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Answer all the questions on these two cases assignments, each case has to be thr
Answer all the questions on these two cases assignments, each case has to be three pages long, you are not allowed to search answers on google. All the answers have to come from the respective textbook (filed below) and also to include citation. In the book pick a chapter between one and seven for each case and just find the answer among the chapter that you picked.
Case #1 Alibaba
“Opportunity lies in the place where the complaints are.” —Jack Ma, founder and former chair & CEO of Alibaba Group Holdings Chinese company Alibaba burst onto the world scene in September 2014, when the company held an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange that raised $25 billion, making it (at the time) one of the largest
IPOs in history.125 Prior to its IPO, Alibaba, a company with widespread name recognition in China, was largely unknown in the United States, and it remains relatively misunderstood even at the current time. At the time of its IPO, Alibaba operated Taobao, China’s largest internet-based consumer-to-consumer shopping site, and Tmall.com, a website enabling business-to-consumer internet shopping. Presently, Alibaba’s portfolio of business operations is substantially larger than it was in 2014, and the sphere of business that it operates in covers an enormous array of services (Table 4.3).126
Alibaba Entity Area of Business/Service Provision
Alipay Online payment service
Aliyun Cloud services
Aliyun App Store Mobile apps
Aliyun OS Mobile OS (like Android or Apple iOS)
AutoNavi Maps and navigation
InTime Retail outlets
Juhuasuan Group buying/bulk digital coupons
Kanbox Cloud storage
Laiwang Mobile messaging (texting)
Lyft/Kuaide Car service/ride sharing
Taoboa Online consumer-to-consumer ecommerce/auction
Taoboa Travel Online travel reservations
Tmall Business-to-consumer ecommerce
TutorGroup e-learning
Weibo Microblogging (online broadcast medium that enables short [limited character] frequent posts)
Xiami Music streaming
Youku Tudou Video streaming
In 1997, Jack Ma (Ma Yun), and approximately 20 others launched Alibaba from a small apartment in the city of Hangzhou. Ma had studied English for years and worked vocationally as an English teacher. On a 1994 trip to the United States, Ma was introduced to the internet, and was surprised that he was unable to access information about China. This experience was a turning point for Ma, who returned to China and continued to explore ways to access the internet, which was just beginning to arrive in China in 1994 in a very limited capacity. By the time Alibaba was created, Ma and his team had conceptualized a strategic way to engage the internet to facilitate wholesale business for others. Ma described this initial Alibaba as an electronic bulletin board that enabled Chinese businesses and manufacturers to use the internet to connect with potential buyers both within and outside of China. In his own words, Ma said, “I call Alibaba ‘1,001 mistakes.’ We expanded too fast, and then in the dot-com bubble, we had to have layoffs…. We had a lot of free members using our site, and we didn’t know how we’d make money. So we developed a product for China exporters to meet U.S. buyers online. This model saved us.”127
Today, Ma is commonly lauded as the founder of Alibaba and as a pioneer in Chinese ecommerce. Ma understood and discerned the business potential of online engagement, and this directed his decision to establish Alibaba. By 2008, China emerged as the largest population of internet users in the world, 128 and Alibaba is now the world’s largest online and mobile commerce company, currently serving approximately 1 billion customers (80% of whom are in China) and accounting for approximately 25% of all retail spending in China (as of March 2021).129
Alibaba has been described as an aggregator or an assembler of a “technology ecosystem,” meaning the company is characterized as a network of diverse entities that perform different functions, but are interconnected and interdependent.130 Alibaba has orchestrated the development of this “ecosystem” in response to emerging needs, as opposed to a company that was built according to a design and a plan.
To illustrate how Alibaba developed, in 1997, Alibaba launched Alibaba.com, creating an online space for manufacturers to connect with other businesses. In 2003, realizing the need for something broader, Alibaba introduced Taobao, which established an online business-to-business marketplace for retailers.
As users engage on Taobao, the need for a secure online payment mechanism emerged, so Alibaba introduced Alipay, which enabled retailers on Taobao to buy and sell fluidly online. 131 In response to limitations perceived in Taobao, Alibaba created Tmall in 2008, which enabled larger, well-known brands from China and other countries to create online stores. Alibaba extended its business to offer services in cloud computing when it launched Alibaba Cloud in 2009. In addition to these services, Alibaba enables customers to stream music on Xiami, its music streaming site. Customers can also stream television and movies on Youku Tudou, Alibaba’s video streaming service. Alibaba is also a 33% shareholder in the Ant Group (formerly Ant Financial), the largest fintech company in the world, which facilitates a variety of online payment and banking services for consumers across China. 132 Alibaba’s ecosystem developed, providing creative solutions to problems the company encountered as it grew.
Discussion Questions
1. What decision-making style did Jack Ma best exhibit at the launch of Alibaba?
2.How does Alibaba’s story reflect innovation and creative problem solving?
3.How might Alibaba’s technological ecosystem characterize the company’s approach to decision making and problem solving in its operations?
4. How does Alibaba’s cultivation of a technology ecosystem in response to customer needs reflect the four management functions?
5.Based on the information provided in the case, which type(s) of Analysis Techniques might be most suitable for a company like Alibaba: Quantitative, Mixed Approach, or Qualitative? Please briefly explain your answer.
6. Alibaba “evolved” in response to customer needs. Does this count as a formal or informal approach to decision making and problem solving?
Requirement: (A). Answer #1-6 above. Use the complete business sentences with proper spelling, grammar. All of the your answers must be from text book including chapter and pages. Single space.
Must be type -written in Word.
Minimum 3 pages are required.
Case #2 Hershey
The Hershey Company is an American food product manufacturer, known most particularly for its chocolate and candies. Founded in the 1880s in Pennsylvania, the founder, Milton Hershey, began producing chocolate after seeing chocolate machinery at the 1893 world expo in Chicago. He introduced the famous Hershey Bar in 1900 and added the Hershey Kiss and such other famous candy bars as Mr. Goodbar and Krackel over the next several decades. In the 1960s, Hershey’s acquired the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup company; in the 1980s, Hershey’s acquired the rights to produce the Mounds and Almond Joy candy bars and the York Peppermint Pattie, and began to acquire licenses to become the U.S. manufacturer of such United Kingdom products as Rolo chocolate candies, Cadbury chocolates, and Schweppe’s beverages. In 1996, Hershey’s acquired the North American operations of Leaf candy company, which included not only popular chocolate candies Whoppers, Milk Duds, and Heath bars, but also such popular nonchocolate candies as Jolly Ranchers, Rain-Blo bubble gum, and the PayDay candy bar. In the 2000s, Hershey’s acquisitions continued to expand its offerings, including the chocolates and candies produced by the Brookside Foods company based in Canada.
In March 2017, Michele Buck became CEO, chair, and president of the Hershey Company, becoming the first woman to hold this role at Hershey. Buck, who joined Hershey in 2005, served as Hershey’s chief operating officer for several years prior to becoming CEO. In the same year, under Buck’s new leadership, the Hershey Company announced a specific goal to become “an innovative snacking powerhouse.” Buck joined the Hershey Company after 17 years at Kraft/Nabisco where she held senior executive management roles in the company’s confections division. By 2018, under Buck’s leadership, Hershey made the Forbes list of the 100 Most Innovative Companies for the year. Hershey’s popularity positioned it well to achieve a “powerhouse” standing in the global snacking market, and the company has experienced dynamic growth globally, seeing sales grow by more than 10% between 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period, Buck was lauded for transforming the company through tactical acquisitions of external brands and innovation in core Hershey brands.
By 2021, Hershey’s had six of the 10 top-selling brands of candy in the United States, including Hershey’s, Reese’s, KitKat, and Ice Breakers, and $8.97 billion in sales. In the United States, Hershey Company continues to produce the top-selling chocolate candies, the top-selling candies in the mint category, the third-best-selling candies in the gum category, and, through such popular Hershey brands as Twizzlers and Jolly Rancher, the third-best-selling candies in the nonchocolate category. Forbes noted that Hershey’s U.S. market strength gives “significant cash flow from its existing brands” and enables Hershey to “deploy capital into new business lines and products, through internal development or acquisition.”
Hershey’s ability to adapt to change is evident in several important ways. First, as Forbes observed, Hershey’s “successfully innovates, through new variations of existing products or updated packaging to improve shelf appeal, to keep consumers buying its products.” For example, Hershey’s put a considerable amount of innovative research into new packaging for its established products, including packages that stand up on the grocery store shelf rather than lying flat on the shelf, enhancing the visibility of and access to the already popular Hershey products for shoppers. Hershey’s also took a bold step in the direction of savory snacks and healthy snacks in response to emerging consumer desire for more transparency about the nutritional value of snacks and in response to preferences by Millennials and Gen Zers for healthy snacks. Hershey’s began acquiring the parent companies of such healthier on-the-go snack options as Dots Homestyle Pretzels, SkinnyPop products, Pirate Brands (Pirate Booty, Smart Puffs, Original Tings), Paqui chips, barkTHINS, Lily’s Low Sugar Chocolate, and ONE Protein Bars.
Hershey’s adaptability is also evident in the company’s evolving responsible manufacturing choices. As it has expanded its manufacturing facilities, the majority of them remain “zero-waste landfill plants,” that place a heavy emphasis on reuse and recycling. For example, when a particular manufactured candy product does not pass quality control inspection, Hershey’s seeks to rework that product rather than discard it.
Hershey’s is also deeply committed to using sustainable, non-GMO cocoa, part of many efforts it makes as part of its “Cocoa For Good” program that also includes empowering women, opposing child labor, and globally increasing access to nutritious foods. Such commitments are only part of the reason Hershey’s was included on the Forbes and JUST Capital list of The Just 100: Companies Leading the New Era of Responsible Capitalism in 2021. In 2021, Forbes also ranked Hershey’s at the very top of its list of World’s Top Female Friendly Companies.
Discussion Questions
1. How has the Hershey Company taken risks that might be considered entrepreneurial? Please briefly explain.
2. Which stage of change was the Hershey Company likely in when it began to acquire new healthy snack food companies?
3. To continue to compete effectively with rivals, should the Hershey Company focus on a change in strategy, structure, technology, or people? Please briefly explain.
4. Change management was explored. Lewin’s model for change presents a change-stability paradox.
Which stage do you suppose the Hershey Company is in right now?
Requirement: (A). Answer #1-4 above. Use the complete business sentences with proper spelling, grammar. All of your answers must be from a text book including chapter and pages. Single space.
Must be type -written in Word.
Minimum 3 pages are required.
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