Waseem Sayegh » PDF

Markstrat Strategy Presentation

waseem — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:29:38 +0000

After 10 rounds of Markstrat, a realistic marketing simulation game, our group TNNE was able to maintain its lead and end in first place.Click here to see our final presentation which details our marketing strategy.

Airline Environment Initiatives Report

waseem — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 03:50:53 +0000

The purpose of this paper is to document and analyze the airline industry’s green marketing initiatives. In this research we focused on the 15 largest European and North American airlines based on scheduled passenger carried in 2007.

Sovereign Wealth Funds Reality

waseem — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:45:46 +0000

Over the past couple of years Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have received massive media coverage, leading many to mistakenly believe that they are a 21st century invention. This media coverage has focused on several high-profile deals that went sour. The reality of the matter is that the history of SWFs date back to 1953 when Kuwait established the first SWF, Kuwait Investment Office (KIO), to reinvest Kuwait’s petrodollars. Furthermore one of the more high profile deals that went sour happened in 1987 when KIO bought more than 20% of British Petroleum. This deal inflamed the British government and KIO responded by selling more than half of their stake.
As with most things under the sun, SWFs are neither villains nor saviors. These funds are not isolated islands. Rather, they are complex entities that are forced to play within the international political landscape. SWFs are thrown into the mix of international political tension, string pulling, power play, political perception, pragmatic nationalism, sovereignty and autonomy, the rising price of oil, and huge US foreign account deficits and Asian and Middle-Eastern economy surpluses. This mix results in a multidimensional equation with a slew of stake holders ranging from your average Joe to governments. In other words, everyone on this earth is directly or indirectly affected by SWFs.

For the full report, please click here.

For the accompanying presentation, please click here.

Relaunching Kellogg’s Breakfast Mates

waseem — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:33:19 +0000

Relaunching “Kellogg’s Breakfast Mates” was the topic for our final Marketing presentation. The presentation describes how:

“Kellogg’s has an opportunity to capture and increase its breakfast market share by introducing a breakfast offering that is both healthy and convenient. This offering will target consumers that are looking to reduce the time they spend having breakfast and consumers that could not have breakfast due to time constraints. Within three years Kellogg’s will net $8 million.”

Breakfast mates is a small box of Kellogg’s cereal packaged with a container of milk and a spoon. The product was deemed a failure and was pulled off the market as it did not make a significant impact on the market. Our presentation describes how Kellogg’s can relaunch its Breakfast Mates to capture this opportunity.

Click here for the full presentation.

Knol Marketing Plan

waseem — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:06:28 +0000

Click here for the full report

The sample page that was released by Google to demonstrate Knol is far too advanced for most Internet readers. Knol should not target the knowledge market niche advanced segment. Instead Knol should position itself to target the intermediate segment of the market. We would like Knol to contain articles that are as readable as Times Magazine. Furthermore, Knol should include tools to enable programmers to access Knol’s knowledge directly. These tools will not only create a buzz with bloggers and techno geeks to viral market Knol, but will also position Knol at the center of knowledge on the Internet.

KPMG Scenario Planning

admin — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:34:50 +0000

This report was compiled to provide KPMG with guidelines to handle scenarios that were outlined by Mr. Colin Sharman, UK Senior Partner at KPMG. These scenarios include What KPMG might do if:

it were to become obliged to formally separate the accounting function from the consulting function
consultants demand more work/life balance

Following the suggested action plan will ensure that KPMG maintains its position as a major enterprise in a swiftly changing global business environment.

Click here to download the report

Bombardier Financial Analysis

admin — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:45:25 +0000

While Bombardier has strong cash flows, we believe that it has low quality of earnings, because these cash flows diverge significantly from its reported earnings:

Its inventory valuation and cost of sales involve very large “program estimates”. If these estimates change by even 1%, the resulting difference is about 30M. Furthermore, they appear to be managing their excess over average production cost account (EOPAC) to smooth income.
They appear to have taken a “big bath” when they restructured in 2003-2004, creating “restructuring reserves” and expensing special items in such a way as to smooth earnings.
Bombardier has an aggressive revenue recognition policy with its airplanes. While its competitors only recognize revenue when the plane is delivered. Bombardier often recognizes it when the customer gives signoff on “interior fitting”.

While Bombardier is able to meet its short term obligations, it nevertheless has a bad credit rating. Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s have both rated Bombardier as being slightly below investment grade. Part of the reason for this is Bombardier’s very high level of long term debt, as compared to the industry average.

Furthermore, Bombardier has a very low operating profit margin, and seems to be relying on its high asset turnover. Given the steep global competition that Bombardier faces, many analysts are predicting that it will continue to lose market share. After all, its direct competitor, Embraer, is more liquid, much more profitable, and significantly less indebted than Bombardier.

Due to the aforementioned reasons, we recommend that Investa Group sell off its current holdings in Bombardier.

PDF version includes complete report.

Culture: to Change or Not to Change

admin — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:34:49 +0000

Something intriguing happened to me the other day, while I was browsing the Internet I saw the huge void between the Western and Middle Eastern cultures. I was browsing cbsnews.com, an American news Website, and my eyes were glued to the streaming video of the Iranian president’s interview on “60 Minutes ,” a television newsmagazine. The interview was filled with political rhetoric, though behind all of that was the void. In the right hand corner was the CBS reporter grilling the Iranian president with his American style investigative journalism. In the left hand corner was the Iranian president starting his interview with a Persian poetic tone by saying: “It’s in the afternoon of an autumn day. We’re in the open air in a garden. And the air is pleasant. And fall, little by little, is settling in, mixing with the summer breeze.” Both the president and the reporter were a perversion of two distinct cultures that when put together only differences could be noticed. From our reading material, one can say that the interview would have had less of a sparring tone had both sides been close to agreement or one of the sides crossed over and behaved in accordance to the other side’s culture.
Can one easily change cultures? Can culture be situational where a person can switch to another culture in an instance? In this paper, we will explore these questions and more in a context of an organization and learn more about culture and when to change it.

Theoretical and Real Negotiations: an Interview with Mr. Anthony Chamy

admin — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 05:31:07 +0000

Effective negotiation skills are an essential tool for any business person in today’s global environment. Despite the abundance of available research, many experienced business people rely on their instincts and innate qualities, which often combine both effective and ineffective techniques. Mr. Anthony Chamy correctly identifies preparation as an essential component to a successful negotiation. Anthony also identifies his BATNA and reservation point; however, he lacks a little in the area of identifying interests, positions, targets for both himself and the other parties and BATNAs and reservation points of the other parties. Anthony correctly identifies the importance of building trust and a strong relationship through the use of knowledge-based trust techniques. Further, Anthony employs effective techniques when dealing with negative emotions from the other parties. By adding the techniques described herein, Anthony can generate more value and more positive outcomes in the negotiation process. The negotiated outcomes will allow Anthony to fully realize his interests and priorities while at the same time creating value for the other parties.

Change by Cherry Picking Cultural Elements that Work

admin — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 16:22:38 +0000

In the case “Organizational Transformation in a Taiwanese Company” Eva Chen, the agent of change, has a huge task ahead of her to transform YUAN Group’s culture into one that makes it a serious global competitor. From the case one can deduce that the YUAN Group is an organization in its midlife that embodies the personality of Mr. Pan, YUAN Group’s CEO. Mr. Pan’s personality is that of a “father figure” that “cares for his employees very much”. YUAN Group’s culture focuses on human interaction and compassion amongst employees. For example, management was always present at employee’s functions and employees would mingle in the company’s annual outing.

The case talks about all the changes that were enforced, but does not give us a clear insight into the employees’ reaction; except in one situation: Human Resources (HR) staff reaction. I believe that the HR staff’s reaction to the latest change is representative to that of the rest of the company’s departments. The HR department staff feels that the “workload was too heavy, and with the short amount of time given to finish so many projects, there was always stress and pressure.” At first glance, one could just recommend increasing the HR staff size to accommodate the extra workload. Though, would this really solve the problem, or is this suggestion a typical case of “throwing money at the problem” without addressing the core issue?

Never Start with the Idea of Changing Culture

There is no doubt that YUAN Group has to be more competitive in the global market, but we have to keep in mind that it is not a brand new conglomerate that can quickly embrace a new culture. In other words, Eva Chen cannot superimpose an external culture onto YUAN Group and expect things to work. Instead she should see whether the existing culture aids or hinders YUAN Group attempt to be more competitive in the global market.
Compassion is one of YUAN Group’s most prominent cultural elements that can aid in the group’s attempt to be more globally competitive. For example, there was more of Mr. Pan’s compassion when Felix was running the HR department. Eva would have a monthly review of the status of each project “to make sure the staff were on schedule,” while Felix “would follow up with staff more to see how things were going.” This human element is a source of strength that must have played a big part in YUAN Group’s success. After all, the group has been around for over 50 years. Eva should capitalize on this strong cultural element and not eliminate it. Showing compassion will certainly increase worker’s moral and productivity.

You Cannot Use a Survey to Assess Culture

Eva’s employee survey to study employee attitudes and organizational culture goes against Edgar Schein recommendation in “Cultural Realities for the Serious Culture Leader.” Edgar Schein believes that “the best way to assess it (culture) is to bring groups together, to talk about their organization in a structured way that leads them to tactics assumptions.” In other words instead of the change being imposed from top to bottom, it should come from within and flow from the bottom up. The HR staff is not hindering change instead they do seem committed as shown by the amount of time spent working: “often they work until eight, nine or 10 in the evening”. While Eva did give its staff the capability to define their role she did not create a conducive environment in which the staff was able to translate these definitions into tactics to ultimately aid the group’s long-term goal of becoming more competitive in the global market.

Bibliography

1. Organizational Transformation in a Taiwanese Company. Ivey 9A99C035 (2002)
2. Schein, Edgar (1999) “Cultural Realities for the Serious Cultural Leader.” Chapter 9 in The Corporate Culture Survival Guide. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass