Case Discussion: Smithfield Custom Furniture (Part 4 Conclusion)

This case discussion continues with the Smithfield Furniture Company. (You may desire to briefly review the facts provided to you in Discussions 1—3  to address this week’s discussion.)

It is now April 1, 2020. The 2015 purchase of You Figure it Out was culminated and the planned integration of their manufacturing and sales, as described in Discussion 3, fully completed.

The company now has 411 stores and 24,000 employees. 344 of the 411 retail outlets all sell the upscale and moderately priced lines; 51 retail outlets (Texas (6), California (13), New York (15), Nevada (4), Florida (9), and North Carolina (4)) sell only the You Figure it Out brand. These 51 stores employ 2,000 of the 24,000 workers.

There are 16 stores overseas, Spain (4), France (4), Germany (4), and England (4), that sell all 3 product lines. These stores employ 1,000 workers. Half of these employees work in the retail stores and the other half work at various seaports in their countries receiving furniture and delivering the furniture produced in the US to various stores and customers.

In 2015, Margot Smithfield and the 12-member board of directors purchased You Figure it Out, a moderately profitable 51 store chain of ultra-modern furniture.  The furniture and furniture-related accessories of You Figure it Out were all made in China, but with the 2015 acquisition, all furniture is manufactured at 1 of the 5 furniture manufacturing plants in the United States. Their retail stores are located in Texas (6), California (13), New York (15), Nevada (4), Florida (9), and North Carolina (4).

2019 Gross Sales (all product lines) $1.6 Billion US.  2019 Net Profit $440 Million   April 30, 2020 (Cash Reserves) $2.8 Billion

60% of sales, gross revenues, and expenses are associated with the upscale product line. 25% of sales, gross revenues, and expenses are associated with the You Figure it Out product line. 15% of sales, gross revenues, and expenses are associated with overseas outlets. In other words, for the purpose of this case activity, all 3 product lines are proportional in terms of revenue and expenses.

The Management Issue: Presently, it is believed that as early as March 2020, the possibility exists for the company to be in the throes of a worldwide rapidly spreading, high contagious, debilitating, and often fatal viral pandemic.  The company must plan for this eventuality to occur.

Your Task for Your Initial Post 

Margot Smithfield has requested you, based on the course materials you have studied the past seven weeks related to Planning, Organizing, Leading, and Controlling, to briefly discuss (supported by course materials. in-text citations, and references) the major impact this pandemic will have on Smithfield Custom Furniture’s Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling functions. You can assume a vaccine will be available and distributed worldwide 18 months from the start of the pandemic.

After you have discussed the major impact the pandemic will have on the company’s Planning, Organizing, Leading, and Controlling functions, you must indicate for each of those functions the most significant action the company will need to take to ensure its survival, assuming the pandemic’s effects will last 18 months.

Format for Your Initial Post

You must use the exact numbers and their corresponding headings for each of your initial post.  You are required to use when appropriate in-text citations and a reference list.

1. Pandemic: Major Effects on Planning for Smithfield Custom Furniture Company

1A: Pandemic: Most Significant Planning Action for Company

2. Pandemic: Major Effects on Organizing for Smithfield Custom Furniture Company

2A: Pandemic: Most Significant Organizing Action for Company

3. Pandemic: Major Effects on Leading for Smithfield Custom Furniture Company

3 A: Pandemic: Most Significant Leading Action for Company

4. Pandemic: Major Effects on Controlling for Smithfield Custom Furniture Company

4A: Pandemic: Most Significant Controlling Action for Company

Use only these sources:

http://www.systems-thinking.org/stada/stada.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP7hMdnNrH4

https://learn.umgc.edu/content/enforced/547071-001033-01-2212-OL2-6982/The%20Ten%20Principles%20of%20Collaborative%20Organizations.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=e8zE5ML5f1E21lMb4ElCNgjbN

https://www.managementstudyguide.com/introduction-to-agile-business.htm

https://www.managementstudyguide.com/being-agile-and-future-proof.htm

Corporate diversification strategies raise a wide range of strategic management issues. For this week’s critical thinking assignment, read the case study found in your textbook (Case 19): Google Is Now Alphabet—But What’s the Corporate Strategy?

Remember, a case study is a puzzle to be solved, so before reading and answering the specific case and study questions, develop your proposed solution by following these five steps:

1. Read the case study to identify the key issues and underlying issues. These issues are the principles and concepts of the course area which apply to the situation described in the case study.
2. Record the facts from the case study which are relevant to the principles and concepts of the course area issues. The case may have extraneous information not relevant to the current course area. Your ability to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information is an important aspect of case analysis, as it will inform the focus of your answers.
3. Describe in some detail the actions that would address or correct the situation.
4. Consider how you would support your solution with examples from experience or current real-life examples or cases from textbooks.
5. Complete this initial analysis and then read the discussion questions. Typically, you will already have the answers to the questions but with a broader consideration. At this point, you can add the details and/or analytical tools required to solve the case.

Case Study Questions:

1. What is Google’s corporate strategy? Does Google have a clear vision of what it wants to become?
2. Use Porter’s Essentials Test (Chapter 12) to determine if this strategy creates competitive advantage. If so, how? If not, why not?
3. Look beyond the conventional sources of synergy and consider complementarities, bargaining power, and rivals. What threats does Google face?
4. Does Google need to refocus? How should Google delineate its corporate boundaries and which businesses, or products would you recommend abandoning or divesting, if any?

Your well-written paper should meet the following requirements:

• Be 5 pages in length, which does not include the title page or required reference page, which are never a part of the content minimum requirements.
• Use Saudi Electronic University academic writing standards and APA style guidelines.

Case Study: –

Case: Microsoft

Please read the case “Microsoft” from Chapter 12 “Teams :Processes and Communication” Page: – 400 given in your textbook – Organizational behaviour: Improving performance and commitment in the workplace (6th ed).  by Colquitt, J. A., LePine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2019) and Answer the following Questions:

Assignment Question(s):

1. Describe how the building redesign is likely to influence process gain and process loss in the team Microsoft. (1.25 Marks ) (Min words 150-200)

2. Describe how the change at Microsoft have likely influenced team states. (1.25 Marks ) (Min words 150-200)

3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the building redesign with respect to communication? What can be done to mitigate potential disadvantage. (1.25 Marks ) (Min words 200)

Part:-2

Discussion question: Page: – Please read Chapter 12 “Teams: Processes and Communication” carefully and then give your answers on the basis of your understanding.

4. Think of a team you’ve worked in the performed poorly. Were any of the causes of the poor performance related to the forces that tend to create process loss? If so, which forces was most problematic? What steps, if any, did your team take to deal with the problem? (1.25 Marks ) (Min words 200-300)

Important Note: – Support your submission with course material concepts, principles, and theories from the textbook and at least two scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles. 

Case Study: Wal-Mart in Africa

IA06 – Case Study: Wal-Mart in Africa

The purpose of this assignment is to develop and demonstrate and understanding of the strategies that need to be followed by companies when entering a foreign market of which they have little experience. The point is to explore the policies that Wal-Mart, through its subsidiary Massmart, should follow in order to maximize the probability of success and to avoid future controversies that it might face regarding its business practices in Africa.

In addition to being available in the Deresky text in the JPL, the case study materials may be purchased for $5.25 (I receive no part of this payment) at:

https://www.thecasecentre.org/students/course/registerForCourse?ucc=C%2D3910%2D348958%2DSTU

A. Assignment – Individually write and submit on Blackboard a 1-page memo to the VP of Growth Strategy (Africa) recommending in which of three African countries Wal-Mart/Massmart should next focus its expansion efforts. In separate paragraphs, summarize your conclusions based on the CAGE analysis and Lessons Learned from Wal-Mart’s prior expansion initiatives. Include the supporting tables in your submission (Graded):

•   Using Table 1 (provided below), perform a CAGE analysis for three potential ‘next-step’ countries for Wal-Mart’s expansion beyond South Africa, with comparison to the current countries where Wal-Mart has a presence: US, Mexico, and South Africa.
•   Using Table 2:
  1. Note the lessons learned from Wal-Mart’s previous failed entries into Germany and South Korea, as well as the struggles to enter South Africa.
  2. Analyze how lessons learned in the experiences in Germany and South Korea have been applied (or not) with the Massmart acquisition in South Africa.
  3. Then consider what lessons from all three market entries may be important for the alliance with Massmart when pursuing further expansion in each the 3 potential African countries.

 You only need to discuss aspects of prior efforts that are relevant to the particular country based on your assessment of similarities between the country and prior experiences.

Case Study: Wal-Mart in Africa

 The memo should be formatted as follows: From: [Your Name], Growth Strategy Analyst

To: VP of Growth Strategy Africa (Massmart)

Growth Strategy Recommendations for Africa

Recommendation: [10 pts: A succinct paragraph giving your recommendation for the next African nation in which Massmart should focus its efforts. Briefly summarize the justification for that recommendation.]

CAGE Analysis: [20 pts : Summarize the results of the CAGE analysis (Table 1), including which factors were most important in your analysis and why.]

Lessons Learned: [10 pts: Summarize the key Lessons Learned applicable to the country you selected (Table 2).]

Sincerely,
[Your name – Doesn’t have to be signed]

 Additional grading criteria:
o Use of English sentence structure, grammar, spelling, and punctuation will be

included in the above sections.  Total: 40 pts

As we consider professional life, post-COVID, it is likely that the world of work will be transformed in a much more digitally-focused way. In fact, “lean into digital” should probably be more like, “ACCELERATE to digital.” Did you know five years of technological investments have been made in the past eight months???!!!!

Each student will research and prepare a report on predictions in an industry of choice, including strategies for leading and managing employees effectively. Deliverables include an application paper and a 3 minute “Tips for Professionals” recorded presentation.

The application paper should be written as a report of your “boundary scanning” for the industry of choice — and must include resources from the industry. Make sure that you focus your work on a specific industry. For example, a paper on general transition to remote working would not meet the requirements. I would like for you to take a deeper dive into the industry of your choice. For example, how is health care going to be changed? Or supply chain? I would strongly encourage you to read Scott Galloway’s newly released book: “Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity.” You can access this book on amazon.com and it is an interesting and easy read.

You must cite your resources using APA 6 or 7 — both in-text and on a reference page. I will be looking for evidence of research in professional journals and information. This is a forward thinking assignment — so, please use current resources. Your paper is expected to be 7-10 pages.

use 3 resouces