Reputation

The Ressurection of Spikeball

Posted on by tania30113f14

Have you ever heard of Spikeball? Spikeball is a sport that is becoming more popular in the United States. Spikeball is basically a combination of volleyball and foursquare. It’s a very easy game to play all you need is two teams of two people and the net. Spikeball is very portable it can be played in the backyard or on a beach.  If you purchase the product, which retails around $50 you will receive a trampoline like net which is a couple of inches off the ground, and a palm size ball. Basically, players stand around the net each team has up to three hits to transfer the ball to the opposing team. The purpose is to hit the ball into the net so the opposing team can’t return it. The winner is the team to get to 21 points first.

Chris Ruder is the founder and CEO of Spikeball. He first came across Spikeball in the 1980s when he purchased his very own Spikeball from Toys R Us. Ruder would always get the same question when people saw him playing Spikeball with his friends. The questions included, “What’s that game? How do you play? Where can I get one?” this were all simple questions but the last one because Toys R Us didn’t sell Spikeball anymore. That’s when Ruder had the idea to make Spikeball his own. Spikeball Inc. sold their first set in 2008 and Toys R Us was not involved. After having great success and growth Ruder quit his day job to focus on Spikeball. Spikeball has become more popular and has become a popular new sport. There are many tournaments in which people can compete in all over the United States. The top places are Chicago and Nashville. Other places include Los Angeles, New York, Georgia, and Iowa.

What makes this company interesting is the fact that how Ruder took Spikeball which seemed to be dying out and making it into something bigger. Ruder had no money to be able to advertise his product but it made it grow by simply going to the beach and people see him have fun. The game was originally trying to target a younger age group but Ruder realized that the target was not the correct target for Spikeball he believed that it was more for an older age group instead of kids. Ruder had to be in charge of everything that had to be done. He had to deal with inventory, customer service, and e-commerce. He had to be able to manage everything that had to do with improving Spikeball and making it known. He would also like to email customers that made purchases and ask them how they learned about Spikeball. By emailing the customers Ruder was able to receive better feedback regarding his product.

Have you heard of Spikeball before?

Would you try to play Spikeball?

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130730/lincoln-park/chicago-based-spikeball-exploding-popularity-nationwide

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/news/spikeball-toy-to-sport

http://spikeball.com/

 

Charity begins at home?

Posted on by w13kristen

After being given the task to “create, plan, and execute a fund raising project for a designated charity,” one of the first questions our group asked each other was what charity does our team want to support?  In the course of everyday life, this question remains relevant.  When a disaster occurs, numerous charities ask for donations to help rebuild a community, friends and family participate in walks or runs in order to raise money for a cause, and solicitations from third parties are abundant.  Asking yourself a few simple questions and giving donation parameters can help determine whether the cause or special project is the right place to donate funds.  An interesting article in the Washingtonian helped clarify some questions that I have had in the past while donating to a specific cause or charity.

1.      Pick a problem you care about- “Whether seasoned or first-time givers, people become consistent donors and take more pride in their gifts when they contribute to an initiative they find important” <http://www.washingtonian.com/>.  Small donations pop up throughout the year, but when it comes to a major or annual gift it is important to feel strongly about the cause you are donating to.

2.      Decide whether you’d rather invest locally or globally- Multinational charities help those in need all around the world, but the downside is that the results aren’t evident in one’s local community.  Both arenas are worthwhile, so the answer to this question depends on the individual donating.

3.      Research online- Once you have selected an organization, there are many helpful websites that can provide valuable information and help dig deeper to make sure your funds are being put to use in the most effective way.  <http://www.charitynavigator.org/>  and <http://www.charitywatch.org/> are good places to start.

4.      Look for red flags- A few examples are excessive salaries, revenue or expense projections that greatly deviate from a prior year’s budget, non-diverse revenue sources, and board members who don’t participate by donating to their organization.  Non-profits should hold to the same standards as a for-profit organization.  If the charity doesn’t seem to track figures or illustrate a level of transparency about funding, it may not be the right direction to take.

5.      Call or visit your finalists- Every organization has volunteers that should be able to talk to you about the work the charity does and how it impacts those in need.  Smaller organizations may take more time responding to each request, but it is important to know what the goals are of the charity and to see whether they align with the guidelines you feel are important.

6.      Get started early- As the year winds down, many people want to donate funds for tax purposes.  Make sure to give yourself and the charity enough time to answer your questions without end-of-year pressures.

So far, our group has had an extremely difficult time actually connecting with a representative from our charity.  I am the “central region charitable contributions lead” for my corporation, and these communication issues seem to be similar for many charities that my corporation supports.  Have you encountered communication barriers while working on this group project?  Have you donated to a charity in the past and then found out that they were fraudulent?  What other items do you consider while donating funds?

Source:
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/work-education/how-to-choose-the-right-charity-to-get-your-donation/index.php

Bringing in Outside Experts

Posted on by lanec598

p_gordon-ramsay_1584816c

 

 

I work for a company that likes to keep things in house. We’ve been a family-owned company for over a hundred years and one of our hallmarks has been a desire to keep our information and accumulated knowledge private and secure. So when I read Project Nightmares- Gordon Ramsay to the Rescue! the author Bill Dow struck a chord with me on several points. To briefly summarize the premise, this article advocates for an approach towards evaluating projects that is similar to what celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay does on his show Kitchen Nightmares:

Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares Evaluation Process

  1. Samples the food (he tries almost the whole menu)
  2. Review of the surroundings (color, lighting, atmosphere, etc.)
  3. Review of the kitchen processes (billing, wait staff, line cooks, how orders are processed, etc.)
  4. Review of staff (including qualifications, background, experiences of owners, wait staff, bartenders, chiefs, etc.)
  5. Review of fridges (walk-in’s, freezers, food quality, etc.

The article notes that Ramsay evaluates the restaurants on the basis of his expertise. While each restaurant he observes tries to differentiate itself on one or more of the above criteria, he knows from experience what is likely to resonate with customers and what is likely to lead to disaster. He spends a brief period of time making suggestions and changes and then leaves to head onto the next reclamation project. Dow argues that many companies and project managers would benefit from bringing in an experienced outsider to take the temperature of their efforts and get things back on track if necessary. He argues that the evaluation process could look something like this:

Project Management Evaluation Process

  1. Review the project health data (Is the Project in Red status, is the budget Green, Risks/Issues…etc.)
  2. Review project deliverables (no getting around it, you are going to have to look at the deliverables and the content)
  3. Review project processes (Look for areas going well and areas of improvement, how does the project manage change? What about the budget process?)
  4. Reviews project resources (Look at their qualifications, their background, experiences…etc.)
  5. Talk to customers and team members (how are the relationships, what is the working environment like…etc.)

Dow believes a major shortcoming in many projects is a lack of objectivity in the evaluation process. While project managers should be responsible for keeping their projects and teams on track, Dow writes that traditional project audits may lack efficacy in uncovering the pitfalls that could bring the project off the rails. While checklists may ensure a basic level of progress is made on a project they are not always able to guarantee that a project is headed for its intended destination. Dow is not arguing for bringing in outsiders to run the project but rather advocating for bringing in an expert in the relative field to gauge the project’s likelihood of success based on observation and experience. To return to the example of Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon Ramsay doesn’t stick around to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He shakes up the status quo, gives suggestions to the owner/management, and heads off to the next episode.

As I stated in the beginning I think there are times when my organization could benefit from hearing more from outside voices. There are times when it can feel like we’re doing the same old projects the same old way and almost know ahead of time we’ll have the same old results. I’ve definitely noticed a push to change things up, but it can be hard to do that when the initiatives are being run by people accustomed to doing things a particular way.

I’d be interested to hear about your organizations and any experience you have in dealing with outside experts. How do your companies and teams keep projects on target?

 

Applying Private Efficiencies to Public Money

Posted on by w13heather

It is at least a starting point that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is starting to assess different government agencies against project management best practices (as defined by the Project Management Institute, or PMI). It is interesting that they are starting with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). On one hand, it makes sense since they deal with physical properties and construction, which lend itself better to traditional project management. On the other hand, it may not be the most effective place to start in the government (healthcare would have a bigger impact, for instance).

The six categories HUD was assessed within were: (1) project charter, (2) work breakdown structure, (3) project management plan, (4) requirements management plan, (5) requirements traceability matrix, and (6) acquisition strategy.

Interestingly, most projects had charters, but not clear accountability (insert joke about government (in)efficiencies here). Potentially more concerning, is at least two projects under major initiatives lacked “development” in four of the six categories, which implies minimal/insufficient project management over the project.

With the increasing pressure on the government (like the private industry) to do more with less, the historical inefficiencies will no longer be acceptable. One key way to deal with this is not to actually do less, but to be efficient by reducing overhead (i.e., project management). The fundamental advantage to project management (besides success) is planning ahead – which the government needs to do more of.

Hopefully, the GAO will continue to assess various government agencies (AND follow-up to confirm changes are made) so that the use of taxpayer’s money is as efficient as the use of money within the private sector.

Source: “HUD falters at project management”, June 14, 2013 (http://fcw.com/Articles/2013/06/14/GAO-HUD.aspx?Page=1)

Six Sigma, gone Bad.

Posted on by spr1334btenca

SixSigma

“What do weight-loss plans and process-improvement programs such as Six Sigma and “lean manufacturing” have in common?” They article starts off with this quote, referring that diet plans and six sigma plans do indeed fail at one point or another. The companies that use Six Sigma normally start of with huge goals and aspirations of putting these plans into operation, but just like a failing diet these companies tend to go back to their old ways. Many companies around the world embrace this business management such as Six Sigma; however, a recent study shows “that nearly 60% of all corporate Six Sigma initiatives fail to yield the desired results.”  This is where we begin to ask ourselves if it’s actually worth investing in a plan if 60% of the companies who do it aren’t coming up with the results that they wanted. The articles diagnosis this problem into three stages, “stretching, yielding, and failing.”

So let’s start off by talking about what they call the “stretching phase.” The process can be defined similarly to a metal spring analogy. “When a metal spring is pulled initially, the material stretches to accommodate the increase in pressure.” They compare these metal spring to people in a business process. Initially people at any process in the business will bend and stretch to make things happen. I also agree with this because when you are new to a job or trying a new process you are initially willing to do whatever it takes to try and make it work. Most teams in any business are generally excited and willing to learn the new process, such as Six Sigma. Normally at this stage in the process managers will implement a “to-do” list will let employees know what is exactly expected out of them. When the employees reached all of their goals on the “to-do” list they were rewarded and the project is normally ruled a success. I believe this is where we can see one downfall. Rewarding employees can be successful, but if you keep doing it over and over and don’t increase the expectations or continue to manage you teams, I believe failure is inevitable.

The second phase the article is called the “yielding phase.” The phase can be defined as, “If a metal spring continues to be pulled, there will come a point when the material yields as it struggles to support the increase in pressure. Though still intact, the spring becomes permanently deformed, stretched out.” They compare this to management at a company switching from one project to another. When management switches to another project more times than none the team that lost the management from the Six Sigma managers slowly begins to lose site of their goals and begin to slip back into their old ways. At this point in the phase teams begin to loose sight of the end goal and being to focus to much on their individuals efforts. The teams that lost the Six Sigma management slowly began to crack under the pressure.

The third and final phase in this article is the failing stage. Using the metal example this stage is defined as, “Over time, pulling will cause the material in one area of the metal spring to narrow, creating a neck that becomes smaller and smaller until it is unable to sustain any pressure at all. At this point breaks into pieces.” When the Six Sigma management team leaves, employees at company’s becomes discouraged and eventually begin performing poorly and than fail returning into their own ways.

After reading this article, I begin to wonder if the Six Sigma program is actually worth it? What do you think?

Should a company invest money into this program, if 60% of the companies end up returning to normal ways?

How could companies prevent this program from failing?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703298004574457471313938130.html

http://www.isixsigma.com/new-to-six-sigma/getting-started/what-six-sigma/

Sustainability with a LUS(H)cious Twist

Posted on by spr1324mstapleton

Lush logo

This generation continuously asks questions. Some of the major one’s that companies are asking revolve around sustainability. How can we become sustainable? How do we incorporate sustainability into what our company stands for? The company Lush Cosmetics has found a way to answer those questions in a very luscious manner. Lush is a company based in the UK that creates organic soaps and other body products to free consumers from chemicals typically used in such products. This company prides itself on finding ways to keep the world a healthier place. Therefore, Lush has decided to incorporate ‘CloudApps’ into their management strategy.

CloudApps is a multi-award winning sustainability program that helps companies monitor their carbon footprints. This software also covers performance management and reporting, energy management, and employee engagement along with the carbon footprint management. This system is very intriguing because it’s not only incorporating the sustainability factor for energy and waste, but it is also helping to create a sustainable and resourceful work force throughout the international company.

lush youtube backgroundBy introducing this new operational infrastructure of the company, Lush has been able to get creative in being resourceful in the companies shipping process. All of Lush’smanufacturing factories are over in Europe. This would essentially mean that shipment is not cheap and very wasteful. Instead of allowing this waste to be created, Lush took it upon them selves to find cheaper and lighter ways to fly products overseas. Most of their soaps aren’t individually packaged allowing them to ship more for a lower cost. This reduces the use of extra waste and in my opinion is the best way to ship a fairly durable mass quantity of product.

Not only has this system helped create a more resourceful company, it has also tied recycling into the companies outlook. Since recycling begins at the design, the company has invited customers to return the empty containers that are left over so that they can recycle them internally and be put towards a new container. The company even reaches out as far as asking for all of their customers empty bottle tops so that they can be melted down into a new container as well. I feel that Lush is doing a sensational job with this. They have cut down on packaging by 62% just by taking advantage of recycling!

Monitoring the carbon and operational infrastructures of the company has also influenced regulations and reputation for the company. Pressures on employees to recycle and think resourceful have made an even bigger impact on what the company can give back lush_cosmetic_product_shot1.28sweui6r78kcc804wgsk0gsg.5r15frdicg4kos40gwk400wsw.thto the environment. The company uses the CloudApps to decide what employees get specific bonuses based on how much they are recycle and energy consumption. It is shocking how one little change can help a company produce a number of healthier environments. They have shaped the work environment of the company as well as taken ethical actions in producing a healthier global environment.

Do you think that this approach to their staff will back fire one day? Is the need to monitor and reward the future of management? In comparison to “The Skies TheLimit” spaghetti and marshmallow project, do you think that if we (students) would perform differently if were told about a reward for the highest and most stable tower? How does this act sustainability take part in a better future for other companies?

 

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/04/20/lush-cosmetics-taps-the-cloud-to-track-its-carbon-footprint/

http://www.cloudapps.com/product-overview/

Flying Through Quality

Posted on by spr1324czarate
Boeing 787 (Google Images)

Quality is an important factor when producing goods and services. Each organization sets its own quality standards based on customers’ demands and needs. If we look at quality from the customers’ perspective we will want to have products that we can rely on when using them, otherwise if the product is defective we might want to stop using it. On the manufacturers’ perspective if the customers are unsure of quality on their products, it is their job to make the necessary adjustments to make the product attractive to the customer again.  When the situation is created by defect on fabrication it can mean big amount of money losses for the manufacturer, therefore it should work on fixing the defects as soon as these are detected in order to avoid bigger losses and not get their reputation hurt.

 

An example of a company restoring confidence in its product is Boeing and the battery problems that its passenger jet 787s has been facing since January and that it cost them to stop flying them. According to an article in the New York Times by Christopher Drew and Jad Mouawad, the Federal Aviation Administration approved in April the company’s plan to fix the batteries of 50 jets that where delivered at that time. The authors explain that the lithium-ion batteries problems were detected when two of them had overheated in two different jets. As soon as the problem was detected its engineers worked on finding the causes of the defective batteries and the best approach to fix it. Collection of data was necessary to support the changes and come up with a plan.  Luckily, the 800 orders that were already planned for the plane were not affected, the authors explain, since it promised a 20 percent fuel savings. After collecting data and analyzing it, the company decided to send several technicians around the world to fix the batteries and install the new system which includes better insulation and other features to prevent batteries incidents (Drew and Mouawad). The article goes on by explaining that even after this efforts by the company to fix the problem, Japanese airlines have asked for more assurance that the incidents will not be likely to happen again or at least detected by introducing monitoring systems for the batteries that would send information about the batteries conditions and replacement of them every certain time period. All this efforts are done in order to recover the customer’s confidence.

 
We can see in this example how a defect might represents serious consequences in the company’s reputation and generate monetary losses. This illustrates the importance of having systems that monitor the quality and processes on production and if problems are presented look for the causes and fix them as soon as possible.

 
Do you think Boeing’s approach to solve the problem was appropriate? Should the company provide monitoring systems that Japanese airlines demand or do you think is enough just by replacing the batteries and the insulation system implemented?

 

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/20/business/faa-endorses-boeing-remedy-for-787-battery.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1370203420-Yz8jS+nRMM8ILF6/hvaO2g

Price Menu in Hospitals?!

Posted on by spr1314mshah

Businesses try to implement various strategies such as differentiation, low price, and rapid response to stay ahead in competition and to attract more customers. But, when it comes to hospital industry, there is nothing much to do to increase profit other than improving internally such as adding new services, outsourcing some work, improve quality, increase profit margin etc. Most of the hospitals have successfully increase their revenue by charging higher amount to insurance holders and get away with it as not many people pay attention to it.

But, it may change soon. Steven Sonenreich, CEO of Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, announced that he would bring transparency to industry by posting prices comparing to Blue Cross and Aetna. In early May, the center for Medicare and Medicaid Service released data from 3,000 hospitals that accept government insurance. According to this data, price of most of the treatments vary as much as by three times. And these hospitals get away with it because insurance companies have to pay that amount and patients pay fixed co-pay.

However, with increasing cost of Health care, insurance companies have changed co-payment plans from fixed co-pay to percentage of total billed amount. Therefore, patients will be more aware about how much they will be charged. Thus, availability of price information can benefit both hospitals and patients. After the announcement, Brian Keeley, CEO of Baptist Health in South Florida stated that the hospital industry is headed in that direction. Thus, in short time, all hospitals nationwide will follow the steps of Mount Sinai Medical center.

Now the question comes to mind is why Sonenreich wants to be first to be in industry where secrecy of price has been working out perfectly. If it were some other industry, being first to market would be smart move. Therefore, the reason for being first to market in my opinion is to build reputation and favorable word of mouth when every hospital at least in Florida has adopted this. Thus, their plan seems to attract more patients in long run.

Furthermore, as we have discussed in chapter one that measuring quality of services is much more difficult than physical products. And hospitals rely on attracting more customers by providing better quality services. Most consumers make purchases based on assumption that higher the prices better the quality, as we talked about in chapter 6. For example, more than 80% students chose Rolex as better quality where I think other watches were better quality for their price. Similarly, with availability of price information in hospitals, I think people with go to the hospitals that charges more. But, as Sonenreich stated that they are the lowest cost hospital in area, they might lose patients to competitors because of the price transparency. Thus, their decision of transparency might hurt them in long run.

Do you think the transparency in hospital cost will make us more conscious about where we go? And how will if affect the Mount Sinai Medical Center?

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/14/v-fullstory/3397479/in-miami-more-hospital-prices.html

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-20/a-hospital-ceo-promises-more-pricing-transparency-and-makes-rivals-squirm

Mercedes’ Management pulling in Wealthy Chinese again

Posted on by spr1322tgutheil

After Daimler’s CEO Dieter Zetsche sat in the Mercedes S-Class, he realized it would not recline as far as a seat in an airplane did, and therefore not give the same amount of comfort that the wealthy individuals that would buy this car are accustomed to. This was especially an issue in China where the car-owner sits in the back a lot of the time as they have chauffeurs. Zetsche had his designers recline to 43.5 degrees to make it more comfortable and luxurious and therefore more appealing to the wealthy Chinese. When the backseat reclines, the front seat automatically moves forward a bit to give more legroom, and the seats even have a massage feature for ultimate comfort.

Mercedes Revamps the S-Class to Lure China's Wealthy Buyers

To be able to realize that this is necessary is very impressive forecasting while also looking at the past sales and realizing that something is wrong. For the CEO to go out and try the features of the Mercedes S-Class and help come up with solutions shows the dedication he has to the company, and shows good management as well. It is rare that you hear that a chief executive officer figures out the issue a company has and makes it a point to fix it.

Chinese buyers account for more than half of all the sales of the S-Class, which makes improving the sales even more important. With Mercedes operating profit margin down in comparison to BMW and Audi, it is important that the sales of the S-Class are improving again because the profit margin is 25% for these cars. Zetsche was also smart

in realizing that innovating and improving this car is important to the bottom line of making more money, as it is the most profitable.

China is a huge market as the sales of luxury cars are projected to go up 12 percent annually up through the year 2020. Clearly the operations management of Mercedes is of highest quality, because being able to put together all of the factors I have talked about and realizing that perfecting the S-Class is essential is rather impressive.

A Mercedes S-Class can cost as much as 486,000 dollars in China due to very heavy import levies. Due to the halo effect, Mercedes is able to generally charge more for its other cars as well. Mercedes sold about 20,000 more of their luxury cars than BMW and a little over 40,000 more than Audi’s luxury car, so clearly Mercedes is the best at perceiving an image of luxury and highest of quality. With this fact in mind, Mercedes’ management needs to realize that they need to improve the sales of their other cars to become the most profitable company in overall again in comparison to their biggest rivals of BMW and Audi.

What do you think Mercedes can do to improve their sales and become the most profitable company again? Are you impressed by the improved S-Class moves?

Rinse, Wash, Repeat and Waste Money

Posted on by spr1334svaldez

As a society, we are technically getting smarter.  More people are getting a higher education and attaining degrees. Between 1980 and 2011, people who had completed a bachelor’s degree or higher increased from 22 to 32 percent, and people who’d received a master’s degree or higher increased 2 percent from 1995.[1] So why is it that we very rarely think about the quality of our decisions and why we make them?

source: flickr.com

Ever think about  the effect a marketing strategy? For example, for products like shampoo, sales doubled by simply adding one word -“repeat” – to their products’ instructions. One would think this wouldn’t make much of a difference, but it seems that it does to the so many people that bought the product that was no different from before the marketing strategy took effect. That one word increased the rate at which shampoo was being used, thus increasing the rate to which someone needed to go buy a new bottle.  Not only that, but sales of other hair products such as conditioners increased as well since washing hair more than once can dry it out. Back in the 1940’s, it was necessary due to lack of technology and advancements that didn’t allow for shampoos to get rid of the oil in hair with just one wash.[2] However, today it’s changed to where we really only need one wash. Yet we are still buying into this marketing strategy today; it’s become integral to our daily body cleansing customs that we no longer question it.

Along the line of marketing strategies, there are also products that consumers are led into buying because of who endorsed it.

source: stuffpoint.com

Products such as Nike’s Air Jordan, for example, have long been a social fad that people first bought in association to the great basketball legend of Michael Jordan, despite its hefty price tag.  I’m sure they were once good quality basketball shoes, but today people don’t really buy them to play basketball but because of the transcendent quality associated with the name or because they look good. Another example would be the Beats headphones endorsed by Dr. Dre. Although they look good, they really aren’t the best that’s out there for the price. Imagine how much money we’d save or how meaningful our decisions can be if we stop to think about them and actually do research to find their true value. It’s amazing to me how we have the Internet at our fingertips yet we don’t bother to find the information we need, or how some people believe everything they read.

Questions:

What do you think? Is society getting more naive or lazier? Is quality a social fad everyone buys into? How different do you think your life would be if you’d asked more questions?

 

[1] “Education Attainment.” National Center for Education Statistics. <http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=27>.

[2] Goldstein, Lauren. “Lather, Rinse, Repeat: Hygiene Tip or Marketing Ploy?” CNN Money. Oct. 1999. Web. May 12 2013. <http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1999/10/11/267035/>.