What Would You Do? Case Assignment

SAS
Cary. North Carolina

SAS (pronounced “sass”), which is short for Statistical Analysis System, began when it set out to create statistical software to help agricultural researchers who were studying the effects of soil, seeds, and the weather on crop yields. In 1970, researchers had to write new computer programs every time they analyzed data. SAS standardized that process and made it faster. Because the statistics faculty who wrote SAS needed to generate funds to cover the expiring grant money that paid their salaries, they started leasing SAS to universities and pharmaceutical companies. By 1976, they had 100 customers. However, it wasn’t until the first SAS Users Conference later that year, when 300 people showed up, that they realized their business opportunity. As you tell people now, that was pretty much the ‘aha” moment.”

From website traffic, to credit cards replacing cash, to genome sequencing, to sentiment analysis (analyzing every tweet, blog, and discussion group comment about your company and its products), the amount of digital data that a company has to go through is increasing at exponential rates. As a result, 79 percent of Fortune 500 companies use SAS. Shell Oil uses it to analyze data to predict how long the pumps will run on its North Sea oil-drilling platforms. Kohl’s department store maximizes profits by using SAS to analyze which products to mark down for sale. Credit card companies use SAS to reduce fraud by identifying unusual credit card purchases in real time. Finally, telecomm companies offer great deals to customers who, via SAS, they’ve determined are more likely to switch to competitors.

Although SAS has been profitable every year since inception, there are threats to its highly successful business model. First, says Gareth Doherty, an industry analyst, “Most organizations aren’t in a position to be able to leverage some of the sophisticated applications that SAS offers because the No. 1 constraint when one is working with a tool this sophisticated is the user. If one doesn’t have a rocket scientist sitting behind the desk, it doesn’t matter what one has running on the desktop.” Second, SAS products are expensive, starting at $1 million for industry specific products (i.e., banking or retail), followed by subscription renewals that are 20 percent to 30 percent of the purchase price. Although SAS spends 22 percent of its revenue on research and development each year, larger firms are buying business intelligence companies to compete directly with SAS. SAP paid $6.8 billion for Business Objects, and Oracle paid $3.3 billion for Hyperion. The largest threat may come, however, from IBM, which paid $4.9 billion for Cognos and $1.2 billion for SPSS. IBM combined those firms into its business analytics group, which will employ 200 scientists and 4,000 consultants and analysts. Industry analyst Bill Hostmann says, “It will be a dogfight. SAS has never faced a competitor like IBM. And I do think IBM sees SAS as a big, fatted cow.”

With competition intensifying, SAS is shortening its product development cycle from 24 to 36 months to 12 to 18 months. Change like that can’t be achieved without attracting and retaining a highly motivated workforce. That’s increasingly difficult with tech job openings up 62 percent and a 22 percent average turnover rate in the software industry. That’s why Google gave all of its employees a 10 percent raise and a $1,000 bonus. So, the first step in maintaining one’s competitiveness is figuring out what motivates people to join a SAS. Second, getting people to join SAS is one thing, but how does one get them to work hard and maximize their efforts? Should one be egalitarian and pay everyone the same, or should they closely link pay and performance? Finally, how does one get his or her most talented managers and software engineers to stay? Does SAS need to “go public” like its competitors and issue stock and stock options to its employees? Or are there other ways for SAS to reward people and remain competitive in the talent market?

Synthesizing and Writing

When looking for information about a particular issue, how often do you try to
resist biases toward your own point of view? This assignment asks you to engage
in this aspect of critical thinking.

The assignment is
divided into two (2) parts.
For Part I of the assignment, you read a book excerpt about
critical thinking processes, reviewed the Procon.org Website in order to gather
information, and engaged in prewriting to examine your thoughts.

In Part II of the assignment, you will write a paper to synthesize
your ideas.
Part II – Writing
Write at three to four (3-4) page paper in which you:
1. State your position on the topic you selected for Assignment 1.1.
2. Identify (3) three premises (reasons) from the Procon.org website that
support your position  and explain why you selected these specific
reasons.
3. Explain your answers to the “believing” questions about the three (3) premises
opposing your position from the Procon.org website.
4. Examine at least two (2) types of biases that you likely experienced as you
evaluated the premises for and against your position. 
5. Discuss the effects of your own enculturation or group identification that
may have influenced your biases.
6. Discuss whether or not your thinking about the topic has changed after
playing the “Believing Game,” even if your position on the issue has stayed the
same.

The paper should follow
guidelines for clear and organized writing:

· 
Include an
introductory paragraph and concluding paragraph.

· 
Address main ideas in
body paragraphs with a topic sentence and supporting sentences.

· 
Adhere to standard
rules of English grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and spelling.

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 Style 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.

For this discussion, you will address the following prompts. Keep in mind that the article or video you’ve chosen should not be about the topic “critical thinking,” but should be about someone making a statement, claim, or argument. One source should demonstrate good critical thinking skills and the other source should demonstrate the lack or absence of critical thinking skills. Personal examples should not be used.

• Explain at least five elements of critical thinking that you found in the reading material.
• Search the Internet, media, or the Ashford University Library, and find an example in which good critical thinking skills are being demonstrated by the author or speaker. Summarize the content and explain why you think it demonstrates good critical thinking skills.
• Search the Internet, media, or the Ashford University Library and find an example in which the author or speaker lacks good critical thinking skills. Summarize the content and explain why you think it demonstrates the absence of good, critical thinking skills.

Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length, which should include a thorough response to each prompt. You are required to provide in-text citations of applicable required reading materials and/or any other outside sources you use to support your claims. Provide full reference information of all sources cited at the end of your response. Please use correct APA format when writing in-text citationsand references.

For the signature assignment you will write a paper where you analyze the eight rounds of your company’s performance in regard to the following:

1. A description of the industry conditions when you started
2. Strategies used in each round (and any adjustments made throughout) in regard to:Discuss the basic strategy you used in your company (these include the different types of cost leader and differentiation strategies)
   1. Research and Development
   2. Marketing
   3. Production
   4. Finance
   5. Human Resources
   6. Total Quality Management
3. Compare the state of the company after the end of the eight rounds with the state of the company prior to starting. Is the company in better shape? How so? Are there areas where there still needs to be improvement? What would you change to improve those areas?
4. Although you did not have to expand internationally in the simulation, many companies are now global organizations. How would international expansion have affected the company in terms of marketing, finance, and human resources?
5. Social responsibility is a very large factor in organizational success today. What measures would you have taken with this organization to ensure social responsibility in production and research and development? What marketing strategies would be most important in ensuring stakeholders have a full understanding of your company’s social responsibility efforts?
6. Overall, what, if anything would you have done differently if you had this company to run all over again?

Length: 5 – 7 pages not including title page and references

Your response should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course and provide new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Please use at minimum of three outside scholarly sources for support