1)    Creating a Solid Financial Plan
Please respond to the following:

·         Discuss the best way to leverage a breakeven analysis when defining a business strategy.

·         Analyze the 12 financial ratios mentioned in the textbook and determine which is the most useful to the greatest number of small businesses. Explain your rationale.

 

2)Managing Cash Flow
Please respond to the following:

·         Analyze the steps involved in preparing a cash budget and determine which steps presents the greatest number of obstacles to the greatest number of small businesses. Explain your rationale.

·         Analyze the steps involved in avoiding a cash crunch and make at least one additional recommendation for doing so. Provide specific examples to support your response.

 

OM

1)    Goods and Service Design” Please respond to the following:

·         From the e-Activity, examine some of the steps that are involved in designing goods and services. Select two services or two products that are currently on the market. Use Exhibit 6.1 from Chapter 6 of the text to compare and contrast each step, and determine the similarities and areas where they differ.

·         From the e-Activity, suggest at least two changes to specific areas of the process design phase that may lead to improvement in operations. Provide a rationale to support your suggestion.

 

2)     Service Positioning versus Product Process” Please respond to the following:

·         Compare and contrast the service positioning matrix and the product process matrix in terms of their differences and similarities.

·         Provide at least one example currently used in business for each of the matrixes and evaluate their benefits and limitations within the industry you chose.

·         Evaluate how each matrix is unique in the way it addresses the needs of the customer.

 

BAC

1)      Business-Level Strategy” Please respond to the following:

·         From the first e-Activity, assess your satisfaction with the company you researched and make recommendations about how that company could modify its business-level strategy to both increase your overall level of satisfaction and to attract new customers. Provide specific examples to support your response.

·         Analyze the five business-level strategies discussed in Chapter 4 to determine which strategy the company you researched most likely applies. Determine how your experience with that company might change if it switched to one of the other four strategies (your choice). Explain your rationale.

2)Apple, Inc: Keeping the “I” in Innovation” Please respond to the following:

·         From the second e-Activity and the case study, determine how market commonality and resource similarity impact Apple’s competitive standing in terms of its main rivals. Provide specific examples to support your response.

 

·         Determine what additional steps Apple’s competitors are likely to take and how Apple will most likely respond. Explain your rationale.

 

 

 

Assignment 1: LensCrafters Case Study

Due Week 4 and worth 250 points

 

This assignment requires student complete an analysis of the LensCrafters case from Chapter 6 of the text.

Write a six to seven (6-7) page paper in which you:

1.        Evaluate LensCrafters’ operations strategy and explain how the organization seeks to gain a competitive advantage in terms of sustainability.

2.        Analyze how operation management activities affect the customer experience. Select two (2) operation management challenges and provide the solutions for confronting them.

3.        Examine LensCrafters’ value chain and evaluate its effectiveness to operations in terms of quality, value creation, and customer satisfaction. 

4.        Determine the different types of performance measurements that can be used to measure LensCrafters’ service-delivery system design. Select at least two (2) types that can be applied and provide justifications for the selection. 

5.        Examine the different types of technologies applied to LensCrafters’ service operations and evaluate how the technologies strengthen the value chain.

6.        Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

·         Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

·         Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.