Author: chris

Create a qualitative research design using the grounded theory approach.

Assignment 1: Using Grounded Theory

Using your identified phenomena from Module 1, create a qualitative research design using the grounded theory approach. Identify the following:

  1. Research question
  2. Sample
  3. Data collection method (interview, survey, observation, etc.)

Post your assignment,  by Tuesday, November 10

All written assignments and responses should follow APA rules for attributing sources.

 

Assignment 2: Observer Presence

The lecture on Observation Skills stated, “your involvement and immersion in the study has affected those being studied, your findings, and yourself.”

Analyze how the presence of an observer could impact the study being conducted. Support your findings with relevant research and post your assignment,  by Thursday, November 12

 

Assignment 3: Discussion Questions

By Monday, November 16 go to the Discussion Area and discuss each of the following as they pertain to qualitative research in general, and then discuss each of the following as they pertain or can be applied to your project:

  1. Integrity
  2. Triangulation
  3. Transferability
  4. Trustworthiness

Assignment 4: Field Experience

This will involve a non-participant naturalistic observation of a public place. The purpose of this exercise is to provide the student with some firsthand experience with a qualitative data-gathering technique. The exercise focuses on how to make detailed field observations, as well as learning to distinguish between your observations and your inferences and interpretations. (Inferences and interpretations will occur in the Final Project). Naturalist observation is a primary method of data collection in qualitative research, especially ethnography. In some qualitative studies, this important source of data is the basis upon which analyses are possible.

Make notes regarding the atmosphere, the scents, smells, noises, spatial arrangements, activities, movements, interactions, etc. The first phase of taking field notes is to keenly observe and jot down your observations with as little interpretation as possible. Record what you see, hear, touch, and smell.

Usually field notes are initially handwritten. Since your original field notes will not be submitted, and only read by yourself, it is preferable that they are handwritten. Later, they will be written up, typed, and the typed field notes will be submitted. You will likely spend much more time writing up your field notes as you did observing. A great deal of detail can be recorded during the two hours of observation. Write up longer descriptions immediately after leaving the observation site. You should begin writing up your field notes as soon as possible so that detail is not lost or forgotten. Describe as much as you can about the setting. Your field notes should now describe the setting, individuals, interactions, events, and activities in a highly detailed and descriptive manner. Strive for “thick” and rich description. The level of detail should be such that someone who was not there with you would be able to clearly “see” the setting based on reading your description. Also, be reflective and reflexive. That is, include in your field notes your own experiences, thoughts, and feelings.

When writing up your field notes after leaving the setting, create a wide margin on the right side of the page. For now, leave this area blank. Later in the course, for your Final Project, this margin area will be used for notes, comments, coding, themes, interpretations, etc. On the left side of the page will be the write up of your field notes, and the larger-than-normal margin on the right side will allow room for you to later introduce your comments and interpretation of the observed events.

Your typed summary (not to exceed two pages) should include the following identifying information:

  • Your name.
  • Type of setting.
  • Date and time of your observations.
  • Why you chose the setting.
  • Description of the setting.
  • Your observations of the interactions that took place.

Submit your 2-page response as a Microsoft Word document by Tuesday November 17

Analyze publicly available information about a Fortune 500 Company and develop an assessment of the corporate strategy and its ability to increase competitive advantage.

comprehensive Analysis of a Fortune 500 Company

You will analyze publicly available information about a Fortune 500 Company and develop an assessment of the corporate strategy and its ability to increase competitive advantage.

This assignment requires you to obtain and analyze information at the company, industry and market levels using various databases and reports, such as Hoovers and Dun & Bradstreet, in addition to at least eight (8) professional or academic peer –reviewed articles.

Your analysis should include an in-depth review of the Company’s most recent SEC Form-10k Annual Report and Form DEF-14A Proxy Statement. These SEC filings can be found at the SEC Edgar Database located at the URL http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html . Pay particular attention to the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) sections of the SEC Form 10-K and the DEF-14A Proxy statement.  Direct competitors are identified in the “Comparator Group” section of the DEF-14A Proxy Statement. ) These SEC filings also contain information relative to external and industry analysis that will be helpful in your assessment of the Company’s strategy and competitive position.

A thorough analysis requires evaluation of various external stakeholders:

  • Competitors Competitors
  • Industry
  • Vendors
  • Customers
  • Governmental entities
  • Communities

Internal stakeholders that should be considered in the analysis include:

  • Shareholders
  • Board of Directors
  • Management
  • Employees

A comprehensive SWOT analysis should be performed relative to the Company’s ability to improve its competitive advantage.

The comprehensive analysis should include both qualitative and quantitative elements, leveraging information available in SEC Filings, business databases, and peer-reviewed articles.

Your work should demonstrate your ability to:

  • Apply critical thinking skills to analyze business situations.
  • Apply principles of quantitative and qualitative research to business cases.
  • Describe the opportunities provided by technology for businesses.
  • Appropriately use effective communication techniques.
  • Apply the standard of APA style to all research and writing tasks.

You will prepare a report presenting the findings of your comprehensive analysis examining the Company’s corporate strategy and its ability to increase competitive advantage. The written report will have a body length of 10-12 pages excluding title, abstract, references and appendices. Quotation limits should be Not more than 10% of the body of the paper can be quotations, all of which must be properly attributed in APA format.

NOTE: Article collections Suggestions are:

  • ABI Inform Global
  • Academic Search Premier
  • Business Source Premier

write a comprehensive report on the business environment in a particular country.

For this project, you are asked to write a comprehensive report on the business environment in a particular country. In your analysis, take the perspective of a U.S. investor or U.S.-based firm. The project objective is to develop an understanding of the business culture and the process of doing business in a foreign country.

This project is not designed to be a term paper in which the views of others are simply summarized. You are the analyst, and it is your job to integrate relevant information and to form your own opinions and views. And you will need to place yourself in the position of a manager responsible for expansion into a new country and business environment.

This project will require you to analyze data. Potential data sources for the project are available at the end of this assignment.

In order to provide a comprehensive analysis of the business environment in your country, each report must address the factors listed below. The analysis should cover the last five years, or as constrained by information limitations.

The primary focus should be on more recent events (Present to 2 years).

1. Important Events and Country Background (General Background):
In this section your group should review general background information concerning your country (i.e., location, size, population, resources etc …). This section should include a brief time-line of the main historical events. Basic economic and financial market issue should include such as issues as monetary policy, exchange rates, sovereign debt or defaults, or other import market background. This analysis should not exceed two pages.

2. Political Structure and Stability
Provide a brief description of your country’s political structure and its stability. Discuss important recent political events and political risk ranking indicators. Do these recent events represent a structural change? Be sure to also carefully cover political risk ranking measures for your country. This analysis should not exceed three pages.

3. Doing Business Analysis
One of the key issues a firm has when it enters a new market is the ease of doing business in this new market. In this section provide a detailed analysis of the business environment in the country you have selected. This analysis should look at macro issues related to the legal framework, ease of entry into the market, and rules and regulations applying to foreign owned firms including ownership rules and repatriation of profits from the foreign country.
At the micro level examine the ease of starting a business, registering property, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, employing workers, and paying taxes. These factors interact for time and cost to start and run a business and help to shape the local business environment. Another set of important factors for the business environment are related to the legal and practical issue related to getting credit, protecting investors, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency. As the main interest of this country analysis your group should consider the ease of trading across borders and international financial transactions.

4. Business Culture Analysis
In this section provide an overview of the business culture of the country chosen. Using Hofstede’s measures on business culture, the GLOBE study, and the World Values Study and other country level data provide an analysis of the business environment and local conditions. Foreign chambers of commerce and the US Commercial regularly provide information on the local business culture. Check their publications that focus on the local business experiences of foreign firms and workshops of doing business in the country your group has chosen.

5. Competitiveness and Innovation Potential
Provide an overview of the country level competitiveness. Utilizing Porter’s Diamond of National Competitiveness framework list the country’s factor endowment, the existence of related and supporting industries, national level demand conditions, and the structure and rivalry inherent in the national marketplace.
Provide an analysis of the country level competitiveness as measured by the World Economic Forum. This analysis should include how the country fares with regard to the current pillars of competitiveness identified by WEF and how trend in competitiveness at the national level. Highlight competitive advantages the country has along with those areas where the country lags significantly behind.
The third part of this section should include an analysis of the innovation potential of the country. Sustainable competitiveness depends on innovation and when a firm decides to enter and invest into a country its innovation system plays a role it is long term success by facilitating local innovation and value creation. The analysis of the country level innovation competitiveness may be based on national level indicators of innovation including expenditures on research and development, the rate of domestic and international patenting, resources and infrastructure provided by government to support innovation.

The INSEAD – Cornell – WIPO Global Innovation Index provides a comprehensive database of innovation indicators and country level analysis and provides an excellent resource for understanding innovation at the country and regional level.

6. Future Outlook and Investment Opportunities
In the final section your group should integrate your analysis of country level factors related to the business environment and develop a future outlook. In this section analyze the present and historical performance of your country’s financial markets including both equity and debt markets and the foreign exchange market. In this section you should include financial and political risk.
This section should provide a clear picture of the future outlook, investment opportunities, and how a US firm should approach, enter and operate in the market. The types of questions that should be consider include the following:
What are the near future performance prospects?
Which sectors or companies provide significant investment opportunities?
What are your investment recommendations?
How should a firm do business in the country?
In answering these questions examine the business climate, political, economic, financial, innovation and competitiveness conditions of the country under study.

Each report should be organized as follows:
1. Executive Summary: A brief summary of the major findings in the body of the report, including specific recommendations and associated details. Under no circumstances should this exceed one single-spaced page. Note: Do not include this page as part of the 20 page report limit.
2. Body: Make sure that you thoroughly address all six categories of questions.
3. Bibliography: List complete references of the material you actually used in the report.
4. Appendix: Data, tables, graphs, equations and calculations to support your arguments should be placed here. Tables and graphs must be labeled properly. DO NOT attach random computer runs and data. DO NOT include any material that you do not refer to in the analysis section! Restrict your appendix to relevant parameters.

Data/Information Sources
Below you will find some potential data/information sources.
World Economic Forum – www.wef.org
Global Innovation Index – www.globalinnovationindex.org
Doing Business – www.doingbusiness.org
The Hofstede Center – http://geert-hofstede.com/
World Values Survey – http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs.jsp
GLOBE study – http://www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book226013
Global Edge – http://globaledge.msu.edu/
Financial Times – www.ft.com
The Economist – www.economist.com
Bloomberg – www.bloomberg.com
US Commercial Service – http://www.trade.gov/cs/
US Chamber directory of international US chambers abroad – https://www.uschamber.com/amcham-directory
World Trade Organization – www.wto.int
World Bank – www.worldbank.org
International Monetary Fund – www.imf.org
World Intellectual Property Organization – www.wipo.int
International Trade Center – www.intracen.org
European Union – www.europa.eu.int/
European Central Bank – www.ecb.int/
Bureau of Economic Analysis – www.bea.doc.gov
Bank for International Settlements – www.bis.org
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – www.oecd.org/
American Countertrade Association – www.countertrade.org
Export-Import Bank of the United States – www.exim.gov

Based on the NMS case, please prepare an analysis to explain why NMS needs to transfer its supply chain from a “push” system to a “pull” system and what are the specific benefits for doing so.

Based on the NMS case, please prepare an analysis (in about 5 pages, in addition to flow charts, table, graphs) to cover the following areas.

1. Please explain why NMS needs to transfer its supply chain from a “push” system (i.e., driven by forecast) to a “pull” system (i.e., driven by demand) and what are the specific benefits for doing so.

2. Please identify the process changes and explain how those changes that help transform NMS’s supply chain from a “push” system to a “pull” system.

Explain the concept and document an understanding of an organizational accident and include detailed summary.

i would like a research document and please relate to the site below:
http://www.icao.int/safety/SafetyManagement/Documents/Doc.9859.3rd%20Edition.alltext.en.pdf
all research contents should be from the site above, however you can support your ideas other resources.
this research must contain incite citations or inline citation.
topic which you will talk about is :
1.explain the concept and document an understanding of an organizational accident include detailed summary.
2.explain the concept and document an understanding of an five basic characteristics for effective safety reporting include a detailed summary.
leave the two topics separate.
minimum 1000 words for each topic.