Week 4 project- Article review
Analyze one of the required readings from this week, but only one of the articles from the 1970’s. There are several on feminism, from different perspectives, as well as one on the Nixon era.
To successfully complete this essay, you will need to answer the following questions:
• Explain the cultural relevance of the article. Who funded this magazine? What are their political biases?
• What is the main point of the article? What is the writer’s message to his/ her readers?
• Did the magazine make an impact on popular culture?
Your thesis for the essay should attempt to answer this question:
• Explain the cultural relevance of the article. How did this particular magazine article reflect and/ or attempt to manipulate the cultural values of its audience? How can you prove this?
This essay should be 2-3 pages, in APA style, utilizing the college’s library resources. Please include at least one scholarly resource as a minimum in your essay.
Link to articles
Nixon era
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/111873-1.htm
Women movement article (1977). Time, 110(13), 70.Feminists lament at a caucus in San Jose
“The woman’s movement is in trouble,” boomed C. Delores Tucker, secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. “We have lost direction and are mired in disunity.” Few of her listeners at last week’s biennial meeting of the National Women’s Political Caucus in San Jose, Calif., were inclined to disagree. For the faltering feminist movement, 1977 has been a discouraging year. The Supreme Court ruling that states no longer have to spend Medicaid funds on elective abortions for the poor was an unexpected blow. The Equal Rights Amendment is stalled just three states short of ratification, and conservative anti-feminist forces are picking up strength in their fight against federally funded day care centers, ERA and other women’s programs. The San Jose meeting echoed with sour charges of “betrayal,” “desertion” and “ego tripping.”
Who is responsible for the feminists’ woes? Among those blamed were President Carter, the press, the radical right —and the American political system itself. Complained San Jose Vice Muyor Susanne Wilson: “We don’t have real politics. It is not the politics of individuals but of institutions that men have created.” Said Gloria Steinem: “Women are beginning to get very cynical about this. It isn’t a crisis of the women’s movement. It’s a crisis of democracy.”
One concern was a feeling of being abandoned by the press. “Let them move on to their next thing,” said Jill Ruckleshaus, former head of the U.S. International Women’s Year Commission. “They’ve done us no good.” Boston University Professor Sally Lunt dramatically accused the press of “gearing up for a women-against-women bloodbath” at this fall’s National Women’s Conference in Houston.
Behind that statement is the fear that things could go poorly for feminists in Houston. Antiabortionists, members of the Total Woman movement and other conservatives have elected between 15% and 20% of the state delegates to the meeting. The Ku Klux Klan claims to control at least one official state delegation—Mississippi’s—and has threatened to disrupt the meeting. Summed up one delegate: “It’s kind of a reverse ’60s, with the regressive forces threatening to disrupt us.” But Liz Carpenter, Lady Bird Johnson’s former press secretary and now a top leader in the ERA drive, had a soothing prediction: “Houston is not going to be a bad scene. We are going to emerge realizing we want the same things.”
Steinem told the 1,500 delegates that the movement is just one victim of the burgeoning radical right. “The efficiently organized opposition to the women’s movement,” she said, “is simply an early warning system of a total right-wing attack on civil rights, gun control, unions and social legislation.”
Aside from the defection of male politicians and the threat from the right, what bothered the delegates most was attacks on “reproductive freedom.” Frances (“Sissy”) Farenthold, a former Texas legislator who is now president of Wells College in New York, accused President Carter of “ringing pietism” for his stand on public aid for abortion, and sarcastically attacked the recent Supreme Court ruling. Said she: “Every case the Supremes have heard of late has resulted in constitutional disaster.” Among the resolutions approved by the caucus was one calling on feminist supporters to avoid tourism in the 15 states that have not yet passed ERA, and to boycott products made in those states. The meeting was remarkably free of divisiveness. One reason: the sobering sense that the beleaguered movement cannot afford petty squabbles. Fears for the future produced chin-up rhetoric. “I am not predicting failure,” said Steinem. “I have great faith in women and in some men who understand that this is a revolution.” Translation: the movement is apprehensive, and at bay.
Today in the business world the ability to work in effective teams is necessary since much of the work done in organizations is accomplished as part of a team. In order to get some experience with these concepts, you will first view a video on teams, then read the scenario, and finally create a minimum 10-slide PowerPoint presentation (and include an additional title and references slide) based on the checklist items. You may include any detailed notes in the “Notes” section of the PowerPoint presentation.
1. View the video, “Herman Miller – Motivation, Leadership, and Teamwork.” Link below to video-
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/streaming/bp/2013/MGMT/OB/HMILL-VID4-WEB640.html
2. Read the Scenario:
You work for an organization which operates in a service sector and has more than 500 employees. Recently your company has experienced issues with employee teamwork. Employees seem to be having difficulty working well together in various teams. Your boss has asked you to lead an effort to research ways to create an effective team work environment and give him advice on how to solve the problem. After you conduct your research, you will deliver a presentation to the CEO and Board of Directors on your findings.
3. After viewing the video, reading the textbook, and conducting research Complete the Checklist items based on your chapter Reading, research, and on the scenario provided.
Checklist: Unit 6 Assignment Template
• Describe the different types of teams.
• Describe the determining factors that typify an effective team.
• Explain how to create team players based on your experience and your research and readings from the text.
• Help the CEO in the scenario by applying what you have learned regarding teams to solve the team problems:
• How can the teams effectively build trust amongst team members?
• How might the CEO encourage collaboration in a team environment?
Friday –Assignment due:
Write an essay in 4 parts of at least 1000 words with the following subheadings which you must include in the essay. Your essay must have the following 4 subheadings in bold type/
I. Buddha’ s enlightenment and the meaning of suffering in Buddhism
II. Discuss how basic Buddhist beliefs were transformed in Mahayana Buddhism ( example: the idea of the Bodhisattva comes in)
III. In Japan, Zen arises. Explain its meditation techniques and the use of koans. Can anyone become enlightened, how, how long does it take?
IV. Contrasting Hinduism with Buddhism –Critical Thinking use Smith p. 94-99 as a start. Be sure to contrast the 4 yogas with Buddhist meditation practices as part of this subheading.
Each of your 4 subheadings should have at least 4 page references to Smith or the anthology or both written as (Smith, 10) for a total of at least 16 page references. The subheadings must appear in bold in your paper.
Project #2: Prepare a Local IT Security Policy
Introduction
In Project 1, you developed an outline for an enterprise level IT security policy. In this project, you will write an IT security policy which is more limited in scope – a local IT security policy. This policy will apply to a specific facility – a data center. Your policy must be written for a specific organization (the same one you used for Project #1). You should reuse applicable sections of Project #1 for this project (e.g. your organization overview and/or a specific section of your outline).
If you wish to change to a different organization for project #2, you must first obtain your instructor’s permission.
Your local IT security policy will be used to implement access control for the information, information systems, and information infrastructure (e.g. networks, communications technologies, etc.) which are housed within the data center. Your policy must protect the data center by preventing personnel who are not authorized to access or use the resources of the organization from gaining access and potentially causing harm (e.g. loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability). Such personnel may include employees, contractors, vendors, and visitors. You should also address unauthorized individuals who may attempt to gain access to the facility, its information systems, or its networks.
Your policy is being written by you as the facility manager. In this role, you are also the information system owner (ISO) for all IT systems and networks within the data center. The information systems hosted in the data center are shown in Figure 2-1.
The primary audience for your policy is the Tier 1 staff responsible for day-to-day operations and maintenance in the data center. Your policy will be communicated to other personnel and to the senior managers who are ultimately responsible for the security of the organization and its IT assets. These managers include: CEO, CIO/CISO, and CSO.
Research:
1. Research the subject of access controls and control measures (security controls) required for a data center. Suggested control measures are listed in Table 2-1. Use the IT architecture shown in Figure 2-2 to identify the types of systems and networks which must be secured against unauthorized access.
Table 2-1. Access Control Measures for a Data Center
• Access Control Decisions
• Access Enforcement
• Account Management
• Concurrent Session Control
• Data Mining Protection
• Information Sharing • Least Privilege
• Permitted Actions without Authentication
• Previous Logon (Access) Notification
• Publicly Accessible Content
• Reference Monitor
• Remote Access • Security Attributes
• Session Lock
• Session Termination
• System Use Notification
• Unsuccessful Logon Attempts
• Use of External Information Systems
2. Using Figure 2-2, identify at least five specific types of information which are likely to be stored within the data center (use your organization’s missing, products, and services). Research the types of access controls which must be provided to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of such data. (Remember to consult Table 2-1.)
Figure 2-2. Data Center IT Architecture Diagram
Write:
1. Use the following outline to prepare your local IT security policy for the data center. See the policy template / sample file (attached to the assignment entry) for formatting and content suggestions for individual sections.
I. Identification
a. Organization: [name]
b. Title of Policy: Data Center Access Control
c. Author: [your name]
d. Owner: [role, e.g. Data Center Manager]
e. Subject: Access Control for [data center name]
f. Review Date: [date submitted for grading]
g. Signatures Page: [authorized signers for the policy: CEO, CISO, Data Center Manager]
h. Distribution List
i. Revision History
II. Purpose
a. Provide a high level summary statement as to the policy requirements which are set forth in this document.
III. Scope
a. Summarize the information, information systems, and networks to be protected.
b. Identify who is required to comply with this policy. See the project description for categories of personnel and other individuals.
IV. Compliance
a. Identify the measures which will be taken to ensure compliance with this policy (e.g. audits, compliance reporting, exception reporting, etc.)
b. Identify the sanctions which will be implemented for compliance failures or other violations of this policy.
c. Include information about how to obtain guidance in understanding or interpreting this policy (e.g. HR, corporate legal counsel, etc.)
V. Terms and Definitions
VI. Risk Identification and Assessment
a. Using Figure 2-1, identify potential control weaknesses, threats, and vulnerabilities (“risks”) which could negatively impact the information, information systems, and information infrastructure for the data center.
b. Identify and discuss the level of risk associated with the identified weaknesses, threats, and vulnerabilities.
c. Identify the control measures which will be implemented to mitigate or otherwise address each risk or risk area.
VII. Policy
a. For each control measure, write a policy statement (“Shall” wording) which addresses the implementation of that control. (See Table 2-1.)
b. Include an explanatory paragraph for each policy statement.
2. Prepare a Table of Contents and Cover Page for your policy. Your cover page should include your name, the name of the assignment, and the date. Your Table of Contents must include at least the first level headings from the outline (I, II, III, etc.).
3. Prepare a Reference list (if you are using APA format citations & references) or a Bibliography and place that at the end of your file. (See Item #3 under Formatting.) Double check your document to make sure that you have cited sources appropriately.
Formatting:
1. Submit your policy as an MS Word document using your assignment folder.
2. Use standard outline formatting. See item #1 under “Write.”
3. Cite sources using a consistent and professional style. You may use APA format citations and references, foot notes, or end notes. (Citation requirements for policy documents are less stringent than those applied to research papers. But, you should still acknowledge your sources and be careful not to plagiarize by copying text verbatim.)
4. You are expected to write grammatically correct English in every assignment that you submit for grading. Do not turn in any work without (a) using spell check, (b) using grammar check, (c) verifying that your punctuation is correct and (d) reviewing your work for correct word usage and correctly structured sentences and paragraphs.
ESSAY—-Issues in Premarital Counseling
Steve proposed to his girlfriend Nadia after dating for a year. Meeting in college at a fraternity party. Nadia has been sexually intimate with one other boyfriend, while Steve has had multiple partners.
Both are American, but Nadia’s grandparents are originally from Egypt.
Despite different religious backgrounds (Steve is Methodist; Nadia was raised as a Muslim) and cultures, they have a lot in common and both sets of parents are very happy about their engagement.
Knowing that a discussion of sexuality will be important to their marital success,
YOU ARE THEIR COUNSELOR.
In this essay you will:
WRITE essay 3-5 pages, with a cover page/reference list, = 5-7
Remember to support your arguments with information drawn from the online content, the textbook, and at least one other credible, scholarly source to substantiate the points you are making. You can use relevant Web sites or journal articles as sources for your presentation, but make sure that they are from reputable web and print sources such as the AU online library, or information from .org, .net, or .edu sites as opposed to .com. Please avoid Wikipedia.
Apply APA standards to for writing and citations to your work.
The paper should be double-spaced 12-point typescript, Times Roman font, with 1-inch margins all around, and free from grammatical errors.
MUST INCLUDE 4 BULLETED POINTS BELOW
• Describe the important aspects of sexuality (such as arousal and response, intimacy, contraception, etc.) that Nadia and Steve need to discuss. Remember to consider psychological/emotional as well as physical factors.
• Include a discussion of at least 1 theoretical perspective that you have learned about in this course (e.g., Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love, Masters and Johnson’s work, etc.).
• What risk factors pertaining to health can you infer might be present from the scenario? What can the couple do to minimize these risks?
• How will you show cultural competence during your sessions (i.e., what cultural issues should you consider)?
MAX PTS EACH 40
Describe the important aspects of sexuality that Nadia and Steve need to discuss. Remember to consider psychological/emotional as well as physical factors. (CO3)
include a discussion of at least 1 theoretical perspective that you have learned about in this course (e.g., Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love, Masters and Johnson’s work, etc.). (CO2)
include a discussion of at least 1 theoretical perspective that you have learned about in this course (e.g., Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love, Masters and Johnson’s work, etc.). (CO2)
MAX PTS EACH 36 How will you show cultural competence during your sessions (i.e., what cultural issues should you consider)?(CO1)
Organization (12 points):Introduction, Thesis, Transitions, and Conclusion
Usage and Mechanics (4 points):Grammar, Spelling, and Sentence structure
APA Elements (12 points):Attribution, Paraphrasing, and Quotations
Style (16 points):Audience, and Word Choice ======200 PTS
Need a 4 page APA format paper based on the case study below. Need by 2/3/16 @13:00 EST
Read the case study titled “GE Healthcare (A): Innovating for Emerging Markets” located in the XanEdu case pack (Below)
Write a four (4) page paper in which you:
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
GE Healthcare
As of 2010, GE Healthcare was a $17 billion division of the $180 billion giant General Electric, employing over 46,000 people worldwide. It was created in 2004 after GE Medical Systems was merged with British bioscience/medical imaging firm Amersham and several healthcare IT firms as a part of CEO Jeffrey Immelt’s increased emphasis on R&D.2
GE Healthcare had a strong track record in selling high-end medical imaging and diagnostic products globally. It operated in India as Wipro GE Healthcare, a 51:49 joint venture with Wipro. Partnering with a leading Indian company had helped GE address the regulatory constraints and institutional complexities of operating in India as a foreign multinational.3
India as a Base for Global R&D
GE had four major sites for its R&D efforts: the U.S. (Niskayuna), India (Bangalore), China (Shanghai) and Europe (Munich). Additional research centres in Brazil (Sao Paulo) and the U.S. (Detroit) were also being considered. In locating R&D overseas its chief considerations were availability of talent and being close to important markets.
The John F. Welch Technology Centre (JFWTC) in Bangalore was GE’s largest R&D centre outside the U.S. Opened in 2000, the $175 million centre had grown to about 4,300 technologists (about 1,100 in Healthcare) by 2010.4 India was an attractive base not just for cost reasons but also for an ample supply of world-class talent and the presence of some well-known educational and research institutions in an otherwise relatively less developed country.
JFWTC carried out R&D for GE businesses in areas as diverse as healthcare, energy, aviation and transportation. Its traditional focus had been addressing the needs of developed market customers. However, there was now an increasing emphasis also on products tailored for emerging markets like India, including those developed specifically for particularly low-income customers (the so-called “bottom of the pyramid” or BOP).5
India as a Healthcare Market
As of 2010, India’s healthcare industry was worth about $30 billion and was expected to double in size in the next five years. Estimates put the medical devices market segment somewhere in the $3 billion to $6 billion range, with growth of between 10% and 15% a year.
Of the 700 domestic healthcare device makers in India, most only made low-value products such as needles and catheters. Of the few that did produce more sophisticated equipment, few could match international players in terms of quality or performance. Nevertheless, they typically had a significant cost advantage, which made them formidable competitors in mass markets where customers had limited purchasing power and were highly price sensitive.
High-quality specialist products came mainly from MNCs like GE, Siemens and Philips, with GE being the #1 provider of diagnostic equipment like ECG, MRI, CT and ultrasounds. Given the price points, however, most of the $400-500 million annual revenue of GE Healthcare in India had come from sales to large hospitals.6
GE Healthcare had recently launched a global $6 billion “Healthymagination” campaign, with stated goals of reducing the cost, increasing access and improving the quality of healthcare around the world. This included significant investment in solutions for BOP patients.7 In addition to providing growth opportunities and building new capabilities for emerging markets, this was expected to be good for GE’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) image.
GE Organization in India
In 2005, GE had set a revenue goal for India of $5 billion across all businesses by 2010. But it had actually realized less than $3 billion by 2010. Within the Healthcare division, India still accounted for less than 2% of revenues. Recognizing that this fell far short of potential, Immelt set an ambitious 30% annual growth target for GE India over the next five years in order for the Indian business to cross the $10 billion mark by 2015.8
A key barrier to GE’s growth in India had been its inability to fully tap into the mass market. Since sales from India comprised a tiny fraction of overall sales, the idiosyncratic needs of the Indian market did not get much attention in the highly centralized global organization. As a result, even R&D initiatives carried out in India had a tendency to gravitate towards meeting the needs of the relatively high-end segments that resembled GE’s developed market customers. A senior leader at GE Healthcare summarized the problem: “We were selling what we were making [rather than] making what the customers here needed.”9
To overcome the above challenges, GE introduced a new “in country, for country” strategy for India. This involved two key changes in the organizational structure. First, on the geographic dimension of the organizational matrix, India was now to be treated as an independent region (on a par with the U.S. and China). As a former GE Healthcare employee put it, “In our global meetings, India overnight went from getting only two slides in the GE International presentation to getting a whole presentation on its own.”
The second organizational change was that GE India was the first country to be made a profit and loss centre on its own. The Indian business heads were to now report primarily to the country CEO, with only a dotted-line link to the global business heads. Immelt said: “We will treat GE India just as we would any other GE business with its own growth strategy, leadership development and budgeting processes.” Managing the entire local value chain from India itself was expected to improve local adaptation and speed up decision-making. 10
The 39-year old T.P. Chopra – an Indian who had been the country CEO in the old organization – was replaced by John Flannery, a senior vice-president from GE’s global leadership team. With the new CEO being well-connected with GE’s global business heads, it was hoped that decentralization of decision-making would not compromise on global integration of strategy and knowledge exchange would still take place across boundaries.
Rather than making development of “value-for-money” products targeting low-income markets also a responsibility for existing R&D teams, GE set up new product teams specifically for developing and commercializing such solutions. The local boost for R&D was complemented by enhanced efforts in local marketing, sourcing, manufacturing and service. Aggressive growth targets were set for adapting better to the Indian market, while also cutting costs drastically and achieving speedier decision-making through decentralization.11
A New ECG Device for India?
GE’s Healthcare division was an early adopter of the new “in India, for India” approach, with several new initiatives in this spirit having been started even before the new organization was fully in place, as was illustrated by GE’s efforts to develop inexpensive electrocardiogram (ECG) products specifically with the Indian market in mind.
A major cause of death in India is heart disease, making ECG testing of tremendous value in early detection. But as mainstream ECG machines (such as the MAC 5500 machine shown in Exhibit 1, priced at over $10,000) were designed to meet the needs and budgets of large modern hospitals, they only skimmed the top of the Indian market.
With per capita income just over $1,000 per annum, few Indians could afford expensive testing using high-end machines. However, affordability was not the only issue. People living in small towns and rural areas lacked easy access to hospitals. Simply producing stripped-down versions of GE’s existing products would therefore not suffice. There were unique challenges of the BOP to bear in mind.
The MAC 400 ECG
GE management assigned the task of designing an ECG solution for India to the JFWTC. Using local R&D turned out to have three benefits. First, the team had a better knowledge of Indian customers. Second, it had greater awareness of off-the-shelf components available locally. Third, development costs were much lower than for an equivalent project in the U.S.
An ECG device targeting the BOP – called the MAC 400 (see Exhibit 2) – was developed in just 22 months, with development costs of about $500,000. (A similar global product development effort could have taken twice as long and cost several million dollars.) The device was small enough to fit in a backpack. At 1.3kgs it was much lighter than conventional models, which often weighed over 7kgs. It had rechargeable batteries that could be charged in three hours and allowed over 100 ECGs, or a week of operation, between charges.
The expensive printer typical of classic ECG machines was replaced by a small printing gadget adapted from a model used for portable ticket machines. The traditional 12-channel printer output in high-end ECGs was replaced by a three-channel output in the MAC 400. The full-scale keyboard was replaced by just four buttons, and the large graphical colour display by a small text-only display used for set-up. The machine had a simple one-touch operation, with embedded software interpreting the ECG data to print out a simple easy-to-read intuitive report. This eliminated the need for a cardiologist to tell whether a patient had a heart condition and needed to see a specialist.
Importantly, the relentless focus on eliminating non-core features found in high-end ECG machines (such as on-screen display, advanced analysis, full network connectivity and interoperability, barcode and magnetic card scanning, data storage and export, security, etc.) did not mean that the development team compromised on the core functionality. Employing the industry-standard Marquette 12SL algorithm that all GE’s ECG machines used, the analysis performed by the MAC 400 was as reliable as that of a full-scale ECG device.12
The MAC 400 was priced around $1,000, a third of the price of medium-sized conventional devices and under a tenth of many full-size models.13 The effective cost of a single electrocardiogram turned out to be less than $1, which was considered low enough for widespread adoption. Although the margins in selling MAC 400 were smaller than those on high-end equipment, GE hoped that the sales volume would justify the product nevertheless.
Some cost reductions naturally resulted from making a smaller size device with limited features, but savings also resulted from the creative use of standard parts available locally. Instead of using a customized processing chip, the R&D team came up with a clever solution relying upon a commercial chip that cost only a quarter of the price. Similarly, rather than developing a customized printer the team adapted one widely used in bus terminal kiosks.
As the MAC 400 was being developed, the local R&D team had access to all of GE’s accumulated knowledge. For example, by borrowing a process originating elsewhere for building fast plastic-mould prototypes, the team was able to avoid costly changes later by getting early feedback from doctors. Similarly, it was able to take GE’s past experience in developing printers for dusty conditions and fine-tune the printer’s suitability for ECG.
Describing the full potential of ultra-portable ECG devices like the MAC 400, a senior official at the JFWTC said, “It will become the stethoscope of cardiologists.”14 According to another official, “The dream would be to sell at least one device to each GP (general practitioner).”15
For cost-effective distribution, GE hoped to rely not just upon the network from its JV with Wipro but also to explore novel partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, surgical companies and large pharmacies. To educate potential customers it conducted courses on the technical aspects of using an ECG device as well as making the business case for investing in one. To help potential buyers overcome financing constraints, it tied up with State Bank of India, whose extensive rural network was used to arrange no-interest loans for buyers.
At the time when the MAC 400 project was initiated, GE had limited market research and distribution channels in place for the new customers it was trying to reach. Therefore, rather than evaluating the project purely on a financial basis, the company viewed it also as an experiment into the BOP opportunity more broadly and as a way to build resources and capabilities for the future. Other product categories where GE Healthcare was similarly trying to tap into low-income markets included baby warmers, X-ray and ultrasound systems.
As an experiment, the MAC 400 turned out to be a success not only in India but also in numerous countries worldwide where it was in fact often sold at higher price points. Even commercially, MAC 400 became a reasonable success by generating $20 million in revenues within the first two years. This was still a small fraction of the revenues for GE Healthcare as a whole, no surprise given that it was an early foray for GE into an unfamiliar market and that the entire ECG category anyway was a small part of the overall healthcare portfolio.
While GE’s long-term vision was to use products like the MAC 400 to create new markets, practical constraints in terms of channels meant that a significant fraction of the initial sales actually took place within the traditional customer segments. It became clear that realizing the full potential of the BOP opportunity would depend not just on having the right product but also continuing to build appropriate sales, distribution and service networks. Also, a truly mass-market product would have to be even cheaper than the MAC 400 in order to compete against current and future offerings from low-cost Indian manufacturers like BPL Healthcare.
Relying upon the MAC 400 experience and extensive market research, GE subsequently came up with a cheaper ECG device, the MAC i (“i” standing for India), that weighed less than 1kg, used a single-channel printer output and eliminated even PC connectivity. Launched in November 2009, it was priced at just $500. Like its predecessor, MAC i was manufactured locally using local components, while continuing to use reliability, user friendliness and interpretation software as differentiating elements.16Early market indications were that MAC i would do quite well commercially.
The MAC 800 ECG
While the MAC 400 was being developed in India, GE’s R&D personnel in China built upon the idea to develop another portable ECG – the MAC 800 (see Exhibit 3). The new product targeted not only remote locations but also the typical clinics and hospitals in China.
Weighing 3kg, the MAC 800 was larger than the MAC 400, though still much smaller than GE’s high-end ECG machines. Recognizing China’s familiarity with SMS-texting, it incorporated a telephone-style keypad to allow users to input data. It included a full-size colour display (with multiple language options) based on an intuitive Windows-based platform, offering a preview of ECG results. It also allowed ECG data to be stored and sent.
The product design, the pricing strategy and the channels GE Healthcare relied upon to distribute MAC 800 exploited the fact that higher local income levels as well as greater involvement of the government in healthcare standard-setting and purchasing decisions led to lower price sensitivity in China than in India and opened up a different kind of opportunity.
Costing around $2,500, the MAC 800 was over twice as expensive as the MAC 400, but still less than one third of GE’s high-end ECGs.17 Early indications were that it was selling well, exceeding 20,000 installations in more than 50 countries as of 2010.18
“Reverse Innovation”
In an interesting development, GE started selling the MAC 800 even in developed markets. While it held a 34% share of the U.S. mainstream ECG market, GE saw an opportunity to use the MAC 800 to expand the ultrasound market to include primary care doctors, rural clinics, emergency rooms and accident sites.19 Market studies revealed that U.S. physicians found the device user-friendly, and considered its SMS texting-style keypad acceptable.20 The U.S. market was found to have greater connectivity requirements than those offered by the Chinese prototype, but GE was able to address that through adaptations like USB and Ethernet ports.
For a company that primarily sold products developed for developed economies in emerging markets, this exemplified a reversal in the direction in which innovation flowed. The phenomenon was labelled “reverse innovation” by Immelt, who considered such an approach critical to the very survival of Western multinational fighting the threat of emerging market companies going global with their own disruptive business models. 21
The Right Global Strategy?
Although GE earned favourable press coverage and several awards for its innovative BOP products, it was too early to declare its BOP initiatives a big commercial success because the revenues generated were still small by GE standards, margins were thinner than GE was used to, and the competition was starting to heat up.
Sceptics wondered whether GE really had a sound long-term strategy, especially as the competitive advantage in serving BOP markets was unclear. Past successes had come from delivering standardized products globally, relying upon scale to drive down costs and tight organization to ensure control. For the company to move towards an “in country, for country” approach for specific countries seemed far from the obvious direction to take.
Please no PLAGIARISM
Select an industry, such as the gambling industry, to complete a SWOT analysis.
Access the profile overview for the selected industry:
(INDUSTRY PROFILE OVERVIEW ATTACHED)
Read the industry profile overview, including the website links, on the page.
Complete a SWOT analysis for the selected industry. The SWOT analysis allows a business to understand how a competitor is positioned in the environment by assessing its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. An understanding of a competitor’s position can be a key for a business to determine where funding and resources should be allotted to create new products or services.
Use information in the industry profile overview and other scholarly sources as needed. The SWOT analysis should include each of the following:
Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper, including the following attributes:
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Write a 1,400- to 2,100-word paper, using definitions, principles, and theories from previous assignments, in which you establish a thesis regarding the control of organized crime.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Gonzalez-Padron (2015) addressed several ethical issues that have arisen in the 21st century. Using the Ashford University Library, find an article relating to a 21st century ethical issue (please do not limit yourself to the list in the textbook). Watch the FindIt@AU tutorial for guidance on how to search in the library. If you need more help with how to use databases, watch the Database Search Tips tutorial.
Describe how the issue affects you at a personal level and how you might handle the issue from a managerial perspective. Limit writing in first person.
Guided Response
Be sure to properly attribute your source(s) when posting your response. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts, allowing enough time for them to respond. Evaluate the article they selected. Recommend techniques for handling their issue from a managerial perspective.
DISCUSSION 2 –
According to Zwilling (2013), Many people seem to have the sense that ethics are spiraling downward in business, yet most business professionals and entrepreneurs I know don’t believe they can make a difference. They don’t realize that if they don’t take an active role in the solution, they really become part of the problem. (para. 1)
Review the five solutions to ethical problems described by Zwilling. Select one solution and describe how you would apply it from a managerial perspective (perhaps at your current workplace).
Guided Response
Be sure to properly attribute your source(s) when posting your response. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts, allowing enough time for them to respond.