Instructions

To make effective decisions, organizations need accurate, insightful, timely, concise and objective information. One way in which such information can be gathered is through the preparation of a business case

A business case justifies undertaking a project, program, or portfolio based on expected commercial benefits. Making a business case involves evaluating the benefits, costs, and risks of all alternative options and providing a strong rationale for the preferred solution. A business case helps stakeholders understand the purpose of the plan/solution, how these will benefit the organisation, and whether that plan/solution is feasible.

Assignment 3 – Nailing the Pitch! (Group Assignment – Written Submission)

 

 

 

Background and Objectives:

• Assist students develop their knowledge of preparing a critically well thought out business case combining their creative and analytic mindsets (and in particular, using relevant data)
• Encourage students to work collaboratively outside of the online learning environment by stimulating broader thinking through group discussion
• Assist students to develop their commitment to ongoing reading and research

 

 

Assignment Requirements – Report (2000 words)

 

Nailing the Pitch! – Data in Action

 

 

1.       A Business Case

To make effective decisions, organisations need accurate, insightful, timely, concise and objective information. One way in which such information can be gathered is through the preparation of a business case

A business case justifies undertaking a project, program, or portfolio based on expected commercial benefits. Making a business case involves evaluating the benefits, costs, and risks of all alternative

options and providing a strong rationale for the preferred solution. A business case helps stakeholders understand the purpose of the plan/solution, how these will benefit the organisation, and whether that plan/solution is feasible.

 

 

2.       Framing the Business Case

 

• You will create a formal business case
• This will require you to present and justify advancing your case using concepts and techniques we cover in Weeks 7 through to
• Your case must provide a convincing argument demonstrating why the stakeholders should progress, or further pursue your idea
• It will demonstrate analytical reasoning and critical evaluation skills
• It will communicate clearly and concisely
• Consider how the discovery and analysis of data, using data analytics can make your case more effective and how this establishes its strong market potential
• It will carefully consider the anticipated benefits

 

3.       Structuring the Business Case

 

• Business cases are well structured documents and the suggested format is detailed below
• Business cases are usually organised into separated sections and sub-sections appended by informative visuals (e.g.: charts and diagrams)

 

 

Suggested Format of the Business Report 3.1 Title Pages

• Cover Page
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary (ensure you conduct research on what an executive summary is and what it should contain)
• List of Tables and Figures (if any) 2 Preliminaries
• Introduction
• Background to the problem and its impact 3 Main Section – Your Chosen Project
• Literature Review

• Proposed Solution and Recommendation
• Features and Benefits of the Solution
• Development/Implementation of the Solution
• Limitations of the Solution 4 Conclusions
• Budget Proposal
• Proposed Project Timeline
• References in APA-7 format

 

 

4.       To address this assignment you will need to:

 

 

• Conduct a critical review of the relevant literature around your case. This will require you to complete independent research and to evaluate at least seven (7) references to support your case. These references may be industry surveys, white papers of other types of scholarly or practitioner-based research. Whilst there is no upper limit on the number of references you use, it is important that the references are well focussed to avoid vague generalisations and ensure relevance to the case.
• What do we do if the relevant literature is minimal? You will need to craft a well thought out analysis stating why the literature might be sparse in this area. This should be between 100 and 200
• Inclusion of relevant data sets that relate to your case. We are looking for evidence that you are able to utilise some of the Exploratory Data Analysis and primary data analysis language and concepts to build your argument. How could you use ‘different’ data (if you could obtain it) to add value to the argument.
• Read the learning materials on Canvas in Modules 8,9,10,11, and 12
• In particular, you may like to review Week 11 Module (11.1) which provides further information on how to construct a business case
• Draw informed conclusions. This will require you to draw and build upon your knowledge and experience of the weekly learning materials and
• Word count: you are encouraged to self-determine how your ‘spend’ your word count. It is expected that well considered and reasonably lengthy information is provided in the areas that require qualitative assessment. Remember the word count includes your reference list and all ‘title pages’.
• Complete the Feedback Fruits Peer Assessment in the Canvas portal. All students are required to complete this assessment. Marks will not be released until this has been

5.       Need Inspiration?

Here you will find some potential data sources:

• Data world ‐ https://data.world/datafiniti
• Australian Bureau of Statistics ‐ https://www.abs.gov.au/
• IBISWorld ‐ search for this database in the library website (library.sydney.edu.au)
• Statistica ‐ https://www.statista.com/
• Library databases ‐ https://library.sydney.edu.au/databases/

 

 

 

 

Solution

Environmental conservation is critical in modern society due to increased pollution. Tailpipe emissions are creating vast volumes of greenhouse gases, hence the need for immediate action. Cycling stands out as a practice that can help reduce carbon emissions. It also poses health benefits to cyclists. Using an application calculating carbon emission reduction through cycling will benefit both the cyclists and the environment. Cycling will be useful because it does not pollute the environment (Yu et al., 2020)……………..Purchase the link to access full answer @$5

F21 MGMT 911: Organizational Behavior and Theory
Professor Denise Brown, M.S.
“Watergate provides a model case study of interaction and powers of each of the branches of
government, it also is a morality play with sad and dramatic endings. ~ Bob Woodward
Opens: Wed, 10/27, 9:00 a.m. Closes: Sun, 11/14, 11:59 p.m.
Please do not be alarmed by the due date. We can always have a discussion in regards to extensions,
without penalties. Thank You.
Case Study Tips: Does not need to be doubled spaced. Font of your choice-must be legible.
1. Choose a topic
2. Research your case
3. Analyze and organize your information
4. Prepare the title page-Instructions have been provided in syllabus
5. Write the abstract
6. Write the body of the case study
7. Bold the Case Study questions-to ensure you are answering the questions. Do not bold your
response.
8. Organize the reference page
Witten Assignment #1: Compensation Controversies at AIG
Case Study was taken from Ch.5: Motivation at Work (Reference that chapter in this case study)
American International Group (AIG), a behemoth insurance and financial services company, became
notoriously famous in early 2009 for the payment of $165 million in retention bonuses to employees in
its Financial Products unitthe business unit that was instrumental in bringing AIG to its knees and
necessitating the infusion of many billions of dollars in U.S. government bailout money, beginning in
September 2008. Although the near collapse of AIG was significantly influenced by “soured trades
entered into by the company’s Financial Products division,” the operations of other AIG units, such as
the financial gambles of its 2,000-employee Investments unit, helped cripple the company as well.i
Rapidly mounting financial losses had been occurring in the Financial Products unit for some time.
Consequently, AIG decided to unwind the business and shut it down. In early 2008, employees in the
Financial Products unit were asked to remain with the company through the unit’s shutdown and,
essentially, to work themselves out of a job.ii To entice talented employees to stay and work through the
shut-down, a contractual retention bonus plan was instituted.iii According to a report in The Washington
Post newspaper, the Financial Products employees were repeatedly assured, subsequent to the plan’s
implementation decision being made in March 2008, that AIG would honor these contractual
obligations.iv
The bonus plan was highly favorable to AIG’s Financial Products employeesand the bonuses were not
really linked to the employees’ performance. The unit’s employees were paid bonuses totaling $423
million in 2007, despite a paper loss of $11.5 billion on toxic real estate assets.v The 2008 bonus plan,
which was approved in March of that year by the board of AIG’s Financial Products unit just as the unit’s
losses were beginning to surface,vi was “designed to kick in without regard to paper losses.”vii For 2008,
paper losses on the toxic real estate assets ballooned to $28.6 billion, and total losses were more than
$40 billion.viii
According to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who was threatening legal action against AIG,
73 Financial Products employees received $1 million or more in bonus payments. The top recipient,
identified by The Wall Street Journal as Douglas Poling, received more than $6.4 million, whereas the
next half-dozen top bonus recipients got more than $4 million each. In addition, another 15 employees
received $2 million or more, and 51 other employees received $1 million or more.ix “Of those people
collecting more than $1 million, eleven . . . had already left the company [by March 209], Mr. Cuomo’s
office said.”x
When the retention bonuses were paid in March 2009, the United States Congress, President Barack
Obama’s administration, and the public were outraged. Under intense political pressure, AIG’s then-CEO
Edward Liddy, who was working for only $1 a year, asked the “bonus recipients to cough up half their
pay, despite fearing that resignations would follow.”xi In defense of the bonuses, however, Gerry
Pasciucco, head of the Financial Products unit, observed that the “top bonus recipient, Douglas Poling,
had successfully sold off several holdings in his area of responsibility, infrastructure and energy
investments. He’s done an excellent job at the task of unwinding his book, of realizing value.”xii
In the ensuing emotionally charged days, employees of the Financial Products unit pondered what to do.
According to one account, “employees have huddled in small groups in conference rooms off the
division’s main trading floor in Wilton, Conn., debating what to do. Some have expressed worries about
retaliation. One employee said he had instructed his wife to call the police in the event his identity
became known and a news truck appeared at his home. Others commiserated that their children have
been verbally abused in school. Employees have passed around emails from colleagues who opposed
returning the payments.”xiii
Some Financial Products employees decided to return their bonuses. Mr. Poling indicated he intended
to return his bonus.xiv “Fifteen of the top 20 recipients of the retention bonuses have agreed to give back
a total of more than $30 million in payments.”xv
Other Financial Products employees opted to keep their bonuses, perhaps the most notable of who is
Jake DeSantis, a Financial Products unit executive who received an after-tax bonus of $742,006.40. On
March 25, 2009, in an Op-Ed contribution to The New York Times, DeSantis published an open letter to
AIG’s then-CEO, Edward Liddy, wherein he resigned his AIG position. DeSantis’ letter read in part:
After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company—during which A.I.G. reassured us many times
we would be rewarded in March 2009—we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G.
and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company. .
. . I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively
perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked
to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public
officials who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending
10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down.xvi
Because the U.S. government bailed out AIG, along with numerous other financial institutions, through
the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), significant oversight of executive compensation was imposed
on these recipient companies. Kenneth Feinberg has played a key role in addressing the controversy
over the AIG retention bonuses. As the federal government’s overseer of executive compensation at AIG
and other major TARP recipients, Feinberg tried “to recover $45 million paid to the most highly
compensated executives, but AIG management . . . said reclaiming the entire amount would be difficult
because many employees who originally received retention awards have left the company.”xvii
In late October of 2009, Kenneth Feinberg, the federal government’s pay czar, rejected much of the
proposed pay package that AIG put forth for “a group of highly paid employeesincluding five at the
financial-products unit whose problems helped nearly sink the firmas inconsistent with the ‘public
interest’.”xviii Feinberg said base salary should not exceed $500,000 annually; however, he did not rule
out bonuses for financial-products employees, which were scheduled to be paid in 2010.xix Feinberg also
allowed AIG to “compensate executives with ‘stock units’ tied to the value of four of its insurance
unitsan outcome that executives at AIG had pushed for in negotiations. The stock units . . . would be
payable in three equal annual installments, starting two years after they were grantedin effect giving
executives incentive to stay at the company and help it thrive.”xx “Feinberg rejected AIG’s proposal that
five high-paid officials at the financial-products unit get ‘significant increases in cash base salary’ and
total 2009 compensation of $13.2 million. He concluded that those employees should get only the cash
salaries that were in effect at the end of 2008.” xxi
Did Kenneth Feinberg make appropriate decisions regarding executive compensation at AIG?
Discussion Questions
1. What types of work behaviors did AIG intend to encourage through its retention bonus plan?
2. Which needs seem to be important to the employees of AIG’s Financial Products unit?
3. Using the model of the individual–organizational exchange relationship, explain the relationship
that employees of AIG’s Financial Products unit believed they had with the company. How was this
exchange relationship violated?
4. Which motivation theory do you think has the most relevance for understanding the responses of
the Financial Product employees to the implementation and unraveling of the retention bonus
plan? Explain the reasoning behind your answer.
5. The amount of compensation earned by executivesas well as by professional athletes and famous
actors/actresses and musiciansoften spark emotionally charged debate. Do you believe the $1
million plus retention bonuses received by 73 employees of AIG’s Financial Products was excessive?
Why or why not?
6. Do you think that the various decisions made by Kenneth Feinberg with respect to executive
compensation at AIG were justified? Explain the reasoning behind your answer.
SOURCE: This case was written by Michael K. McCuddy, The Louis S. and Mary L. Morgal Chair of
Christian

 

 

 

 

Solution 

What types of work behaviors did AIG intend to encourage through its retention bonus plan?

AIG’s compensation through the retention bonus plan planned to retain workers in the company and thus focused on different work behaviors such as allowing employees to act on their self-interest and stay on-work themselves. By allowing them to act on their self-interest, the employees would gain a sense of belongingness. Secondly, the retention bonus plan intended to create employees’ loyalty, stabilize and control of the turnover rate by assuring the employees that the company’s financial problems would not affect their respectivecompensation pattern even as the company was closing down slowly (D, S, & J, 2019)……………..Purchase the link to access full answer @$8.99

Instructions

Research Types of Dance (pg 99) and Great Names in Dance (pg 103-105)

Select ONE example to represent Dance and Post your research (at least 200 words) and the link of your source. A YouTube Video of the type of dance would be great!  For example, after researching Ballet, offer a famous dancer in the genre, and an example of their work.

Discuss in your post the type of dance, time period, the elements or story of the style of dance, and famous dancers or choreographers of the style.

Be sure to use college-level writing in your responses, e.g. correct spelling, complete sentences, use paragraphs, and college-level vocabulary.

Cite your sources!

Solution

Dance refers to the practice of moving rhythmically to music, primarily using a sequence of steps. Ballet is a renowned type of dance, which originated in Italy over 500 years ago. Currently, ballet dance is a common cultural practice in Russia and other European nations.

            The ballet dance stands out as a traditional form of art that is highly practiced in Europe. The dance emanated from Italy in the 1500s, and it was introduced in Russia during the 1700s. Up to date, ballet dance holds a crucial position in Russian and European societies……Purchase the link to access full answer @$5

Business Fundamentals

Reading:

Levitt, Theodore (2004). Marketing Myopia Harvard Business Review, 82 (7-8), 138-149

 

 

 

Assignment Instruction: (answer them by each question)

o An assessment of the article’s main points (strengths and weaknesses) and/or a critical analysis of its content

o How the article may be useful in today’s business world

o New or current example(s) or practical application(s) not already present in the article

 

 

Solution

In Marketing Myopia (2004), Theodore Levitt explores the inadequacies that many companies showcase during marketing operations. Myopia depicts an inward-looking and short-sighted approach, which focuses on accomplishing a company’s goals. This idea bars companies from executing their marketing from a customer’s point of view.

Article’s Main Points

Levitt’s article raises various critical points regarding marketing myopia. He brings forth a clear explanation of how companies are failing to focus on the future due to their emphasis on the current situation…….Purchase the link to access full answer @$5

Instructions

1. Please use this paper as the only source for this assignment. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(21)00198-X/fulltext

2. In your response, consider all the risks of biases and choose 2 which you regard as the most important to elaborate on.

3. No referencing required.

Solution

Critical appraisal is a systematic assessment that helps establish transparency of an evidence synthesis results and findings brought about by the risk of bias. There are always different types of risks of bias in every research. These risks of bias include the selection bias that occurs when the study participants are selectively enrolled in a trial based on the subsequent treatment assignment can be guessed depending on some degree of accuracy. The performance bias occurs when one group of subjects in an experiment gets more attention from the investigator than the other group. The reporting bias takes place when the sharing the study outcome is impacted by the kind and direction of the results. Others include detection bias and attrition bias…….Purchase the link to access full answer @$5.99