets with existing or new products. Throughout Amazon’s evolution they have invested in buildin g out and integrating their technology to further develop their capabilities. b) Marketplace Model Amazon augment their retail commence model with the ‘marketplace initiative’ (Block 4, p. 40) focussing on third-party sellers. Retailers became interested in outsourcing their online presence. Amazon therefore served as an e-commerce outsourcing partner, developing commerce models and an auction capability, entering and building partnerships and they introduced zShops. Here they focussed pursuing on both market development and product development strategies. c) Integrating Amazon Amazon’s customer culture focuses on providing their customers with ‘selection, price and convenience’. They changed to a ‘single-store strategy’ from having third-party commerce in distinct areas to selling alongside them on their website. Amazon continually expands their product lines by diversification (Ansoff, 1987) of commerce and developing multiple partnership strategies such as marketing deals and syndicated stores etc. As a result Amazon remains competitive and continually grows. The apparel opportunity posed different options to Amazon i. e. partnerships or stocking the items themselves. I personally feel that the integrated approach would be better, as they would then share their resources and capabilities which will enable them to exploit further opportunities. d) Recommendation and suitability, feasibility and acceptability Amazon has to continually adapt to their growth strategy due to the importance of ’market share, service capabilities and differentiation’ (Barney’s VRIN), to exploit opportunities and overcome weaknesses. Looking at Amazon’s retail, marketplace and integrated models we have seen them pursuing multiple growth strategies (see appendix 1, Ansoff’s four growth strategies)which was suitable at the time and feasible due to their resources and capabilities and lastly acceptable (Johnson et al. , 2006) due to expanding the selection available to customers. I agree with their recommendation to pursue a strategy of diversification especially looking at the apparel opportunity but in other areas of the business they might consider product development or market development strategies depending on the SWOT analysis. e) Corporate relatedness Since Amazon establish economies of scope with their operating models (Block 4, Exhibit 2b) and have the ’technology, processes and competencies’ which other retailers prefer to outsource. I therefore agree that Amazon has an opportunity of sharing their assets whilst having low corporate relatedness (Hitt et al. , 2003 – Block 3, p. 223) with the retailers or partners. e) Competitive analysis (Group E) The outcome of Amazons competitive level strategy evaluation did not recommend which of Porter’s competitive strategies should be pursued (Block 3, p. 245). a) Resources and capabilities available to the Amazon Amazon integrate, build, and reconfigured their internal and external competencies to address changing environments and to build their dynamic capabilities (Reading’s for Block 3, p. 77 Teece et al. ). Investments resulted in online retailing technologies, website personalization features, warehousing, reliable IT systems, customer relationship systems and new products leading to competitive advantage through both cost and differentiation (Block 3, p. 245) strategies. b) The industry key success factors (KSFs) KSFs refer to the limited number of areas in which satisfactory results will ensure successful competitive performance† (Rockart and Bullen, 1981). Amazon needs to focus on their success to build their capabilities, this helps to understand the key areas in which they should invest their time and resources. Amazon’s KSFs is identified in Appendix 1, figure 6. c) The nature of Amazon’s external environment To evaluate Amazon’s competitive level strategy they need to look at their external environment to identify their competitive position and determine opportunities and threats (Porter’s five forces framework). Group A’s external analysis should have been used. Supplier power is low as Amazon provide their customer base a ecommerce platform. Buyer power is low, since Amazon provides the most competitive all round customer experience (SWOT – strength); including variety based on their operating cycle (Block 4, p. 56). Amazon capabilities of ecommerce platforms (Barney’s VRIN) give them competitive power; supported by their customer-centric culture (Block 3, p. 247). Competitors fail to compete directly with Amazon, as they provide customer experience which is not imitable. The threat of substitution is moderate; customers can find the products from competitors i. e. Barnes Noble or Ebay. Their selection, price and convenience (SWOT – strength) makes them unique. The barriers to enter are high; Amazon therefore exploited their capabilities in commerce and by developing partnerships with other retailers (SWOT – opportunity). d) Objectives of key stakeholders Markides'(1999) who, what, how’ framework (Block 3, p. 31) gives an overview of who Amazon’s customers are, what value proposition do they make to customers i. e. variety of products at low cost. And the way the value is delivered i. e. through their reliable web infrastructure. Amazon’s stakeholderâ₠¬â„¢s main objective is a ‘vision of ultimate selection’ by providing ‘a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online’ (Block 4, p. 40). With their focus on serving customers (see appendix 1, figure 6) they started embracing ‘selection, price and convenience’ on which they base their customer experience. In addition to these objectives, also feel that the main focus for the key stakeholders for Amazon is growth and profit maximisation. ) Recommendation and suitability, feasibility and acceptability Amazon’s core competitive strategy has been to focus on the customer experience; however, they also compete on time, price, convenience, loyalty, reputation and innovation. They focussed on Grant’s ‘drivers of cost advantage’ (Block 3, p. 235); this shows that a competitive strategy should not only be based on a cost focus. My recommendation is that they continue pursuing both a co st and differentiation advantage; by developing their capabilities across functions. Creating a sustainable competitive advantage, Amazon differentiates with service and cost sectors made possible with their strong, supportive and complex organisational culture (Block 3, p. 246) Amazon’s integrated cost leadership and differentiation strategy is ‘suitable’, as it identifies their opportunities i. e. he apparel opportunity where they capitalise their resources and capabilities which conforms to the KSFs. Their strategy of both options is ‘feasible’ but I feel that the partnership option is more feasible, due to the complexity of the apparel industry. The strategy is ‘acceptable’ since the apparel commerce was forecasted to grow at 34% from 2002 – 2007 with an estimated market segment at $203 billion per year. Although this seems like a profitable option there is still a risk involved due to the complexity of the industry. Part 3 Ev idencing of contribution to groups a) Stage 2 Group B was responsible to undertake an analysis of Amazon’s resources and capabilities. We were divided into three subgroups, where my subgroup was responsible for identifying Amazon’s resources and capabilities and their attributes; evaluate their competitive advantage and strategic implications. Amazon’s resources and capabilities provide the basic direction of their strategy and I incorporated this into Grant’s strategy formation framework. Drawing from the internal analysis I was able to identify Amazon’s strengths and weaknesses (SWOT analysis) and we illustrated the links between Amazon’s resources, capabilities and competitive advantage (Block 3, p. 67). See my individual contribution (Resources and capabilities/strengths and weaknesses, 20 June 2011, 00:30): http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/forumng/discuss. php? d=541629#p4181476 Once everyone posted their individual analysis I took on the role as ‘project manager’ to encourage each sub-group to combine their contributions, see my post (Sub-group planning for wiki draft, 20 June 2011, 14:15): http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/forumng/discuss. php? d=539832#p4187538 I chased the progress of both sub-group 1 and 3 to post their collated contribution for their group. (Sub-groups 1 3, 21 June 2011, 23:13) http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/forumng/discuss. php? d=539832#p4216747 I was assigned the task to produce the final report in SWOT format based all the contributions with a deadline for day 12 (22/06/2011) and my efforts was then reviewed. See final SWOT Analysis, 23 June 2011, 09:27: http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/forumng/discuss. php? d=547063#p4236069 I was assigned the role as editor of all the contributions and posted the information onto the Wiki, which was further checked by Nadia. We have been corresponding in regards to the outcome of the group analysis and wiki structure on the forum (wiki structure): http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/forumng/discuss. php? d=542800#p4143951 Further evidence of my contribution is evident on the editing I have done on the wiki; please see the link for the history: http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/ouwiki/history. php? id=530424group=181907 I really enjoyed working as part of Group B, the communication and team work between members was really good. The project manager (Nadia Curtis) assigned everyone’s responsibilities out well including the deadlines. b) Stage 3 Group E was undertaking a critical evaluation of Amazon’s competitive-level strategic choices. This group started off slowly and it seemed that most people were reluctant to be the project manager. I suggested that we all should post the important aspects that needs to be included in the analysis and from there assign responsibilities (Responsibilities delegation, 25 June 2011, 14:08): http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/forumng/discuss. php? d=556960#p4264437 Diana Sacuiu took lead and decided on subgroups and delegation of responsibilities reporting back to suitability, acceptability or feasibility. My sub-group was responsible for looking at Amazon’s competitive-level strategy from a ‘suitability’ point of view. My individual task was to identify Amazon’s resources and capabilities and the way they relate to external opportunities (Diana Sacuiu, 26 June 2011, 20:20): http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/forumng/discuss. php? d=558651#p4277348 I identified Amazon’s resources and capabilities and explained how they are used to exploit opportunities, how capabilities are developed and enables them to pursue both an integrated cost-leadership and differentiation strategy (Block 3, p. 247). See link (Competitive level strategy from a suitability point of view, 28 June 2011, 23:36): http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/forumng/discuss. php? d=558823#p4305912 We put our sub-groups information together which I edited and included figures to reduce our word count: 1. Draft 1: http://learn. open. ac. k/mod/forumng/discuss. php? d=562267#p4310586 2. Draft 2: http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/forumng/discuss. php? d=562267#p4313345 3. Draft 3: http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/forumng/discuss. php? d=562267 #p4322730 4. Draft 3 (2): http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/forumng/discuss. php? d=562267#p4324685 I further supported sub-group three with a figure to help reduce their word count, see my post (30 June 2011, 16:05): http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/forumng/discuss. php? d=562267#p4324971 I also checked the spelling, format and I added the relevant references to our group’s final report (1 July 2011, 14:05): http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/forumng/discuss. php? =562267#p4335805 Although this group did not collaborate as much, we were able to finish our evaluation of Amazon’s competitive-level strategy and reporting back upon its suitability, acceptability and feasibility, see final wiki link: http://learn. open. ac. uk/mod/ouwiki/view. php? id=530430group=181907page=Outcome+of+Group+Analysis Part 4 Reflecting on group decision making Looking at the collaborative work of the groups I will be identifying if the process is rational, political with evidence of power positions o r authority (Readings for Block 3, p. 250) or if there are any noticeable importance of chance which can be referred to as the garbage can model (Readings for Block 3, p. 257). From doing the collaborative exercises I have noticed that the decision- making process which included deciding what information to include for the outcome of each group was a political process (Pettigrew, 1973 Readings for Block 3, p. 246). Political behaviour has been defined as behaviour of individuals, or in collective terms; by sub-units, within an organisation that makes a claim against the resource-sharing system of the organisation (Readings for Block 3, p. 247) or in this case the group. It was decided within the groups which individuals will take on which roles such as editor, project manager and project chaser etc. The groups were then divided into sub-groups which had specialized tasks which are interdependent for the outcome. I have noticed power conflicts within the groups due to the perception of interdependence (Thompson, 1961- Readings for Block 3, p. 248) of resources for the final outcome. This was when each sub-groups’ contribution was collaborated for the final outcome, as it seemed to be influenced by the editor or project manager exercising authority over what information to use (Talcott Parsons – Readings Block 3, p. 249) . This shows that the decision making process deviates from the proposed rational model of decision making, I therefore agree with Simon’s (1979, Block 3, p. 261) assumption of ‘bounded rationality’ and ‘satisficing’ (Block 3, p. 262) for the decision making process of the groups. Group B agreed that the final wiki should be checked by Nadia and I did not ag