IT and Customer Relationship Management Essay Example for Free

IT and Customer Relationship Management Essay Read the Harvard Business School case for Maru Batting Center, # KEL688. The optional technical note, Using Customer Relationship Management to Analyze the Lifetime Value of a Customer #KEL695, can also help walk through the exercises. The data in Excel format is available for download in the course package, #KEL691. Answer the questions below based on only information presented in the case and your understanding of the case. You may answer the questions in either essay or bullet points form. Be concise and substantiate your answers with logical arguments and flow of thoughts. Question 1 What is the customer acquisition cost for Maru Batting Center (MBC) for the following customers? a) A Little Leaguer b) A Summer Slugger c) An Elite Ballplayer if MBC places the ad in the local baseball enthusiasts magazine d) An Elite Ballplayer if MBC purchases the List and invites all target customers to the gala event e) An Entertainment Seeker Question 2 Without discounting cash flows to take into account the time value of money, how soon will MBC break even on the following customers? a) A Little Leaguer b) A Summer Slugger c) An Elite Ballplayer if MBC places the ad in the local baseball enthusiasts magazine d) An Elite Ballplayer if MBC purchases the List and invites all target customers to the gala event e) An Entertainment Seeker Question 3 Taking into account the time value of money and assuming that 100 percent of a customer segment will have experienced attrition once the net present value of annual profits per customer falls below  ¥100, what is the lifetime value to MBC of the following customers? a) A Little Leaguer b) A Summer Slugger c) An Elite Ballplayer if MBC places the ad in the local baseball enthusiasts magazine d) An Elite Ballplayer if MBC purchases the List and invites all target customers to the gala event e) An Entertainment Seeker Question 4 Little League representatives have approached MBC from the nearby Chiyoda ward who are eager to gain the jersey subsidy the Minato ward has enjoyed due to the company’s sponsorship. Because the parents of Chiyoda Little Leaguers will have to travel a greater distance, Maru believes there will be a lower response rate (8 percent) and a lower retention rate (65 percent), which she can make up for by purchasing slightly lowerquality jerseys, reducing the cost of sponsorship to just  ¥600 per player. However, the Chiyoda ward representatives demand that theirs be the only ward receiving such a sponsorship, which means MBC must choose between the two wards. The Chiyoda representatives argue that because their ward has twice the number of Little League customers, it is more attractive than the Minato ward. Should MBC pursue the Chiyoda ward sponsorship? Explain your reasoning.

Examining Pascals Argument for God Essay -- Religion Pascal

There have been many responses to Pascal’s proposition. British humorist Terry Pratchett cleverly summed it up in one of his books with a story of a philosopher who said, â€Å"Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it's all true you'll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn't then you've lost nothing, right? (Pratchett 51)† To the average person, it seems as though there are two choices of religion; to believe in God or not to believe in God. Pascal’s theory is that it is better to believe in God, even without reason, because in so believing, you lose nothing, whereas if you do not believe, you stand to lose significantly. On the surface, this wager seems to make an adequate amount of sense, but upon further examination, the argument begins to break down. Pascal states, â€Å"According to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions. (Pascal 444)† He does not think that reason is sufficient to prove God’s existence, nor is there solid evidence one way or the other. â€Å"There is an infinite chaos which separates us, (Pascal 444)† Pascal says, meaning that if there is a God, humans cannot comprehend Him or His actions. This is to say, even if God exists, humans could not possibly know enough about Him to prove His existence by proof or reason. This, Pascal says, is why the wager is necessary; we cannot know if He exists, we must decide to either believe or disbelieve based on logic. Pascal says that the choice is between several sets of human qualities or characteristics: the true vs. the good, reason vs. will, knowledge vs. happiness, and error vs. misery. He theorizes that the believer who turns out to be correct in his belief will have true good, agreement with rea... ... of belief that have been created around the deity by humans. Even if there is a God and belief in Him is founded, there is no way to know if He will or will not bestow rewards upon His followers. Pascal’s theory would make sense if it were based on anything other than religion. Theology depends more on personal motivations than a desire for some unknown reward that may or may not exist. Pascal seems to be merely covering his own ass with this wager, telling himself that he is believing in anticipation of his eventual reward. This is not a satisfactory justification for believing in a God for which one has no evidence. Works Cited Pascal, Blaise. â€Å"The Wager.† Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings. William L. Rowe and William J. Wainwright, ed. Harcourt Brace, Orlando, FL. 1973. Pratchett, Terry. Hogfather. Harper Prism, London, England. 1996. Examining Pascal's Argument for God Essay -- Religion Pascal There have been many responses to Pascal’s proposition. British humorist Terry Pratchett cleverly summed it up in one of his books with a story of a philosopher who said, â€Å"Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it's all true you'll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn't then you've lost nothing, right? (Pratchett 51)† To the average person, it seems as though there are two choices of religion; to believe in God or not to believe in God. Pascal’s theory is that it is better to believe in God, even without reason, because in so believing, you lose nothing, whereas if you do not believe, you stand to lose significantly. On the surface, this wager seems to make an adequate amount of sense, but upon further examination, the argument begins to break down. Pascal states, â€Å"According to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions. (Pascal 444)† He does not think that reason is sufficient to prove God’s existence, nor is there solid evidence one way or the other. â€Å"There is an infinite chaos which separates us, (Pascal 444)† Pascal says, meaning that if there is a God, humans cannot comprehend Him or His actions. This is to say, even if God exists, humans could not possibly know enough about Him to prove His existence by proof or reason. This, Pascal says, is why the wager is necessary; we cannot know if He exists, we must decide to either believe or disbelieve based on logic. Pascal says that the choice is between several sets of human qualities or characteristics: the true vs. the good, reason vs. will, knowledge vs. happiness, and error vs. misery. He theorizes that the believer who turns out to be correct in his belief will have true good, agreement with rea... ... of belief that have been created around the deity by humans. Even if there is a God and belief in Him is founded, there is no way to know if He will or will not bestow rewards upon His followers. Pascal’s theory would make sense if it were based on anything other than religion. Theology depends more on personal motivations than a desire for some unknown reward that may or may not exist. Pascal seems to be merely covering his own ass with this wager, telling himself that he is believing in anticipation of his eventual reward. This is not a satisfactory justification for believing in a God for which one has no evidence. Works Cited Pascal, Blaise. â€Å"The Wager.† Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings. William L. Rowe and William J. Wainwright, ed. Harcourt Brace, Orlando, FL. 1973. Pratchett, Terry. Hogfather. Harper Prism, London, England. 1996.

Bribery & International Monetary Fund

The end of twentieth century and the beginning of new millenium have seen the emergence of bribery from a predominantly political, national or regional concern to an issue receiving global attention. In 1996, the leadership of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) publicly denounced bribery and corruption as an obstacle to economic growth and development.Both institutions vowed to focus on the role of governance in growth and development and to give greater priority to combating bribery in their own programs. That same year, the Organization of American States (OAS) approved the Inter-American Convention against Corruption while the United Nations General Assembly called on member states to â€Å"take effective and concrete action to com ¬bat all forms of corruption, bribery and related illicit practices in international commercial transactions† (Elliot, 2).Elliot defines bribery as â€Å"practice by which an individual who can take decision or action on behalf of others by virtue of his authority or position is influenced by paying or offering monetary benefits for influencing him to take an action or decision which he would not have done otherwise† (Elliot, 4). As a result of the resurgence of interest in bribery as a major global issue, there has emerged a considerable research effort devoted towards detemiining the causes, costs, and consequences of bribery.From the macroeconomic perspective the literature for the most part has focused on the impact of bribery on investment, growth and development, in its analysis of the consequences of bribery. For example, Shleifer and Vishny argue that bribery impedes development and lowers economic growth by discouraging productive investment while Mauro provides tentative empirical evidence for this negative impact of bribery on investment and growth (Shleifer and Vishny, 601, Mauro, 683).There is considerable evidence to indicate that bribery and corruption are common in foreign trad e. The payment of bribes by firms and the receipt of bribes by public officials in the procurement and award of export contracts is a standard business practice in foreign trade. As a high-ranking corporate official has noted, â€Å"All of us involved in international business are aware that certain payments to government officials are quite common and an accepted method of doing business in many parts of the world† (Basche, 2).The US Department of Commerce, National Export Strategy Report (1996), states that since mid-1994, â€Å"we have learned of significant allegations of bribery by foreign firms in 139 international commercial contracts valued at $64 billion†¦Bribery continues to be pivotal in many export competitions, with the bribing companies still winning an estimated 80 percent of the contract decisions† (Tanzi, 363). From practical perspective, bribery manifests in a variety of forms. The bribe need not always be a monetary payment. There are more subtl e forms of bribery such as â€Å"entertain ¬ment expenses†, gifts in kind or gifts of services.The bribe to influence a favorable decision could be the provision of a â€Å"rent-free villa on the French Riviera or an expense-free weekend in Las Vegas† (Jacoby et al, 28). It could be a gift of a house or property or it could be the financing of a relative's education in the university. In addition to such payments, contacts and networks estab ¬lished though ethnic or language links or past dealings may also play a part in influencing the decision to award export contracts. Moreover, the bribe paid in order to obtain an export contract is sometimes regarded as a fixed cost of doing business overseas.Corruption on the federal level is a pervasive and universal phenomenon. It is a rare industry that has not been tainted by a corruption scandal involving the payment or receipt of bribes in the procurement or award of trade contracts. Incidence of bribery has spanned a n umber of industries, ranging from the aircraft, pharmaceutical, machinery and equipment, and chemicals industries to electronics. For instance, a byproduct of the Watergate investigation of the 1970s was the discovery by the Special Prosecutor that US companies were involved in making illegal contributions of corporate funds to domestic political campaigns.This led the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate these corporations to determine if there had been a violation of federal se ¬curities laws. The SEC investigation revealed a number of corrupt practices including the payment of bribes to foreign officials in order to secure business abroad. Over 400 US compa ¬nies, including 117 of the Fortune 500 companies, were disclosed to have made questionable or illicit foreign payments in excess of $300 million (Sheffet, 290). One of the more prominent investiga ¬tions centered around Lockheed Aircraft.The SEC found that Lockheed had paid millions of dollars in bribes t o high-ranking foreign officials in order to secure aircraft export contracts. Other firms involved in the disclosure of questionable payments associated with export sales were Johnson & Johnson, Colgate-Palmolive Co. , Pfizer Inc. , American Home Products, and others. It was such disclosures that prompted the US Congress to enact the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) which outlaws the bribery of foreign government officials by US firms in order to obtain or maintain business abroad.On a state level corrupt state government is more likely to be involved in transactions that are more personally lucrative rather than those that are more profitable for the state (Shleifer and Vishny, 614-615). In other words, corrupt state officials tend to spend the state budget on sectors which have more bribery and bring more personal gain to them than sectors which have less bribery and less beneficial to them (Shleifer and Vishny, 615).As a result, state can even change â€Å"an invest ment away from the highest value projects, such as health and education, into potentially useless projects, such as unnecessary infrastructure† (Shleifer and Vishny, 616). Shleifer and Vishny point out that this tendency of corrupt state government suggests that many corrupt bodies of power spend more on defense and security than on public services and interests such as education since the former allows larger opportunities of bribery.Thus, according to these researchers analysis, corruption shifts an investment from public services to construction contracts; as a result, corruption reduces spending on education, healthcare and other social projects. WORKS CITED Basche, James R. Jr. , Unusual Foreign Payments: A Survey of the Policies and Practices of U. S. Companies, New York, 1976 Elliot, Kimberly Ann, (ed. ) Corruption and the Global Economy, Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1997 Mauro, Paolo, â€Å"Corruption and Growth,† Quarterly Journal of E conomics, Vol.110, No. 3, p. 681-711, August 1995. Sheffet, Mary Jane, â€Å"The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988: Did They Change Corporate Behavior? † Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Vol. 14. No. 2, p. 290-300, Fall 1995 Shleifer, Andrei, and Robert W. Vishny. â€Å"Corruption. † The Quarterly Journal of Economics 198(3): 599-617, 1993 Tanzi, Vito, â€Å"Corruption around the World: Causes, Consequences, Scope and Cures,† IMF Staff Papers, Vol. 45. No. 4, p. 559-94, D

Essay on Human Resource Roles and Responsibilities

Human Resource Roles and Responsibilities Human Resource is a key to the success of a company by keeping in connection with the organizations objectives and business strategies. Human Resource maintains a healthy work environment between company policies and individuals. Human resource management focuses on securing, maintaining, and utilizing an effective work force, which organizations cannot survive without. Human resource management can also be described as the relationship between the employer and the employee. There are basic functions all managers perform which are planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. These represent what is often called the management process. Staffing, personnel management, or human†¦show more content†¦There are many responsibilities involved with human resource management. Gary Dessler (2000) explains that, human resource management refers to the practice and policies you need to carry out the people or personnel aspects of your management job. Dessler lists these rol es as conducting job analyses, planning labor needs, recruiting and selecting job candidates, orientating and training, managing wages and salaries, providing incentives and benefits, appraising performance, communicating, training and developing and building employee commitment (p. 2).? At PC Innovation, human resources is responsible for overseeing the policies and procedures, business conduct guidelines, the confidentiality agreement, benefits and compensation (when eligible), recruitment, new hire orientation and training, and the performance management. It is clear that human resources encompass a wide range of roles and responsibilities in our organization. Human resource manager must actively develop training and assist the performance reviews for each employee at PC Innovation. Managers must then effectively review the employee performances to provide feedback and address an performance issues. Performance appraisals should be unbiased and focused on substantive performance issues. The role of human resources has definitely changed over the years and is still consistently changing. 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