BUS 600 - Week 3 Assignment #1 -> Chap 2 Ethics

3-6 ideas learn from each of Chapter 2 Ethics


Ethics
1) Social Responsibility of Business
A business is responsible for making sure that the community is helped out by its presence as much as the community helps out the business. In most places, local business is a source of income, tax revenues for the city, and a means in which people can make a better life for themselves.

2) Relativism and Its Four Forms
Things are rarely black and white. Relativism proposes that ethics are “relative” to the personal, social, and cultural circumstances in which one finds oneself. Its four forms:
a. Naïve Relativism – every person has his or her own standard that enables him or her to make choices; nobody may morally judge another. E.g. you have your 10-year old to help out with your business; outsiders might not make moral judgment that it is an act of child slavery.
b. Role Relativism – distinguishes between our private selves and our public roles. E.g. if you were a firearm CEO, your role requires you look out for the best firearm even if you personally are against guns.
c. Social Group Relativism – similar to naïve relativism. People refer to social norms to render ethical judgment. “Industry practices”, “professional codes of conduct” are the cop-outs of the social relativist.
d. Cultural Relativism – there isn’t a “universal” moral code by which to judge another society’s moral and ethical standards. There exist countries outside of te US where it is customary to bribe government officials for preferential treatment.

3) Stakeholder Analysis – A framework considering who is affected by a business decision
A stakeholder is any person or organization, who can be positively or negatively impacted by, or cause an impact on the actions of a company, government, or organization. As a first step a list should be made of all potentially affected parties, then evaluate all the “harms and benefits” that an action involved. The next level of analysis is to determine each of the affected parties’ “right and responsibilities”.

BUS 600 - Week 3 Assignment #2 -> ethical dilemma

What could be an ethical dilemma you face in your business?

One of the ethical challenges would be the accuracy of accounting record keeping; my business is required to obey the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. As a result of the corporate scandals of the late 1990s and early 2000s, Congress was forced to legislate ethics in corporate America. This federal law is called the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which has four rules that a business needs to follow:
(1) Financial Accounting Rules
I will have an audit committee to work with our Chief executive officer (CEO) and Chief financial officer (CFO) to certify that the financial statements are fairly present the financial condition and the results of the company.
(2) Internal Control Rules
Our CEO and CFO must certify the working system of internal controls over financial reporting and I will have outside auditors to evaluate of its system of internal controls.
(3) Executive Ethical Conduct Rules
CEO and CFO will require to return compensation if financial statements are restated due to ‘material noncompliance’ with reporting requirements. Of course my company (if it’s public) cannot make loans to executive officers or directors.
(4) Ethical Conduct Rules for Related Parties.
I will have new professional responsibilities for my company lawyer and new conflict-of-interest rules for my financial analysts.

I will have a system to track these internal controls and make regular audit to make sure that people involved in these rules are following the rules. With these controls, it can save my business from fraud and corruption and save the future of my company.

BUS 600 - Week 2 Assignment #1 -> Chap 1

3-6 Ideas from Chapter 1 (The Ten Day MBA)


Marketing plays an important role to let the product sell itself. My direct sale business is to sell air and water purifiers, how to let consumers know the products, feel needs to have the products and finally purchase the products – to make a profit from the business is the goal.
Marketing strategy is a seven-part process:
1. Consumer Analysis
2. Market Analysis
3. Competition Analysis
4. Distribution Channel Reviews & Choice
5. Development of the Marketing Mix
6. Evaluate the Economics
7. Go back and revise the plan

(1) Consumer Analysis:
Who needs the products? The air purifier get rids of allergens, pollens, smoke and odors; it also destroys germs, viruses and bacteria on surfaces in the air. Any household, offices, hospitals will need this product; especially people have breathing problems.
(2) Market Analysis
Find out the product life cycle (PLC) of the product. If a product is still in its ‘introduction’ stage, then education is needed. If possible, a trial is important and high advertising cost involved. Competition is intensified when the product is in ‘growth’ stage. There are many different kinds of air purifiers, my air purifier which is between the stage of introduction and growth; advertising is still a key. And I have to aware of the competitive factors – quality, price, advertising, research & development , and services.
(3) Competition Analysis

SWOT is now playing in this process. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Compare your company SWOT to the competitor’s SWOT. Visualizing my product map (commonly used grid is price and quality) versus the competitions may gain an insight into how to market the existing products. ‘Positioning’ the product in the minds of consumers is more important than the physical reality of the product’s attributes. Instead of using the name ‘Apple Mini Mac’, Apple chose the name ‘iPod’.

(4) Distribution Channel

The ‘avenues to the consumer’ is the channels of distribution. A product can reach to the consumer through channel intermediaries, like wholesalers, distributors, sales representatives, sales forces and retailers. Each distribution channel will get their share of ‘profit’, the consumer pays the retail price to purchase the product which is much higher than the original price. The air purifier I get will be more expensive than its original price from the manufacturer as each channel takes their share of ‘margin’. Internet can be a great way to sell product as it provides 24/7 store-front to fit the customer’s schedule to shop.

(5) Development of the Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is commonly referred to as the Four P’s of marketing – product, place, promotion and price. One P affects the others. A product can be differentiated from the competition by creative advertising and promotion, even if competing products are physically identical. One of the features of my air purifier is different from others as it does clean the air and also sanitize it. The five general categories of promotional efforts are advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and publicity and direct selling. The efforts of personal selling (problem-solving and consultation process) and direct selling (use internet, radio advertising) are applied to home-based business.

(6) Evaluate the Economics

This may be the last step of marketing analysis. To determine whether the plan is both profitable and reasonable, there are issues must be addressed; they are cost, break even and investment payback time. The whole point of marketing is to recover costs and make profits. If the plan does not make profits or it takes too long to break even, the plan needs to be revised.

BUS 600 - Week 2 Assignment #2 -> competitors doing?

What are the competitors doing?

Jerry Brown (Democrat) and Meg Whitman (republican) these two competitors are running for California Governor – the two candidates are marketing products (themselves) to all Californians.

In order to sell a product, marketing is playing an important role to let the public to know it. The two candidates advertise themselves on every media you can think of, include the internet and social networks. Jerry Brown has much more public service experience than Meg Whitman who is a business woman. She is running the campaign like running a business. She started marketing herself months before Jerry; she has already spent over 119 million of her own money (history high in the US history) on her campaign knowing that spending the money is important for her to win the office. As of now, she is leading Jerry Brown. Jerry Brown has spent much less money on advertisement than Meg Whitman, because he already has his ‘brand’. But sometimes, when a brand name product does not have advertisement for a long time, it will gradually be replaced by a new brand name product. It seems like people will forget about a product if they don’t frequency see and hear about it. Spending money on advertising (marketing) a product is so important to a business especially if it is a new product.

BUS 600 - Getting Started Assignment

Assignment - Using gmail and blog - Blog A

I missed the first class today. I believed the first face to face meeting would be very informative.