Strategic Management – Aldi Case Study

Strategic Management – Aldi Case Study
Read the attached Case “The Ripple Effect of Supermarket Wars: Aldi Is Changing the Markets in Many Countries.” Write a summary by answering the following questions:
1. Decide if Aldi is more likely to respond to any strategic actions Amazon might initiate through Whole Foods, or
2. If Amazon through Whole Foods is more likely to respond to any strategic actions Aldi takes. Be prepared to justify your decision.
3. In a competitive rivalry sense, explain the actions (strategic and/or tactical) you believe Walmart and Costco will take to respond to Aldi’s intentions to have 2,500 U.S. stores by 2020
Case Study Overview:
Aldi started as a small, family-owned grocery store located in Essen, Germany, in 1913. Two sons, Karl and Theo, took over the store from their mother in 1946; soon after doing so, they began expanding the business. They emphasized low costs from the very beginning, allowing them to offer their products to customers at low prices relative to competitors. Over time, Aldi expanded to other European countries, and it entered the United States market in 1976. Currently, there are roughly 11,000 Aldi stores located in 20
countries; 1,750 of these units arc in 35 states in the United States. In the United States alone, the firm serves 40 million customers on a monthly basis.
Aldi holds its costs down in a variety of ways. It largely sells its own brand-label products in “no frill” stores.
The company limits the number of external brands it sells (usually one or two per product), and it has low packaging, transportation, and employee costs. To sell products in its stores, Aldi positions them in ways that are similar to the approach warehouse stores use, for example, placing products on pallets and in cutaway cardboard boxes. In Germany, Aldi advertises very little, but it does advertise in the United States. It produces its own ads in-house (no external agency) and advertises mostly through newspaper inserts and a few television commercials.

Retention and Engagement Assignment

Part A.
1. What experience have you had with organizations supporting an engaging environment? What examples have you seen or heard that have helped foster a culture where employees are engaged in their jobs? Share one strategy or example that you believe can foster an engaging environment in the
workplace.
2. Often times, employees come to a point when they are ready to advance their position or develop their skills further. How can an organization support individuals seeking to relocate laterally within their organization or advance their careers by moving into a position of higher authority within their
organization?
Part B.
You are required to develop a written description including one visual for your training exercise. Be sure to take time to analyze your work surroundings and identify a need for further training and development.
Training and development prompts a change within an organization. The goal of training is to identify areas for improvement and develop materials and opportunities to educate employees in order to support growth.
For this assignment, you are required to develop a small training exercise. Review your needs assessment and previous observations conducted on your work environment to help identify one area for improvement that would benefit a part of your organization. This training exercise does not need to be implemented, but should include at least one deliverable that you could use during the training exercise. As you are reviewing your organization, consider employee engagement, systems, procedures, communication, and
the culture within the organization. These are suggestions for possible areas that could benefit from a training exercise. The training must include the following:
Organization: Bank
1. What goal is the organization trying to accomplish? Improved Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
2. What processes or procedures will change after the training? How to deepen relationship
3. Describe the strategies or actions involved in the training exercise to meet established goals. What is the expected performance or applications after the training? How will the strategies drive successful business results and improve employee performance?
4. How will the organization provide support to the employees receiving training? To new employees?
Does this support consider strengths and weaknesses within the organization?

Organizational Analysis Narrative Essay

For the Unit 2 Complete assignment, write a narrative essay which addresses
the questions and statements below. When finished, the essay should demonstrate a thorough understanding of the READ and ATTEND sections.
Describe the three dimensions that occur during organizational change.
Which model or approach to organizational change best describes your organization? If you are not currently employed, you can use a previous employer.
Think of your organization as a system. Describe the inputs, transformative processes, and outputs created by your organization.

Ethics & Compliance Programs

Determine the fundamental ways in which the NCAA’s ethics program failed to prevent the scandals at Penn State, Ohio State, and the University of Alaska.
Support your response with one example from each of these schools’ scandals.
Examine the principal ways in which the leadership of the NCAA contributed to the ethical violations of Penn State, Ohio State, and the University of Alaska.
Support your response with one example from each of these schools’ scandals.
Predict the key differences in the scenarios that occurred at Penn State, Ohio State, and the University of Alaska if an effective ethics program was in place.
Provide a rationale for your response.
Postulate on two actions that the NCAA leadership should take in order to regain the trust and confidence of students and stakeholders.
Recommend two measures that the HR departments of colleges and universities should take to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
Provide a rationale for your response

Strategy Conflict Illustration Scenario

Read the following scenario:
Emma and Isabella attend the front office at an urgent care facility. They have worked together for over five years and enjoy collaborating on projects. Their manager has asked them to collaborate by creating a team training for effective communication in the workplace. Emma and Isabella will be responsible for creating and delivering the training to the staff at the facility. Emma feels that it is important to provide hands-on learning while Isabella feels lecture would be the most appropriate format for this team. Emma defends her point by saying that her sister has been a teacher for 10 years, and she has proven that hands-on learning will increase the engagement and likelihood of remembering the training material. Isabella feels that Emma
does not account for her 10 years of experience in the medical office and voices her disgust with Emma and her lack of appreciation for her experience. Isabella storms off and leaves Emma to finish the work.
Emma approaches the manager and complains that she has been left to complete the training because Isabella refuses to talk or work with her.
Write a paper in which you:
Describe the type of conflict illustrated in the scenario.
Identify strategies the manager could use to resolve the conflict between Emma and Isabella to create a supportive climate again.
Explain how the defensive climate created by the conflict will affect the workplace relationship between Emma and Isabella.
Discuss the impact it could have on the other clinic staff and the consumers who use the clinic.
US courts review
The US courts are reviewing a case to see whether a work has been reused fairly. What is an example of something they might consider when trying to decide whether the use was fair?

Health Policy Making

Review the following lecture:
The Role of Courts in Health Policy Making Exploring Medicaid
The U.S. created Medicaid, a publicly funded healthcare program, to assist people in obtaining healthcare services. In this week, explore Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Tasks:
Answer the following questions:
Explain the legislation that introduced Medicaid. Your explanation should include a description of the funding sources for the program.
Describe some of the changes, including CHIP, that have occurred to the Medicaid program since its inception.
Explain the demographics of the majority of people covered by Medicaid and identify how many people in the U.S. are covered by Medicaid.
Describe the changes that will occur in Medicaid with the ACA.
From the Internet, review the following:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid. (2017, September 14). CMS program history. Retrieved from
https://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/Agency-Information/History/index.html
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid. (n.d.). Affordable Care Act. Retrieved from
https://www.medicaid.gov/affordable-care-act/index.html

Data Privacy Considerations Paper

The European Union legislation called the “General Data Protection Regulation” (GDPR) provides data privacy protections for consumers and has had a major impact on companies around the world.
In your initial post, address the following as part of your response:
What are the general requirements and major impacts of the GDPR, and how does this law differ from data protection legislation in the United States?
How are companies outside of Europe affected by the GDPR?
How do perspectives on the GDPR differ between consumers and businesses? Do perspectives vary by industry?
Do you think there should be one data privacy law for the entire world? Balance your discussion by weighing the benefits to international companies with your knowledge of the differences in culture, politics, and government around the world and the importance of sovereignty of countries.

Working Capital Management Assignment

Overview
Working capital management is critical to an organization’s ability to meet its short-term obligations. When proposing new projects or investment ideas for corporations, it is critical to consider working capital red flags such as excess credit use by the business or a low cash balance. Managing such issues early on can help corporations acquire a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Prompt Using the business you selected for Project Two, complete the calculations for determining working capital, and describe their relevance in assessing financial health.
Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:
Financial Statement(s): Explain the various financial statement(s) needed to calculate a business’s working capital and how each financial statement is used. Provide examples to support your claims.
Working Capital’s Role: Discuss how effective working capital management supports a healthy business.
Working Capital Interpretation: Use the appropriate formula to calculate working capital, then discuss the business’s current financial liquidity position. For example, does the business have sufficient working capital on hand to address bills to suppliers? Will there be potential cash inflow at the end of the year?
Working Capital Management Direction: Discuss the current direction of the business regarding working capital management. Keep in mind that financial statements reflect a specific moment or period of time and the value of the business’s working capital during that period. To get a better understanding
of the direction in which a business is going, use the business’s balance sheets from Mergent Online to compare the business’s value today against its value from one year ago.

Integrated Analytical Project

This assessment task requires you to demonstrate competency and knowledge in assessing current consumer interest and to confirm a target market. The task has two parts:
1. Part A is all about providing critical thinking, and
2. Part B is to conduct a market analysis.
Part A – Assess current level of consumer interest for “Beats by Dre” Brand
The following questions relate to identifying and assessing consumer interest of a target market for the case study “Beats by Dre”.
For this assessment task one-part A, you will need to answer all of the following five (5) questions and relate your answer to both an international marketing setting (I.e. United States of America) and domestic setting (Australia).
1. Investigate audiophile or “hi-fi enthusiast” consumer need for the Premium Over-Ear Headphones product “Beats by Dre” brand.
Provide a brief summary of trends and past performance of the product in the USA and Australia. Did the information suggest there was a need for the product? If so, why? Students are to include in their answers,
details of the quantitative and qualitative information or data sources you accessed (200-400 words).
1. Explore the past marketing activities of “Beats by Dre” products. Look into any plans, strategies and campaigns you can access and describe the effectiveness in terms of focus of appeal, e.g. how they reach their target audience and persuade them to buy.
Research Apple’s marketing strategy and describe how the profiles of Beats by Dre’s market segments fits into Apple’s Marketing Strategy requirements. Describe how the completed profile meets the organisational requirements of “Beats by Dre” and how this should best be presented.
1. Explore the different influences that may affect the target market purchasing behaviour for “Beats by Dre” products or services.
Assess at least three (3) individual, social and cultural influences on consumer behaviour and, in your own words, suggest a reason how each one can impact the “Beats by Dre” brands products or services.
1. Assess how lifestyle influences like can impact on consumer behaviour. Estimate how consumer lifestyle influences such as a person’s aspirations, interests and their leisure activities can impact on “Beats by Dre” products.
2. Referring to the marketing plan (Appendix 2), give at least two (2) examples and assess how organisational behaviour can impact on the “Beats by Dre” brand.
3. Assess how lifestyle influences like can impact on consumer behaviour. Estimate how consumer lifestyle influences such as a person’s aspirations, interests and their leisure activities can impact on “Beats by Dre” products.
4. Referring to the marketing plan (Appendix 2), give at least two (2) examples and assess how organisational behaviour can impact on the “Beats by Dre” brand.
Part B: Confirm target market for “Beats by Dre” Brand in Australia and in the USA
The following questions relate to confirming the target market for the “Beats by Dre” brand. For this assessment task one-Part B, you must answer all of the following four (4) questions in their own words.
Note: You will need to refer to the marketing plan for “Beats by Dre” (Appendix 2) to help answer Questions 1 and 2.
1. Identify the overall market for “Beat by Dre” headphones and describe one market segment using demographics, psychographics, lifestyles factors and behavioural traits as the basis for the segmentation.
2. Identify at least two (2) key features of “Beats by Dre” headphones.
3. Identify and describe at least two (2) key aspects of culture that may affect the international marketing of “Beats by Dre” products within the target market identified in Question 1 above, e.g. usual purchasers in families, values and beliefs etc.
4. Identify at least two (2) consumer attributes targeted by “Beats by Dre” products in the USA as per the market segment outlined above in Question 1 and how this relates to the overall market profile.

Principle of Double Ethics Journals

Answer the following questions
How does the Principle of Double Effect change the discussion of human freedom, what we “ought” to do, happiness, or the morality of human action?
How do you connect or even rationalize the concepts of good and evil with a “good life”?
How do all your responses to questions shape your ideas of right and wrong? Has anything changed or evolved?