Business

Do you have what it takes to be a successful franchisee? Start by making a list of your interests and skills, and do a self-assessment using some of the suggestions in chapter 4. Next you need to narrow the field of thousands of different franchise systems. Go to Franchise Handbook Online(http://www.franchisehandbook.com (Links to an external site.)) where you will find articles with checklists to help you thoroughly research a franchise and its industry, as well as a directory of franchise opportunities. Armed with this information, complete the following requirements.Describe the selected franchise opportunity and the franchisors in the transaction.Develop a questionnaire containing a minimum 5 questions to evaluate a prospective franchise.Describe the franchise financial obligation.If you had the necessary financial resources to acquire the franchise are you ready to be a franchisee? Explain why or why not?

Do you have what it takes to become an entrepreneur? Explain why or why not based on the quiz feedback.If you discover you don’t have the basic skills needed for your business according to the quiz, are you willing to delay your plans until you have acquired the necessary skills?In spite of what the quiz reveals, do you feel you have the basic skills needed to own and manage a successful business? Explain why or why not?How does your mindset on entrepreneurship compare to Gabriel Jordan’s YouTube presentation?

As globalization has become increasingly common, so has the importance of analyzing opportunities to create value through outsourcing the supply chain. In this assignment, you will create a checklist to help determine which country might be the best location for parts of your organization’s supply chain.ScenarioYou are a consultant who specializes in helping U.S.-based businesses expand into new international locations. You have a new client who’s looking to outsource their company’s manufacturing of hard drives and computer memory, and it’s your job to assist in selecting the new locations. The company is very focused on quality, sustainability, and equality, and your client would like these attributes upheld in the new manufacturing locations.Your task is to evaluate two of the following countries:IndiaMexicoThailandThen, recommend one country you believe would be the most suitable for the company’s new manufacturing facility, and one country that would be considered the least suitable.PromptEvaluate both countries being considered for a new manufacturing facility through exploration of course and outside resources. Then, recommend the most and least suitable location based on the company’s attributes and requirements.Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:Sustainability Measures and Environmental Regulation: Briefly describe sustainability measures and regulations in each country, and analyze how they may work well with or create conflict or tension with your U.S.-based company.Examples of items to consider include regulations around pollution, waster, and power sources.Cost and Workforce: Briefly describe each country’s workforce for the creation of computer components and the cost of that labor.Examples of items to consider include workforce education levels, the overall cost of labor, types of manufacturing available in the country, and the existence of a specialized workforce that can create computer components.Government Regulation: Briefly describe the overall regulatory environment of each country. Take the most likely mode of entry into consideration for each country.Examples of items to consider include the types of manufacturing operations allowed in the country, the labor regulations, and the overall business regulations.Intellectual Property: Briefly describe the risk of intellectual property being stolen by creating a manufacturing location in each country.Examples of items to consider include each country’s reputation when it comes to intellectual property, intellectual property regulations, and any other legal protections for intellectual property.Reputation: Briefly describe the ways an organization can face reputational risk through outsourcing its manufacturing to each country.Examples of items to consider include if and why other organizations have closed manufacturing locations in each country, how your organization’s customer base will view manufacturing in each country, and the protections each country provides to its workforce and the environment.Recommendations: Based on your evaluations of the key attributes and requirements, recommend one country that is the most suitable location for your client’s newmanufacturing facility, and one country that would be the least suitable location. Justify your recommendations with evidence from your evaluations and the course resources.Guidelines for SubmissionSubmit this assignment as a 500- to 750-word Word document. Sources should be cited according to APA style.

Develop a 250-word essay (just one page) on why Ethics is important for Penetration Testing in the cyber domain. Select two examples from research on the Internet (instances where ethics has proved to be an issue) and write your paper around those examples. Please cite your references. The two (or more) references should provide evidence for reasons why pen testers need to scrupulously obey the law and/or always behave in a trustworthy, above-board, ethical manner. Please convert your paper into PDF format and submit it via Canvas

Learning outcomes:1. Describe the different issues related to environmental scanning, strategy formulation, and strategy implementation in diversified organizations (CLO2)2. Explain the contribution of functional, business and corporate strategies in the competitive advantage of the organization. (CLO3)3. Distinguish between different types and levels of strategy and strategy implementation (CLO4)4. Communicate issues, results and recommendations coherently, and effectively regarding appropriate strategies for different situations (CLO6)Assignment Questions (5 Marks)Consider the same company ‘X’ that you have already used in assignment 1 and answer the following questions1. Describe the roles of directional, marketing, operations and human resource strategies in the overall well-being of your selected company. (2 marks)2. Classify the products of your selected company based on the BCG matrix. (1 mark)3. Describe at least one partnership that your selected corporation has with other company (es). Is it successful? Justify. (1mark)4. Describe the structure of your selected company. (1 mark)

The purpose of this assignment is to develop a better understanding of the nature, characteristics, and patterns of international trade and the trade policies and practices to ease or remove trade barriers, in the context of an economic trade zone. You are required to select an economic trade zone (e.g. European Union, NAFTA) and demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge regarding the international trade policies and procedures.Requirements:This is an individual assignment worth 20% of the final grade.While reading and attempting to review this piece of research work, you will have the opportunity to learn and discuss the trade and logistics practices in a trade zone from an international trade perspective. In particular, you are required to demonstrate knowledge regarding the following topics,Brief trade history of the trade zoneTrade statistics – import and export compositionTrade policies – tariff/ subsidies/ quotas/ off-shoring or FDICritical review of current trade policies – barriers and challenges of the implementatioRecommendationsFinal conclusionYou may follow the following format to present your assignment.RMIT Cover sheetTitle / Name / Student ID / Tutorial (time)Executive SummaryTables of ContentIntroductionBackground- Brief trade history, import/export and freight composition of the regionDescription of trade policies and procedureCritical review- barriers and challenges of the implementationRecommendationsConclusionReferences (RMIT Harvard style only)

Requesting 200 words response to the following post using at least three substantive peer reviewed scholarly journal articles to provide those substantive replies.Key Term and Why You are Interested in ItThe Key Term chosen for this discussion board is Values and Attitudes. The reason for researching this key term is for professional and personal reasons. In the near future, I would like to work for a large, global company and will need to know basic courtesies and customs of the countries in which my company works closely with. Every region or country is unique and one can easily offend or off-put someone from another culture, losing the ability to conduct business. It is increasingly more important for employees of global companies to be culturally sensitive and aware of these values and attitudes, otherwise that employee may lose their job as a result of losing business for the company, or at best, be looked over for a certain position or promotion.Explanation of the Key TermValues are inherent beliefs in a culture about what is right or what is wrong and what acceptable behavior and norms are expected of those in society (Satterlee, 2018). Stemming from values and related to values, are attitudes which are a, “manifestation of values, beliefs, feelings, and states of mind” (Satterlee, 2018, p. 47). There are differences between attitudes in different countries and can include the concept of time, approaching change, gender roles, and social status. For example, each culture has their own concept of time and how it should be managed or its influence on certain consumer choices (Satterlee, 2018). With change, some cultures view change as normal and healthy and welcome it, while others prefer to train people in their respective roles with little deviation (Satterlee, 2018). In regards to gender roles, some cultures encourage and may expect women to work outside the home, while others do not (Satterlee, 2018). Lastly, social status includes whether or not a culture believes in set social classes and if it is acceptable for people to move up or down those classes (Satterlee, 2018).Major Article SummaryThe article chosen for summary is a study comparing similarities and differences between Georgian and Macau consumers in regards to how their time orientation affects their advertising attitudes (Kaynak et al., 2013). Both of these cultures, while both technically Asian, have different attitudes in regards to the concept of time and time orientation has been found to be very influential in consumer choices (Kaynak et al., 2013).The article briefly views and summarizes the research previously done in literature on time orientation and various cultural frameworks, such as Hall’s monochronic and polychronic cultures, and high and low context cultures (Kaynak et al., 2013). The article states that the motivation for the study comes from a study done in 2005 by Rojas-Mendez and Davies, which studied advertising avoidance behavior with participants from Britain and Chile (Kaynak et al., 2013). The researchers of the present study chose Georgia and Macau because of their time orientation differences, as Georgia has close cultural proximity to Eastern Europe and Macau is close in culture to Hong Kong (Kaynak et al., 2013).The researchers formed their conceptual model on the fact that culture influences a person’s concept of time, which then leads to attitudes towards advertising, which then leads to advertising avoidance or acceptance (Kaynak et al., 2013). For example, less educated individuals have a more present time orientation and are more traditionally-minded which results in the belief that creating a better future and advertising in general are useless, which then results in a more advertising adverse view (Kaynak et al., 2013). However, more educated individuals view time with a future orientation and seek to improve their present and future, therefore they are more accepting of advertising, believing it to be worthwhile because of its future benefits (Kaynak et al., 2013). As a result, the researchers formed the hypotheses that past time oriented consumers will demonstrate advertising avoidance and that present and future time oriented consumers will demonstrate advertising acceptance (Kaynak et al., 2013). Subsequently, these attitudes will then influence whether or not the individual utilizes advertising. Additionally, the study was primarily conducted through research on past literature as well as through questionnaires sent to individuals representing the two countries (Kaynak et al., 2013).The study’s findings concluded that those from Macau were more future-oriented in their concept of time and so were more accepting of advertising and its utilization, whereas those from Georgia tended to be more past-oriented in their concept of time and so were less accepting of advertising and its utilization (Kaynak et al., 2013).DiscussionThe article that I have cited and summarized specifically falls in line with the cultural attitude towards the concept of time, or time orientation. The article studies two different cultures and their view of time which then influences their attitudes towards advertising. With time management, some cultures view advertisements as positive and worthwhile because it adds to their future benefits (Kaynak et al., 2013). Other cultures view advertisements as a waste of time because it does not add to their present value (Kaynak et al., 2013). It was found that Georgia values are more polychronic in its time orientation and so individuals are more traditional and follow the belief that events should happen naturally and in its own time (Kaynak et al., 2013). Macau values, however, are more monochronic in its time orientation and so individuals are more future-oriented and view time as important and that it should be used as efficiently as possible (Kaynak et al., 2013). Such information is useful to a global company who wishes to set a marketing strategy in place and work with associates of the host culture, specifically in regards to advertising, and needs more information on a country’s attitudes towards time.The work that I cited relates to the other works that I researched, in that they all fall under values and attitudes within business. One article that I researched, compares individuals from several different countries and how their cultural values and attitudes towards relational favoritism amongst managers is viewed. Another article I researched, sought to better understand the specific values and attitudes that can influence international marketing models and research and what makes them effective or not. A third article I researched, studied how societies transmit cultural values and attitudes at a micro level, for example through imitation, and at a macro level, like through institutions. A fourth article, analyzed the corporate values of a company that originated in Denmark and its attempt to bring those values over into their company in Bangalore, India and how those values were interpreted by the employees there. Finally, I chose to cite the article that I did because it specified an area under values and attitudes, which was time orientation, and how it related to advertising and marketing.

Below are the final exam questions for the Final Exam Case Study, Columbia Custom Carpentry, which is attached below. The file name is HRMD 640 Final Exam.pdf. You are to answer all of the questions. Please ensure that your answers are complete. This assignment will be graded according to the Final Exam Rubric that is posted below.Click the links below to access the 4 files needed to complete this assignment.~~~~1. In your opinion, what is causing the turnover at Columbus Custom Carpentry? 10 points.2. Are the assembly technicians overpaid? Explain. 10 points.3. Are the craters underpaid? If so, why? Will they still be underpaid if the custom hand-work portion of their job is eliminated by the jig system? Explain. 15 points.4. Given the case and market information, is the CFO position best aligned with that of an accounting manager, director, or a CFO? Explain. 10 points5. Are there differences in pay that appear to be based on sex/race/ethnicity rather than performance or length of service? How so or why not? 15 points6. Given your answers to the previous questions, exactly how would you rectify the key issues within Columbus Custom Carpentry? What resources/references support your plan of action? 40 points

Requesting 200 words response to the following post using at least three substantive peer reviewed scholarly journal articles to provide those substantive replies.Integration vs. AssimilationKey Term and Why You Are Interested in ItThe term integration vs. assimilation was chosen for discussion due to my academic curiosity around the concept. Integration and assimilation are two terms that people often confuse as being the same, but in reality, there are major differences between both. The topic of globalization is a key component in international business, and it is interesting to see how different cultures blend and adapt. Satterlee (2018) states that “integration of cultures is more desirable than assimilation”, but I am curious to research instances and examples where assimilation could be the better option. The word assimilation carries a negative connotation to me, as it seems as though the original culture is completely eliminatedExplanation of the Key TermTo fully understand the concept of integration vs. assimilation, the definition and meaning of both terms must be compared in order to understand the similarities and differences. The term integration refers to the blending of cultures where some elements of the minority culture remain. Assimilation is defined as “the progression where a minority culture eventually assumes and resembles characteristics of the prevailing culture” (Satterlee, 2018). The main difference is that integration allows for the merging of both the old culture with the new, while assimilation is the absorption of the new culture and leaving the native culture behind. Assimilation and integration are used synonymously is some instances as studies have shown that the terms have different variants.Major Article SummaryVermeulen (2010) discusses the application of integration vs. assimilation within immigrants and their children. The study focuses on how the concept of blending cultures is not a straight-forward approach, but rather a long-term commitment. In the United States, it is noted that the assimilation of old cultures to the American culture is preferred, while in Europe, the integration of cultures is favored. Integration and assimilation are broken down into three main categories: segmented assimilation, downward assimilation, and pluralistic integration.The theory of segmented assimilation is defined as the adoption of the middle-class lifestyle. For immigrants, segmented assimilation typically applies to those individuals who come to America or Europe with a more than average amount of capital (Vermeulen, 2010). Immigrants are able to support their children as they all go through the process of assimilation together, furthering the opportunity for advancement within society. The theory of downward assimilation is described as the process where immigrants assimilate to the lifestyle of the lower class. Immigrants arrive with little or no capital, resulting in individuals and families finding refuge in areas of poverty. Immigrants in this category have less opportunity for advancement. Pluralistic integration is the last variant and refers to the preservation of ethnic and cultural aspects while merging specific elements like education and entrepreneurship in order to advance. In this case, immigrant parents are in control and maintain parts of the native culture while the children learn the new culture as well. As a result, ethnic communities are established.In conclusion, assimilation is not always the best option even though it is preferred in certain societies. Depending on the pre-migration status of the immigrant, assimilation can be beneficial to economic success or lead to a future of poverty. Out of all three variants, integration is more favorable but may not be an applicable approach in all countries.DiscussionThe major article relates to the explanation of the term integration vs assimilation by defining and comparing the meaning of both words. Vermeulen (2010) uses the terms interchangeably and provides an in-depth description of the concept’s variants. The original meaning of assimilation is a way of the past and not commonly applied in today’s time. Many researchers support the theory of segmented assimilation and cultural integration. From the article, we see that both segmented and downward assimilation refers to a minority culture adopting the culture of the new society. This adoption of culture can be positive or negative depending on the subculture being embraced. The explanation of integration is supported by the article as well as it refers to the integration of the immigrant culture with the new way of life. Immigrants can retain the positive aspects of their cultural identity while integrating the positive aspects of the new culture for economic success.The additional cited works relates to the major article by supporting the research around integration vs. assimilation and highlighting the challenges and benefits of both. Cheng et al. (2006) studies the impact of cultural on bicultural individuals. Very similar to the theory of pluralistic integration, bicultural individuals maintain the positive elements of their cultural identity while assuming positive elements from the new culture. In a study of super diversity vs. assimilation, Crul (2016) discusses the ethnic diversities found in major cities due to immigrant migration where the minority is now the majority. Super diversity also relates to the concept of pluralistic integration, as children of immigrants do not assimilate into just one class of society, but a mixture of demographics (ethnicity, age, gender, education) as a result of diversity. Authors Schneider & Crul (2010) look at the integration and assimilation tendencies of second-generation individuals and how the terms are similar from a cultural standpoint. The article addresses the segmented assimilation theory and how a new assimilation approach may be needed to account for the high level of diversity in major areas. Stepick & Stepick (2010) also discuss segmented assimilation with a focus on immigrant children who have migrated to the United States. National origin and pre-migration status is a major contributor to positive and upward segmented assimilation.

Imagine that you are a nonprofit executive director who has been asked to prepare a report to the board about the possibility of opening an after-school program at a local elementary school. The mission of the program is to provide recreation and homework assistance programs to children ages 7 – 9. You do not need to write a plan, but instead write a short paper that explains how strategic management works answering these questions: What resources would you use to develop a plan? Are there risks? What might they be (list 5 and explain why they are important considerations)? List 5 ways you would measure the success of the program and why you would use them.Guidelines for Submission: Short papers should use double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Sources should be cited according to a discipline-appropriate citation method. Page-length requirements: 1–2 pages.