Literature review of corporate social responsibility theories

Literature review of corporate social responsibility theories Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), also known as corporate citizenship, responsible business, or sustainable responsible business is all but a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model where companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society. Arguably, business and society are interwoven where society has certain expectations regarding business, thus, implying that firms have responsibilities towards society. Hence, being a steward of the needs of society is deemed to be a socially responsible, appropriate, and natural act. Corporate describes a business that aims to make a profit for its shareholders, hence this excludes, charities, foundations, NGOs and social enterprises. The first book acknowledging CSR is the Social Responsibilities of the Businessman (Howard R. Bowen) in the mid 1950s. But, the term CSR came in widespread use in the early 1970s. In fact, it owes its origin due to the globalisation which took place after many multinational corporations were formed, thus, bringing in force the corporate governance mechanisms to ascertain fairness and transparency as well as social responsibility in the corporate world. CSR is defined in various ways in different countries, of about being the capacity building for sustainable livelihoods from Ghana to about giving back to society from Philippines; and of being conventionally presented in a philanthropic model from the United States to being focused on operating the core business in a socially responsible way, complemented by investment in communities for solid business case reasons and voluntary interaction with the stakeholders from the European model. As such, according to Caroll (2003), The social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical and discretionary (philanthropic) expectations that society has of organisations at a given point in time. Hence, ideally and broadly, the concept of CSR is a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby business would monitor and ensure its support to law, ethical standards, and international norms. 2.1.1 CSR and CSP In todays competitive market environment, businesses are confronted with a new set of non economics-related challenges. To survive and prosper, firms must bridge economic and social systems. Maximising shareholder wealth is a necessary but is no longer a sufficient condition for financial prosperity. Despite the concept of CSR addresses such issue, a specific connotation of CSR and a new performance measure called the corporate social performance (abbreviated as CSP) needs to be unified to capture the performance of a business in the social realm, and also to be more precise in thinking about CSR. CSP defined as a business organizations configuration of principles of social responsibility, processes of social responsiveness, and policies, programs, and observable outcomes as they relate to the firms societal relationships (Wood, 1991), clearly shows that social performance is not limited to corporations only, but also applies to any firm and organisation. This comprehensive definition assumes that CSP is broader than CSR, which consists of three norms at different levels of analysis: institutional, organisational, and individual. Additionally, it includes organisational processes of environmental assessment, stakeholder management, and issues management, and also various measures of its external manifestations and societal effects, such as social impacts. Hence the CSP model expresses and articulates three stages, from less to more engage towards stakeholders: social obligation, social responsibility and social responsiveness (S.P. Sethi, 1975). 2.1.2 Views on CSR According to Hancock (2005), CSR can be viewed through 3 ways namely: Views on CSR Hancock (2005) Sceptic View Milton Friedman (1970) Utopian View Evan and Freeman (1988) Realist view Patricia Werhane (2009) Few trends would so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as they possibly can. Notion of CSR is opposed to democracy and freedom where business focus is on wealth creation Went for Stakeholder Theory A corporation must recognise and respect the vital interests of each of its surrounding stakeholders. CSR reflects the idea that companies have a prior duty to anyone touched by their activity, their stakeholders rather than their shareholders, and especially the vulnerable that may be exploited by the companys operation. Gathers the greatest following of an alliance model CSR is also about the integrity with which a company governs itself, fulfils its mission, lives by its values, engages with its stakeholders, measures its impacts and reports on its activities. CSR is not simply about whatever funds and expertise companies choose to invest in communities to help resolve social problems 2.1.3 Key Drivers of CSR CSR is seen by Porter and Van Der Linde (2000, p. 131) as a competitive driver that requires appropriate resources. CSR programmes, however, on their own, have certain main drivers which are as follow: Bottom Line Effect This is the most relevant driver of CSR programmes as it incorporates a socially responsible element into corporate practice. As John Elkington (1997) rightly underlined that many companies exhibit corporate citizenship through charity or philanthropy. Nevertheless, a new perspective evolved over time for some corporate stakeholders. Success of a corporation is now weighted and defined by evaluating businesses using a Triple Bottom Line comprised of its social, environmental and financial performance. Managing Risk An endeavour to adopt CSR programme has been the gain in market share, key personnel and investment which pioneering companies enjoy when they seriously address labour and green issues. In fact, corporations implement such a programme to manage risks and ensure legal compliance as denoted by Levine Michael A. (2008). They try to avoid investigation, litigation, prosecution, regulation or legislation. Influence of the Corporate Disasters There has been an increased perception of greed amidst senior business officials in the corporate world following corporate scandals affecting Enron, WorldCom and the like. CSR is important in counteracting allegations of corporate greed. As a result, as described by Hancock (2005) in his book, corporations are now shifting away from the philanthropic approach towards CSR and are moving towards the greater alignment of CSR with business strategy and corporate governance. Lower Equity Risk Premium Reputation Management Corporations can face economic damage when their corporate reputations and brands are assailed or sales are affected by consumer boycotts. As argued by some rating agencies, a comprehensive CSR programme will lower a companys equity risk premium. A direct correlation between reputation and financial outcome measures share price and credit rating (Hancock, 2005) has been illustrated through a model designed by the global public relations company Bell Pottinger. In fact, companies may face a variety of legal and reputational risks if they do not have adequate social compliance or corporate social responsibility/sustainability programs in place. Customer Loyalty In todays markets, companies have to focus on building and maintaining customer loyalty. As proposed by Zhou Y. (2009), this can be done through a CSR programme which builds loyalty with customers by offering a competitive advantage in a marketplace where consumers find ethically delivered or produced goods and services. Stakeholder Activism Investment Incentives As perceived by Visser, W. (2008), CSR is encouraged through the activism of stakeholder or pressure groups which often address the alleged failure of the market and government policy. The trend of socially responsible investment gives CSR an incentive where funds are screened on ethical, social and environmental criteria. Thus, this proactively encourages businesses to inform shareholders of potential risks and issues and it helps them to better understand their stakeholders, including shareholders. According to Hill Knowltown (2006), surveys have indicated that analysts place as much importance on corporate reputation as they do on financial performance. 2.1.4 Theories for CSR There are several theories that emerged to explain the reasons behind environmental reporting over the time. These are: Operational Efficiency Theory Operational Efficiency occurs when the right combination of people, process, and technology to boost the productivity and value of any business operation, while reducing cost of routine operations to a desired level. In the context of CSR, operational efficiencies can be achieved through managing impending risks and liabilities more effectively and efficiently through CSR tools and perspectives by reducing costs; streaming information to stakeholders concerning the investment community for better transparency and by using corporate responsibility and sustainability approaches within business decision-making to result in new market opportunities, newly developed manufacturing processes that can be expanded to other plants, regions or markets as advocated by S. B. Banerjee (2007). Social Contract Theory The current practice of CSR by corporations was explained by O. O. Amao (2007) under the social contract theory. This theory dates from the classic period of history but took its modern form in the 16th and 18th centuries with best known philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau who talk on social contract. Rousseau, in fact, conceptualised the individual-society relationship as a symbiotic situation whereby the two parties mutually confer some right to the state in order to maintain social order which makes human life and cohabitation better and to gain benefits of community and safety. In parallel to the social contract, the corporate social theory, pertaining to a firms indirect social obligations, is advanced where businesses are bound by the social contract to perform various socially desired actions in return for approval of their objectives and other rewards. Legitimacy Theory Similar to the social contract theory, the legacy theory was adopted by corporations to ensure that operations are within the limits and norms of their respective societies and the outside parties perceive their activities as being legitimate. Society grants legitimacy and power to business. In the long run, those who do not use power in a manner which society considers responsible will tend to lose it. This principle developed by Davis (1973) is commonly known as the Iron Law of Responsibility. It expresses legitimacy as a societal-level concept and describes the responsibility of business as a social institution that must avoid abusing its power. Thus, this principle expresses a prohibition rather than an affirmative duty, and it applies equally to all companies, regardless of their particular circumstances. According to A.K.H. Khor (2004), the legitimacy theory is fundamentally a system-oriented theory where organisations are viewed as components of the larger social environment within which they exist. Stakeholder Theory A key feature of CSR involves the way that a company engages, involves, and collaborates with its stakeholders including shareholders, employees, debt-holders, suppliers, customers, communities, non-governmental organisations, and governments. M. C. Branco and L. L. Rodrigues (2007) argued that companies need to use stakeholder engagement to internalise societys needs, hopes, circumstances into their corporate views and decision-making. While there are many questions about how far a companys responsibilities extend into communities relative to the roles of governments and individual citizens, there is a strong argument that CSR can effectively improve a companys relations with communities and thereby produce some key features that will improve business prospects for its future. Agency Theory This theory comes to explain the relationship that exists between the owners/shareholders and the management. The latter is the agent appointed by the principal (owner/subsidiary). In such an agent-principal relationship, problems such as the potential moral hazard and conflict of interest are likely to occur. CSR comes as a middle way so that both parties can maximise their gains. As such, when CFP is strong, managers may reduce social expenditures in order to maximise their own short term private gains whereas when CFP weakens, managers will try to offset their disappointing results by engaging in conspicuous social programs, hence increasing their own wealth and that of shareholders as well, pursuant to the managerial opportunism hypothesis by Preston OBannon (1997). 2.2 2.2.1 Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) Most of the businesses operate with a view of yielding profits. The financial performance of a company is reflected through its policies and operations in monetary terms. These results are reflected through its return on investment, return on assets, value added, return on sale and growth in sales. Managers work in the best interest of shareholders to maximise profits. Financial performance is the most common, however, it cannot be considered as the only indicator used to measure a firms wealth. A broader definition of financial performance is accompanied by additional indicators such as short-term profits, long-term profits, market value, and other forms of competitive advantage, as noted by Jensen (2001). 2.2.2 Corporate Social Performance and CFP Many previous studies have indicated an unclear relationship between CSR and financial performance. Thus, literature has pointed out towards an innovation in bringing the concept of CSP to better explore its impact upon corporate financial performance (CFP). In todays world, for a firm to achieve a good and high level of CFP, it has to go beyond the limits of its own corporate strategies and adopt views of other stakeholders who may be directly or indirectly related to the company. Since over the three decades, the study of the correlation between CSP and CFP has gained much salience. Many studies conducted in this effect have yielded positive correlation, while others produced contradictory results with negative or non-significant different causal directions being found. In effect, there are several competing theoretical models which are proposed to explain three varying findings on the CSP-CFP link. Owing to these differing relationships, I.Y. Maroam (2006) proposes a unified theory of the CSP-CFP link that explain the different relationships that may be observed between CSR and CFP, thus basing itself on the parallels between the business and CSR domains. The concept of CSR instils in corporations the moral responsibility towards society that go beyond the goal of simply making profits for their owners and shareholders (Berman et al., 1999). As Freeman (1984) rightly pointed out that corporations should be socially responsible for both moral and practical (instrumental) reasons, by reflecting a socially responsible posture, a corporation can enhance its own performance. Thus, CSR activities can, inter-alia, be rewarded with more satisfied customers, better employee, improved reputation, and improved access to financial markets, all pertaining to improving financial performance and sustaining the business. However, social accomplishments may equally involve certain financial costs which can effectively reduce profits and comparative performance. Hence, Vance (1975) came up with the trade-off hypothesis to show negative linkage between CSP and CFP whereby corporations displaying strong social credentials experience declining stock price s relative to the market average. 2.2.3 CSP as a Business Strategy So far, it is clear that CSP can be used as a business strategy which can contribute to the competitive advantage of firms. A study by N. A. Dentchey (2004) on the effects of CSP on the competitiveness of organisations reveals that CSP should not be thought as an innocent adventure for executives. It is rather a strategy for achieving corporate strategies, which if not warily implemented, may harm the firms competitive advantage. Competitive advantage, as seen by Porter (1996), denotes the ability of a company to outperform others from successful differentiation from rivals actions. This strategic fit between the outside environment and companies internal resources and capabilities (Hoskissoon et al., 1999) results in superior financial results, as indicated by various measures of profitability. Hence, as per Burke and Logsdon (1996), a strategic implementation of social responsibility benefits all by resulting in strategic outcomes such as customer loyalty, future purchases, new products, new markets and productivity gains. Arguably, CSP can be a source of competitive disadvantage for firms which regard CSP as an additional cost. Business contributions to social prosperity (CSP) are seen by Keim (1978, p.33) as an investment in public good which is consumed or enjoyed by a number of individuals disregarding the cost sharing. Thus, investing in CSP is likely to bear negative effects for the firms which are in curring costs that might otherwise be avoided or that should be borne by others, for example, individuals or government (Aupperle et al., 1985). 2.2.4 CSP, CFP and the Stakeholder Theory Following the above arguments, a new perspective of CSP, based on the stakeholder analysis, emerges to argue furthermore that there exists a positive relationship between CSP and CFP. As such, S.A. Waddock and S.B. Graves (1997) propose that a tension exists between the firms explicit costs (for instance, payments to bondholders) and its implicit costs to other stakeholders (for example, product quality costs, and environmental costs). Hence, a firm which tries to outweigh its explicit costs by increasing its socially responsible actions incurs higher implicit costs, resulting in competitive advantage. Thus, high levels of CSP are seen as indicators of superior management by Alexander and Buchholz (1982) which lead to lower explicit costs and enhanced financial performance. The stakeholder theory accompanies the concept of CSR by shedding more light on the issue of social responsibility. This theory is spread over three aspects (Donaldson and Preston, 1995) namely, descriptive, instrumental and normative. While the descriptive aspect describes and explains the theory, the instrumental aspect discloses the cause-effect relationships between stakeholder management practices and improving corporate performance. The normative aspect, on the other hand, as perceived by I.Y. Maroam (2006) emphasizes on the moral imperatives for practising stakeholder management, rather than the business benefits it may provide. A parallelism between the core business domain and the CSR domain will maximise a firms profitability. The stakeholder theory provides a framework for investigating the relationship between CSP and CFP by examining how a change in CSP is related to a change in financial accounting measures. In fact, the two concepts of CSR and stakeholder share the proposition that social responsibility affects financial performance in some way or other. This subject area has been so vastly explored that this trend is now seen as a natural progression which goes associatively with developments in the industrial and business world. There is an increasing concern and emphasize on humanity, environmental preservation and enlightened social consciousness. Thus, a new area of research began to pave its way within the field of business and society where the relationship between corporate social conduct, both toward the corporations stakeholders and the wider society, and the corporations financial performance was and is still being investigated across several countries. Over environmental issues, research h as revealed that businesses which are eco-friendly and demonstrate good CSR practices enjoy increased consumer purchase preference (Gildea, 1994; Zaman, 1996) and good economic performance (Al-Tuwaijiri, et al., 2004). A stakeholder group, as identified and defined by Freeman (1984), is one that that can affect or is affected by achievement of the organisations objectives, that is, which can be harmed as well as can help it to achieve its goals. Therefore, there is a growing need for firms to address the needs and expectations of the stakeholders to avoid negative outcomes and produce positive outcomes for themselves (Donaldson and Preston, 1995; Freeman, 1984; Frooman, 1997). Pursuant to the stakeholder theory perspective, CSP can be assessed in terms of a company meeting the demands of multiple stakeholders, ranging from cost minimisation to societal maximisation. Building on the previous mentioned definition of CSP, Wood and Jones (1995) propose that stakeholder theory is the key to understanding the structure and dimensions of the firms societal relationships thereby assuming that firms are responsible for honouring all the implicit and explicit contracts they hold with their various constituen ts. Therefore, the stakeholder theory provides a system-based perspective of the organisation and its stakeholders where it acknowledges the dynamic and complex nature of the interplay between them. The various stakeholders of the firms, such as the employees, shareholders, financers, environmentalists, government, communities, customers and even competitors should be convinced by the management that it is working harder to satisfy them. The more important the stakeholders to the firm, the more effort the firm needs to put to uphold its relationship with the former. According to Clarkson, Donaldson and Preston et al. (1995), the stakeholder theory must place shareholders as one of the multiple stakeholder groups which managers should consider in their decision-making process. However, like the shareholders, the other stakeholders may have a say upon the firm, bestowing societal legitimacy. Notably, Bernadette M. Ruf et al. (2001) asserted that firms must address these non-shareholder gro ups demands otherwise they might face negative confrontations which can ultimately result in diminished shareholder value, through boycotts, lawsuits, protests and so on. Hence, firms have a fiduciary duty relationship not only to the shareholders, but to all stakeholders (Hasnas, 1998, p.32). So far, recognising a companys contractual relationship with the various stakeholders has been instrumental in better comprehending the relationship that CSP and CFP share. Stakeholders have expectations from the organisation. Nevertheless, these expectations may conflict with the firms limited resources leading the firm to evaluate its costs and benefits tradeoffs. Firms must thus come with measures representative of the various factors of CSP and stakeholders interests. Unlike neo-classical stockholders who were only interested in financial performance (Grouf, 1994; Shapiro, 1992), the major stakeholders of today, that is, the stockholders are more interested in the firms current and future financial benefits and social performance. 2.3 Empirical Review This section reviews the works done and methods used by researchers on the relationship of CFP and CSP. Empirical results on the latters correlation are mixed whereby some yielded in positive, some in negative and some in non-significant relationships. Basing on the stakeholder theory approach, several models on the CFP-CSP relationship have been proposed, where the largest number of investigations found a positive CSP-CFP linkage. Notably, different methods to compute indexes for CFP and CSP have been used since data on both cannot be possibly obtained in absolute figures. As such, using aggregated weights assigned to K dimensions of social performance obtained through questionnaire for CSP and using change in return on equity (ROE), change in return on sales (ROS) and growth in sales as financial measures on a sample of 496 firms, Bernadette M. Ruf et al. (2001) came up with a positive relationship between CSP and CFP. They, in fact, regressed change in CSP on change in CFP. The results revealed a significant positive relationship between change in CSP and change in ROE and change in ROS in the long term but that with growth in sales was significantly positive only in year 0 and 1. The study suggests that improvements in CSP have both immediate and continuing financial impacts. The authors have furthermore suggested that since many financial performance measures follow a random walk or mean reversion  [1]  , it is important to use lead/lag studies to establish a causal sequence of CSP and CFP. Concerning time period, one year may be short in strat egic terms and could well be distorted by rogue figures, hence, it suggested to take two or five years data in analyses. A paper by S. A. Waddock and S. B. Graves (1997) also found positive linkage between CFP and CSP. An index for CSP was computed using eight attributes relating to shareholder concerns and were rated consistently across the entire Standards Poors 500 by a rating service. The firms profitability was measured using three accounting variables, namely, return on assets (ROA), ROE and ROS used to assess CFP by the investment community. Factors such as size, risk and industry which affect both CFP and CSP were taken as control variables. Used on a sample of 469 companies and using CSP as both dependent and independent variable, the results revealed that CFP does depend on CSP and vice-versa and also indicated the importance of controlling for industry in assessing such a relationship. Size has been suggested in previous studies, like that of Ullman (1985) and McWilliams, A., and D. Siegel (2000), to be a factor which affects both CFP and CSP. Size remains a relevant variable because there had been evidence that smaller firms may not demonstrate the same obvious socially responsible behaviours as larger firms. Authors like Pinkston and Carroll (1993), for instance, investigated the extent social responsibility orientations, organisational stakeholders, and social issues can differ among firms of differing sizes. P. A. Stanwick and S. D. Stanwick (1998), on the other hand, found a significant positive association between size (annual sales) and CFP at the 10% level for three of the six years of their study. Firm size is particularly the scale of operations in an organisation (Price and Mueller (1986, p. 233)). Previous literature has indicated a need to control not only for industry, and size (Ullman, 1985; Waddock and Graves, 1997), but also for risk (McWilliams and Siegel, 2000) to render research results more complete. The argument to use risk as a control variable is supported by the fact that the degree of risk is seen as the other important component of firm performance assumed by a firm in order to achieve a given level of financial performance as stated by Bettis and Hall (1982). Baird and Thomas (1985) also advocated risk as being both as a strategic variable (firms choose a given level of risk) and as an outcome variable (strategic choices lead to a level of risk) which ultimately leads to improved financial performance. As such, M. Brine, R. Brown and G. Hackett (2004) used risk alongside size as control variables to assess financial performance of 277 companies. Their preliminary results stated that the adoption of CSR does lead to increases in turnover and also an increase in equity, which in turn improve the CFP level. According to Mahoney L. and Roberts R.W. (2007), there is no significant relationship between a composite measure of firms CSP and CFP. Using four years panel data of Canadian firms, they calculated a composite measure of CSP score by summing all dimension strength ratings, such as, community relations, diversity, employee relations, environment, international, product safety, and amongst others and subtracting all dimension weaknesses ratings. Following Waddock and Graves (1997a), ROA and ROE were used separately to measure a firms CFP. As CFP was expected to be positively related to CSP, a one-year lag between CFP and all independent variables (CSP, firm size, debt level, and industry) was used. Inconsistent with their expectation, they found no significant relationship between the composite CSP measure and either ROA or ROE. However, the use of individual measures of firms CSP regarding environmental and international activities and CFP resulted in a significant relationship provi ding mixed support for the business case for CSP. A study, using the Granger causality approach, by Rim Makni et al. (2008) reaffirms Mahoney and Roberts (2007) works on the non-significant relationship. However, there may also be a simultaneous and interactive negative relation between CSP and CFP, forming a vicious circle.

Managing Marketing Function

Managing the Marketing Function Project Management Course work MKT2280, 2011-2012 Lecturer: Masoumeh Mahdieh (m. [email  protected] ac. uk) Coursework description: Read the following questions and make sure you answer all parts listed for each question. You must email your coursework as one document in MS Word format to m. [email  protected] ac. uk by the deadline of 12 noon on Friday the 20 January 2012. You must also submit an identical hardcopy of your coursework to the Student Office at William building by the same deadline. Late submissions or submission through other methods will not be accepted. This coursework is worth 25% of your overall mark. Make sure that you clearly show your name and student number of all the group’s members and module code on the Cover sheet of your Report (use cover sheet template in appendix 3). Keep the submission receipt and a copy of your assignment in a safe place. Questions: 1. You are conducting a market research project for FUN Inc. Given the project information that follows, draw AON project network and complete the forward and backward pass. Compute ES, EF, LS, LF and slack time for each activity. Identify the project completion time and critical path. Also use the information to create a Gantt chart for the project. Be sure to show slack for noncritical activities. ID| Description| Duration | Predecessor | A| Contract signed| 3| None| B| Survey designed | 2| A| C| Target market identified | 4| B| D| Data collection| 7| B, C| E| Develop presentation| 3| B| F| Analyze result| 2| D| G| Demographics| 5| C| H| Presentation | 2| E, F, G| Note: To draw project network, Gantt chart and timing use the project templates from Appendix 1. 2. You are in charge of organizing a dinner-dance concert for a local charity. You have reserved a hall that will seat 30 couples and have hired a jazz combo. A. Develop a scope statement for this project that contains examples of all the elements. Assume that the event will occur in 4 weeks and provide your best guess estimate of the dates for milestones. B. What would the priorities likely be for this project? (Draw project priority matrix) Note: Use appendix 2 for project priority matrix and scope statement. 3. Nicolette Larson was loading the dishwasher with her husband, Kevin, and telling him about the first meeting of the Manchester United Tournament Organizing Committee. Nicolette, a self confessed â€Å"soccer mom,† had been elected tournament director and was responsible for organizing the clubs first summer tournament. Manchester United Soccer Club (MUSC) located in Manchester, New Hampshire was formed in 1992 as a way of bringing recreational players to a higher level of competition and preparing them for the State Olympic Development Program and/or high school teams. The club currently has 24 boys and aids (ranging in age from under 9 to 16) on teams affiliated with the Hampshire Soccer Association and the Granite State Girls Soccer League. The club’s board of directors decided in the fall to sponsor a summer invitational soccer tournament to generate revenue. Given the boom in youth soccer, hosting summer tournaments has become a popular method for raising funds. MUSC teams regularly compete in three to four tournaments each summer at different locales in New England. These tournaments have been reported to generate between $50,000 and S70,000 for the host club. MUSC needs additional revenue to refurbish and expand the number of soccer fields at the Rock Rimmon soccer complex. Funds would also be used to augment the club's scholarship program, which provides financial aid to players who cannot afford the $450 annual club dues. Nicolette gave her husband a blow-by-blow account of what transpired during the first tournament committee meeting that night. She started the meeting by having everyone introduce themselves and by proclaiming how excited she was that the club was going to sponsor its own tournament. She then suggested that the committee brainstorm what needed to be done to pull off the event; she would record their ideas on a flipchart. What emerged was a free-for-all of ideas and suggestions. One member immediately stressed the importance of having qualified referees and spent several minutes describing in detail how his son's team was robbed in a poorly officiated championship game. This was followed by other stories of injustice on the soccer field. Another member suggested that they needed to quickly contact the local colleges to see if they could use their Fields. The committee spent more than 30 minutes talking about how they should screen teams and how much they should charge as an entry fee. An argument broke out over whether they should reward the winning teams in each age bracket with medals or trophies. Many members felt that medals were too cheap, while others thought the trophies would be too expensive. Someone suggested that they seek local corporate sponsors to help fund the tournament. The proposed sale or tournament T-shirts and sweatshirts was followed by a general critique of the different shirts parents had acquired at different tournaments. One member advocated that they recruit an artist he knew to develop a unique silk-screen design for the tournament. The meeting adjourned 30 minutes late with only half of the members remaining until the end. Nicolette drove home with seven sheets of ideas and a headache. As Kevin poured a glass of water for the two aspirin Nicolette was about to take, he tried to comfort her by saying that organizing this tournament would be a big project not unlike the projects he works on at his engineering and design firm. He offered to sit down with her the next night and help her plan the project. He suggested that the first thing they needed to do was to develop a WBS for the project. A. Make a list of the major deliverables for the project and use them to develop a draft of the work breakdown structure for the tournament that contains at least three levels of detail. What are the major deliverables associated with hosting an event such as a soccer tournament? B. How would developing a WBS alleviate some of the problems that occurred during the first meeting and help Nicolette organize and plan the project? C. Where can Nicolette find additional information to help her develop a WBS for the tournament? Appendix 1: Project network template: ES LS LF EF A 3 Project Gantt chart: A| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | B| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | C| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | D| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | E| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | F| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | G| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | H| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | time| 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16| 17| 18| 19| 20| 21| 22| Project timing: Activity ID| Earliest start| Earliest finish| Latest start| Latest finish| Slack time| A| 0| 3| | | | B| | | | | | C| | | | | | D| | | | | | E| | | | | | F| | | | | | G| | | | | | H| | | | | | Appendix 2: Priority matrix: To fill the table, type X or shade the appropriate box with any colour | Time | Performance | Cost | Constrain| | | | Enhance | | | | Accept| | | | Scope statement: Project Objective: | Deliverables:| Milestones:| Technical requirement:| Limits and Exclusions:| Customer review:| Appendix 3: Cover sheet template Managing the Marketing Function Project Management Course work MKT2280, 2011-2012 Lecturer: Masoumeh Mahdieh (m. [email  protected] ac. uk) Date: Group’s details: Name| Student number| Signature | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Pizza! the Best Party Food Essay

Ding! Dong! â€Å"The pizza’s here everybody†. What do you mostly always eat when there is a party? What do you expect to eat at a party? That’s right! It’s pizza. A party without pizza is like a store without anything to sell. Some reasons that it is the best party food is that everybody eats it and is easy to get. Another reason is that everyone loves it. So why not get pizza the next time you decide to throw a party. First of all, lactose intolerant people aside, who doesn’t love when the pizza guy arrives at the door with, boxes of that deliciousness. Also it is the easiest thing to get for a party is pizza. Its so hard to cook for anywhere from 50-100 people. That would take hours of work and make the house smell bad. Why not just spend 60 dollars and get about seven whole boxes of Pizza Hut, Domino’s, DiGiorno’s, or anything else. Its saves so much time and the trouble of cooking. Also who knows if they will honestly even like the food you cook. When getting pizza you know everybody will eat it because the hosts of parties know people love pizza. Do you want to be remembered as a good host or party thrower? Then go buy pizza. You will probably spend that much on whatever you are cooking any way. So take the easy way out, and also the smart way. Next, everyone enjoys pizza, name one person that just doesn’t enjoy pizza. The perfect blend of cheese, tomato, and bread gets everyone’s mouths watering. Everyone just can’t resist from taking a slice. On the other hand it also tastes very good with drinks such as sodas. You can have all the wings and breadsticks you want but no matter what it won’t be a party without pizza. If I ever met someone who doesn’t like pizza I would interrogate him with questions. Did you ever even try it? Are you crazy? What’s wrong with you? What planet have you come from? Good thing I have never met anyone like that. Pizza is also rated the peoples’ most favorite food worldwide. So at a party you know it’s pretty demanding. If people don’t get pizza then it will make the guests unhappy and unsatisfied in their stomach. Overall there is no way around it. Pizza is the king of the party. It is the stomach filler. It is the most essential ingredient to making a successful party.

Free Essays on The Weaknesses Of Todays Ads

The Weaknesses of Today’s Ads Advertisements today seem to pull people in all sorts of directions. Some are more reserved in their presentation, while others seem to force a product or an issue upon its audience. I realize they’re all trying to do the same thing, which is to sell something. But along with these products they also seem to want it to tie into something else; that with this product, you’ll be popular. Basically, the weaknesses in today’s ads are not in their style, but in their substance and the way it is presented. My first example deals with a brand of shoes, in particular, Skechers. To pull in potential buyers, the ad shows buyers a group of typical teenagers. Mind you, these are kids with perfect complexion and the perfect fashion sense. All of the models are easy on the eyes and nothing they’re wearing is offensive or flashy. There is also the sense that these are pretty respectable kids and that they are all popular. Tying all this in with the fact that they are wearing Skechers implies that wearing them makes you popular. The problem with this is that it’s not true and it provides a false image for kids to emulate. And I think this is what causes kids to feel insecure about what they wear, and eventually, who they are. The second advertisement deals with Everest mint gum. It shows a very cold, bright landscape with large mountains in the background and a dark patch of ice in the foreground. In the foreground is a scoreboard with the names â€Å"shirts† and â€Å"skins† on it, and is then followed by the phrase â€Å"Some like it cold†. While the ad is trying to be somewhat humorous or witty, it also tries to imply that Everest mint gum is essentially as cold as Mount Everest. Though it tries to convince its audience that it is the most refreshing gum out there, it makes it very hard to believe in that being the case. The worst part is that the company is almost guaranteeing its prod... Free Essays on The Weaknesses Of Today's Ads Free Essays on The Weaknesses Of Today's Ads The Weaknesses of Today’s Ads Advertisements today seem to pull people in all sorts of directions. Some are more reserved in their presentation, while others seem to force a product or an issue upon its audience. I realize they’re all trying to do the same thing, which is to sell something. But along with these products they also seem to want it to tie into something else; that with this product, you’ll be popular. Basically, the weaknesses in today’s ads are not in their style, but in their substance and the way it is presented. My first example deals with a brand of shoes, in particular, Skechers. To pull in potential buyers, the ad shows buyers a group of typical teenagers. Mind you, these are kids with perfect complexion and the perfect fashion sense. All of the models are easy on the eyes and nothing they’re wearing is offensive or flashy. There is also the sense that these are pretty respectable kids and that they are all popular. Tying all this in with the fact that they are wearing Skechers implies that wearing them makes you popular. The problem with this is that it’s not true and it provides a false image for kids to emulate. And I think this is what causes kids to feel insecure about what they wear, and eventually, who they are. The second advertisement deals with Everest mint gum. It shows a very cold, bright landscape with large mountains in the background and a dark patch of ice in the foreground. In the foreground is a scoreboard with the names â€Å"shirts† and â€Å"skins† on it, and is then followed by the phrase â€Å"Some like it cold†. While the ad is trying to be somewhat humorous or witty, it also tries to imply that Everest mint gum is essentially as cold as Mount Everest. Though it tries to convince its audience that it is the most refreshing gum out there, it makes it very hard to believe in that being the case. The worst part is that the company is almost guaranteeing its prod...

What to Do When You Feel Overwhelmed in College

What to Do When You Feel Overwhelmed in College Not everyone graduates from college; doing so is a huge deal because its an incredibly difficult journey. Its expensive. It takes a long time, it requires a heck of a lot of dedication, and there often never seems to be any rest from what other people expect of you. In fact, its sometimes easier to feel smothered by your responsibilities than it is to feel in control. So just what can you do when you feel overwhelmed in college? Fortunately, being in college means that you have both the desire and ability to figure out how to make things work even if you arent feeling like you can. Take a deep breath, start simply, and then show em what youre made of. What to Do When You Feel Overwhelmed in College First, be bold and block off 30 minutes from your schedule. It can be right now; it can be in a few hours. The longer you wait, of course, the longer youll feel stressed out and overwhelmed. The sooner you can make a 30-minute appointment with yourself, the better. Once youve reserved yourself for 30 minutes, set a timer (try using the alarm on your phone) and use your time as follows: 5 Minutes: Grab a pen or use your computer, tablet, or smartphone and make lists of what you have to do. And while this may sound easy, theres one catch: instead of making a long, running list, divide it up by sections. What do you need to do for your Chem 420 class? What do you need to do as a club vice chair? What do you need to do for your financial paperwork? Create, in essence, a bunch of mini-lists and organize them by topic.5 Minutes: Mentally walk through your schedule for the rest of the week (or, at the very least, the next 5 days). Where do you absolutely have to be (like class) and where do you want to be (like a club meeting)? Use whatever time management system you have to mark down what you have to do and what you want to do.10 Minutes: Break down your calendar using your micro lists. What must be done today? What must be done tomorrow? What can wait until tomorrow? What can wait until next week? Be brutal with yourself, too; there are only so many hours in a day and o nly so much you can reasonably expect yourself to do. What can wait? What cannot? Assign to-do items from your lists to various days in a way that sets reasonable expectations about how much you can get done in a certain amount of time. 5 Minutes: Spend a few minutes to specifically break down how you are going to spend the rest of your day (or night) today. Allocate as much time as possible in your schedule, making sure to account for things like breaks and meals. In essence: How will you spend the next 5-10 hours?5 Minutes: Spend your final 5 minutes getting yourself and your space ready to work. Do you need to go for a brisk walk? Clean up a workspace in your room? Head to the library? Get some water and coffee? In essence: get yourself moving and prepare your environment so that you can hit the ground running. Once your 30 minutes are up, youll have made to-do lists, organized your schedule, planned out the rest of your day (or night), and prepared yourself to start. This, ideally, will allow you to focus on the tasks at hand over the next few days; instead of always worrying about studying for an upcoming exam, you can tell yourself, Im studying for my exam on Thursday night. Right now I must finish this paper by midnight. Consequently, instead of feeling overwhelmed, you can feel in charge and know that your plan of attack will allow you to finally get things done. You got this!

Managing Learning and Development in Organisation Essay

Managing Learning and Development in Organisation - Essay Example All these aspects are inter-related and they should be integrated in every learning process of an organization. Moreover, human resource managers have recognised the importance of aligning learning processes with organisational priorities. This paper will highlight the important aspects of individual and organisational development and how they relate to business success. In details, it will look into how training is effective and its evaluation as well as the importance or its contribution. The second part of the paper explains the importance of training of those prospecting to be teachers to the school, children or students and to themselves. It further explains the principles of effective training importance of teacher evaluation as well as its challenges. Discussion Measuring Training Effectiveness in Organisation Training is a continuous process that involves the transfer of information and knowledge to employers and employees of an organisation in order to meet the needs and goa ls of the business. It can also mean equipping the people to interpret the information and knowledge into practice with a goal to enhance organisation effectiveness and productivity as well as improve the management of the people (Sriyan de Silva, 1997). Normally, training integrates educational policies and systems which are deemed as important to human resources development. Training effectiveness means that training should provide significant added value to an organisational operations by improving quality, safety and production. While it is clear that training provides additional value to products and services, a calculated training effectiveness is tricky because employee performance depends not only on training, but also on other factors for example, job aids supervision, procedures, pre-job briefings, management expectations, and the experience and motivation of the work force. A good number of organisations are nowadays setting up their own training facilities, and outsourci ng talent to carry out in-house training for employees at all levels. This trend has been largely used because new orientation in managerial and technical areas is crucial for effective response to the changing business environment. Training is an expensive task especially if it does not meet the given purpose. Training should be in a position to improve the individual capabilities as well as those of the collective organisation. The training programme should contribute to the building of organisational capabilities and reflect improved performance over a period of time. Otherwise, the organisational loss for example, loss of competitive edge and reduction of market share, is far much greater than the money and time spent on training. Therefore, training should serve stipulated purposes taking into consideration a systematic analysis of its capabilities and the demands brought about by future scenarios. A critical area for achieving expected results from training is the measurement of training effectiveness which is the match between the training inputs and its intended purpose. Most organizations neglect this aspect citing difficulty of measurement even though techniques in social sciences have been developed to sufficiently measure the most important aspects of training. There are kinds of training outputs that an organization need to measure. First is the

Extra paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Extra paper - Essay Example In the order to achieve the overall objective, an organization needs to consider the needs and demand based on the preference level of an individual. In the context of an organization, motivational factors play very crucial role for not only encouraging the employee towards the respective job role, but also for the end customer by satisfying their ultimate demands. Additionally, prior consideration of motivation will assist an organization in improving overall performance. Moreover, emphasizing motivational factors of different stakeholders, an organization can strengthen its position through higher level of growth in revenue (Jerome, 2013). In this regard, the essay intends to address the role of advertisement in motivating the probable customer and improving organizational performance. Moreover, the essay attempts to define the theory advocated by Maslow i.e. need hierarchy theory with the specific advertising artifact of Harley Davidson. In the contemporary era of the bossiness environment, persuasion of the people is highly important as well as critical factor for businesses to conduct operations by satisfying their needs and business sustainability. Additionally, based on the Maslow need higher hierarchy theory, individuals are identified to be attracted towards products and/or services offered by companies that are able to meet their satisfaction level needs. Thus, the power of persuasion plays an important role for a company to influence the beliefs, intentions, motivations, attitudes as well as behaviors of customers. In this regard, business organization has significantly noticed that advertisement should be an effective mean of changing the persuasion level of the people in a determined way. For instance, an individual having a need of a particular mode of transportation to be in time at office,