Category: Essays

Harley-Davidson: External and Internal Analysis

Instructions for this assignment: Perform all of the elements listed below.

This assignment has you complete two parts of a strategic business plan. To see how those parts fit into a full business plan, click here for a strategic business plan outline.

Part I – Analysis of the External Environment

As part of the Strategic Business Plan, you have been asked to:

Identify and analyze the major driving forces for change in the external environment of the motorcycle industry.
Analyze the dynamics of competition using Porter’s Five Forces Model of Competition. Correctly assess the dynamics of competition.
Provide at least three statistics about the size of the motorcycle industry such as revenue, growth rate, number of units sold by manufacturer/country, etc.
Summarize the strategic issues firms in this industry face and identify their biggest threats.

This section should be titled “The Analysis of H-D’s External Environment.”

Part II – Internal Environment Analysis

Financial

Gather the financial information necessary to do a complete ratio analysis and the Balance Score Card (BSC) key metrics information.

If you were going to create a BSC, what would be the key metrics you would measure in each of the four BSC areas:

Financial
Customer
Internal Business Process
Learning and Growth

Perform a ratio analysis using H-D’s five-year financial performance. Interpret the meaning of the ratios and financial performance.

This section should be titled “The Analysis of H-D’s Current Strategy: Two Views.” Be sure to include the ratio analysis. You may also include other graphics to support your narrative.

Competitors

Based on your analysis, you must decide which two competitors present the biggest competitive threat to H-D.

Perform a financial ratio analysis for the competitors after looking at trends in financial performance over five years, and compare the trends to industry averages.

Be sure you have a clear ranking of the industries’ competitors.

This section should be titled “Competitor Analysis.” Be sure to include the financial ratio analysis. You may also include other graphics to support your narrative

need assistance with this task.

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Weekly tasks or assignments (Individual or Group Projects) will be due by Monday, and late submissions will be assigned a late penalty in accordance with the late penalty policy found in the syllabus. NOTE: All submission posting times are based on midnight Central Time.

Transformational Change Management Plan

You will create an entire Transformational Change Management Plan for a medium-sized public company that has lost business to a competitor that has chosen to outsource much of its production operations. The company has been based in a small Midwestern town, it is one of the largest employers, and it has an excellent reputation for employee welfare. It is now planning to do the very same offshoring, which will involve large lay-offs of long-term employees.

The Key Assignment is a comprehensive transformational change management plan that will combine tasks from Weeks 2–5.

The project deliverables are as follows:

Week 2: Introduction
Week 2: What is driving the need for this transformational change?
Week 3: Theories of Change Management
Week 4: Communication Plan
Week 5: Implementation Plan

Create an APA title page and the following sections:

Week 2:
Introduction (250-300 words) You will research and find an example of a firm that is going through the transformational change of offshoring much of its production activities. The first part of the plan will be the Introduction. Context for the introduction includes the following:
What is offshoring?
How were the stakeholders affected?
What initiated the change?
How well has it been received or accepted, and why?
What is driving the need for this transformational change? (300-500 words)
Why is this considered a transformational change?
Why can the firm not just keep doing what it has been doing?
What is management’s role in the transformational change?
Are there easier alternatives to accomplish the goal of remaining competitive?

Week 1: Professional Development Self-Assessment

As you learned this week, using ongoing, developmentally appropriate assessment to support the development and learning of young children is one of the goals of an early childhood professional. For this Application, you will use assessment to support your own professional development. Understanding where you are at this stage in your professional growth will help you plan effective ways to continue to develop and learn.

To complete this Application, do the following:

Step 1: Take the Self-Assessment

Click the link below to download and print out the document:

Assessing Your Professional Development (in MS Word format)

Then read through the points below before beginning the self-assessment:

To complete the assessment, read each outcome and rate your current progress in accomplishing that outcome using the scoring criteria:

3 = Full accomplishment

2 = Good progress

1 = Need to get started

Follow the guidelines at the top of the self-assessment page to help you decide your score for each outcome. Keep in mind that you are beginning the process of becoming a professional and so may rate yourself as a 1 or 2 on many of the items.

When you have rated yourself on each outcome, tally your total score, and then check the scoring results at the bottom of the self-assessment page.

Step 2: Reflect on the Results

Write a one-page summary of your self-assessment results. Describe insights and new thinking you gained from the assessment and your current state of progress toward becoming a professional.

Choose three outcomes that are of special interest or concern to you. For each outcome, write at least one paragraph explaining the reasoning you used to decide how to rate yourself on that outcome and how you hope to grow.

Based on this experience, write one paragraph explaining how you could continue to use self-assessment to support your professional development in the future.

Submit your completed self-assessment and your written responses to complete this Application.

sociology homework please see description

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Select a movie or TV show that effectively communicates the culture, values, and norms of a society that is different from your own culture.
The movie or TV should meet the following requirements:
Must be a foreign film with subtitles
Provide you with a glimpse of what life is like in another culture
The process of watching this movie or TV show should provide you with a unique cultural experience.
Watch the movie or TV show that you selected, and use your reactions as part of your response to the following topic:
Define ethnocentrism. Discuss how ethnocentrism affects individuals and societies.

Write a paper of 2–3 pages addressing the following:

Provide a comprehensive overview of the concept of ethnocentrism.
Use your cultural experience of watching the selected movie or TV show to discuss the effect of ethnocentrism on individuals and societies.
Use any personal experiences that you may have had visiting different countries around the world as part of this paper; however, do not let your personal experiences with other cultures be the focal point of this paper.
The focal point of the paper is your cultural experience watching the selected movie or TV show and your comprehensive overview of the concept of ethnocentrism.
Please note that this paper is not intended to be a summary of the movie or TV show.
This paper is not a book review or overview of the movie or TV show you selected.
Focus on the cultural observations that you are able to make based on this experience and your discussion of the concept of ethnocentrism.

Assignment 1: Discussion Assignment

The discussion assignment provides a forum for discussing relevant topics for this week based on the course competencies covered.

For this assignment, make sure you post your initial response to the Discussion Area.

To support your work, use your course and text readings and also use outside sources. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible. Respond to at least two of your classmates. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Complete your participation for this assignment.

Implementation of the Intervention

Using the South University Online Library or the Internet, research and read about various approaches to interventions and various settings in which these interventions can occur. You can also visit your local or state health department’s websites and look for journal articles that address the approaches to interventions.

Based on your research, express your views on the following:

Identify and describe a health issue or disease and recommend an intervention. You may utilize the health issue from week one or choose another issue. In your description, include social determinants or causes and data that demonstrates why this is a health issue.
Is the intervention level (primary, secondary, and tertiary) and settings chosen justified? Why or why not?
What are the issues surrounding implementation of the intervention and its potential success?
What are the roles of government (Federal, State, and Local) and nongovernmental agencies in the development of the recommended prevention and/or intervention program?

You will begin your project by selecting a location for your company’s convention. In order for the project to proceed it must receive approval from the Board of Directors. This document will communicate not only the location that has been selected but the reasoning behind this selection. This document is being submitted to the Executive Level of your company so be sure to exhibit appropriate, audience-specific tone and vocabulary for the purpose of defending your position. In a minimum of 4 pages, please do the following:

First formulate a detailed Project Definition Statement(s) which answers the following questions:

What work must be done?

Who will do the work?

How long will it take?

What resources are required?

Because an event this large will generate a huge amount of revenue for the community selected it is possible that some communities might attempt to sway the decision making process in their favor by offering “special deals” or “financial incentives” to improve their chances of being selected. Accepting this type of favoritism is contrary to the ethical code of your company but you must keep the lines of communication open to all communities considered in case of changes during the project planning phase.

Identify at least three ethical and legal issues that should be considered when making the decision of where to locate the convention. State at least 3 actions you would take to ensure the decision of the location of the convention made ethically.

Describe two (2) ways that YOU benefit from the process of photosynthesis.

§ What happens when plants receive too much sun? Why?

§ How does the mapping of photosynthesis by NASA in space relate to climate change?

Respond in sentence/paragraph format with a MINIMUM of 5 sentences. Provide a reference!

Fermentation

2).

· Fermentation and cellular respiration are BOTH used for energy-production in cells. As cellular beings, humans have the ability to perform both processes. Since energy production is markedly lower during fermentation, do you think it is a good idea for human cells to perform both processes? Why/why? EXPLAIN your response.

Respond in sentence/paragraph format with a MINIMUM of 5 sentences. Provide a reference!

3).

o AUTOTROPHS & HETEROTROPHS

Autotrophs make their own food using energy they get directly from the environment, and carbon from inorganic sources such as CO2. By metabolic pathways of photosynthesis, plants and other autotrophs capture the energy of light and use it to build sugars from water and carbon dioxide. Heterotrophs get energy and carbon molecules from molecules that other organisms have already assembled.

Earth’s early atmosphere held very little free oxygen, and chemoautotrophs were common. When the noncyclic pathway of photosynthesis evolved, oxygen released by photoautotrophs permanently changed the atmosphere, and it was a selective force that favored evolution of aerobic respiration. Photoautotrophs remove CO2 from the atmosphere; the metabolic activity of most organisms puts it back. Human activities disrupt this cycle by adding extra CO2 to the atmosphere. The resulting imbalance is contributing to global warming.

Can you do some additional research and find at least one specific heterotroph?

o 4). THE EVOLUTION OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Life theoretically originated on Earth 3.4 to 4 billion years ago. The atmosphere was thin: composed of methane, carbon dioxide, and water vapor. Any gaseous oxygen had been used up in the combustion (or oxidation) of materials when the Earth was very hot.

The cooling water collected in pools, assimilating nutrients from the rocks. As water evaporated, the nutrients concentrated, forming a rich soup. The first organisms would have lived well off this food source, breaking down the complex molecules into water and carbon dioxide through respiration. Eventually, as life grew, the need arose to somehow re-synthesize complex compounds, both to eat and to use for structure and function. Some organisms learned how to use the Sun’s energy to synthesize large molecules from small molecules. Other organisms learned to use other sources of reductive power. These organisms that have learned how to build the building blocks of life are called autotrophs, or self-feeders. Autotrophs are found in the bacterial and plant

Search the Internet for an image from a used as part of an advertisement or published with a written work. Post a link to that image. Provide a brief analysis that looks at both the concepts of visual sensation and visual perception of the image. In what ways did the designer make use of Gestalt theories, constructivism, semiotics, and/or cognitive approaches to help the viewer derive meaning from the visual

After the paragraph, you can see the full reference citation of the source. The reference citation provides all of the information that someone would need to find this source.

Complete the following for your assignment:

Create a list of 6 sources that you will find useful in developing your topic as you write about it in the next paper.
Each source must be listed as a reference citation. You should follow each reference citation for the 6 sources with a short paragraph of 3–4 sentences in which you comment on the source. You should comment on the author’s main points and how the source may be of use to you when writing your paper.
Did you find any strong arguments in the source that you had not thought of?
Did the source make you rethink your position in any way?
Did you see any facts, statistics, quotes, or examples that you could use to support your thesis?
Each reference citation must be in APA format. Several resources are available to help you format your reference citations in correct APA style, including the following:
You can refer to your eBook, English Composition. In your textbook for this course, please see “Reference Style” on page 191. Sample reference citation formats begin on page 192.
You can use citation machines. The most popular and most accurate citation machines are as follows:
Citation machine 1
Citation machine 2
Citation machine 3

Each of the six entries should look like this:

Johnson, D. T. (2011). American capital punishment in comparative perspective. Law & Social Inquiry, 36(4), 1,033–1,061.

Comment–America is the only developed nation that still imposes the death penalty. All other industrialized nations abolished capital punishment in the late 20th century, according to the source. Another peculiarity: although the death penalty is common in America, executions are rare, leaving prisoners lingering on death row for decades. America has the largest death-row population than any nation on earth.

Checklist

You should have 6 sources.
Each source should be listed as an APA reference citation.
A short commentary paragraph should follow each source.

For information on Macintosh Word shortcuts, click here.

Repurposed Submissions
If you are planning to submit a repurposed or reused assignment, please let your instructor know. If an instructor is not made aware of work being repurposed or reused, an instructor will treat the assignment as a plagiarized task and may post an F grade until proof of originality is provided. Click here for more information.

Performance Measurement Methods

Many managers assume that numbers do not lie but, when measuring performance, they often do not tell the whole story. For example, your organization’s sales may have increased 7% over the last year but there is no metric to show that the overall industry has increased 18%. Managers are not seeing the whole picture if they are viewing incorrect numbers or failing to consider qualitative data that may better place the numbers in context.

To Prepare for this Discussion, take a moment to review the articles “The Five Traps of Performance Measurement” (Likierman, 2009), and “Three Rules for Making a Company Truly Great” (Raynor & Ahmed, 2013).

Post by Day 5, the following:

Describe how 2–3 of the specific methods discussed in the articles have been, or could be, used to improve performance in your organization or one with which you are familiar.

Respond by Day 7 to two or more of your colleagues in one or more of the following ways:

Provide additional insight into the methods discussed by your peers to improve performance.
Discuss alternative methods that might be used to improve performance in the organizations discussed by your peers