Eharmony Case Study Essay

Question 1: The first general environment that is most relevant to this case is the demographic segment. This segment focuses on population size, age structure, geographic distribution, ethnic mix, and income distribution. This segment is relevant to eHarmony because there main focus is to match their customer’s with potential partners. They need to take in account the matches age, income, ethnicity, and income. In the case, they discuss how they require customers to answer questions about how old they are, where they are from, where they are living, where they work†¦ etc. They take all this information and match it with another customer. The second general environment that is most relevant to this case is the sociocultural segment. This segment focuses on the society’s attitude and cultural values. This segment is relevant to eHarmony because when they match their customer’s, than they have to take an account what their cultural values are and what their attitudes are toward the social norms. The United States is a melting pot of different cultures. Some customers are high on culture and some are not. Demographic segment represents an opportunity for eHarmony because they can expand their company to other countries. The article â€Å"Are You Ignoring Trends That Could Shape Up Your Business† made an interesting point that â€Å"ignoring trends can give rivals the opportunity to transform the industry.† If eHarmony does not go into international markets than they would give Match the advantage of getting more customers on their site. eHarmony wants to be on the top, and the only way they can do that is by entering a new market. Sociocultural segment represents an opportunity for eHarmony because customers want to have partners that work and have the same cultural values that they have. It is all about being compatible with your partner. In the article, it talks about how social trends can change the way people perceive the world around them. By showing customers different matches from different countries but the same values, can open their eyes to their new life partn er. Question 2: When online personal firms entered the market in 1992, they didn’t do well  because people thought the desperate use it. Which caused the online personal market to grow very slow. Everything changed in 2005, because people’s mindset changed and found it acceptable to use online personal site to find their partners. Not just young people use the site but also the middle aged group use this site. According to the article, of the 2.2 million marriages that took place, about 120,000 of them were because of online personals site. It took awhile for the market to accept this new industry to help people hook up and find a suitable person to marry. The strengths of the power of suppliers is that they can increase their prices of their products so they can exert their power over there competitors. Thats what eHarmony is doing over their competitors. There are some drivers that drive the bargaining power of suppliers, which are: (1) there are few of them, (2) they purchase a large amount of total output from the industry, (3) products or services they purchase are homogenous and undifferentiated, (4) switching costs from one product or service to another are low, and (5) there is a realistic threat they could backward integrate into the industry itself. eHarmony does have service that no other company was able to copy well and be as successful as eHarmony. The strength of rivalry among existing competition is that when a company has a big rival then they are determined to beat their competition. They would do anything to make sure that their company is on top. The biggest rival that eHarmony has is Match. eHarmony tries to give services to their customers that Match cannot give. There are some drivers that drive the intensity of rivalry among competition, which are: (1) there are many competitors of roughly equal size, (2) the industry has slow or no growth, (3) exit barriers are high, (3) existing firms are committed to staying in the industry, and (3) there are few bases of competition beyond price. Match and eHarmony are almost equal into size and they intend to grow even more. Match is determined to beat eHarmony for the top position in the industry. The two opportunities that would reshape the industry structure are shifting threat of substitution and new bases of rivalry. Shifting threat of substitution is when a substitute becomes more or less threatening because of the advances in technology that creates new substitutes. New Bases of  rivalry is when mergers and acquisitions introduce new ways of competing, or technology innovation can reshape rivalry. Question 3: eHarmony competitive advantage is that it uses a scientific developed questionnaire based on Dr. Warren’s 29 dimensions. Another advantage is that they are the first online personals site centered around marriage minded individuals. The last advantage is that they are exclusive on who they allow to use the site. The competitive advantage is sustainable because they satisfy the four criteria in sustaining competitive advantage. The first criteria is valuable capabilities and they satisfy this criteria because the founder created this extensive questionnaire that he uses to determine which person they are compatible with. The second criteria is rare capabilities and they satisfy this criteria because the founder has a PhD in psychology and he did is practice in marriage and love. He was the one who created the questionnaire and he was the one who created the algorithm on how to match the customers together. No other company was able to imitate that. The third criteria is costly to imitate and they satisfy this criteria because no other company was able to create the algorithm that the founder was able to create to match their customers together. The last criteria is non substitutable and they met this criteria because there is nothing that substitutes it. Question 4: I believe that eHarmony should choose the last option, which is the rapid geographic expansion. They should take this option because they want to beat their competition and get more clients. They have already got their place in the US market, now its time to expand the business and become global. In the case, it says that in European Union nations, online dating is very popular. eHarmony does not realize that besides the US, there are other countries where online dating is popular. The downside of expanding is that they are not sure how these other countries might react with online dating. The countries would either accept them or decline them. They would loose a lot of money. Another downside is that they are not sure if their questionnaire and there algorithm would work in other countries. They would need to think about the social and cultural norms of each country. I did not choose the third option, which was that eHarmony wanted to create sites that focused on key life stages such as wedding, pregnancy- fertility care, and elder care. I feel that eHarmony is known for the match making place and not known for doing life stages. I feel that they should first master one side of the company before they start jumping into new industries. Question 5: eHarmony has an effective strategic leadership because Greg Waldrof, the CEO has all the qualities of a level 5 executive. Mr. Waldroff wanted to make sure that his company is the top company in the match making industry. He created a questionnaire and a formula on how to interpret the results. He made sure his staff understood it and used it correctly. The second reason why eHarmony has an effective strategic leadership is because the leaders of the firm made sure that the organization culture was kept in tact. Their culture was to create good matches for their customers. The leaders made sure everyone understood that. The last reason why eHarmony has an effective strategic leadership is because of their ethical practices. In eHarmony, they screen their customers before they can create a profile and buy the packages. They don’t allow married customers on the site because they want their customers to feel that the people on this site are looking for marriage.

Analysis and Problems of Global Communications

Diminishing returns across the entire telecommunications industry have negatively affected the stock and profitability of Global Communications. Excessive amounts of competition from companies worldwide have diluted the market as well as offered a wide range of features that Global Communications does not currently provide. Small providers offer specialized services, and larger multinationals offer lower prices and more competitive service choices. Global Communications has chosen to address this problem by simultaneously attempting to cut costs while expanding internationally; their primary method of achieving these immediate goals is through closing some domestic call centers and opening new centers overseas. The employees’ union has obvious problems with this strategy of layoffs and outsourcing, and has questioned Global Communications’ loyalty to its workers. The company faces significant problems, both fiscally and intangible issues such as employee loyalty. The first of these issues is the declining price of Global Communications stock, presumably due to the increased amount of competition in the field. Such a decline in overall profitability is the most pressing problem facing the company; however, it is also the broadest in that several more specific problems contribute to this overall issue. One of the contributing factors is the need for new services and innovations in research and development. Such innovations require capital and financial resources, which relates to the problem of declining confidence among stockholders, who are wondering if they industry can recover from the competitive situation in which it currently finds itself. The problem of stockholder confidence therefore contributes to the lack of funds available for innovations and research, meaning that the company must find a way to increase profits without depending on stockholder confidence. The initial attempt to address these financial issues, outsourcing many jobs to Ireland and India, has also created more problems for Global. The employee union feels betrayed and is threatening legal action regarding the layoffs. Additionally, the public relations issue regarding this outsourcing is an important one for Global to address in order to prevent a public backlash in response to the outsourcing and union-relations issues. Despite the many problems facing Global, several opportunities exist for the company to grow and become as profitable as it was during the previous era. There is an immediate opportunity available to lower the costs of labor facing the company by utilizing the outsourcing plan and the labor available overseas. Such an action will free up company resources to be spent on research and development of new services and products, which will rebuild the base of Global Communications customers through the many services offered. Additionally, such an expansion in services will increase the market share for Global among small business owners, one of the company’s overall goals, and offer the opportunity to reinforce a public perception of Global as one of the leaders in telecommunications technology. Besides these profitability issues, there is an opportunity to establish new norms regarding the union and employee relations within Global. Perhaps an established plan of communication or route of information dissemination can be created, and career counseling and training could be offered for the employees who were laid off, helping re-establish the public and in-company perception of Global. The most obvious opportunity for Global is also the broadest; the chance for the company to grow and return to previous years’ profitability is one that exists in the current atmosphere of change. Global leaders must take advantage of the many opportunities to change the company, its relationships, and its products and technology as soon as possible. Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas There are several groups of stakeholders in this discussion; from the individual stockholders to the union members to the highest executives, the different groups all have different priorities in the Global restructuring. Stockholders have at heart the long-term profitability and growth of the company, similar to the priority of global executives to see the company grow and profit overall. Other groups, notably the employees and union representatives, have as their first priority the job security and salary of employees as their first priority; the relationship with management and the pending layoffs are more important to these groups than profitability or growth. Finally, the executives in the U. S. ave more concern over these job cuts than do the global executives, since they are the ones who will be most adversely affected by the layoffs and outsourcing. The struggle between these groups to have their own needs prioritized represents an ethical dilemma for Global; the negative affects of the layoffs must be weighed against the overall survival of the company; the detriment to individual employees and public perception must be weighed against continuing Global’s position as an innovator and industry leader. Global Communications and the employees’ union can both benefit from the increased profitability which will happen as a result of the outsourcing and shift in services offered; in the long-term, both groups can work to create benefit and profit for individual stockholders as well as company executives and management. This long-term benefit will additionally give Global employees greater job security. The progress of Global toward the situations possible by the many opportunities available to it can be measured through several objective methods. One that is mentioned in the 3/2/04 memo is a concrete goal of reducing costs by 40%. Such a goal will naturally benefit the company based on the reduction of cost and increase of profits. Additionally, a concrete goal to resolve the issues with the employees’ union without legal or governmental action would be an excellent way to re-establish the relationship between the company and the union. Another measurable goal would be to return the stock price to a certain level, for example, that of the previously profitably $28/share. Global Communications faces some immediate and important problems, such as decreased profitability, decreased stockholder confidence, pending layoffs and the public-relations issues which accompany them, and increased competition within the telecommunications industry which requires new innovations and development. Despite these immediate problems, there are many opportunities for Global to benefit from its current situation; it can take advantage of the chance to reduce costs by outsourcing and then increase research and development with those funds; it can re-negotiate the relationship with its employees’ union to a more beneficial one for both parties; and it can remodel itself as a modern, cutting-edge competitor in the field of telecommunications. Such opportunities can benefit all stakeholders in Global, from the individual stockholders to employees to global executives, by strengthening the financial and community/social situations of the company. Although the implementation of these changes may be uncomfortable at times and even immediately painful for several groups (the employees’ union, for example), the overall benefit for everyone involved must be kept in mind. Long-term goals can be used to track the company’s progress toward achieving its end goal of returning to an innovating, profitable organization Analysis and Problems of Global Communications Diminishing returns across the entire telecommunications industry have negatively affected the stock and profitability of Global Communications. Excessive amounts of competition from companies worldwide have diluted the market as well as offered a wide range of features that Global Communications does not currently provide. Small providers offer specialized services, and larger multinationals offer lower prices and more competitive service choices. Global Communications has chosen to address this problem by simultaneously attempting to cut costs while expanding internationally; their primary method of achieving these immediate goals is through closing some domestic call centers and opening new centers overseas. The employees’ union has obvious problems with this strategy of layoffs and outsourcing, and has questioned Global Communications’ loyalty to its workers. The company faces significant problems, both fiscally and intangible issues such as employee loyalty. The first of these issues is the declining price of Global Communications stock, presumably due to the increased amount of competition in the field. Such a decline in overall profitability is the most pressing problem facing the company; however, it is also the broadest in that several more specific problems contribute to this overall issue. One of the contributing factors is the need for new services and innovations in research and development. Such innovations require capital and financial resources, which relates to the problem of declining confidence among stockholders, who are wondering if they industry can recover from the competitive situation in which it currently finds itself. The problem of stockholder confidence therefore contributes to the lack of funds available for innovations and research, meaning that the company must find a way to increase profits without depending on stockholder confidence. The initial attempt to address these financial issues, outsourcing many jobs to Ireland and India, has also created more problems for Global. The employee union feels betrayed and is threatening legal action regarding the layoffs. Additionally, the public relations issue regarding this outsourcing is an important one for Global to address in order to prevent a public backlash in response to the outsourcing and union-relations issues. Despite the many problems facing Global, several opportunities exist for the company to grow and become as profitable as it was during the previous era. There is an immediate opportunity available to lower the costs of labor facing the company by utilizing the outsourcing plan and the labor available overseas. Such an action will free up company resources to be spent on research and development of new services and products, which will rebuild the base of Global Communications customers through the many services offered. Additionally, such an expansion in services will increase the market share for Global among small business owners, one of the company’s overall goals, and offer the opportunity to reinforce a public perception of Global as one of the leaders in telecommunications technology. Besides these profitability issues, there is an opportunity to establish new norms regarding the union and employee relations within Global. Perhaps an established plan of communication or route of information dissemination can be created, and career counseling and training could be offered for the employees who were laid off, helping re-establish the public and in-company perception of Global. The most obvious opportunity for Global is also the broadest; the chance for the company to grow and return to previous years’ profitability is one that exists in the current atmosphere of change. Global leaders must take advantage of the many opportunities to change the company, its relationships, and its products and technology as soon as possible. Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas There are several groups of stakeholders in this discussion; from the individual stockholders to the union members to the highest executives, the different groups all have different priorities in the Global restructuring. Stockholders have at heart the long-term profitability and growth of the company, similar to the priority of global executives to see the company grow and profit overall. Other groups, notably the employees and union representatives, have as their first priority the job security and salary of employees as their first priority; the relationship with management and the pending layoffs are more important to these groups than profitability or growth. Finally, the executives in the U. S. ave more concern over these job cuts than do the global executives, since they are the ones who will be most adversely affected by the layoffs and outsourcing. The struggle between these groups to have their own needs prioritized represents an ethical dilemma for Global; the negative affects of the layoffs must be weighed against the overall survival of the company; the detriment to individual employees and public perception must be weighed against continuing Global’s position as an innovator and industry leader. Global Communications and the employees’ union can both benefit from the increased profitability which will happen as a result of the outsourcing and shift in services offered; in the long-term, both groups can work to create benefit and profit for individual stockholders as well as company executives and management. This long-term benefit will additionally give Global employees greater job security. The progress of Global toward the situations possible by the many opportunities available to it can be measured through several objective methods. One that is mentioned in the 3/2/04 memo is a concrete goal of reducing costs by 40%. Such a goal will naturally benefit the company based on the reduction of cost and increase of profits. Additionally, a concrete goal to resolve the issues with the employees’ union without legal or governmental action would be an excellent way to re-establish the relationship between the company and the union. Another measurable goal would be to return the stock price to a certain level, for example, that of the previously profitably $28/share. Global Communications faces some immediate and important problems, such as decreased profitability, decreased stockholder confidence, pending layoffs and the public-relations issues which accompany them, and increased competition within the telecommunications industry which requires new innovations and development. Despite these immediate problems, there are many opportunities for Global to benefit from its current situation; it can take advantage of the chance to reduce costs by outsourcing and then increase research and development with those funds; it can re-negotiate the relationship with its employees’ union to a more beneficial one for both parties; and it can remodel itself as a modern, cutting-edge competitor in the field of telecommunications. Such opportunities can benefit all stakeholders in Global, from the individual stockholders to employees to global executives, by strengthening the financial and community/social situations of the company. Although the implementation of these changes may be uncomfortable at times and even immediately painful for several groups (the employees’ union, for example), the overall benefit for everyone involved must be kept in mind. Long-term goals can be used to track the company’s progress toward achieving its end goal of returning to an innovating, profitable organization

Infant Death in Developing Countries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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Critical Thinking - Essay Example Excessive bureaucracy demotivates employees because set regulations affect creativity. Employees in a bureaucratic organisation execute their specific tasks as directed by their managers. At times, employees are right regarding a certain work, but their employers insists that they continue with their tasks without any alteration. This restriction prevents employees from developing other measures of executing the tasks consequently minimizing employee’s creativity. Additionally, this restriction tends to demotivate employees largely because they feel that the organisation does not support their noble ideas that are beneficial towards accomplishment of various tasks. Additionally, the hierarchical authority associated with bureaucracy implies that employees lack the capacity to share their personal views towards decision-making because of the set up (Daft & Marcic, 2006). There is a high probability of killing ideas because they originate from the wrong individual. Consequently, ideas may gain support because they originate from the top management. Additionally, there is a perception that the management is always right This situation makes employees feel that the management distorts data to ensure that performance looks better, though it is not. Additionally, there is interference of internal communications among employees with the intention of reflecting what the organisation wants to be as opposed to what it really is. The overall effect is denial that leads to mistakes within an organisation. There is a tendency of the management to deny responsibilities for these mistakes or failures and may opt to blame some employees (Daft & Marcic, 2006). Additionally, the perceived desires of the management determine decision-making instead of involving employees. This approach makes the top management insulated from reality. Consequently, they opt to

Major Educational Issues in Further Education Essay

Major Educational Issues in Further Education - Essay Example All these issues are current concern to further education. Further Education has, therefore, become not only a national but also an international movement in view of its widespread global application. From among all above mentioned issues of further education, more important one appears to be specially the context of retention and achievement - its ever dynamic enhancement and persistent maintenance of higher standards. This is not possible without pupil-teachers -- at City & Guilds Certificate on Further Education Teaching Stage 2 - perfecting their teaching-learning skills. Two questions arise while writing about this matter: According to Learning and Skills Council (LSC), overall level of retention and achievement generally varies between 66 to 87 per cent among youth of 16 to 19 years (Government of United Kingdom, LSC) after due training. What is more important here is maintaining a consistent performance on the higher side of teaching and learning through dynamic and skilful efforts towards an excellent retention and achievement levels. How it is to be done S. Wallace has an interesting and revealing perspective in this matter. This author writes quite analytically: For a student teacher, or a teacher at the beginning of his or her career, it is usually (and understandably) the case that the focus of his or her anxieties, and therefore his or her planning, is upon the performance of teaching rather than upon the achievement of learning. I use the word 'performance' here advisedly, because the inexperienced or student teacher tends to envisage a lesson as a time to be filled by his or her own activity. They have to be 'teaching' all the time - which can mistakenly be taken to mean doing all the talking, making themselves the constant focus of the class, having to fill any potential silence with words. This, ironically, may mean the students have less opportunity to learn and that the teacher has no time to focus on whether they are doing so. If we remember, however, that the primary objective is about students' learning and that this, after all, is what all the teaching is for, we can begin to adjust our focus and to recognise that the careful pl anning, implementation and recording of assessment are central to what the lesson is about. It's not just about teaching; it's about learning. The teaching is only a means to that end (Wallace 64). Retention and achievement are clearly related to teaching and learning skills and maintaining quantitative alongwith qualitative levels of excellence through further education, continued and periodic updating of skills, and use of every possible tool for obtaining information, knowledge, experience and continuous self-assessment. How to impart information and knowledge is

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Women in business nowadays and the past Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Women in business nowadays and the past - Essay Example Stereotyping against women is a common trait around the business world. Yet, everybody should realize that a woman is in no way inferior to man and she can very well handle the pressures and stressful life of the business. Handling a family with the work is no easy job and many women in today's age are not just balancing work and family life, rather they are integrating it. The business world is getting infused with a diverse workforce day by day. The trend towards being an equal opportunity employer is rising. More and more women are being hired in today's corporate world. And the differences between men and women are being sorted out as women take on as many as 25% of top level managerial posts in successful organizations. Therefore, the composition of males and females in the workforce of a typical organization has changed. Yet men still possess a significant amount of decision making in their hands. Whether it is the power to hire and fire or to access financial resources, men are always given the advantage over women. But if businesses are to reach their highest potential, they need to make full use of women by accepting the fact that they are different from men and are not inferior to them in any way.1 Approaches to conflict: When it comes to a conflict, men usually consider it a healthy process and they use logic, bargaining and even anger to resolve it. Whereas, on the other hand, women tends to focus on the affective part by understanding each others feelings in a conflict. For women, conflict is undesirable and damaging in many ways. They have a negative view point of conflict and therefore, they would like to get it solved without exaggerating it thereby using less direct approaches. Research also suggests that men will tend to go for riskier solutions when it comes to resolution of conflict. Supervision and leadership styles: although leadership styles would look pretty similar on the core, they are quite different. Research has found that women tend to treat their subordinates more as colleagues than the men and women also encourage the participation of everyone in a decision making process. Men, in such positions, will go for a less collaborative style, and will give more directions and tend to be more dominating too. Relationship with others is an integral part of women's leadership styles than for men. A woman also tries to build a sense of community in the place where she is the leader, unlike men. Working in teams: men and women think differently in terms of what needs to be communicated when a team is in action. Women put a lot of importance to these team characteristics: competence, respect, fairness, knowledge of team member's roles, and team members should also provide extra help and support to each other when needed. Whereas, men do not place much importance on these characteristics. The Role of Women in the Society Women, more or less, assume a particular cultural and gender role that they have to fulfill. In pre-historic times, the women of the family used to help the man in doing whatever business they did out of the farms or by doing agriculture. The women used to gather products like fish or learn to