BUS 600 - Strategy

 

Strategy is the way you at business and give the direction to the business. Strategy does analysis a business in relationship to its industry, its competitors, and the environment. All companies need strategy to reach their goals.

Strategy as part of a business: the seven S models

Structure=>	A corporation’s structure affects its strategic planning and it ability to change
Systems=>	The actions that accompany plans in response to or in anticipation of changes in its external environment, its customers, and it competitors.
Skills=>	Closely related to staff are the distinctive abilities and talents that a company possesses.
Style=>	The basic organizational model or cultural.
Staff=>	The human resource systems (appraisal, training, wages, and intangibles).
Super ordinate Goals/Shared Values=>	The guide concepts –values and aspirations of corporate objectives.
Mission Statement=>	A mission statement is a short and concise statement of goals and priorities.

Levels of Strategy --->

1. Functional Strategy: The value activities engaged in.

2. Business Strategy: How to fight the competitor, tactics.

3. Corporate Strategy: What businesses should I be in ?

BUS516- BUSNESS OUTLINE

Assignment NOV24

BUS600 – Business Plan Outline – CALMAT Montessori School

1.       Executive Summary

-          The market

-          The customers

      -Full Time couple with children 

      -Part time /Drop in

-          Management Team

      - 4 classroom teachers (included one director, one administrator)

1-1.  Mission

      -Building a safe, secure, and happy environment for children to learn through academy Montessori way.

1-2.  Keys to Success 
      -Quality Childcare
     - Learn academy 
     - Extra Currculums
     -Flexible hours

2.       Company  & Service Summary

2-1. Ownership

2-2. Start-up Summary

2-3. Company Locations and Facilities

3.        Competitive Comparison

3-1. Capacity of Production

3-2. Future Products and Service

4.        Marketing Analysis

4-1. Market Segmentation

4-1.1. Full Time Working Couple

4.1.2. Part-time Workers/Drop-ins

4-2. Target Customers

4-3. market needs

4-4. Potential Competitors Analysis

4-5. Service Business Analysis

5.       Sales Strategy & Implementation

5-1. Sale Strategy

     5-1.1. Sale Forecast

5-2. Promotion

5-3. Price Strategy

5-4. Sales Channel Distribution

5-5. Website Sales Development

6.       Management

6-1. Management Team

6-2. Organizational Structure

6-3. Manpower Strategy and HR Plan

7.       Financial Plan

7-1. Break-even Analysis

7-2. Profit and Loss

7-3. Income Statement

7-4. Balance Sheet

7-5. Cash Flow Statement

7-6. Long-term Financial Plan   

7-7. Business Ratio

Busness Plan Outline - Calmat Montessori School

BUS600 – Business Plan Outline – CALMAT Montessori School 
1. Executive Summary

-          The market

-          The customers

-          Management Team 

1-1.  Mission

1-2.  Keys to Success

           
2. Company and Service Summary
            2-1. Ownership

            2-2. Start-up Summary

            2-3. Company Locations and Facilities 
3. Competitive Comparison

            3-1. Capacity of Production

            3-2. Future Products and Service 
4. Marketing Analysis

            4-1. Market Segmentation

4-1.1. Full Time Working Couple

          4.1.2. Part-time Workers/Drop-ins

            4-2. Target Customers

            4-3. market needs

            4-4. Potential Competitors Analysis

            4-5. Service Business Analysis 
5. Sales Strategy & Implementation

            5-1. Sale Strategy

                    5-1.1. Sale Forecast

            5-2. Promotion

            5-3. Price Strategy

            5-4. Sales Channel Distribution

            5-5. Website Sales Development
 6. Management

            6-1. Management Team

            6-2. Organizational Structure

            6-3. Manpower Strategy and HR Plan 
7. Financial Plan

            7-1. Break-even Analysis

            7-2. Profit and Loss

            7-3. Income Statement

            7-4. Balance Sheet

            7-5. Cash Flow Statement

            7-6. Long-term Financial Plan   

            7-7. Business Ratio

BUS600 Economics

BUS 600 Economics

Economics is the "study of how societies use scarce resources to produce valuable commodities and distribute them among different people." -- Paul A. Samuelson, Economics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1948)

There are seven different types of market structure: pure competition, pure monopoly, monopsony, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, oligopsony, price discrimination.

*Pure competitor: The market consist of buyers and sellers trading in a uniform commodity such as wheat, copper, or financial securities. No single buyer or seller has much effect on the going market price.

*Pure monopoly: An industry in economics that produce a product that there are no close substitutes and where significant barriers to entry prevent other firm fro entering the industry to compete for profit.

*Monopsony: There is only one buyer in the market.

*Monopolistic competition: The market consists of many buyers and sellers who trade over a range of prices rather than a single market price.

*Oligopoly: The market consists of few sellers who are highly sensitive to each other’s pricing and marketing strategies in economics. Each seller is alert to competitor’s strategies and move.

*Oligopsony: It is a market where there is a small number of buyers for a product or a service.
*Price discrimination: If one product or service has different price for different buyers which is provided by the same provider, then we call that price discrimination market strategy. An example for the car insurance which offers different price for different category of drivers.

BUS 600 -Operations

Inventory

Inventory are the raw materials, work-in-process goods  and  completely finished goods. Inventory represents one of the most  important assets that  most businesses possess, because the turnover of inventory  represent s one of the  primary sources of revenue generation and subsequent earnings for the company’s shareholders or owners. The are five major and legitimate justifications reasons for holding Inventory: pipeline, cycle, safety, anticipatory and speculative. In efficient companies, materials arrive just in time for production : just-in- time inventory.

JIT (Just-in-Time) inventory is the big thing right now in operations.  This, along with lean operations and six-sigma are the buzz words being talked most about.  But what exactly is the deal with JIT operations?

First of all, JIT is a form of providing supplies for customers just in time.  For example, Dell has become famous for its JIT model which involves not even being in possession of the raw materials needed to fulfill an order until that order is placed and yet they are still capable of filling orders in a short period of time.

Another example of a JIT system is McDonald wherein McDonald's doesn't begin to cook  until a customer has placed a specific order. Both of these companies do is they provide a customer with their order as fast as possible while having the finished product sitting in inventory for as short as possible. The major benefits are better food at a lower cost.

Why use JIT? There are two major parts to JIT inventory operations: lowering the ratio between ordering costs and holding costs and shortening lead times.

BUS600 Quantitative Analysis

Quantitative Analysis is the very challenging and important. Because it provides the basic tools principally used in finance, accounting, marketing, and operations. It also helps solving complicated problems.


Decision Theory
A decision tree diagram is included activity forks and event forks at the junctures. It can organize the problem’s alternatives, risks, and uncertainty. Decision tree analysis consist five steps:

Step1. Collect all the possible alternatives and risks associated with the situation.

Step2. Evaluate and calculate the monetary consequences of each of the alternatives.

Step3. Select the uncertainty associated with each alternative.

Step4. Combine the first 3 steps into a tree diagram.

Step5. Then, choose the best alternative and consider the non-monetary aspects of the problem.

Other definition of Quantitative Analysis
http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/Statistical_analyses.html

http://fmx.sagepub.com/content/21/1/91.abstract

http://www.google.com/intl/en/analytics/

ftp://ftp.qualisresearch.com/pub/qda.pdf

BUS516- Business Plan Outline

Business Plan Outline: MONTESSORI PRESCHOOL

1) Opportunity and Product Develop & Operation

Opportunity:

There are many different reasons why parents choose to enroll their children in childcare. The most common being that both parents need to work in order to sustain a household, however, many parents use childcare as a method of spending a little time together without the children. Experts believe that children and parents need some time away from each other in order to form relationships with others.

Product Develop & Operation:


When both parents need to work and they made decision, it is often a heartbreaking decision to put a child in childcare. However there are many benefits to placing using a childcare center both for parents and for children.

If both parents need to work, childcare is the only option that they have to make sure that their child or children are in a safe and secure atmosphere. This give the parents piece of mind knowing that their child is in good hands.

Even if both parents do not work, placing the child or children in childcare a few days a week can give the parent time for his or herself to regroup.

Children benefit from childcare because they are not around one single person everyday and allowed to play with other children. This develops their social skills. Studies have indicated that children who attend childcare on a regular basis tend to adjust better when they are placed in a structured setting such as school.

The social skills that children learn at a very early age will grow with them into adulthood. It is crucial that they learn good social skill early to know what acceptable behavior is and what is not.

a. Problem/pain?

Nowadays, both parents need to work to effort their life. They also need someone who can trust to take cares their child. Since the rate of birth decrease as well, parents more care about the quality of daycare/ school they choose. Since they have to work and they also concern how convinces, budget, time frame to fit their need.

b. Who is the customer?

Parents work and need child care. They can drop off before or after work. The place closes to home or work. Parents look for high quality school for their children’s education.

c. Market

High demand

d. Market context?

Regular daycare/ school

Montessori School

High demand daycare

Multiple languages offer on site

Company provide

Homecare: Many parents choose to use home childcare. They feel that their child will be in a familiar setting and will adjust to the time away easier.

Grandparents

Mother club

Part time/ full time

Close to elder children’s school
2) Solution: Market Search / Analysis

a. How many daycare/ preschool around the neighborhood.

b. What kind of schools customers likes.

c. Distance

d. Traffic

e. Price

f. Program offer options

4) Resource

a. How to apply daycare license in CA

http://www.ccld.ca.gov/PG484.htm

b. Law and regulation in CA

Title 22 Regulations, Evaluator Manual, Health & Safety Code , Chaptered Legislation

http://www.ccld.ca.gov/PG484.htm

5) Risk and Reward
Opening a daycare/preschool looks like an easy job. But starting this kind of business involves some risks at the same time. License, zoning, safety, insurance & health are the things need to look at before in order to risk this business.

BUS600 Week 4 Assignment 1&2 -Organizational Behavior

BUS600 Week 4 

Assignment1: Reading reflection – Organizational Behavior (Day4)

Assignment 2: What kind of leader are you? How other people will characterize you as leader? -“using VCM Model”

Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a system approach. It interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social system. The purpose of Organizational Behavior is to build better relationships by achieving human, organizational, and social objectives. When we understand and see through organizational behavior encompasses a wide range of topics, such as human behavior, change, leadership, teams, etc.
Elements of Organizational Behavior:
The organization's base rests on management's philosophy, values, vision and goals. This in turn drives the organizational culture which is composed of the formal organization, informal organization, and the social environment. The type of leadership, communication style, and group dynamics within the organization that determines the cultural of the organization. The workers perceive this as the quality of work life which directs their degree of motivation. The final outcome is performance, individual satisfaction, and personal growth and development. All these elements combine to build the model or framework that the organization operates from.
 

Type A &Type B personalities:
Type A individuals can be described as impatient, time-conscious, controlling, concerned about their status, highly competitive, ambitious, business-like, aggressive, having difficulty relaxing; and are sometimes disliked by individuals with Type B personalities for the way that they're always rushing. They are often high-achieving workaholics who multi-task, drive themselves with deadlines, and are unhappy about delays. Type a individuals are often described as "stress junkies. Many business and political leaders have Type A personalities.
Type B individuals, in contrast, are described as patient, relaxed, and easy-going, generally lacking an overriding sense of urgency. Because of these characteristics, Type B individuals are often described by Type A as apathetic and disengaged. There is also a Type AB mixed profile for people who cannot be clearly categorized.  

According to the leadership VCM Model, it proposes that three characteristics (Vision, Commitment, Management skills) as part of a leader’s personal profile.

I believed my personality is type A. But my leadership style is from managerial to balance. Sometime, it really depends on what kind of team members you have. At the beginning, when your team members are new and less experience to the job. I normally am managerial to give others a change to learn and get used to the job. Gradually, I give my team members the equal opportunity to handle job duty and grow on their own.

BUS600 Week3 assignment 2

Week 3 Assignment 2: What could you be an ethical dilemma you face in your business? 

A study has shown that among people without any preschool education, 32% were employed at age 19. If 100 people without preschool education are selected, find the probability that 40 or fewer are employed. This is data also indicated the important of early childhood education. On the contrary, people didn’t want to get involve this area. Most of people think, preschool is only a daycare or a place where they can take care their children when they are at work. In addition, preschool teachers got low pay and lack of respect. More and more high education teachers transfer their career to somewhere in order to get better pay and survive their life.  Those preschool teachers who stay with limit education and knowledge. “How to encourage teachers to improve themselves” and “keep high quality teachers in this business” which become the ethical dilemma in early childhood education.

BUS600 – Assignment 1: 3-6 Ideas from Chapter2 &3

Week 3 /Assignment1

Chapter2 – Ethics

Business Ethics is the behavior that a business stay attached to in its daily dealings with the world. The ethics of a particular business can be diverse. Many businesses have gained a bad reputation just by being in business. For some people, businesses are just making money, and that is only the bottom line. Making money is not wrong at all. It is more important in which some businesses conduct themselves that brings up the question of ethical behavior – social responsibility.

Stakeholder Analysis:
There is a framework to help solving ethical dilemmas: Stakeholder analysis. There are three steps: First, making a list which made of all potentially affected parties. Second, to do an evaluation of all the harms and benefits that s particular action will have no those involve. Third, to determine each of the affected parties’ rights and responsibilities.
Stakeholder Analysis (SA) is a methodology used to facilitate institutional and policy reform processes by accounting for and often incorporating the needs of those who have a ‘stake’ or an interest in the reforms under consideration. With information on stakeholders, their interests, and their capacity to oppose reform, reform advocates can choose how to best accommodate them, thus assuring policies adopted are politically realistic and sustainable. Stakeholder Analysis provides an idea of the impact of reform on political and social forces, illuminates the divergent viewpoints towards proposed reforms and the potential power struggles among groups and individuals, and helps identify potential strategies for negotiating with opposing stakeholders.
Stakeholder Analysis is a critical tool in clarifying the micro political economy of a policy area and can help identify interested parties that should be incorporated in the decision-making process, in addition to understanding the basis for their inclusion.

Chapter 3 – Accounting


1.The Balance Sheet-
The listing of what a company owns and owns at a point in time. A balance sheet, also known as a "statement of financial position", reveals a company's assets, liabilities, and owners' equity (net worth). The balance sheet, together with the income statement and cash flow statement, make up the cornerstone of any company's financial statements. If you are a shareholder of a company, it is important that you understand how the balance sheet is structured, how to analyze it and how to read it.

2.The Fundamental Accounting Equation – Assets = Liabilities + Owners’ Equity



3.The Eight Basic Ratio for Financial Statement Analysis- A method of analyzing statements and comparing them to industry standards.

The current ratio is a measure of liquidity. It helps us to answer the question: 'If a business had to pay off all its current liabilities tomorrow, would it have enough current (liquid) assets to make the payments and avoid insolvency?

All you do is divide current assets by current liabilities, as shown below:

 
Current Ratio = Current Assets

                        ______________
                        Current Liabilities


If the current ratio is less than 1, the business has more current liabilities than current assets - it is in danger of failure.
If the ratio is high, perhaps above 2, the business has more than enough current assets. It might be a good idea to use some of the value to buy fixed assets or increase employment and try to improve business efficiency.
The ideal current ratio is between 1 and 2 - just enough to be getting on with.

BUS600 Week2 -Marketing

Assignment 2 :What are the competitors doing ? Starbucks vs Peet's coffee & Tea

“Do you want to meet me for a cup of coffee or tea?!”

“Wow! It is so early; I need a cup of coffee!”

Every time, this kind of thought went through my mind, the logo come up my mind is “Startbucks’”& “Peet’s”. There are both popular in California. How different marketing strategy they are. 

That’s compare these two competitors.

 Starbucks' marketing strategy involves positioning the local Starbucks stores as a "third place"  (besides home and work) to spend time and the stores are designed to make this easy and comfortable place.

Peet's is committed to strategically growing its business and to maintaining a unique culture and focus on customer satisfaction. Peet's Coffee & Tea, Inc is founded in Berkeley, California, in 1966. It is a local specialty coffee roaster and marketer of fresh, deep-roasted whole bean foe home and office enjoyment.

1.       Quality:

Starbucks: All coffee must meet starbucks standards of high quality. Starbucks began purchasing Fair Trade certified in 200. Trade Certified coffee empowers small –scale farmers organized in cooperatives. They provided ethical coffee, farmer support sourcing tea and cocoa, store products. Their goals aim to have 100% coffee certified or verified by an independent 3^rd party

Peet’s: They have a high quality coffee bean facility- Artisan Roasting Facility. Many Factors to high quality coffee, one of them being ideal growing condition. Peet’s coffees are made purly of Arabica beans.

2.       Price

Starbucks: Little lower then Peet’s.

Peet’s: little higher than Startbucks.

3.       Advertising:

Starbucks

-          Environmental stewardship – environmentally friendly cuts and are working hard to expand their recycling program in an effort to reduce the waste they create.

Peet’s

-          E-mail news

-          Save 50% on shipping and get a free pound of coffee

-          Community or activities

-          Expert coffee marketing utilizing and integrated marketing techniques e-marketing.

4.    Service

Starbucks – Community Service, youth action, Starbucks Red, Starbucks foundation, & Ethos water Fund.

Peet’s – Recurring delivery, Peet’s card, express buy, gift, wireless internet access in store, & Franchise. 

BUS600 Foundation of Business Management -Week2 Assignment Chapter1 Marketing

Assignment1- Chapter 1 Marketing

Marketing is used to identify the customer, to satisfy the customer, and to keep the customer. After I read through the first chapter – marketing. There are 3 topics I think they are important for me.

1.      The 7 steps of Marketing Strategy Development:

1.1  consumer analysis

1.2  Market analysis

1.3  Review of the competition and Self

1.4  Review of the Distribution Channels

1.5  Development of a “Preliminary” Marketing Mix

1.6  Evaluation of the Economics

1.7  Revision and Extension of Steps 1-6 until a consistent plan emerges.

2.      PLC ( Products Life Cycle)

PLC is based upon the biological life cycle. For example, a flower seed is planted (introduction); then, it begins to sprout (growth); next, it shoots out baby leaves and puts down roots as it becomes an adult plant and blooming (maturity); after a long period time and the plant begins to shrink and die (decline).
It is the same theory for a product. It started with an introduction of the new product into the market. After a period of development, it gains more and more customers as it grows; eventually the market stabilizes and the product becomes mature. Then after a period of time, the product is overtaken by development. The introduction of superior competitors, it goes into decline and is eventually withdrawn.

3.      Competitor’s SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats)

SWOT Analysis Framework

Environmental Scan           / \            Internal Analysis       External Analysis / \                  / \ Strengths   Weaknesses       Opportunities   Threats | SWOT Matrix

The SWOT analysis provides information to help in matching the company's resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates.

BUS 600 Assignment week 1

BUS600 week1 - My vision or goal

Since I was growing from the dormitories of Education Intuitions and got in touch with many educators. I always like to follow the foot step of my mother to be a great educator. This is a hard and challenge work. But it also repay by the success of students we taught. Therefore, the vision of my own is to have my own school in the future. My mother was the person who leads me into the early childhood education ( she was my professor). Since I have taught this ECE field for more than 14 years now, I truly understand how important this work means to a person. We always hear that “Three year old can decide the whole future.” It says all.

The birth rate is decreasing years by years. On the contrary, parents focus on the quality of their child’s education. They are even willing to pay more for their children’s education since they were young as three, even younger. If I can open a small quality Montessori preschool in south bay area- maybe four classrooms. I believe that parents would like to enroll their children into my dream school.

Ch10 Building A High-Performance Project Team

People who work on the project team would work together in harmony to build plans, manage risk, perform tasks, and commit themselves to achieving the clearly started goals of the project. They also will be temporary, formed specifically for the purpose of achieving the goals, after which they will disband. There is a framework for building high-performance teams. There are three major parts in this framework.

Leadership Responsibilities: It is the key stone.

1. Attending to the health of the team.

2. Maintaining the strategic vision.

3. Attending to the team members.

4. Exhibiting and demanding accountabilities.

5. Personal Energy that inspires the team through example.

“Leadership is difficult to define but critical to project success.” – By Eric Verzub.

Without leadership the other components of the framework are drastically diminished.


Building a Positive Team Environment:

1. Meeting management: A meeting needs to begin with goals and a plan, and it must be actively steered toward the goals

2. Listening skills: Exchange ideas.

3. Team identity: Built on commitment to shared goal.

4. Ground rules: it describes the work patterns and values of the team. Ground rule provide a way for the team’s leader to gain agreement on expected behavior, and they serve as a tool for reminding people of what behavior is expected.

Collaborative Problem Solving

1. Continuous learning

2. Conflict management: Mature teams accept and value the inevitability of conflict and achieve the best decision to strength the stronger team relationship.

3. Decision modes

4. Problem analysis

The project team takes the project from point A to point B spraining the distance just as a bridge spans from one point to another. An arch strengthens the bridge span. The high-performance team arch strengthens the team. The leader is the keystone because the leader ties the team together.

Chapter 11 CLEAR COMMUNICATION

To be a Project Manager, communication will occur in many forms, with many individuals, including project stakeholders, your internal team, management within your organization, vendors, and more. Communication may pass through verbally or e-mail, as well as charters and project plans, addenda and status reports. These long lists are a small indication of the significance of communication to a Project Manager. There are some simple ways to maintain clear and constant communication efficiently with all parties involved.

1. Plan ahead to info people

Your project plan should include an outline for an ongoing contact strategy, meaning how you will communicate with your team and client, how often and in what form. This could be presented through a simple chart explaining that there will be a weekly status call from you to the client each Monday morning with written action items as a follow-up. Regardless of the details, the point is to set-up expectations by describing your intent before the project commences. This will allow the team and the clients to request a different approach if they feel it would be more effective. People feel confident when they understand what to expect.

2. Repeating –Keeping tracking issues

When decisions or direction is provided verbally, whether it's to your team or your client, always restate these items in writing. The minute details of a project are numerous, what may seem understood today may be forgotten tomorrow. Never take this for granted - do your due diligence by recording and distributing actionable items and decisions for the team. A simple e-mail will often suffice, and having a paper trail of a critical path can prove invaluable when important details get lost in the shuffle.

3. Focus on the main point

Project Managers need to be able to speak well, lead meeting effectively, and resolve conflicts constructively. In addition, they need to listen well, so they can really understand what is being said and get into the point.

As project team members need to have four major communication needs: responsibility, coordination, status and authorization. If all the team members have these four needs and project manager also gave the clear direction. It will be easier and smoother to process all the projects.

We need “Communication” on our daily basis. If we make sure we check our message clearly, provide sufficient context, and make the expectations for any outcome apparent. As with most critical PM skills, communication is something that can be improved continuously.

BUS520 Organization Behavior -Reflection

1. Think of a time when, as a direct result of something a leader said or did, you felt personally powerful and capable.

I am the backup opening school person. When the primary opening staff is absent, I will take over the job duty. One day, this stuff was absent and my directress didn’t remind to me she won’t be there. Fortune, I saw bulletin board and reminded myself. Therefore, I went to earlier next day to open the school. Half hour later, my directress called and she heard my voice. She used her over joy voice to answer me. How appreciated she was and how worried she was. And she also said “I knew I always can count on you and you made my day.” After I heard what she said, suddenly I felt I got recognized my hard working by my directress. The happiness was inside of me for the rest of the week at least.

2. Now think of a time when you felt powerless, weak, and insignificant as a result of something a leader said or did.

It happened today when we had a staff absent. All teachers works as a team and tried to relief office work, teachers took turn and took their breaks. When I saw our new office manager sat down and was looking for a work to do and the directress was there as well. So I suggested our directress to ask a favor from the new office manger to come in and help other classroom until teacher’s break is over if it is possible. Well, the directress went out and discusses the young and new manager, then replied to me “Just ask S teacher do not take her break until later.” So all other teachers stop to break each other and continue to work. Somehow, this directress went to tell S teacher not to take early break and said that “because “I” do not want her to take break”. Since I am a good friend of S teacher, therefore, S teacher was very mad at me and she thought I talked bad thing behind her to the directress instead of told to her directly. I didn’t know anything until Y teacher share with me. After lot of explanations among S teacher, the directress and I, we figured out the message from the directress to S teacher was miscommunicated. She apologized to both of us and sent a sorry card to us to end this story.

For the moment of me was surprised and disappointed what happened. I should learn that a simple miscommunication without careful consideration can cause a big issue. It gave the warning sign to all of us to think ahead, plan ahead before you do or say anything. Sometime, one word can change one world.