**For Kim Woods Only**

EACH OF THESE NEEDS TO BE ANSWERED SEPERATELY, WITH SEPERATE APA BIBLIOGRAPHIES FOR REFERENCES CITED IN EACH INDIVIDUAL QUESTION.

MARKETING DISCUSSION

1. Go online to the M&Ms website (http://www.mms.com/us/index.jsp) and evaluate it. You will have to go through more than just the main landing page—click on the current contests and other pages to get the data you need. What does the company do to build loyalty? To build community? Are there opportunities for feedback? Does the company partner with other organizations to leverage the loyalty those other companies enjoy with their customers? If so, what is the company doing? Overall, what do you think is most effective about the site? What is the least effective? Are you a loyal customer of M&Ms? If so, why?

2. Many companies use cause-related marketing to build their customer relationships. You see this when a product or service indicates a portion of each sale will benefit a specific charity. 

Check out the blog www.selfishgiving.com. Scroll to the author's list of best cause-related marketing campaigns of 2014. Pick one to share with us why you think this was a good cause-marketing campaign.

3. Review the customer satisfaction scores in Table 2.2 of the Week 2 readings. What do you think? Do you find these particularly low, and would you prefer to see them close to 100 percent? Why do you think they fluctuate? Can any company ever achieve 100 percent customer satisfaction? As a customer, what are some of the sources you use to assess customer satisfaction with a product or service you are considering? How dependable do you view that source? (Think of consumer sources like Consumer Reports, or customer-provided reviews, etc.) SEE LINK FOR GRAPH: file:///C:/Users/Berto/Desktop/Finance%202016-2017/Summer%202017/Week2_CourseContent.pdf

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT DISCUSSIONS

Learning Activity 1 - Theme 1

For businesses to succeed they must maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.  The key to doing this has changed over the last century as illustrated in our discussion in week one about the 21st century business environment and its challenges. In theme one, we take a closer look at the way managers create competitive edge in the 21st century organization.

You have been hired by Baltimore Spring Waters, Inc. (BSW) as a management consultant.  The growing demand for bottled water in the face of worldwide supply shortages has management at BSW concerned about the future of the business.  The company wants to remain competitive in price knowing that sourcing difficulties will make it harder to do. 

• The question posed to you is how can BSW’s managers help the company maintain their competitive edge? Using this week’s course material and the articles from last week on 21stcentury organizations, answer this question for BSW.

Learning Activity 2 - Theme 2

A challenge for the manager in the 21st century is to merge the traditional functions of a manager with the new demands of workplace life. The change of value regarding human resources to the organization coupled with technology is shifting the design of organizations towards “boundaryless” and flat organizational structures.  In this theme we examine Fayol’s five functions of management as well as the 14 lesser functions of management upon which most management models are based today and how they are bumping up against the constructs of 21st century management to create tension in the workplace.

Read the following articles on big business’ break with telecommuting and managing with technology at

Working from home alone is the real culprit

http://fortune.com/2013/03/19/working-from-home-alone-is-the-real-culprit/

Working from home: how Yahoo, Best Buy and HP are making moves

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/working-from-home-yahoo-best-buy-hp-moves

The role of informational technology in virtual management theory

http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/abe/business/miller/virorg.html

• Examine the role of Fayol’s pillars of management and how they may conflict or conversely fit with contemporary organizations and management theories. Explain comprehensively why or how a manager might reconcile happily the two approaches to management.

Side Panel