Wednesday, January 29, 2020

CanGo Analysis Essay Example for Free

CanGo Analysis Essay 1. CanGo has too many activities without having specific goals or setting priorities. As they find something that needs to be accomplished, it is always as soon as possible without setting definite time deadlines. Setting priorities is one way to insure that the tasks which need immediate attention are worked on first, while other task can be delayed because they are not as important. Being able to schedule people to complete specific task requires careful planning while know what resources are available. According to the Business Dictionary, a resource is â€Å"an economic or productive factor required to accomplish an activity† (Resource, 2013). CanGo needs to make a chart showing what its resources are which includes how much time each employee is able to work, how much money they can spend or invest, and what needs to be done by when. This can be accomplished in a number of different methods depending on the personnel who will be responsible for compiling the data. As shown on the Adaptive Path website, one method would be to use a spreadsheet which shows three major criteria and then apply a scale to them graphing the results. Equally important, once the priorities are determined, is setting specific deadlines for completion of task so that the employees know exactly when a report is needed, or when another department needs a specific resource if a resources needs to be shared or allocated, such as an employee working on multiple tasks. When setting the times, it is also important to know if one task needs to be completed before another on starts or if tasks can be worked on by different employees concurrently.  Setting up a written schedule or calendar, for example in Microsoft Outlook which everyone can view would be a good tool so each employee knows who is working on what and when it needs to be done. 2. CanGo needs to find out their customer base so that they can market to current customers and bring in new customers. There are a few ways to find their customer base. This first step to help find a customer base is to make the company a brand name. They need to make the company known to everyone for the great services and products offered. This will make the company more noticeable on any search engine or social media. Another step to finding the base would be to use onsite analytics. Google is the best known option for this. This will analyze the sites traffic patterns. It shows what websites they come from, how long they stay on your site and each individual page. This can even determine what page the customers get to and then leave (Staff Editor). If there is a certain page that customers’ get to and then leave the site, than this is the page that needs to be looked over and re-done. CanGo should also take advantage of social media. If CanGo used a social media outlet such as Facebook, their fans could leave comments and say what they like and dislike about the company. This can help fix any problems within the company. The final step in reaching a good customer base is to make sure their website is user friendly. Make sure the homepage has the most important content on it and that it has easy to understand menus for the customers to navigate. The company should also make sure to look at the reviews both good and bad and leave all of them on there. By showing that you are not trying to hide anything the customers will have more respect for the company. . CanGo wants to implement a new technology that involves a new layout that incorporates barcoding and automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS). Jack is proposing this new implementation by contrasting the new technology versus CanGo’s current technology. Jack assures Juan that every cost has been included in the detailed analysis, but when Juan asks about how they are going to deal with the IT department, Jack replies that they need to make sure that the entire department is focus about 70 % of their time to this project in multiple locations. He also remarks that the department has to be pulled off from their current projects, so this implementation can be a priority. Prior to make the final decision of purchasing ASRS technology, there needs to be some deeper discussion as to what would happen to the security of the company’s network if the IT department had to spend more time on data integration. According to Ehow website, â€Å"the information technology department in an organization is responsible for the architecture, hardware, software and networking of computers† meaning that putting the IT department full time on the implementation of ASRS technology, can cause improper function of the mainly IT department functions, for instance, server maintenance (Kelchner, n. d. ). Agreeing to Wisegeek website statement, â€Å"if maintenance is not conducted on a computer network, regardless of whether the network is small or large, pplication software usually will not run as well as expected. In some cases, a network may even experience total or partial network failure if proper maintenance is not conducted. † Jack’s proposal can cause CanGo extra costs that have not been accountable for and put the entire company’s network at risk (server maintenance, n. d. ). In other to make this analysis effective, Jack should meet up with the IT department first and discuss how the implementation of this new technology will impact IT’s current work schedule. Jack and the IT department need to come with a plan that includes a work schedule for the new implementation without interrupting current projects. Therefore, if extra hours are demanded to complete the implementation whether CanGo will pay overtime to the IT department employees or temporary IT employees will be hired, this cost has to be added to the analysis. When choosing a strategy, every single department that is involved in the implementation should be contacted and informed about the project prior to present the final analysis.  It seems that Jack didn’t contact or discuss the implementation of ASRS technology with the IT department. 4. CanGo consumer buying process is in question when one of CanGo’s employee shares an elevated statistic that reveals over 75% of online shoppers don’t end up buying the products that they have selected in the website; as a result, Andrew replies that CanGo’s website mirrors the consumers choice by applying product recognition, informative search, alternating evaluation, etc. It seems that CanGo does not have an ongoing method for tracking hits vs. purchases on their website. The problem is that CanGo is not evaluating their consumer buying process properly. Andrew clearly wonders if that high statistic applies to CanGo clients. According to Aspire website, â€Å"using website metrics and tracking your leads and conversions should play a vital role in measuring what’s working and what’s not on your company’s website. Building up a history of metrics will enable you to identify trends and opportunities, analyze your traffic data to consistently improve your site’s effectiveness, and monitor your lead generation process, conversion rates, and your return on investment. CanGo should invest in website metrics because this will allow CanGo to conduct proper follow up that will confirm if the implemented consumer buying process is satisfactory (Website metrics, n. d. ). 5. CanGo needs to monitor the changes in purchases so that they can modify their marketing strategy. There are a few ways that CanGo can monitor changes. The company should start using web bugs on their site. A web bug is a graphic in a website or a graphic-enabled e-mail message. The Web bug can confirm when the message or page is viewed and record the IP address of the viewer (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse). This can help determine how many people are viewing their homepage and any other page on their site. CanGo can also apply direct marketing to their site. Direct marketing is a sales pitch targeted to a person based on prior consumer choices (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse). An example would be if the customer buys a romantic novel, then there will be suggestions for other romantic novels in a similar nature. Another method CanGo can use is behavioral marketing. Behavioral Marketing is the practice of collecting and compiling a record of individuals online activities, interests, preferences, and/or communications over time. Companies engaged in behavioral targeting routinely monitor individuals, the searches they make, the pages they visit, the content they view, their interactions on social networking sites, and the products and services they purchase (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse). After they have done the tracking they are able to show advertisements to the customers based on their behavior. This type of marketing is used through cookies, flash cookies, device fingerprinting and many other technologies. Whenever the customer goes to websites or social media that have advertisements on the side, the company’s ad would be there if the services were something that interested the customer. 6. CanGo seems to lack knowledge of unfamiliar territory. Since the online entertainment market is becoming saturated with entrepreneurs entering the industry, CanGo can definitely benefit from researching this particular market before they enter it. There are many reasons for any company that’s entering a new market to research it first. One reason is because it’s a way of keeping up with market trends, and in today’s fast paced world it’s paramount to stay on top of the industry and business trends. Lacking knowledge of unfamiliar territory can be extremely costly to an organization. Expanding into a new market involves a great deal of market research in addition to target customers. CanGo needs to develop an in-depth understanding of market growth rates, forecasted demand, competitors, and potential barriers to entry. CanGo isn’t entering a relatively undefined market, however, its new territory for the company. Needless to say maintaining a competitive edge is an important aspect of management today because organizations exist in a more global environment than in the past. Within most industries organizations compete with other companies that are able to provide the same goods and services. According to Steve Jobs, â€Å"Some people say, ‘give the customers what they want. ’ But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, ‘if I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, ‘A faster horse! ’’ People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page. † This was a pretty controversial quote but it was how he actually felt. Unfortunately, although he was extremely successful and considered a genius by many there we’re times in his career where understanding customers’ wants could have led to even more success, such as with his computing company NeXT. There are both and cons to researching a market before entering but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. researching your market is also very vital to understanding your target market and increasing sales. There are many reasons for CanGo to conduct research on a market they’re entering, for instance, identifying potential customers. It’s important who will be using your product or service. Are they male or female? How old they are? and so on. It’s also important to understand CanGo’s existing customers such as; why would customers choose their product over their competition. A market should be prioritized based on the strategic fit and the ability for CanGo to serve them. CanGo should be able to answer questions like: Are there gaps in this marketplace that can be filled? If so can they do better than their competitors? What value can they deliver to this market and how much are they willing to pay for it? (Isaacson, 2011).

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Personal Response to Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe Essay -- Robinso

Defoe's novel, Robinson Crusoe relates one man's spiritual journey in search of self and his goal of setting things right and making amends. Finding the self may take a lifetime. It took twenty-eight years on the island for Robinson Crusoe to discover more about himself, and, of course, he had to wait that number of years before he could make up for past mistakes. However, we do not have an ocean preventing us from making amends, and if only readers were to open themselves to this book, for all its clumsiness, flat style and Eurocentricity, it can, by illustrating one man's life, illuminate ours. To begin opening ourselves we must begin to identify with Crusoe. This is not as easy as it might seem. For one thing, in my case, he is a man, and I am a woman. He lived two hundred years ago so had very different values. He was white. I am not. It is, however, necessary to push these things aside and go to the text. Look especially at instances when Crusoe is not the most politically correct of heros- -when he seems most at odds with our thinking. Consider Crusoe's treatment of Friday. Friday has no name of his own, and he, the "savage," automatically becomes a servant. Here, Crusoe is condescending and racist. Yet, when I look at my own actions towards others, I have to admit that many times they fall short of being good or just. Let us be honest, don't we all shun or dislike those not like ourselves in color, age, social standing, or religion, at some time or other? One other important flaw--some might not call it a flaw at all--is Crusoe's bond of utility rather than bond of mutual respect that forms the basis of his friendships. Crusoe is a man that, early in the novel, is a friend when the other person c... ...eight years on a desert island. We learn that what really keeps us down is our human self absorption and that we have to rise above this terrible selfishness. We learn that finding the self is acknowledging our frailty and working, in spite of it, towards making our spiritual side strong. If I realize what is important in life, I know I have learnt from Crusoe's experiences and will never have to cry "Oh had there been but one .... "The one book that teaches all that books can teach" Rousseau "I shall pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore I can do, or any kindness I can show to any human being let me do it now, let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." Stephen Grellet Works Cited Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. Ed. Thomas Keymer. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print. Oxford World's Classics.

Monday, January 13, 2020

The Cult of Lego

Legos have come along way from when they first started and they keep growing as they makenew sets and make the things you can create even more realistic. ‘LEGO' is an abbreviation ofthe two danish words â€Å"leg godt†, meaning â€Å"play well† which is their name and their ideal. Thelego group was founded in 1932 and has been passed down from father to son and is now ownedby Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, a grandchild of the founder. Lego has come a long way from a smallcarpenter's shop to a modern, global enterprise which is one of the biggest producers of toys inthe world. The way legos interlock makes them unique and offers loads of possibilities and allyou need is an imagination. You may be thinking â€Å"hey what's so special about lego all they do ismake blocks†. Not even close lego has came a long way to where they stand today. Lego alsodidn't start off making these legendary blocks it was just an ordinary wooden duck that was madein a carpentry shop. By 1951 plastic toys accounted for half of the company's output, althoughsome people thought that the plastic toys wouldn't be able to beat traditional wooden toys. Thelego group made a separate operation named â€Å"Duplo† and were twice the size as regular bricksand were aimed at young children. The culture of innovation is that he knows people likebuilding things and when they do it makes them feel good and accomplished and he uses thisthinking to his advantage. Lego also hired creative and diverse people so his whole company isfilled with ideas that are limitless. The lego company is a family owned business and itsheadquarters are located in Billund, Denmark but also has offices and stores all over the world. Ithink that lego went through a horizontal integration just because of the fact that they went froma small shop to now what is one of the most powerful companies in the world. In 2015 Lego waslabeled as the most powerful company in the world stolen from ferrari which held it for 2 years.The thing that really pushed lego up to the top was the â€Å"Lego Movie† which helped with a lot of1global recognition. Legos are molded in a thermoplastic polymer, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene,legos are known for their durability. Legos are more precisely made than and iphone and that'swhat it takes to make a full-scale version of the X-Wing Starfighter or a 16-inch replica of theTaj Mahal. Legos are more popular today than they have ever been which is a surprise to some atthe company, since roughly a decade ago it was nearly bankrupt. People now can use the powerof the internet to create their own designs and go to the lego store to buy all the parts they needto create it. Lots of legos today also have flashing lights or battery powered motors so they candrive around by themselves. Lego is always coming up with new ideas on how to make theiramazing creation into a better version for every generation. The first big lego factory was outsideDenmark in the swiss alps. The family that owns Lego lives in Denmark which is why most oftheir plants are set up in Europe and Asia. The Danish are known for exporting a lot of things butlegos are definitely one of their most exported. In 2016 alone, over 75 billion of the colorfulplastic bricks were sold. Ole Kirk died in 1952, just as his son was on the verge of makinginterlocking which would increase creativity and sales in kids. The lego company also suffered alot of hardships along the way of trying to build one of the greatest toys to come to stores. Thesefires didn't stop much though it just meant that it was time to change some things and this iswhen they decided to change from wood to plastic. Today that decision means big business andthe LEGO group has built itself into an industry titan. But it would have never happened withoutthose simple bricks – or the fires that nearly destroyed a family's dreams three times over. LEGOwill most likely always be a lot of fun for the workers and for the kids that get to use them. LEGOS are going to be a big part of a lot of young kids childhoods and some more grownpeople because legos can be for all ages and thats what makes them so amazing.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Rice University Acceptance Rate, SAT/ACT Scores

Rice University is a private research university with an acceptance rate of 11%. Located in Houston, Texas, the university boasts a multi-billion-dollar endowment, a 6-to-1  student/faculty ratio, a median class size of 15, and a residential college system. In athletics, the Rice Owls compete in the NCAA Division I  Conference USA  (C-USA). To apply, students can use the  Common Application or Coalition Application. Rice has an Early Decision program that can improve admission chances for students who are sure the university is their top choice school. Considering applying to this highly selective school? Here are the Rice University admissions statistics you should know. Acceptance Rate During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, Rice University had an acceptance rate of 11%. This means that for every 100 students who applied, 11 were admitted, making Rices admissions process highly competitive. Admissions Statistics (2017-18) Number of Applicants 20,923 Percent Admitted 11% Percent Admitted Who Enrolled (Yield) 41% SAT Scores and Requirements Rice requires that all applicants submit either SAT or ACT scores. During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, 60% of admitted student submitted SAT scores. SAT Range (Admitted Students) Section 25th Percentile 75th Percentile ERW 700 760 Math 750 800 ERW=Evidence-Based Reading and Writing This admissions data tells us that most of Rices admitted students fall within the top 7% nationally on the SAT. For the evidence-based reading and writing section, 50% of students admitted to Rice scored between 700 and 760, while 25% scored below 700 and 25% scored above 760. On the math section, 50% of admitted students scored between 750 and 800, while 25% scored below 750 and 25% scored a perfect 800. Applicants with a composite SAT score of 1560 or higher will have particularly competitive chances at Rice University. Requirements At Rice University the SAT writing section is optional. Note that Rice participates in the scorechoice program, which means that the admissions office will consider your highest score from each individual section across all SAT test dates. At Rice, SAT Subject tests are recommended but not required. Applicants who elect to submit SAT Subject tests scores should choose tests based on their selected area of study. ACT Scores and Requirements Rice University requires that all applicants submit either SAT or ACT scores. During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, 70% of admitted students submitted ACT scores. ACT Range (Admitted Students) Section 25th Percentile 75th Percentile English 33 35 Math 31 35 Composite 33 35 This admissions data tells us that most of Rice Universitys admitted students fall within the top 2% nationally on the ACT. The middle 50% of students admitted to Rice received a composite ACT score between 33 and 35, while 25% scored above 35 and 25% scored below 33. Requirements At Rice University the ACT writing section is optional. Unlike many universities, Rice superscores ACT results; your highest subscores from multiple ACT sittings will be considered. GPA Rice University does not provide data about admitted students high school GPAs. Self-Reported GPA/SAT/ACT Graph Rice University Applicants Self-Reported GPA/SAT/ACT Graph. Data courtesy of Cappex. The admissions data in the graph is self-reported by applicants to Rice University. GPAs are unweighted. Find out how you compare to accepted students, see the real-time graph, and  calculate your chances of getting in  with a free Cappex account. Admissions Chances Rice University has a highly competitive admissions pool with a low acceptance rate and high average SAT/ACT scores. However, Rice has a holistic admissions process involving other factors beyond your grades and test scores. A strong application essay and glowing letters of recommendation can strengthen your application, as can participation in meaningful extracurricular activities and a rigorous high school schedule. Students with particularly compelling stories or meaningful achievements can still receive serious consideration even if their test scores are outside of Rices average range. If youre applying to Rice, you should  consider the school a reach  even if you have exceptional grades and standardized test scores. The graph above illustrates why. Many students with unweighted A averages and extremely high standardized test scores were still rejected by Rice University. All admissions data has been sources from the National Center for Education Statistics and Rice University Undergraduate Admissions Office.