Case Study: Alibaba.com: A Born-Again “Born Global” Firm?

Jack Ma had reached the pinnacle of a decade of entrepreneurial success when his firm, Alibaba.com, tripled its 2007 IPO price on the first day listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Alibaba.com had become the world’s fifth and Southeast Asia’s largest internet firm. Alibaba’s performance continued to skyrocket until 2011, when the company faced success and failure, both of its own creation. On the one hand, Alibaba had amassed over 50 million registered users ranging from entrepreneurs to SMEs, small e-tailers to retail giants. Serving over 240 countries and regions, it operated through 70 offices located in greater China, India, Japan, Korea, Europe, and the United States. On the other hand, new challenges struck at the heart of its mission to “last 102 years.” China’s SMEs struggled with rising raw material, foreign exchange, and labor costs at home, whereas Eurozone debt and slow U.S. economic recovery led to weak overseas demand. Additionally, broad-scale supplier integrity issues led to the resignation of CEO David Wei and COO Elvis Lee who had led the previous five year’s success.

In January 2012, Jack Ma, chairman of the board and returning CEO, launched a new initiative to reprivatize the company that could cost billions as it buys out investors such as U.S.-based internet portal Yahoo, which holds a minority 23% stake. Many industry analysts asserted that Ma and Alibaba Holdings did not have the capital to make such an aggressive move. However, as of May 2013, 15 banks including the Chinese government’s policy-oriented China Development Bank (CDB) had agreed to lend Alibaba a combined US$ 6 billion toward a US$ 6.3 billion price tag for Yahoo’s stake with the rest of the money coming from Alibaba’s cash reserves.

Alibaba.com now has over 69 million users. It may be that Jack Ma is back in the entrepreneur’s game after all.

Review the attached case study file. Then, research Alibaba’s current

business, entrepreneurial history, and the industry it operates in. In

your analysis, address the following:

1. Would you consider Alibaba a “born global” firm?
2. How effectively does Alibaba help entrepreneurs overcome “psychic” distance?
3. Which internationalization entry modes has Alibaba favored? Were they all successful?
4. How effectively has Alibaba utilized the five entrepreneurial strategies identified in the module overview?
5. What are the strategic implications for action for Alibaba given your findings?

Suggested Resources:

• Alibaba 2011 Annual Report and company website
• Company, industry, and rival analysis (OneSource, Global Data, MarketLine, and Lexis-Nexis Academic: Company Dossier)
• Recent events (Reuters, WSJ, Financial Times, etc.)

Cost Accounting Assignment must be completed by Thursday 11/30/17.

I have included all documentation for this accounting writing assignment. Do not plagiarize any ideas from other websites. I have access to those websites. Originality only! This is my second attempt for this assignment to be completed.

Start with a fictious company that manufactures a product you are interested in and this can be any product for example, motorcycles. Answer all of the questions related to your chosen company such as the type of budget you would use and how your value chain would appear. A great way to set up the paper is to begin with a short introduction introducing your product and then have a heading with discussion below for all of the required questions. End with a short summary of your paper and your answers to the questions.

Where
do our thoughts come from? Are they byproducts of brain activities,
somehow electrically and chemically manufactured in the gray matter and
then exported to the mind? Or are they distinct from and unconstrained
by the biological workings of the brain? These questions intrigued
seventeenth-century philosopher Rene Descartes and continue to occupy
present-day scholars.

One of the most interesting and emotional
debates argued by Descartes’s intellectual heirs involves the origin of
thought. This version of the nature-versus-nurture question is well
understood: Are we the products of our genes, or are we what we have
experienced? Today, we do have some scientific answers. For example,
Roger Sperry, Nobel laureate in medicine, found that the circuits of the
brain are, for the most part, hard-wired during embryonic development,
suggesting that each cell possesses its own chemical individuality,
rendering it unmodifiable (Horowitz, 1997).

For this 5–8-page
assessment, you will evaluate the connection (if any) that you see
between neuroscience and altruism. In addition, you will assess how the
history of cognitive and affective psychology supports your position and
how understanding the interplay between these two topics can impact
your professional practice.

Based on what you know and have read
on the ethical brain, evaluate the connection (if any) that you see
between neuroscience and altruism. In a 5–8-page paper, address the
following:

• How does cognitive psychology help us understand altruism, if at all?
  • Examine how cultural differences could impact this debate.
• Include an assessment of how the history of cognitive and affective psychology supports your position.
• Finally, assess how understanding the interplay of these two topics can impact your professional practice.

By successfully completing this assignment, you will do the following:

• Explain how the field of cognitive and affect psychology evolved into a recognized psychological discipline.
  • Assess how the history of cognitive and affective psychology supports a position.
• Evaluate the theories and principles that pertain to the cognitive components of cognitive and affective psychology.
  • Evaluate the connection between neuroscience and altruism.
• Explain how the theories and principles of cognitive and affective psychology can be incorporated into professional practice.
  • Assess how understanding neuroscience and altruism can impact professional practice.
• Explain how the theories and principles of cognitive and affective psychology apply to diverse populations.
  • Explain the impact of cultural differences on neuroscience and altruism.
• Communicate
  in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with
  expectations for members of the psychological professions.
  • Communicate
    in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with
    expectations for members of the psychological professions.

International Human Resources Management

Discussion Question

Explain how balancing the interests of global and local, occupational and functional perspectives might play out in a compensation decision scenario. Hint: refer to Figure 8.1 in the text. (Attachment below)

Unit VI Assignment

1. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of the going rate approach to international compensation and the balance sheet approach.

Your response should be at least 200 words in length.

2. List the objectives of international compensation for an employee. Which of these would be the most important to you? Why?

Your response should be at least 200 words in length.

3. Present the general objectives of international compensation for a firm.

Your response should be at least 200 words in length.

4. Describe some categories of basis-for-pay of strategic pay systems.

Your response should be at least 200 words in length.

Business Law

Discussion Question (make brief if possible)

Little Big Corporation hired Stuart as a delivery driver.Before Stuart was hired, the personnel director of Big Little Corporation not only interviewed Stuart and asked him about his driving record and the status of his driver’s license, but the personnel director also obtained an official driving record for Stuart and talked with Stuart’s former employer specifically about Stuart’s driving record.There was no indication from the interview with Stuart, from his driving record, or from Stuart’s previous employer that Stuart was an unsafe driver.

WhenStuart was hired by Little Big Corporation, he was thoroughly trained in the operation of the delivery truck that he would be driving and provided an employee safety manual which he was required to (and did) read.

For seven years, Stuart worked as a delivery driver for Little Big Corporation without any accidents or problems.In Stuart’s eighth year as a delivery driver for Little Big Corporation, while making a delivery, he was distracted by something in the cab of his delivery truck, ran a stop sign and hit the car that was being driven by Peggy.Peggy suffered a broken leg and her car was badly damaged.

Peggy sued Stuart and Little Big Corporation for her injuries and damage, and she was awarded damages against Stuart and Little Big Corporation.Little Big Corporation was considered to be fully responsible for these damages under the doctrine of responded at superior.

Is that fair to Little Big Corporation?What is accomplished by making an employer liable for the actions of their employees if the employer has done everything within reason to make sure that its employees are qualified and trained to do their jobs safely?

Unit VI Assignment /Final Contract Analysis

Note: This is a two-part assignment that consists of two different contract analysis scenarios. Please answer both scenarios on one document, and upload it to Blackboard.

Contract analysis scenario one—damages determination: Alfred and Barbara own adjoining farms in Dry County, an area where all agriculture requires irrigation. Alfred bought a well-drilling rig and drilled a 400-foot well from which he drew drinking water. Barbara needed no additional irrigation water, but in January 1985, she asked Alfred on what terms he would drill a well near her house to supply better-tasting drinking water than the county water she has been using for years. Alfred said that because he had never before drilled a well for hire, he would charge Barbara only $10 per foot, about one dollar more than his expected cost. Alfred said that he would drill to a maximum depth of 600 feet, which is the deepest his rig could reach. Barbara said, “OK—as long as you can guarantee completion by June 1, we have a deal.” Alfred agreed, and he asked for $3,500 in advance, with any further payment or refund to be made on completion. Barbara said, “OK,” and she paid Alfred $3,500.

Alfred started to drill on May 1. He had reached a depth of 200 feet on May 10 when his drill struck rock and broke, plugging the hole. The accident was unavoidable. It had cost Alfred $12 per foot to drill this 200 feet. Alfred said he would not charge Barbara for drilling the useless hole in the ground, but he would have to start a new well close by and could not promise its completion before July 1.

Barbara, annoyed by Alfred’s failure, refused to let him start another well. On June 1, she contracted with Carl to drill a well. Carl agreed to drill to a maximum depth of 350 feet for $4,500, which Barbara also paid in advance, but Carl could not start drilling until October 1. He completed drilling and struck water at 300 feet on October 30.

In July, Barbara sued Alfred, seeking to recover her $3,500 paid to Alfred, plus the $4,500 paid to Carl. On August 1, Dry County’s dam failed, thus reducing the amount of water available for irrigation. Barbara lost her apple crop worth $15,000. The loss could have been avoided by pumping from Barbara’s well if it had been operational by August 1. Barbara amended her complaint to add the $15,000 loss.

In a minimum of a 1,000-word contract analysis, discuss Barbara’s suit against Alfred. What are Barbara’s rights, and what damages, if any, will she recover?

Cite any direct quotes or paraphrased material from outside sources. Use APA format.

Contract analysis scenario two—remedies determination: Mundo manufactures printing presses. Extra, a publisher of a local newspaper, had decided to purchase new presses. Rep, a representative of Mundo, met with Boss, the president of Extra, to describe the advantages of Mundo’s new press. Rep also drew rough plans of the alterations that would be required in Extra’s pressroom to accommodate the new presses, including additional floor space and new electrical installations, and Rep left the plans with Boss.

On December 1, Boss received a letter signed by Seller, a member of Mundo’s sales staff, offering to sell the required number of presses at a cost of $2.4 million. The offer contained provisions relating to the delivery schedule, warranties, and payment terms but did not specify a particular mode of acceptance of the offer. Boss immediately decided to accept the offer and telephoned Seller’s office. Seller was out of town, and Boss left the following message: “Looks good. I’m sold. Call me when you get back so we can discuss details.”

Using the rough plans drawn by Rep, Boss also directed that work begin on the necessary pressroom renovations. By December 4, a wall had been demolished in the pressroom, and a contract had been signed for the new electrical installations.

On December 5, the President of the United States announced a ban on foreign imports of computerized heavy equipment. The ban removed—from the American market—a foreign manufacturer that had been the only competitor of Mundo. That afternoon, Boss received an email from Mundo stating, “All outstanding offers are withdrawn.” In a subsequent telephone conversation, Seller told Boss that Mundo would not deliver the presses for less than $2.9 million.

In a minimum of a 1,000-word contract analysis, discuss the following questions: Was Mundo obligated to sell the presses to Extra for $2.4 million? Assume Mundo was so obligated. What are Extra’s rights and remedies against Mundo?

Cite any direct quotes or paraphrased material from outside sources. Use APA format.

Please respond to the following in 1-2 sentences each:

• Describe three different barriers to effective listening and how they develop in the workplace.
• Describe some basic steps you could take to remove existing barriers in your current workplace (or classroom).
• Describe the different types of listeners and how a business leader might develop employees to become active listeners.
• Discuss how instant messaging and videoconferencing influences communications components
• Explain when would it be appropriate to use instant messaging in the workplace. Provide an example. Determine the benefits and the challenges.
• Justify when videoconferencing be appropriate in the workplace. Provide an example. Explain the benefits and the challenges of this approach.
• When thinking about the history of public relations, determine which development do you think was the most significant. Explain your reasoning.
• Of all the articles you found on the Web site for the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC) at http://www.warc.com/, determine which was the most applicable. Explain your rationale.
• Explain how can this information help you communicate effectively with these professionals.