Volvo Group Of Companies and the challenges it faces

Volvo Group Of Companies and the challenges it faces 1 Introduction AB Volvo is the mother company of the Volvo Group of companies with its head office in Gothenburg, Sweden. The company was formed in 1924, with the first Volvo truck rolling off the production line in Sweden in 1928. The Volvo Group is one of the worlds leading suppliers of transport solutions for commercial use, also providing complete solutions for finance and servicing. This mission statement for the company is ‘By creating value for our customers we create value for our shareholders. We use our expertise to create transport-related hard and soft products of the superior quality, safety and environmental care for demanding customers in selected segments. We work with energy, passion and respect for the individual (AB Volvo Group Presentation 2011). Volvo as a group is tremendously proud of the core corporate values of, Safety, Quality and Environment and has retained and lived by these values from the start of the organisation. These three values are evident in every aspect of the business. The Volvo Group has now grown to become the second largest manufacturer globally of heavy trucks, and as illustrated in Figure 1.1 incorporates many different brands. As illustrated in Figure 1.2 , the Volvo Group is separated into business areas and business units. The business areas are responsible for generating revenues for the company and the business units are the recognised support units to support all business areas. Volvo Information Technology (Volvo IT) is the recognised support business unit for information technology strategy and systems support. Volvo IT does not confine their business to the Volvo Group, outsourcing their expertise to such organisations as the Ford motor company and the Stockholm Government. This ensures the Volvo IT is continually benchmarking the Volvo Group to other businesses in the open market to stay in the market forefront. Volvo Group works with external interest groups to continue to develop and drive progress in the transportation industry, especially on projects that align with the corporate values of quality, safety and environmental care. An example project requiring the key involvement of Volvo IT is the Alternative Fuels project. This project is examining a viable replacement of fossil fuels for commercial applications (Alternative Fuels 2011). In the Alternative Fuels project, the Volvo Group is working with customers, suppliers and governments to investigate workable fossil free fuels, with all business areas and units working towards making this possible. Volvo IT is involved to introduce software changes for engine management systems to ensure clean burning of these fuels. The solution is to utilise a centralised and shared IT infrastructure, platform and software application serving content to authorised users over the web. In this report we discuss the IT infrastructure issues and challenges for the Volvo Group and the business benefits and costs of a modern IT model called Cloud Computing. Recommendations are provided as to the adoption of Cloud Computing by the Volvo Group followed by concluding statements. 2 IT Infrastructure: issues and challenges 2.1 IT infrastructure challenges Two of the major components {Laudon, 2010 #159}of an IT infrastructure that must be coordinated by a firm include computer hardware platforms and enterprise software applications ( Laudon Laudon 2010, p. 203). These two essential components of an organisations IT infrastructure ecosystem ( Laudon Laudon 2010, p. 203) are concentrated on in this report as they exhibit the most risk to the Volvo Groups business, but they also provide the most opportunities for an information technology strategy to add business value to the Volvo Group. An information system is defined by Laudon Laudon ( 2010, p. 46) as ‘a set of interrelated components that collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organisation. In modern organisations, most information systems are implemented via IT infrastructure that includes computer hardware platforms and enterprise software applications. These systems are ‘typically the backbone of an organisations information flow and the main vehicle for consolidating business information ( Bisbal et al. 1999, p. 103) and their failure can have a significant impact on the business. 2.2 Legacy information systems Information systems that have been in existence for a long time and continue to be resistant to modification and evolution due to a high replacement or redesign cost are called legacy information systems ( Brodie Stonebraker 1995, p. 103; Laudon Laudon 2010, p. 634). The evolution or appearance of legacy information systems in an organisation can also typically occur due to mergers and acquisitions ( Macknight 2005, p. 14). As described by Bisbal ( 1999, p. 103), legacy information systems can cause an organisation a number of problems: Running on old or obsolete hardware. Expensive software maintenance. Inflexibility in extending the systems. Difficult to integrate with other systems. Long failure or disaster recovery times. Old and obsolete hardware can be power hungry. Replacement can be expensive or sometimes impossible due to lack of skills or unavailable parts. Some organisations need to maintain spares holding and skills within their organisation to mitigate such risks. Similarly skills in software maintenance and fault-finding may be hard to out-source or outsourced service levels may not align with the needs of the business. The system may need to be flexible and able to integrate with other systems in order to respond to changing business requirements ( Bennett et al. 1999, p. 153) 2.3 The evolution of Volvos global information systems strategy Volvo Group has seen an increase in their legacy information systems mainly due to the impact of company acquisitions over the years. Many areas in the IT infrastructure ecosystem ( Laudon Laudon 2010, p. 203) required particular attention during acquisitions to ensure compliance through coordination of the many components of the ecosystem. Hardware platforms differed as did internet platforms. Data management and storage needed to be centralised. The need to change and centralise was evident. Throughout these acquisitions, the focus of the information management strategy of the Volvo Group has been to ensure key enterprise systems are incorporated into the acquired organisations. The ERP system based on SAP is an example one of the key enterprise systems common throughout the entire Volvo Group. In contrast, supply chain systems have remained as point solutions unique to each business area and physically deployed on a geographically separated basis. As specified by ( Ives Jarvenpaa 1991, p. 34), a ‘global information technology application contributes to achieving a firms global business strategy by using information technology platforms to store, transmit and manipulate data across cultural environments. With AB Volvo being a true global corporation experiencing ongoing growth through acquisition, challenges have presented themselves in most countries with legacy systems across the supply chain. Cultural diversity such as different languages utilised from regional area to regional area continue to discourage the upgrade of legacy supply chain systems. Also, the resultant point solutions all require local IT support. Evidently, having multiple point solutions poses many challenges for the Volvo Group, but it also causes misalignment with their core corporate values. For example, the Volvo Group core value of environmental care leads to goals to reduce energy usage in efforts to reduce the companys carbon footprint. With the multiple point solutions, and many of these being legacy systems, there would be a propensity for excessive energy usage due to the hardware platforms not complying with environmental requirements and other inefficiencies. There are better solutions available. Hospitals in the USA have started to use energy efficient, environmentally friendly hardware, as well as using cloud like technology for patient files access and program access ( Does Green Really Pay Off? Ideas from Hospitals That Say Yes!   2009). 3 Cloud Computing and its business benefits and costs 3.1 Cloud computing explained Cloud computing is referred to as a ‘model of computing by Laudon Laudon ( 2010, p. 196) ‘where firms and individuals obtain computing power and software applications over the Internet, rather than purchasing their own hardware and software. Typically ‘cloud computing infrastructure resides in a large data centre and is managed by a third party ( Jaeger et al. 2008, p. 270). Gilbert ( 2010, p. 1) states that ‘Cloud computing has been recognised as one of the most important developments in information technology in the past 60 years. Globally, organisations are implementing cloud computing solutions in order to reduce costs; be more responsive to market demands; to share information more readily and rapidly; ( Gilbert 2010, p. 1); to provide better customer service, and much more. Cloud computing has been enabled through technological drivers such as reducing communication costs, the internet and its growing speed, smaller footprints required for more processing power and data storage, advances in internet security, virtualisation and much more. Figure 3.1 describes further characteristics of the cloud environment. 3.2 Cloud computing service models Cloud computing services can be provided in three models ( Gilbert 2010, pp. 18-9) Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Platform as a service (PaaS), and Software as a service (SaaS). These models are described in more detail in Figure 3.1. For organisations such as Volvo, the cloud computing service models tend towards the use of IaaS and SaaS. The staff of Network World ( 2007, p. 28) quote eBays Paul Strong as stating ‘companies must decide what is core to their business and what can be commoditised as a utility served up by a SaaS (software as a service) provider. Cloud service providers are able to consolidate computing resources enabling cost reductions derived from centralised management and economies of scale, passing on these cost savings to the user of the cloud service who can utilise the service without the initial capital outlay and maintenance of a dedicated infrastructure ( Jaeger et al. 2008, p. 270). 3.3 Cloud computing delivery models Cloud delivery models can be public, private, hybrid or community ( Gilbert 2010, p. 19). These are described in more detail in Figure 3.1. For organisations, cloud computing ‘presents many major problems of information policy, including issues of privacy, security, reliability, access and regulation ( Jaeger et al. 2008, pp. 269-70) with legislation lagging commercial interest in this computing model. In evaluating their potential utilisation of a cloud computing service, organisations would need to consider a range of issues. Two typical issues revolve around trust in the integrity of the service provider. Organisations would need to trust in the ability of a cloud service provider to ensure the security of their valuable private information. There must also be trust in the business continuity of the service provider, along with the ability of the service provider to maintain their quoted service levels ensuring the appropriate access and reliability of the service. Subsequently organisations are more likely to take up a private cloud delivery model for enterprise software applications and computer hardware platforms. For larger global organisations with multiple business units, such as Volvo, a hybrid model of a private cloud and community cloud delivery model would be more desirable. Such a model is illustrated in Figure 3.2 3.4 Cloud computing business benefits to Volvo The Volvo Group can benefit greatly from the use of cloud computing. With the group having its own business unit that handles and manages IT requirements, Volvo Group has an opportunity to reduce costs from infrastructure and hardware duplications, have competitive advantage via speed to market of new services for customers and reducing the costs of good sold into markets via supply chains. Other benefits to the group include much lower cost of entry and capital expenditure, low and transparent cost of ownership, and tax advantages ( OSullivan 2009, p. 21). The supply chain systems within the Volvo Group are characterised as legacy point solutions with regionally located and managed data centres housing multiple software applications and hardware platforms, each providing the same business function. These legacy supply chain information systems would appear to be prime candidates for replacement by a cloud computing solution. Indeed, supply chain systems are one of the types of systems that are quickly moving from their traditional platforms to the cloud computing model ( OSullivan 2009, p. 20). 4 Recommendation of cloud computing adoption/adaptation 4.1 Volvos five year strategy The five year strategy from the Volvo Group is to continue to reduce their environmental impact, produce quality products in all areas of their business and continue to create value to customers and shareholders. A key aspect of the Volvo Groups five year strategy is to continue to reduce the carbon output in all areas of the business (Volvo Truck Corporation Sweden 2011). Laudon Laudon ( 2010, p. 223) provide six factors that should be used to answer the question â€Å"How much should our firm spend on IT infrastructure?†. They are: 1. Market demand for Volvos services These are ever increasing with more services being provided to Volvo Truck Customers through the complete life of the vehicle. 2. Volvo Business Strategy The group will continue to develop services and vehicles that reduce CO2 footprint and lead to better ways of commercial transportation. 3. Volvo information technology strategy, infrastructure and cost A cloud computing model should be considered for the replacement of supply chain information systems and considered for further system replacements and introductions. 4. Information Technology assessment The adoption of a cloud computing model would not be considered to be lagging behind the technology curve, nor would adoption at this stage be considered early. A review of the risks associated with policy associated with the implementation of a cloud computing model should be undertaken before adopting the model. 5. Competitor firms services Many other European competitors are experimenting with cloud computing. 6. Competitor firms IT Infrastructure investments Mercedes Benz are also investing in future services for customers, showing a trend of high IT infrastructure investment for the global market (Daimler Trucks Germany 2011). 7. Investment can be sought into cloud computing on a business case basis, generating revenues for Volvo IT, and reducing costs for Volvo business areas on a user pays system. Investment in IT infrastructure will give a competitive advantage to the Volvo Group. Investment can be sought into cloud computing on a business case basis, generating revenues for Volvo IT, and reducing costs for Volvo business areas on a user pays system. 4.2 Plan to consolidate of legacy supply chain information systems For the replacement of legacy information systems, Volvo Group Australia has the option to upgrade the current local legacy systems and servers. This would result in high upfront and ongoing costs. Another option is to move to centralised systems hosted by Volvo IT with all storage, maintenance and upgrading performed centrally for considerably less cost. Supply chain system workflows typically extend beyond the internal organisation, typically to dealers (retailers). A cloud computing model can connect entire networks of suppliers and service providers providing efficiency and cost savings ( Ford 2010, pp. 57-8). It is recommended that the Volvo IT department adopt a cloud computing model for the replacement of legacy supply chain systems. This model should be based on a global policy taking into account the issues surrounding cloud computing and its characteristic lag behind appropriate legislation and legal precedence. It is expected that the most appropriate model will be a SaaS service model delivered via a hybrid of a Private and Community model with the cloud service provider being Volvo IT. The cloud community members in this model would be the Volvo Groups Business Areas. The recommendation would be to identify all legacy supply chain information systems across the Volvo Group as candidates for replacement by a SaaS solution under the hybrid model. A business case aligning with the Volvo Groups corporate values should be completed for the replacement of each system or groups of systems. A pilot implementation of a cloud computing solution should be utilised as a proof of concept before a larger roll-out. The recommended pilot implementation is the TruckShop SaaS. 4.3 TruckShop SaaS Pilot Volvo Group Australia has the requirement to upgrade an online catalogue purchasing supply chain information system called TruckShop that allows dealers (retailers) to purchase truck parts via suppliers of the Volvo Group. The TruckShop SaaS model would represent the characteristics of Cloud computing, namely on demand service, internet accessibility, pooled resources, elastic capacity and usage based billing ( Goodburn Hill 2010). The service developed for the TruckShop project will be able to be sold to other business areas in AB Volvo to provide similar solutions. TruckShop is currently running on a legacy system platform with local servers in Sydney. Maintenance and upgrade costs are on the increase, with limitations also being evident on performance and capability to meet current user requirements. Energy consumption costs were noted as increasing due to more servers being required to store data. Whilst the costs of hardware had reduced in the last 10 years, the Volvo Group Australia wanted to capture more data to analyse business trends, something evident in most industries globally ( Tallon 2010). The legacy systems also are prone to downtime, costing thousands of dollars in lost revenue while not being available to the dealer network. 4.4 Post TruckShop pilot Should the TruckShop pilot prove successful the system is recommended to be rolled out into other business areas. The continuing success of the TruckShop roll out is expected to result in high availability, high reliability, low entry cost and ongoing cost effectiveness for all users of the system. All new supply chain enterprise system projects, and indeed other candidate enterprise systems within the group would be recommended to proceed with this cloud computing service and delivery model to ensure overall cost reductions, efficiency gains, centralising and amortising maintenance, upgrades and improvements across all business areas. 5 Conclusions For cloud computing solutions, Volvo IT would generate their revenue by charging the Business Area departments based on the number of users. Users could apply for only the access to systems that they required. System updates and improvements would be performed centrally in Sweden, and users would not have to concern themselves with updates nor have to present their hardware to IT to update. The pilot of TruckShop should prove to the company what cloud computing can achieve. Many other business areas in the Volvo Group can benefit from adopting cloud computing practices. With technology being built into Volvo Trucks, and the focus on providing business partnerships more online services will be developed into the future.  

To Kill a Mockingbird: An Analysis of Discrimination Essay -- Kill Moc

To Kill a Mockingbird: An Analysis of Discrimination The most important theme of the 1960 Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird is author Harper Lee’s tenacious exploration of the moral nature of people. Lee tenaciously explores the moral nature of human beings, especially the struggle in every human soul between discrimination and tolerance. The novel is very effective in not only revealing prejudice, but in examining the nature of prejudice, how it works, and its consequences. One of the ways it accomplishes this is by dramatizing the main characters’, Scout and Jem’s, maturing transition from a perspective of childhood innocence. Initially, because they have never seen or experienced evil themselves, they assume that all people are good by nature and tolerant of others. It is not until they see things from a more realistic adult perspective that they are able to confront evil, as well as prejudice, and incorporate it into their understanding of the world (Castleman). As a result of this skillful literary portrayal by Harper Lee of the psychological transition from innocence to experience to realization, To Kill a Mockingbird succeeds admirably in portraying the very real threat that hatred, prejudice, and ignorance have always posed to the innocent. Simple, trusting, good-hearted characters such as Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are tragically unprepared. They are ill-equipped emotionally and psychologically to deal with the unexpected depths of the prejudice they encounter -- and as a result, they are destroyed. Even Jem is victimized to a certain extent by his discovery of the evil of prejudice and its hidden power over so many people during and after the controversial trial (Bergman and ... ... to view the world from his perspective ensures that she will not become jaded as she loses her innocence. In conclusion, in To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee tenaciously explores the moral nature of human beings, especially the struggle in every human soul between discrimination and tolerance. The novel is very effective in not only revealing prejudice, but in examining the nature of prejudice, how it works, and its consequences. Bibliography Bergman, Paul, and Asimow, Michael. Reel Justice. New York: Andrews and McMeel, 1996. Castleman, Tamara. Cliffsnotes’ Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Cliffsnotes, 2000. Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Harper Collins, 1999. To Kill a Mockingbird. Dir. Robert Mulligan. Perf. Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Crahan Denton, Philip Alford. Universal-International, 1962.

Black&Decker Corporation Essay

Black & Decker was incorporated in 1910. Begun by Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker, Black & Decker’s first power tool was an electric drill in 1916. They went on to develop and offer the first portable screwdriver, electric hammer, as well as finishing sanders and jigsaws all the way up to the hugely successful dust buster in 1978. Over the next 70 years, the company established itself as dominant name in power tool and accessories, first in the United States and then accros a broad global front but particularly in europe. Growth was achieved by adding to its lineup of power tools and accessories and by increasing its penetration of more and more foreign markets Symptons, Issues and Problems Issues in this case is diversification strategy runned by Black & Decker corporation. As a diversified global manufacturer and marketer of household, commercial, and industrial product, Black & Decker need to develop and choose the right strategy for diversification. This case particularly discuss diversification of Black & Decker corporation during late 1980’s to early 1990’s, where Black & Decker which is established as dominant name in power tools and accessories, began to pursue diversification. It is because the continuing maturity of its core power tools business. During the 1980’s Black and Decker had established themselves as a leader in the power tool industry. However, they were feels that the market for such tools was maturing to the point where expansion within the industry would provide little or no additional revenues so they decided to diversify. Black and Decker began their expansion operation by acquiring General Electric’s housewares business, the leader in the industry, for $300 million in 1984. The success of the GE deal, and the reorganization efforts of their new CEO Nolan Archibald, led Black and Decker to continue on this path of acquisitions and diversification in other areas. Then, various acquisitions and acquisition attemp made by Black & Decker in their strategy to diversified. But the biggest and most noticed was the acquisition of Emrat Corporation, a diversified manufacturer of industrial product, for a $2.8 billion in March 1988. This steps is considered to be very bad decisions made by Black & Decker. Analysis Change in strategy In the mid 1980s, Black & Decker feels that the power tool market had matured to the point where there is no much room for further growth. Black & Decker then decided to change their corporate strategy from single business firm into diversified company. In 1984 they began to diversify. First they tried to get into the small household appliance market. Rather than create their own line, Black & Decker decided to acquire General Electric’s unit of household appliances for $300 million. Although it was a small part of GE’s company, it held more market share than other houseware distributors (25 percent of the market and the leadership position). That acquisition gives an additional $500 million a year in revenue for Black & Decker because it was able to offer products like irons, coffee makers and toasterswhich. This began a trend of acquisitions by Black and Decker expanding into various related and unrelated markets with varying levels of success. This various acquisitions allowed Black & Decker to offer even more new products such as portable woodworking tools and stronger drill bits. After all the new changes, Black & Decker Manufacturing Company also changed its name to Black & Decker Corporation to help market those changes The successful story of GE’s household appliance division acquisition in 1988, has triggered Black & Decker to tried again. Only this time the company of interest was American Standard Inc. American Standard had an impressive $127 million profit in 1987, which towered above the mere $70 million for Black & Decker. But then, the acquisition was unsuccessful. The Emhart acquisitions The failed attempts by Black & Decker in 1988 did not stop Black & Decker moves to acquiring other company. In 1989, Black & Decker acquiring Emhart for the price of $2.8 billion, a price that 33% premium over Emhart’s preannouncement value. This acquisition may not have been the best move for Black & Decker because its stock price dropped 15 points after the announcement of the acquisition. After difficult negotiation of exactly how the acquisition would occur, Black & Decker decided to pay for Emhart for the next 48 years. The deal put over $2 billion in goodwill on Black & Decker’s books and increased debt to over $4 billion just before the credit markets were about to contract severely. With the exception of a few businesses like Price Pfister faucets and Kwikset locks, which represented just $600 million in sales, Emhart made no sense for Black & Decker. Several of its subsidiaries were quickly placed on the block. But then suddenly the economy became sluggish and the market slowed down, Black & Decker stock slumped from a pre-acquisition $25 to $8 per share. Archibald (Black & Decker’s CEO at that time) had to scramble to keep the company solvent. Archibald’s plan was to sell off about $1.8 billion of Emhart assets to pay down debt while merging the company’s line of Kwikset locks and Price Pfister Inc. plumbing fixtures with Black & Decker’s offerings. According to Archibald, the plan would have been successful enough under normal economic conditions. However, he failed to sell the Emhart businesses for the set prices leaving a long term debt of a hefty $3 billon and annual interest payments of more than $300 million. Black & Decker initially sold $1 billion in Emhart assets to reduce the interest costs. It met this demand by selling whole divisions of Emhart and also by selling equipment and other assets. By 1991, Black & Decker reduced the debt acquired by more than 25%. From 1993 to 1996, Black & Decker sold off three segments of Emhart that did not prove to be strategic parts of the acquisition. By 1997, Black & Decker was able to meet its liquidity requirements and management chose to amortize the costs on a straight-line basis for the next 40 years. This shows that the acquisition of Emhart Corporation is a Black & Decker’s bad move. Black & Decker’s decision to acquire a company that was larger than $2.3 billion (revenues) Black & Decker itself, (the Emhart Corporation were $2.7 billion in revenues), was too risky and apparently Archibald didn’t too aware about it. The purchase and acquisition of Emhart had proven a lack in the synergy required to make such purchases profitable. Also the company had not been able to reduce its amount of debt (primarily from the purchase of Emhart) over the subsequent 10 years. Archibald made poor decisions in the Emhart acquisition, which impacted its profit margin, lowered its competitive advantage, and killed any chance of creating above-average returns. There are things that has to be done in order to ascertain whether the acquisition may create value for the shareholders, which is the CEO’s primary responsibility. Effort should have concentrated on three essential tests:  · The attractiveness test. The industries chosen for diversification must be structurally attractive or capable of being made attractive.  · The cost-of-entry test. The cost of entry must not capitalize all the future profits.  · The better-off test. Either the new unit must gain competitive advantage from its link with the corporation or vice-versa. Conceding the point that the purchase provided some benefits, such as increased market share and well-known consumer brands, the cost-ofentry and better-off tests provide evidence that the Emhart purchase was very risky. Black & Decker SWOT Analysis Strengths  · Brand recognition is a strong attribute for Black and Decker. Black and Decker has a reputation for producing electrical engines, power tools and appliances.  · Black and Decker produce a variety of products in its respected industry, and it is involved in constant research and development (e.g., developing cordless appliances and tools, rechargeable batteries that are compatible with both tools and small appliances).  · Black and Decker have penetrated the market causing it to dominate market share in the industry. Weaknesses  · Black and Decker’s reputation for quality tools and appliances has been decreasing. This was likely due to the fact that Black and Decker was busy dealing with its non-strategic businesses. Opportunities  · Opportunities to gain more market share by sponsoring home improvement shows.  · Gain more market share with industrial market, by offering quantity-based deals and advertising the quality of its products. Threats  · Sears is the strongest competitor in the power tools division with 13.4 percent of the US market share.  · Black and Decker needs to be aware of new items that the consumer can use and develop them before their competitors. Conclusion and Recommendation When an industry became mature and not offered enough room for further growth, it is important for a company to change their strategy to keep growing continuously. This is what Black & Decker did, although being a dominant player in power tools and accessories for many years, Black & Decker realized the industry is being mature, so they decided to change their strategy into a diversified company. To be successful, a diversified company should have a portfolio of product with different growth rates and different market shares. The portfolio composition is a function of the balance between cash flows. High-growth product, that important for company to keep growth in the future, need lot of cash inputs. Low-growth product, product that already in maturity growth, should generate cash. How to balance between this two is the most important things in managing multi-business (diversified) company. The Emhart acquisitions is an example of bad acquisitions from Black & Decker in their strategy to diversified. There can be many reasons that an acquisition strategy fails to earn its cost of capital. An acquirer may have no real strategy to begin with and thus pay an unjustified acquisition premium right from the beginning. Or there may be a complete failure in executing a fundamentally sound strategy. One major risk in acquisitions is the failure to close the gap that may exist between the strategic objectives and organizational design of the new organization and those of the old. Issues such as new information systems and channels, management succession, new decision rights, and incentive systems must be planned carefully in light of where competitive performance gains are expected to result. This case is also an example of the problems where mismanaged growth can bring diversification away from core businesses and core competencies rarely creates value for the shareholders. High leveraged acquisitions put the firm at higher financial risks, particularly when the firm’s products depend on business cycles. Shocks to the economy may result in insolvency and possible bankruptcy. The company may have to sell assets at low prices to meet debt obligations. As financial markets become more and more sophisticated, investors may diversify more easily, thereby making corporate diversification less attractive. Firms must continue to strengthen their core competencies and sustain their competitive advantages. In conclusion, the fundamental reason for the failed acquisition is due to lack of long term planning, forecasting and predicting of the return on investment relative to cost. The highly leveraged acquisition of Emhart placed Black & Decker at higher financial risks, primarily when the firm’s products depended on business cycles. As result of the inherited debt and the unanticipated market fluctuations and weak economy may result in collapse or possible bankruptcy of the corporation. Black & Decker Executives’ lack of strategic direction and poor application of funds may lead the corporation to sell of assets at low prices or lay off employee to meet debt obligations. Our recommendation for this case is, Black & Decker should stick with its original vision that includes the consolidation of their portfolio. The company should continue in investing in, and strengthening, its core products within its existing portfolio, so that these products will generate cash flow that will enable the company to embark upon expansion opportunities. In the future, Black & Decker should consider international companies with strong recognition in the countries that they plan on expanding into, considering either acquisition, merger, or creating a joint venture. The affiliation between Black & Decker and these companies must create synergy in order to justify such deliberate moves and expansions. These planned executive decisions and actions will help Black & Decker to obtain competitive advantages which will result in aboveaverage returns, leading to greater investor wealth and value to its employees.

Racism And The Gay Community - 1108 Words

In a time when countless citizens of the United State were homophobic, how were Blackmun and Stevens, both of which were thought to be conservatives, open to the claims of the gay community? My answer to this question before I read a single word assigned, was easy-they must have known someone who was gay. I believe it is simple to be against something that you don’t understand anything about. It is pompous to say that homosexuals are immoral, perverted, disgusting sinners when you have never knowingly interacted with a homosexual. However, becoming acquainted with someone will likely change your mind; especially if it is someone you would consider a friend. Being able to put a face and an emotion to discrimination often times make the discrimination appalling. The Justices involved in this case ruled the way they did individually because of their personal relationships, or lack thereof, with gay people. Come to find out, I was right regarding Blackmun. Justice Blackmun knew gay couples: he was able to put a face and an emotion to the discrimination (Eskridge 165). I was unable to find out if Justice Stevens knew any gay couples, but I would still contend he probably did. However, both men had other reasons to dissent. Both Blackmun and Stevens believed in privacy laws and believed your home was a place the government could not interfere. Blackmun believed White was challenging â€Å"the ongoing validity of Roe, a precedent that Blackmun guarded with the ferocity of a tigressShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Sexual Identity Development1243 Words   |  5 Pagesmodel. It was created to better inform the population and to provide a valuable tool to therapists working with sexual minorities (CITE). Nevertheless, this process profoundly differs among Latino and African-American it is based on white middle-class gay participants (Lewis and Marshall 2011; Bridges, Selvidge, Matthews 2003). 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In the article, The Barbershop by Vershawn Ashanti Young, he states that This racial ambivalence is what makes me so self-conscious about and analytical of otherRead MoreGentrification Of The Downtown Corridors1302 Words   |  6 Pagesequity such as the LGBT community but some such as Rose (1984) suggested that first wave gentrifiers were of small means, but were able to carve out spaces and enclaves of sage space based on sweat equity Smith (1996) reintroduces the notion of the rent gap in gentrification. Knopp (1987) mentions the increase in rents and the inability for pioneer gentrifiers in the gay community to keep up with the increase in taxes and home prices. 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For example, the conflict perspective views racism and inequality towards minorities, like me as a way for the so-called superior and majority race to keep control and power over minorities. They do this, by perpetuating institutionalized or structured racism, pitting minorities against each other, and limiting resources. Institutional racism is defined as a complex of embedded, systemic practices that disadvantage racial and ethnic minority