Q1: Define Globalization 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and provide a sample of the type of business data managers collected during each era. Globalization 1.0 started in 1492 when Columbus set sail and lasted until about 1800. As it’s in our book, in this era countries dominated by white men controlled businesses, mainly about governments and countries. The various colonizing peoples were concerned about the extent of their individual power and the best way to extend their influence. The power of individual nations began to be felt in many places on the globe. Sample data during this era would be what politicians are mainly interested in. as a business owner, data mainly about demand of product in particular region (as its the time before global market). Globalization 2.0 started in 1800 during the industrial revolution and lasted until 2000. This era was about multinational companies. During this era international companies ran by white men had power over business. Data collection in this era would be like demand of product, raw materials needed, labor needed to manufacture the product etc. Globalization 3.0 started in 2000 and is continuing through this day. This third era is all about the world coming closer together, becoming something like a global village. we all have become part of global market, businesses are ran over the internet. In this era people of all colors from all parts of the world dominate business. Data collection is this era is very different and broad. we are now part of this era which is part of the global economy, businesses have customers across the world, and have systems that can collect data about overseas customers demands. Companies have manufacturing plants and offices in different parts of the world and are still well connected via internet.
Q2: Explain Friedman’s flat world and the reasons it is important for all businesses, small or large, to understand. Friedman says that the world is integrating and growing smaller at an accelerated pace. In a sense, he says, integration is the main point of understanding globalization. He believes, not many Americans understand what has happened to bring about an integrated world seemingly overnight. It’s important for all businesses whether small or large, to understand Friedman’s point of view because it will help them understand the economy and that the business world is changing every day. It is important to understand these changes to run the businesses successfully.
Q3: Demonstrate how students competing for jobs in a “flat world” can create competitive advantages to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Students can create competitive advantage by studying hard, getting the best grades, getting their foot in the door at the right job, staying in touch with the business world etc. It’s important to bring the competitive advantage by gaining experience and coming up with new ideas that can help the company they work for. Competitive advantage is what sets one different from the other. Students should remember what sets them different from other candidates and work hard to polish those skills.
Q4: Analyze the current business environment and identify a new flattener not mentioned on Friedman’s list. One thing not mentioned in Friedman’s list is the idea of Christianity and Business. After taking the Christianity in Business class and learning the idea of ‘Kingdom Business” I think that this concept will be very beneficial in the Business world today.
Q5: Propose a plan for how a start-up company can use any of Porter’s strategy to combat competition in a global world. After reading Porter’s strategies i realized that following these critical points can help a business run smoothly and successfully. As we are discussing business startup, i’d like to talk about “Choosing a business focus.” From the very beginning, its important to have business focus, which then makes it easier what business is about what is the target market etc. This should be the first step. This can then become a specialty of that business and give the company competitive advantage which will set them different from competitors.
Q6: Argue for or against the following statement: “The world is not flat (in Friedman’s sense of the term) because many undeveloped countries are not connected electronically. I personally don’t agree to it, after studying the 10 flatteners I think Friedman is right, the world is flat. Everyone is connected; internet is in every part of the world. Im from Pakistan where even farmers, construction workers, no matter what society level one belongs to, everyone has a cell phone. Access to computer and internet is easy and accessible due to internet cafes. People are in touch with the world and business around the world, they can get data of whatever information they need right on their cell phones, from TV, radio, internet (at home of internet cafe). Business information is available to anyone and everyone. because of internet, we all have become part of the global economy and the information is just a click away. Now we are at a point that we don’t even know what next revolution/Flattener could be. Sometimes i think there has been so much revolution is there any room left for more? What will be next?
Q1: Define the three types of decision making systems, and explain how Obama’s campaign team used them to win votes. The three main decision making essentials are, operational, managerial and strategic. “At operational level, employees develop, control, and maintain core business activities required to run the day to day operations. Operational decisions are considered structured decisions.” “At managerial level employees are continuously evaluating company operations to hone the firm’s abilities to identify, adapt to, and leverage change.” “At strategic level, managers develop overall business strategies, goals, and objectives as part of the company’s strategic plan.” Obama and his team used these strategies and all the available tools wisely. They not only used computers and internet for networking and fund raising but also relied on decision support systems to identify potential swing voters.
Q2: Describe the difference between transactional and analytical information, and determine which types of Spotlight Analysis used to identify 10 tribes. Analytical information helps the organization to analyze the data. For example, a trend of purchase price of a raw material is an example of analytical information. Analytical information might ultimately end up generating a transaction decision but the main purpose of the analytical information is to help the organization analyze the data. Whereas transactional information is an information which help to take a decision in the current transaction. Based on a bad quality sample, the organization may decide to discard a production run altogether. The decisions based on transaction information is short term and immediate and alter the flow of the transaction. The presidential candidates and their teams used political micro-targeting to analyze the data and its details.
Q3: Illustrate the business process model used to identify the 10 tribes. After reading the opening case and learning about the two business process model, i think the “To-be” model process is used to identify the 10 tribes.
Q4: Explain business process reengineering and how Obama’s team used it to develop political micro-targeting Business process re-engineering is the analysis and design of workflows and processes within an organization. Re-engineering is the basis for many recent developments in management. Obama’s team carefully monitored contested states and congressional districts. Obama’s team used Spotlight analysis, a Democratic consultancy to analyze data. They changed their pattern once they realize that the data they were getting wasn’t as accurate. Changing the plan helped the team to get accurate data needed for successful campaign.
Q5: Formulate different metrics the Obama team used to measure the success of the political micro targeting. The Obama team used the generation factor of age along and demographics of certain areas of the country towards his advantage like a return investment. The voters were closer to his age and would be the ones who helped to run the government in the future and would be around for a while. This is one way that Obama’s political team used micro-targeting.
Q6: Argue for or against the following statement: Political micro targeting signals the dehumanization of politics. After reading the text I believe that Political micro-targeting does not signal the dehumanization of politics. I think it is a great idea to utilize information in a way that can help candidates and political parties understand voters and voting trends that can easily swing their votes. It takes advantage of the information and data available (perhaps through data mining) to help with the campaign. However this is a new concept and I think this should be experimented with and further research and surveys need to be done to see how people feel about this.
