Get a Custom Essay Paper that meets your expectations by clicking ORDER
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is a process. This semester we will examine aspects of good critical thinking. We are always striving to better our critical thinking skills. It is a life-long process. The blog will encourage you to look and listen to the world. It does not take long to realize the need for critical thinking. Look at the ‘comments’ section on most news stories. Third graders have more civil discussions. This will be a place for you to ‘practice and develop’ skills you learn in class. We will keep our definition of critical thinking as well as the standards of critical thinking from chapter one in front of us.
Here is what I am hoping to see. You may post articles from news sites that you find interesting. Topics can range from politics to education to entertainment to religion to business. Let’s keep it PG-13. We will practice dialogue that recognizes differences between us while appreciating the need to hear and understand other points of view.
Step by step
1) Post a link to an article or commentary you find online. CBS, AP, FOX, CNN, YAHOO, ATLANTIC, NATIONAL REVIEW are examples of news sites. Commentaries can be op-ed, regular columns. Stay away from anything that is profane or incendiary. Make sure the piece is well-written and contains very very few spelling / grammar errors.
2) Comment on the author’s critical thinking. What do they do well? Where do they need improvement? Align comments with standards of critical thinking in chapter one.
3) Use your critical thinking ‘tools’ to evaluate the author’s argument. For instance, in the chapter about language, you may comment on the definition of a word as precising rather than lexical. Or perhaps you see a fallacy. Or an inductive reasoning pattern.
4) Aside from whether you agree or disagree with the author, is the argument logical?
Below is a partial answer to the above homework questions by one of our writers. If you are interested in a custom non plagiarized top quality answer, click order now to place your order.
Critical thinking
The article by David French on the impending decision by the Supreme Court on the rights of the citizens of America that are enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution, namely the freedom of speech and the rights that touch on one’s conscience is one that is masterfully drafted. The conscience rights touch on the ability of clinics to advertise as well as offer free or minimal costs procuring in abortions.
The author uses a technique that introduces the topic of discussion then gives a brief background before finally explaining the point he wants to bring out. This leads the readers through and hence at the end of the article one is able to make a decision as to whether to support or reject the arguments that are being made. This makes one to make decide whether they will embrace the interference of the state in their private affairs or reject the same in totality, whether in terms of rights of conscience or freewill.
He however, did not give the specific legal provisions that were the subject of the article. He tackled legal issues in general yet such writings are to be dealt with specificity. He also cited the freedom of speech as one to be looked at yet the case was on the compellability one to do something that his religion forbids. The interchanged use of the freedoms is likely to cause confusion among the readers as the case cited touched on religion and not on speech as intimated by the author……
Get a Custom Essay Paper that meets your expectations by clicking ORDER
Get a Custom Essay Paper that meets your expectations by clicking ORDER
Consumer Socialization
Order Instructions:
Research Article Review and annotation
-The Consumer Behavior concept is “Consumer Socialization” The article analysis assignments are used each week to expand and apply Consumer Behavior terms, application, or concepts using peer reviewed research articles from academic journals. These articles must report research the author completed in the subject area and be from the past three (3) years or less.
This assignment (the article annotation) extracts and summarizes the major points relative to a particular topic area that we have discussed. Use the following as a guide to your assignment completion:
a) Purpose of the study
b) Methodology of the study
c) The results – most important because this is the empirical evidence
d) Conclusions – least important since this is the author’s opinion
e) Recommendation for future research
The article citation must follow the APA 6th edition format using a hanging-indent. The annotation itself should be 250 words double-spaced.
Comments on Annotation: must be 200 words
Post your comment on your submitted article annotation. In your post, evaluate the selection of the article, the research conducted, the empirical findings, and the opinions of the author. Using this post, determine the type of project/research this article might support.
Below is a partial answer to the above homework questions by one of our writers. If you are interested in a custom non plagiarized top quality answer, click order now to place your order.
Consumer Socialization Research Article Review and Annotation
The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of socialization on adolescents. Consumer affairs knowledge and activism were the major focus. Sampling method was used and a survey conducted among 800 children aged between 10 and 17 was conducted. Correlation analysis and t-test was applied to analyze the result. It was found that, the male adolescents, especially from the good economic backgrounds and with older age brackets were more knowledgeable regarding the available products, thus an impact of consumer socialization on this group of people. The Mass media was attributed to product awareness.
The purpose of the study was to analyze the impact of social media marketing on the general performance of marketing. Sampling method was applied to different segment groups of people in the market for instance preschool children and employed people. Statistical analysis was applied for instance correlation analysis to determine the results of the research. It was found that, different market groups of people have different interactive maps when it comes to social media marketing. It was therefore concluded that, communication is very critical when promoting, marketing through consumer socialization by the use of social media platforms.
The use of different segment groups was critical in determining the level of consumer socialization to be applied in different markets so as to realize the desired sales…..
Get a Custom Essay Paper that meets your expectations by clicking ORDER
Get a Custom Essay Paper that meets your expectations by clicking ORDER
Product Positioning
Order Instructions:
Research Article Review and annotation -The Consumer Behavior concept is “Product Positioning”The article analysis assignments are used each week to expand and apply Consumer Behavior terms, application, or concepts using peer reviewed research articles from academic journals. These articles must report research the author completed in the subject area and be from the past three (3) years or less.
This assignment (the article annotation) extracts and summarizes the major points relative to a particular topic area that we have discussed. Use the following as a guide to your assignment completion:
a) Purpose of the study
b) Methodology of the study
c) The results – most important because this is the empirical evidence
d) Conclusions – least important since this is the author’s opinion
e) Recommendation for future research
The article citation must follow the APA 6th edition format using a hanging-indent. The annotation itself should be 250 words double-spaced.
Comments on Annotation: must be 200 words on the same article as above! “Product Positioning”Post your comment on your submitted article annotation. In your post, evaluate the selection of the article, the research conducted, the empirical findings, and the opinions of the author. Using this post, determine the type of project/research this article might support. The three sources you need for the comment section. NOT The article review and annotation.
Below is a partial answer to the above homework questions by one of our writers. If you are interested in a custom non plagiarized top quality answer, click order now to place your order.
Research Article Review and annotation- Consumer Behaviour
Wason, H., & Charlton, N. (2015). How positioning strategies affect co-branding outcomes. Cogent Business & Management, 2(1), 1092192.
Purpose of the study
The aim of the study is to focus on the gap that is present between the product positioning in the market and its impact on co-branding when it comes to customer perception. Positioning influences the consumer perception of the product and increases the brand image in the mind of the consumer. This stimulates their desire to purchase the product. A lot of research has been done on the market positioning of a product with minimal focus on the influence of positioning on customer behaviour. In addition, the influence of positioning in the branding of the product.
Methodology of the study
The study employed scenario-based experimental design that focused on hypothetical co-brands that were created from the prevailing brand. The perspectives of positioning were conducted using the eight-dimension typology.
The Results
A bootstrap of 500 samples was conducted using the PLS analysis. The composite reliability of brand fit is 0.898 and product fit was 0.939. Contrariwise, the AVE figures were 0.814 with a benchmark for 0.7 and 0.939 with a benchmark of 0.5. Additionally, the positioning strategies have a sense of fit where the variance is more than 0.3 in the predictive relevance. Moreover, in the functional positioning strategies the product fit forms a central customer perception in the market. On the other hand, in hedonic positioning strategies, the brand fit is central in the customer behavior in the market.
Conclusions
The conclusion is that the post-alliance positioning of a brand is linked to the prior consumer beliefs and they are more inclined to the influence for hedonic positioning rather than functional positioning. Moreover, the brand and product fit are centered on the positioning strategies…..
Get a Custom Essay Paper that meets your expectations by clicking ORDER
We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!
Program Management
ORDER INSTRUCTIONS:
Select four articles that are from scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. Explain each article’s theoretical and methodological relevance to your chosen area of management research (Program Management), describing why and how the research in each article selection pertains to your area of research interest in the management field, and indicating the strengths and weaknesses of each article’s research (One page per article—each article review must be submitted on a new, separate page. Each page must include the title of the article that is reviewed.)
Include a reference list using American Psychological Association style. The reference list must show the name of the author, article title, journal, and volume in the correct APA format (one page)
Below is a partial answer to the above homework questions by one of our writers. If you are interested in a custom non plagiarized top quality answer, click order now to place your order.
Program Management Article Review
Sustainability in Project Management Competencies: Analyzing the Competence Gap of Project Managers by Silvius, A.J. and Schipper, P.J.
This article focuses on sustainability as a highly relevant strategy for modern organizations that seek to enhance competitiveness. The theoretical relevance of this research for my chosen area is mainly based factors enhancing program management success. The research addresses this by providing that besides ensuring program performance, sustainability is important in overall success of the organization, hence why program managers must strive towards ensuring that programs contribute to sustainability….
Professional Discourses and Resistance to Change by Pieterse, J. H., Caniels, M. C. and Homan, T.
Change management remains one of the most common challenges in program management and resistance to change may affect program success in a significant manner. Accordingly, the article by Pieterse, Caniels and Homan provides information that is highly relevant to my area of management research. In this article, the authors discuss professional discourse differences among groups working together, which is suggested as the cause of resistance to change. They also provide a solution based on this observation, noting that managing professional discourses is paramount in enhancing change programs….
Program Management Article Review
Stakeholder Inclusiveness: Enriching Project Management with General Stakeholder Theory by Eskerod, P., Huemann, M. and Ringhofer, C.
The focus of this article is stakeholder satisfaction through inclusiveness, which is a highly relevant topic in program management. The authors discuss the need to meet stakeholder expectations and how inclusiveness could be affect project success, both positively and negatively. Program management to a significant extent dwells on the ability to satisfy stakeholders by demonstrating that the resources provided have achieved the desired purpose. Therefore, this research provides considerable theoretical relevance to my area of research.
In this article, the researchers are concerned about the non-commercial value of projects. In program management, a major focus is given to the tangible value of projects and this could eventually affect the overall impact of the programs, which explains why this article is of great relevance to the research area. The article discusses value management and how it can be achieved through considering stakeholder expectations, promoting sense-making and interdependencies between players. These factors significantly match some of the objectives of program management and the research therefore achieves theoretical relevance to my chosen area…
We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Collective Bargaining
Order Instructions:
Written Assignment 1 (25 points) 3-4 pages, not including cover or References pages
Locate an article describing a collective bargaining situation that has arisen within the past two years. This article should be from a newspaper, an academic journal, or a credible online news source. Use a minimum of two additional references to support your discussion and to respond to the questions in the assignment.
a. Using APA guidelines, state the proper citation for the article.
b. State the nature of the collective bargaining dispute.
c. What are the underlying causes of the dispute?
d. What economic or ethical pressures has each side attempted to use to prevail in the dispute?
e. If there is any evidence of any illegal or unethical conduct on either side, describe it in detail.
f. Was the dispute resolved? If so, how?
g. What, if any, role was played by third parties in resolving this bargaining dispute? What was the identity of the third party?
h. In retrospect, could this dispute have been resolved in a more constructive fashion? If so, how?
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Cross-Cultural Marketing
Choose a topic from the wide area of cross-cultural marketing. Find and critically evaluate an article on cross-cultural marketing; please ensure that this is from a peer-reviewed journal. The topic could either be from an area that is of personal interest to you (e. g. something regarding your own company or your home country) or it could be some contemporary issue.
Find at least one business example for this topic. For example, you could choose an article proposing a model to analyse a possible target market. Your business example would then be a company which entered a new market. The critical evaluation would then consist of a well- researched discussion of how this model would have helped that company to enter the targeted market.
The rationale behind this task is that you will always be confronted with unfamiliar problems. Reading scientific literature is one way of getting to grips with a problem. It is also a good preparation for assignment 2.
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Lipman Bottle Company Annotated Bibliography
Aurora, B.-B. C. (2013). The Cost of Production under Direct Costing and Absorption Costing: A Comparative Approach. Annals of the “Constantin Brâncuşi” University of Târgu Jiu, Economy Series, 2, 123-129.
The author of this article stresses on the importance of managerial accounting with regards to balancing production costs and pricing of finished products in a company’s strategic management, especially to help managers in optimizing their decisions particularly those concerning operating activities. The emphasis of the author is focused on the role of managerial accounting in calculating costs (both fixed and variable), measurement of inventory costs as well as prices and prices of services and products.
As a result, the system of cost calculation is prioritized in this article because it tends to vary on basis of the type of costs assigned to items and according to the costing theory two main systems of cost calculation adopted are: full cost accounting, which comprise of all production costs, and partial cost accounting comprising of variable costs that vary with output.
Hence, considering that full as well as partial costing in production in terms of fixed and variable costs play a crucial role in determining the prices of finished products, this article provides valuable insights on how the balance between costing and pricing can be effectively achieved. The author outlines a comparative approach with regards to the differences between cost of production calculation under absorption costing and direct costing. This article further examines the impact of utilizing each of these systems of calculation on companies’ financial performance as well as financial position with regards to reported income statement and financial position statement.
Lipman Bottle Company Annotated Bibliography
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
This article concludes by discussing the benefits of direct costing use in manufacturing companies for their internal reporting, bearing in mind that this method of costing is unacceptable for external reports that are presented to shareholders as well as other external uses. However, direct costing method is very important for companies to appropriately make production decisions. The article also fits very into Lipman Bottle Company case because of the insightful information it can provide to the company management to solve its production dilemma and settle on the most appropriate and profitable production mix based on informed decisions.
Banker, R. D. & Hansen, S. C. (2002). The Adequacy of Full-Cost-Based Pricing Heuristics. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 14, 33-58.
Authors of this article base their discussion on performance investigation of a full-cost heuristic within a service setting focusing on costs involved in providing a service eventually influence the pricing of such services. Based on the full-cost heuristic model, authors of this article state that service companies periodically determines the extent of capacity, prices as well as price discounts. In the context of price, the article examines a scenario of a stochastic number of customers placing orders for a service and reports that when in a certain period there are too many orders; a service company offers price discounts to customers willing to come back for the same service later.
The authors of this article further examines how closely a company’s optimal performance can be approximated using two heuristic approaches that are distinct such as full-cost pricing heuristic and modified full-cost pricing heuristic. The results of the analysis full-cost pricing is the best-performing heuristic when conducted upon a program towards firm’s optimization on basis of constrained version in which prices are set using full costs in addition to adjustments on basis of nonlinear elasticity demand.
However, the article also suggests that in settings where pricing choices and capacity choices are made before and after demand information respectively, modified full-cost heuristic may be perform relatively well but not for long before it starts to deviate. These pricing models are highly applicable to the Lipman Bottle Company situation since the company needs to determine it optimal performance by setting prices of products based on its capacity, full cost of production and demand meaning that full-cost pricing heuristic would be highly effective to optimize the company’s performance.
Lipman Bottle Company Annotated Bibliography
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Ghaemi, M. H. & Nematollahi, M. (2012). Study on the Behavior of Materials, Labor, and Overhead Costs in Manufacturing Companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, 3(1), 19-24.
The authors of this article examines the relationship between sales income and production expenses by analyzing income statements information for Tehran Stock Exchange listed companies over a period of four years ranging from 2000 to 2003 and subsequently evaluate costs stickiness. In this article costs stickiness is used to refer to a situation where increasing production activities result to faster increasing of costs compared to how decreasing production activities result to decreasing of costs.
The results of the study reported in this article show that overhead costs are sticky but direct labor costs as well as raw material costs are not sticky. This means effective management of overhead costs by production companies can significantly reduce operational costs hence directly influencing product prices as well as overall company profitability. Thus, Lipman Bottle Company can utilize the findings reported in this article to reduce its production costs, which is critical in eventually determining pricing, sale revenues and profits.
Lipman Bottle Company Annotated Bibliography
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Kimes, S. E. (2010). Strategic pricing through revenue management [Electronic version]. Retrieved [24th November 2015], from Cornell University, School of Hospitality Administration site: http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/articles/346
The author of this article examines the importance of revenue management towards strategic pricing, especially in manufacturing industries where capacity of inventory is relatively fixed and cost of production is characterized by low variable costs and high fixed costs. This article reports that in industries where revenue management is used, revenue increases are typically reported. The insights provided in this article are highly applicable to Lipman Bottle Company where pricing of finished products can be strategically done through revenue management.
Bibliography
Aurora, B.-B. C. (2013). The Cost of Production under Direct Costing and Absorption Costing: A Comparative Approach. Annals of the “Constantin Brâncuşi” University of Târgu Jiu, Economy Series, 2, 123-129.
Banker, R. D. & Hansen, S. C. (2002). The Adequacy of Full-Cost-Based Pricing Heuristics. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 14, 33-58.
Ghaemi, M. H. & Nematollahi, M. (2012). Study on the Behavior of Materials, Labor, and Overhead Costs in Manufacturing Companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, 3(1), 19-24.
Kimes, S. E. (2010). Strategic pricing through revenue management [Electronic version]. Retrieved [24th November 2015], from Cornell University, School of Hospitality Administration site: http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/articles/346
Lipman Bottle Company Annotated Bibliography
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Statement of the Issue
According to the authors in these literatures, the central theme that stands out is the evolution of the media industry. The authors therefore address some of the areas that have been impacted by the advent of internet.
Review of the Authors Arguments on Evolution of the media Industry
The first author takes a look at the element of future political journalism in which he describes the manner in which people primarily depended in the newspapers and the broadcast television networks as their sources of information(Norton, 2014). Cable news therefore emerged in providing an alternative to the already existing forms of media.
However, the rise of the internet in the 1990s resulted in a dramatic change in communication technology, a factor that has seen the social media networks receive much attention in the presentation of opinions. The changes in communication and technology have therefore wrought different changes in political practices and the manner in which people learn about the government.
Paul Star in the next article articulates the manner in which newspapers are taken for granted. The newspapers according to him remain the center of American politics, culture and business. This author therefore denotes that through newspapers, people are in a position to determine the welfare of the state and determine several elements within the civil society(Norton, 2014).
However, the advent of the internet has changed the manner in which information is dispensed within the society. This therefore points out to the fact that there has been a decline on the newspapers that has been superseded by the growth of the internet as a source of information with this impacting how people receive information.
On the other hand, James Fellow through his literature points out on the effective approaches directed towards saving the news. It is essential to note that this author alleges that the news business is being killed considering the fact that Google is fighting to bring this back to life(Norton, 2014). Googles power in this case is viewed as the creator or the destroyer of the newspaper industry. One of the things that stand out for this author is in the number of newspaper subscriptions that are made in each and every household that is quickly falling, a factor that is ascribed to the founding of different communication technologies.
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Comparison of Arguments
It is essential to consider the fact that all of these authors argue their cases out on the power on the communication technology within the society. The first author considers the manner in which the society entirely depended on newspapers and cabled news in providing information and news about the factors that revolved around the society(Norton, 2014). The author depicts the manner in which the old forms of media that included pamphlets, newspapers, and the radio and the television dominated the era of ascendency. However, the author depicts the fact that the advent of the interned turned around this factors.
Paul Star on the other hand depicts the manner in which newspapers are today taken for granted. He gives a historical background stating how the newspapers remained an important tool in the American society that would inform the community on several elements. The author therefore laments that the advent of the internet has changed this factors into a new regime that discredits the old forms of communication.
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
James Fellow also ascertains the effective approaches directed towards saving the news. According to him, the advent of information technology has killed the news business with google trying to fight this back. However, the author alleges that Google may turn out to be the destroyer or the creator of the newspaper industry.
In my opinion, these authors therefore depict the manner I which information and technology has eroded the older forms of information and technology. They therefore give their opinions on the old forms of communication approaches and their advantages during the period. However, they fail to understand that the globalization of the world has changed the manner in which communication is dispensed today.
It is in my view essential to consider that the changes in technology are to the advantage of the society since this has made work easier and information so first to get. The society would wait for some time to read the newspaper and grasp information about an issue. However, in this dispensation, there is access to information at the click of a button, a factor that has broadened the manner in which the society views things.
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Comments and Constructive Criticism
Article Reviews.
Article 1.
Excellent study! Organization project management (OPM), is a platform that defines the company portfolios, programs and projects. OPM is the primary factor that ensures that projects align with the company’s long term strategic plan and that the projects undertaken by the firm are supervised and managed as a single entity and does not interfere with each other.
Project management is one of the factors that leads to an organization growth and development. To have a successful project, the firm must integrate its culture, innovation, organization structure, strategic plans and the portfolio management. In addition, the shareholders must be the ones spearheading the projects process by overseeing the top management responsibilities and how they are able to communicate the process or the development of the project within the company, (Kerzner, pg.87, 2013).
For the project to be successful, the company must come up with a good budget that aims to finance the project to completion.This goes hand in hand with the shareholders defining on how the project is to be financed and the project proposed must be congruent with the company’s vision and its long term strategic objectives and goals.
Project managers should seek consensus on the selection of the projects, discussion from the company ideas through the innovative processes to the completion of the project. This do include the pre development of the project, development activities and commercialization activities of an individual project.
Companies must create an innovative environment within the organization. This helps the employees to be part of new implementation of the company process and it also encourages new ways of thinking and hence new skills are innovated. Without this platform, any implementation of company changes may lead to the failure of the company’s projects since the employees have not brought up to speed with the processes.
Comments and Constructive Criticism
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
Article 2.
All projects that are launched by companies do not meet all the necessary success criteria. Most of them are affected by the customers’ taste and preferences and if it fails to align with their needs, the project may fail. It is argued that having chaotic requirements and constructions reworks in between the project life cycle, the project definitely fails.
Company projects that have a good starting point, well organized and planned stages, and a forecasted end point are believed to be successful. When the firm has a credible project that is well organized and planned and there is the stakeholders’ intervention from the start point to end point, the project is forecasted to be successful.
Comments and Constructive Criticism
Want help to write your Essay or Assignments? Click here
To ensure this, the top management must take into consideration the project schedule, project scope, support from the top managers, support of the customers, tasks that are technical, acceptance by the clients, monitoring and feedback, communication and trouble shooting. For this to happen, the company should consider the hand off process that ensure the project transition from the inception-to-order, (ITO). In addition, integration of all the aspects of project management should be exercised in order to guarantee a successful project.
The company top management needs to implement flexible and durable changes that aims to meet the company long term objectives and goals. The company will have to implement changes like stage gate model that will help the project manager to be able to scope the project, build the business case for the product, design the project, testing and validating the product and finally taking the product to the operation phase.
