Liz Claiborne, Inc- Nicole Damboise

Source- http://www.lizclaiborne.com/

Liz Claiborne- Nicole Damboise

1. Partnered Brands include-
Axcess
C &C California
Claiborne
Concepts by Claiborne
Dana Buchman
DKNY jeans/DKNY Active
Ellen Tracy
Enyce
Kensie
Kensiegirl
Laundry by Design
Liz & Co
Liz Claiborne
Mac & Jac
Monet
Narciso Rodriguez
Prana
Sigrid Olsen
Viillager

2. Trudy Sillverman, the President of Liz Claiborne, is leaving the company to take a leadership position in another company.

3. Liz Claiborne offers clothing for plus size women.

Liz Claiborne, Inc. -Tyler Bishop

1. Liz Claiborne Inc. now puts out a Magazine that offers all their seasonal clothing that they put out. It is called LIZ IS and you can subsribe to it online on their website.

2. Deloitte & Touche LLP serve as the Company’s independent public accountants and they have been doing so since May 16, 2002.

3. Liz Claiborne Inc.’s principal offices are located at 1441 Broadway, New York, NY 10018. This is a great advantage to them because New York City is the fashion capital of the world.

Liz Claiborne, Inc. -Tyler Bishop

Liz Claiborne Inc. now puts out a Magazine that offers all their seasonal clothing that they put out. It is called LIZ IS and you can subsribe to it online on their website. Deloitte & Touche LLP serve as the Company’s independent public accountants and they have been doing so since May 16, 2002. Liz Claiborne Inc.’s principal offices are located at 1441 Broadway, New York, NY 10018. This is a great advantage to them because New York City is the fashion capital of the world.

Liz Claiborne, Inc.- Mallory Clynes

1. Direct Brands now include:
Juicy Couture
Kate Spade
Lucky Brand Jeans
Mexx

2. has a men's selection

3. donates clothing to homeless shelters

www.lizclaiborne.com

Liz Claiborne

1. They now have Plus sizes
2. They donates clothes for homeless.
3.There is now a magazine just for home furnishings, bedding and rugs

Jenna Giardina

1. Liz Claiborne Inc, also caters to men.

2. There is a sunglasses line

3. There is a magazine, LIZ IS

http://www.lizclaiborne.com/home/index.jsp

Liz Claiborne, Inc. - Sandra Adams

The company sold Emma James, Intuition, J.H. Collectibles

Moved into the footwear industry

Partnered with Best Buy to sell electronic accessories

Senior Seminar- assignment #11

This is a group project. Read chapter 5 of the text and the case study, Liz Claiborne, Inc. Search the web for updated information about Liz Claiborne, Inc. since the case study was written. By 7:00 AM on Thursday, October 25th list three facts you found out about the company that were not included in the case study. Be sure to identify the website where you found your data. The first person to post from your group should do a PUBLISH POST. Subsequent entries should be made as COMMENTS to the first person in your group to post. Make sure that you do not repeat any facts that anyone else from your group has already loaded. Label your posts: Liz Claiborne, Inc.

EMERGENCY ROOM HELP AVAILABLE

Sunday night from 8-9 PM I will be staffing an emergency room help session for anyone struggling with his/her paper. A student may load any question onto the blog and get my help with it. Please read what other students have asked and the answers to their questions before you make a post. You may find your concern has already been addressed. Good luck with your first draft. Remember that 2 copies are due in class on Tuesday, October 23rd.

Bishara Etienne part a

Mission Statement
To provide businesses with the skills, leadership qualities that will help them be succesful.

Vision
To be a manager or open my own business someday.

Values
dedicated individual, committed, hardworker, strive for quality all the time

destinctive qualities
good time management skills, ability to learn quickly, ability to work under pressure,

permission for proffesor Parent to comment

Assignment #10 - Dan Attella Part A

Mission: To show inteligent, respectful, and wise judgement skills to the ones that I come into contact with throughout my life. And to offer invaluable insight into business and industry issues.

Vision: To provide the best in video game entertainment by using thouroughly developed management skills to run my own Production company.

Values: All of my work will be done with Reliability, Punctuality, Quality, Insight, inteligence, and comitment.

Distinctive Competencies: Extremely organized, learns very quickly and can adapt to almost any difficult situation.

Permission for Professor Parent to provide feedback.

Assignment #10- Mike Dombrowski

Mission Statement: To provide a comfortable and exciting atmosphere that gives an individual the ability to strive for and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Values: Employees must work with diligence, courtesy, and enthusiasm in order to help all patrons to the gym reach their fitness goals and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Vision: To reach the highest eschelon in the fitness industry, while spreading the joy of fitness and the healthy lifestyle worldwide.

Distinctive Competencies: To possess a hardworking, up-beat, physically fit, and knowledgeable staff from the very top to the very bottom of the company.


Permission for Professor Parent to provide feedback.

Assignment # 10-Nicole Damboise

Mission statement-To provide a comfortable sense of hospitality to a luxurious and prestigous hotel, so the constumers can relax, unwind and settle down under the supervision of a passionate and eager manager.

Values- a passionate, hardworking, eager, enthusiastic, honest and responsible manager who will offer the highest quality of customer service.

Vision- to become a hotel manger who strives to perfect a strong feeling of comfort and relaxation to a prominant group of customers.

Distinctive Comptencies- I will work diligently to satisfy every customer that walks through the doors of a respected and luxurious environment.

I give permission to Patricia Parent to give feedback

Assignment #10 -Tyler Bishop

Mission Statement: To provide an understanding and knowledge for my students to be successful in their scholastic and athletic endeavors.

Vision: A High School Athletic Director that cares about his students student athletes and wants to see them thrive in college.

Values: To Listen and provide understanding about my own experiences both good and bad. I want my student athletes to know how to find the right college for them, both scholastically and athletically.

Distinctive Competencies: I am here to educate my student athletes about sportsmanship and how to choose the college for them. I want to motivate and instill confidence that they can succeed in college and there is a college for every kid out their.

Permission for Professor Parent to provide feedback.

Assignment #10 - Ronnie Vajdak

Mission: To open an automotive customization store and garage to provide customers with the products, services and tools they need to complete their performance projects.

Vision: To establish a nationally recognized performance shop that is the leader in customer trust and satisfaction.

Values: Honesty, accurate information, fair pricing and exceptional service will be expected of all employees in order to provide the highest customer service. Employees will be expected to follow these values in order to provide the most effective work environment.

Distinctive Competencies: I have years of experience in both the mechanical and the business side of the automotive industry. I am also a fast learner, and am quick to grasp new concepts and innovations in this field.

Permission for Professor Parent to provide feedback

Assignment #10 - Nerrisa Pareja

Mission: To create a memorable spa experience by presenting the highest level of services as well as engage customers in the feeling of hospitality and dedication, in a welcoming atmosphere.

Vision: To pursue a career in the Beauty Industry and develop into an owner of a Day Spa/ Salon.

Values: Enthusiasm, reliability, punctuality,openness, hard work and dedication, making others feel valued, meeting standards.

Distinctive Competencies: Capability to gain knowledge rapidly, the ability to be understanding and organized, as well as meeting dead lines.


Permission for Professor Parent to provide feedback.

Assigment 10 Joe Fields

Mission: To provide the valued service of real estate appraisals in the state of Pennsylvania while investing in other aspects of real estate.

Vision: To become a certified real estate appraiser in the state of Pennsylvania while obtaining and renting other properties in my community.

Values: To offer an honest opinion on the value of real estate in order to keep the market in a stable condition. I must work hard, be reliable, and offer valued opiions on real estate in order to succeed.

Distinctive Competencies: I am efficient, honest and dedicated to providing a quality product.

Assignment #10 - John Garrity

Mission

To allocate the resources and skills I have been given and/or acquired to share my love for the outdoors with everybody from all walks of life.

Vision

To be an innovative entrepreneur; creating a successful business to satisfy my customers to the greatest extent.

Values

To share my enthusiasm and compassion for helping others who are less fortunate or underprivileged. Expressing my intrinsic morals as an outgoing and zealous leader, showing the world that you can make a difference whoever you may be.

Distinctive Competencies

I am here to create an environment where individuals can have fun no matter what your economic situation, skill level, physical/mental condition, or mobile capacity may be. I will promote outdoor leisure activities as an alternative to life’s struggles, forming a program/opportunity to get away from it all while taking in the beautiful outdoors.

Permission for Professor Parent to provide feedback.

Assignment #10 Daniel Wolski

Mission:
My mission is to live a happy and prosperous life, by being generous to those in need
and acquiring wealth through the purchasing and sales of real estate.

Vision:
To become the owner of several homes and many hundreds of acres of land.

Values:
I must never lie, cheat or steal, and I must treat those whom I do business with as I
would like them to treat me. In order to achieve my mission I must work hard, and
make wise conservative decisions and not waste money frivolously.

Distinctive Competencies:
I can sell someone the shirt off of their back, and I am a gifted public
speaker. I am not selfish or greedy and I believe to whom
much is given much is expected

Assignment #10 - Danielle O'Neill

Mission: To provide great leadership and time management skills while offering an enthusiasm and energy to various work environments and people.

Vision: To become a committed leader and/or manager in the business industry worldwide.

Values: To offer a compassion for work, integrity and honesty, and fully committing myself to big challenges presented and seeing them through completely.

Distinctive Competencies: Offer a performance, durability, reliability and quality like no other.

Permission for Professor Parent to provide feedback.

Assignment #10 - Sandra Adams

Mission: To provide Massachusetts School of Law with a dedicated and hardworking student who is looking to continually increase my knowledge in various fields of law. I believe I would be an asset to MSL because I have a broad range of experiences, both personally and academically.

Vision: To be a successful self-employed attorney dedicated to making changes in enforcement of environmental, real estate, land use and planning laws by way of making case law.

Values: Hard work, quality work, dedication, understanding the material and how to apply it in real life situations

Distinctive Competencies: Willingness to invest the time necessary to complete more than just one concentration, ability to learn quickly, use resources in a productive and efficient manner


Permission for Professor Parent to provide feedback

ASSIGNMENT #10- Senior Seminar

This is an extra credit blog. You may complete part A or part B and get credit for doing one blog. If you complete both part A and B you will get credit for 3 blogs.
Part A is due by 7:00 AM on Wednesday, October 17 and part B is due by 7:00 AM on Thursday, October 18. For Part A please publish a new post that includes your mission, vision, values and distinctive competencies. For Part B please post comments to 2 people in your group. Tell each of these students which part of their post was best as well as which part of their post needs improvement. Suggest a specific way to improve their post. If you would like me to comment on this blog regarding your entry write : "Permission for Professor Parent to provide feedback" as the last sentence in your post. I will respond within 48 hours of the last student to comment on your post. Label your post: Assignment #10.

Dan wolski, Google Question 1

almost every time I am searching for anything on the internet I use Google to help me find it. based upon Google's success and profits I am not alone. Google is extremely valuable to consumers because it makes researching products or a particular product easy. Before the advent of Google the consumer had limited resources aiding in the choices and selection of a product. Now the practically the entire world market and all of its choses and variation and competitive pricing is at my fingertips.
Google is equally valuable for businesses, whom without it could never think to reaching the global market that they do. If not for Google, many companies simply would never be happened across as they are with Google and there for the costumer would never be aware of their existence.

Google Question # 1- Chad Schrepper

Google creates great value for both customers and advertisers in different ways. Customers that use Google’s search engine get faster and more accurate results for the searches that they make. Also Google as produce satisfaction because they have done research in order to better match the web-cites that appear with customer searches. Google also provides great value to the advertisers that use Google for their advertising. Google sells the advertisers the words that are used in customer searches and when their words are used they appear at the top of the search. Also Advertisers to not pay Google unless their ads get clicks through the Google search engine. This translates into higher revenues and profits because the better services that are offered by Google for both advertisers and customers means more profits for the company.

Google Question #4 -Eric Yoshikawa

mission- Googles mission is to be known as one of biggest search engines not limited by language. It not only has text, but images. It also is used to promote products. For one of my classes we have to review a few stocks and in the past month google has jumped about 50 points which shows significant success. On top of that it continues to expand. It has started tracking what people search for how long they are searching for these items and has numerous follow-ups.

vision- It's vision is to be ahead of the industry and change it in ways that make it unique while also making it the dominant player in search engines

values- To focus on the user. To do one thing really well, not to over extend themselves, faster service is better then slow, You don't need to be at your desk to need answers. to provide more information then what is out there

Core competency-To support every changing technology. One example was Northwestern University, had to discontinue previous alumni's e-mail accounts because the system couldn't support it. They used a google application to make use of the old accounts so that alumni's wouldn't lose contacts with their friends after graduation.

Google Question #2 - Dan Attella

Google has many simple, but key competitive advantages. The most prevalent being their programming behind the search engine. It searches for the most relavent results and list them from most relevent to least. I also believe that a large portion of its success is due to its simplicity, and "Less is more" appearence. When someone wants to search for something on the web, they want answers and nothing more. The rest of the competition offers many other services, which doesnt make them bad, in fact it seems to work against them. Now that Google bought youtube.com it seems that their winning streak is not over. Another competitive advantage is their google toolbar, it provides quick access to customers without wasting time.
I'm sure that Google has isolated itself from competitors becuase it already has an incredibly valuable chunk of market behind it, and not to mention a long standing reputation with its loyal customers. In order to keep its competitors from moving in on them, they have to move forward. Purchase new ventures, and thats exactly what Youtube is.

Google- Ian Stuart

Un-deniably the best search engine, is the serivce google provides to its customers. The value can be pricless for it's customers and also pricless for the companies that advertise on google. Because google is the biggest search engine, it's consistantly providing value and it's worth, as a whole, to both customers in the research and advertisment fields. Because google is the best, it turns their company into a financial powerhouse and their revenues are outstanding. Their revenues are so astouding becuase they use auctioning to get the best price for their advertisment space. Companies bid on certain search words and the highest bidder gets the best spot on the advertisement space on the website, due to this, google has become the biggest and best search engine on the web.

Google Question #1- Mallory Clynes

The value that Google creates for customers is the benefit of a search engine. The value that Google creates for advertisers is the idea of some kind of revenue. Google sells advertisers words that customers might search. Essencially, this is a way for advertisers to gain some kind of revenue for their company/organization.

Bishara #1

The value google creates for its customers is the ability to find specific and useful information on a topic. The value google creates for advertisers is more visits to their websites. This value translates into higher revenues and profits because google uses a bidding process. Therefore advertisers will bidd more money to be at the top of a given search.

Google Question #3- Andrew J. Gordon

So, competitors such as Microsoft and Yahoo.com do have the capabilities and the assets to compete with Google.com as a corporate entity, to compete with one another as a search engine though is another question. Google was rated the # 1 most recognizable brand name in the world for 2007. It beat long lived countries such as General Electric, BMW, and McDonald's. This brand name identification is priceless. I do not believe Microsoft and Yahoo can mimic that success. When it comes to search engines Google has a monopoly over the industry. Now, even using the same algorithms as Google i do not believe the same success can be mimicked. Google has infiltrated and flooded the market to a point where there is no room for another competitor or competitors at all. Competitors have been eliminated. The only way I could possibly see a competitor moving in on the success of Google, is if there was a managerial or cultural error on the part of Google such as the incident with Yahoo.com and Nazi memorabilia in France. Its going to take a major failure on the part of the governance of Google to topple its success even while competitors threaten Google with simple and easier versions of search engine the simplicity and brand name acceptance is priceless.

Google Question #1 - Sean Doherty

The value that google creates for its customers is faster and more accurate search results through their search engine. The value that google creates for its advertisers is more hits on their website that was brought up through googles search engine. These values translate into high revenues and profits by google selling advertisers words that people search for and ditinguishing between websites that are independent and website that are sponsered. Google uses a bidding process knock as a Vickery second price auction which determines the price to charge advertisers for words that people would search for.

Google Question # 1- Nerrisa Pareja

A.)The value that Google creates for their customers is that they are providing a very beneficial search engine. They believed that the existing search engines did a poor job of distinguishing between useful and trivial websites. So they built a search engine that not only examined words on web pages, and then index them as other search engines did but they also looked at where the words were being used and how many websites that were connected to the page. Therefore, giving their customers the most useful source at the top of the page.
B.)The value Google creates for there advertisers is that they only sell them the words that people put in when they search for something on the web. So which ever advertiser bids the most for the word will have their link put at the top of the page when someone is using Google and the sponsor does not pay Google unless a user clicks on their link.This value in the long run turns into higher revenues and profits because Google uses a automated bidding process. This way forces the bidders to pay a cent more than the bidder below them. Google found a significant way to make money and it is working, if they keep showing their customers and advertisers this method of value their profits will keep increasing.

CoCo Minott, #4 What isGoogle's mission, vision, values and core competency?

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google focuses on the users, providing the best user experience possible."The perfect search engine," says Google co-founder Larry Page, "would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want." Googles vision is to is to provide a much higher level of service to all those who seek information, whether they're at a desk in Boston, driving through Bonn, or strolling in Bangkok.
Google's core compentency is a search engine online, that links people and information all over the world to provide the most relevant and effective searches.

Google Question # 1 - Sandra Adams

The value that Google creates for customers are a more accurate search results for what they are looking for. The value that Google creates for advertisers is a way to generate more traffic to their websites.
This value translates into higher revenues and profits because customers are more likely to use Google for their searches because it will yeild results they are looking for and provide advertisers with a way to pay a low price for more traffic. Since the price advertisers are paying are so low, they will pay more to be on the first page for the results of a keyword search, which results in a profit for Google.

Senior Seminar- Assignment #9

By 7:00 AM on Tuesday, October 16, your group is responsible for answering all the questions at the end of the case, "Google" plus question #4: "Go to Google's website. What is its mission, vision, values, core competency?" If you have 5 people in your group, the fifth person who logs on should answer question #5: "Evaluate the strategic leadership of Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Dr. Eric Schmidt." The first person in your group should post his/her answer to any one of the questions. Subsequent entries from your group should address the remaining questions in any order under COMMENTS to the first person in your group. Label your posts and comments: Google Question # _- your first and last name.

Plane Wreck Question # - Mallory Clynes

Yes budget airlines are in a different strategic group than the other major network airlines. Budget airlines gives a 30 to 50 percent cost advantage over traditional airlines. They set their prices low to fill up the seats and also fly "point to point" which most flyers look for.

Bishara Etienne #4

For the industry to return to profitability a number of things need to be done. I think that the airlines need to find and use different advertising techniques that will persuade people to fly. Also probably some of the airlines need to merge so that consumers will have less option and this can help raise the cost to fly. Furthermore I think that maybe the Government can intervene and find a way to reduce the cost of oil to the airline industry so that jet fuel can be cheaper.

Plane Wreck Question # 2 Chad Schrepper

Yes, I feel that budget airlines are in a totally different strategic group than major network airlines. Budget airlines have a completely different strategic approach, for instance they focus on cutting costs by landing on smaller less expensive runways, and they cut down the flight accommodations and point A to Point B flights, along with hiring non-union employees. On the other hand major network airlines focus on comfort throughout flights which costs more money for the airline, which in turn increases the ticket prices for customers. Because of these reasons the small budget airlines are able to sell more tickets and produce a greater profit compared to the major network airlines.

Jenna Giardina - Plane Wreck- Question 4

I think for the airline industry to return to profit some things have to change. I think more of the bigger companies should take a look at what the budget flights are doing. For example for air plane pilots to take ticket stubs isn't hard. This like the book said decreases the payroll budget which is a big expense. They need to cut as many costs as they can. At the same time though I think with the growing income of the average family people are going to start flying more. So promote flying and vacations lower your prices and fill up the plane.

Plane Wreck- Question # 4- Kyle Toelken

I think that the Airline industry has a long way to go in the terms of profitability. Every company is in business to make money, but some companies take longer to do so than others. The airline industry has to start looking at their options in what they have and also what they are about. Airlines, I think have to start cutting employees and start making their star players work harder in many areas. If you cut the amount of money you spend, then your profitability will began to rise. Airlines have to start looking at their competitors to determine if there are too many of them. Maybe they will have to start merging companies to survive in the long run. If airlines merge, then they can cut costs for the individual to use that particular airline service. Profitability is always going to be their in the airline industry. People have to fly and they will to start paying whatever the price is to get there.

John Garrity -Plane Wreck Question #4

When reading this case on the airline industry, the first thing that came to my mind was the lack of adaptability between the two strategic approaches known as the budget and the network airlines. Usually when you see businesses in the same industry, they continuously compete, taking others ideas and turning them into their own. What’s wrong with the airline industry today is the lack adaptation, depending on what they have done all these years, instead of molding new trends into their businesses. As you can see, the budget airlines have taken a new approach to bettering the overall needs of their customers, offering low fares and direct flights from cheaper airports. The network airlines need to rethink their strategies for the industry to return to profitability. An option may be taking an airline such as US Airways or Delta and add a budget airline to their business to boost revenue, while still offering the network flights as they always have. Budget airline profits have done nothing but create a solid increase in the past few years. Like I said previously, the bottom line is adaptation. If the airline industry wants to see a change, including profitability, there needs to be acquisitions made such as mergers or new budget airlines formed that add onto the network airlines.

Plane Wreck - Question #4

Planwreck Question # 2 Jonathan Coltrain

Yes, budget airlines are in a different stratgeic group than major network airlines. Budget airlines use a strategic posture that gives them a 30 to 50 percent cost adavantage over traditional airlines. Each budget airline purchases only one type of aircraft. Then they hire nonunion labor and cross-train emloyees to perform multiple jobs. Budget airlines also favor "point to point" flying, instead of stopping off a major hubs they use smaller less expensive runways. They also focus on large ares with lots of traffic. Most major networks tend to fly into all major hubs, instead of a "point to point" flight.

Plane Wreck Question #2 - Sean Doherty

Yes, i feel that the budget airlines are in a different strategic group than the major network airlines. They are in a group that is more appealing to customers by favoring flying "point to point" rather than indirect flights by major airlines. They also fly out of cheap secondary airports rather than expensive major hubs. So all in all the set prices low in every aspect to fill up their seats on the plane.

Plane Wreck-Question # 2 - Sandra Adams

The budget airlines are in definitely in a different strategic group than the major network airlines. The budget airlines are a more recent and up to date group that provide direct flights with little accommodations and cheap prices. This is very appealing to customers because many people are looking to get from A to B as fast as possible and as cheap as possible. The major networks have not transformed to keep up to date with the times. The major airlines are still catering to customers with old technology, high prices, many perks during the flights because they are very long, and extremely high prices. It is no surprise that the budget companies are making a profit and the major networks are not because of the different strategies they are using.

Senior Seminar- Assignment #8

By 7:00AM on Tuesday, October 9th your group is responsible for answering all the questions at the end of the case, "Plane Wreck: The Airline Industry in 2001-2005." The first person in your group should post his/her answer to any one (or more) of the questions. Subsequent entries from your group should address the remaining questions in any order under COMMENTS to the first person in your group to post. For groups with less than 5 members, some members will need to address more than one question. Label your posts: Plane Wreck-Question # _- your first and last name.

My reaction to tip #6- Eric Yoshikawa

The tip is called "kill unjustifiable perquisites." Basically this trimming expenses that aren't needed. When I say expenses they aren't exactly business expenses. They are more perks for senior executives, a "thanks for the hard work" if you will. Now keep in mind the title is called "ten ways to restore investor confidence in compensation". While the workers want to be compensated for their hard work, they are very well especially most executives. While the investors still want to be compensated for lending their money out. Ihave found that bonuses are always appreciated. I think paid for activities are better though. I've worked for several different people some of them would take me out to bars or to dinner. I've found this way you feel like your not just a "number". That your dedication isn't a cash symbol. One example give was how personal flights on corporate jets were changed to financial counseling. I've read several book on investing money, and it always interests me how few people will be ready to retire. I think financial counseling shows the workers that they don't want you to work for the rest of your life. They want you to retire happy. If you've got a corporation that cares this much about you, how would you not want to do your very best for them. I think this is the underlying theme, is to help your workers feel like they matter, so they will do the best they can do for you.

My reaction to tip #4 - Sean Doherty

The tip that caught my attention the most was to retreat from "pay for failure" by making it easier to fire for cause. I like this tip because to me it means rather than paying people off for firing them for the wrong cause you should know how your business practices and fire if you have to for the right reasons or causes. If a CEO doesnt want to comply with an testimony or an investigation about the businesses pratices then i feel it is poor management.

My Reaction to tip # 5 Jonathan Coltrain

After looking through the article and reading each tip, i found that tip number five stuck out the most to me. It was a tip called "skeptical view of "peer group" comparison. Basically it is a tip saying that inorder to keep up with other companies in the same field, you need to keep up with wages that other companies offer. Although the companies they mention do differ in size and overall income, I still feel in a business related world if you want the best employees on your job offer the same wage as the other business if not alittle more. This way you will be able to hire your fair share of well qualified employees. Your business will not be sucessful if the company down the street offers the same product, but the employee is making with more effort becuase he or she's salary is higher.

My Reaction to Tip #4 - Danielle O'Neill

I agree with the tip "retreat from 'pay for failure' by making it easier to fire for cause" because it ensures that big corporations will not be facing lawsuits for firing people without just cause. If a company is going to fire a top executive for not cooperating with an investigation or for refusing to give a testimony, then the company knows that they will not be facing a lawsuit for millions of dollars.

My reaction to Tip #6 - Ronnie Vajdak

Out of all of the suggestions, I believe that tip number 6 - the reccomendation to reduce the perk packages of CEO's is the best way to restore investors' confidence in compensation. Many investors question the large amount of "freebies" that CEO's get with their employment. When these upper level employees are already recieving such high pay and many valuable stock options and retirement benefits, it is difficult to justify also paying for their golf fees and vacation flights. Companies could restore investors' confidence in spending if they eliminated many of the perks that average employees would never have access to. It is difficult for investors to feel confident providing perks to employees who could easily pay for the privaleges themselves, while providing very little to their other employees. Also, the general public is often resentful of the perks that the very rich recieve, which could contribute to investor problems. When the public has more respect for the company's policies, it would be easier for investors to have confidence and support.

My Reaction to Tip # 8- Mike Dombrowski

When looking through the article, the one that caught my attention was tip number eight. It stated, "Divulge precise measures that shape payouts for performance-based awards, and set hurdles high." I think that this is a very important idea to carry out in any large business or corporation. Everyone should have knowledge of what is expected and what types of awards will be given out. Awards should be given out depending on the nature of what in fact was accomplished. The ability to reach obtain these awards and payouts should however not be a very easy thing to come by. The bar for certain awards need to be set high enough so that people will work hard enough to obtain them. However, these bars need to be set high enough so that they will not be obtained too easily. There needs to be awards given for goals reached that took effort and were not so easily accomplished.

Reaction to TIp #1 Joe Fields

I feel that you should keep financial cosultants seperate from management because it will allow for consultants to give their honest opinion. When consultants are under the supervision of management they are constantly worried about their job. If a consultant was to go a against managemnet they face the possibility of losing their job. If consultants are seperated from management stockholders can be sure that they ar not being manipulated and their money is safe.

Tip #10 Bishara Etienne

Basically it is the investors that provide the money to pay the executives. Therefore they should have a say about executives pay packages. As an investor in a company you want to be reassured that the money you invested in a company goes to good use. And is not used to pay for executive luxuries. For example including in their pay packages, compensation for personal flights or club membership fees.

My reaction to Tip #6 Tyler Bishop

It is important for companies to eliminate unjustifiable perks for executives. Stock holders and investors do not want their money going into executives luxuries. By "killing" the excutives perks it will allow the company to focus its money on more important things, like making the company better and more successful. I think its a good idea for the boards of companies to publish the executives perks that are more thatn $10,000 dollars, because that is a substancial amount of money that should be going towards the company, not an individual. This will give investors and stockholders, more clarity on where their money is going.

My reaction to Tip #8 - John Garrity

I chose tip number 4 labeled; Retreat from “pay for failure” by making it easier to fire for cause. The activist is right when explaining the fact that firing high officials could come back to bite you in the end. Unlawful firing practices could pose as a huge lawsuit; therefore, this fire for cause is a great idea. If a company decides to fire a high ranking official, an investigation should be done BEFORE the actual termination. If the individual decides not to testify against his or her poor performance for the company they should have no right to even think about suing for unlawful firing. It shouldn’t matter if you want to keep the person who is being fired happy, its worth having somebody mad then costing millions or billions in a settlement case.

My Reaction to Tip # 9 - Kyle Toelken

As I was looking over all of the "Ten ways to restore Investor Confidence in Compensation" the one that caught my eye was number 9. In the ninth tip, the companies talk about doing regular check-ups in their financial department concerning audits and their financial balances. If companies start to look at the problems that other companies are having with internal fraud then they can learn from that to make necessary changes within. Companies are becoming smarter than ever before, they are realizing that the financial well-being of a company rides in the financial department. They are starting to rotate people, so that the auditor isn't always doing the books. This makes it harder for people to find loop holes within a given organization.

My Reaction to Tip #3 - Daniel Attella

I agree that a severance package is not necessary for upper level officials. Typically CEO's, CFO's and other high-ranking officials in an organization hold enough stock in the company to keep them afloat for the rest of their life. For example I had recently heard about Exxon Mobil' CEO Lee Raymond has a retirement package valued over $400 million the largest retirement package in history. Is this necessary? I'm not sure if anyone is worth that much. I think that these CEO's and higher ups can live very well with what they have earned throughout their time as CEO. Stock accumulation is one method, another would be a solid 401K plan, or an IRA, or other sources of investments to keep what they have at the time of retirement in a growth phase.

My reaction to Tip #1- Sandra Adams

By keeping the financial consultants separate from management, it will eliminate a huge conflict of interest. If the financial consultants are working under the management, it will definitely create a biased atmosphere in benefit for the management. The managers are able to manipulate the consultants by threatening their jobs. Putting these two positions separate will show stockholders that their money is not being manipulated into the pockets of managers.

Senior Seminar Assignment #7

Read the article "Ten Ways to Restore Investor Confidence in Compensation" in the Wall Street Journal, April 9, 2007.

By 7:00AM on Thursday, October 4, please post your reaction to any one of the 10 tips the article makes to produce executive pay plans acceptable to disgruntled stockholders. Label your entry: My reaction to Tip #_- Your first and last name.

Research tip: In this same edition of the Wall Street Journal you might find information on the 2006 compensation package of the CEO for your group case study. See article, "The Boss's Pay".

Question 5 Ian S

To be paid 52 Million dollars in one year, you are probably guilty for something. Arthur Anderson is on the same level as both Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. They are all guilty of misleading consumers and stock holders, as well as their staff of thousands. Arthur Anderson is not only guilty, but he helped facilitate in misleading everyone. As the auditor he was suppose to be honest, but was dishonest and allowed pay offs. It was greed that makes him guilty of the crime.

-Ian Stuart

Bishara Etienne Question #5

I believe that Arthur Andersen did not behave ethically. As the auditor he knew what Enron was doing was wrong and the company was not acting in the well being of its shareholders, employees etc. Also if Andersen knew that he was not being ethical because his patner instructed his staff to shred documents relating to the audit of Enron. I think that Arthur should have overlooked the lucrative payments and do what was morally right, which was to report Enron.

Enron Question #5- Andrew J. Gordoin

Asking if someone acted ethically in the business world is like asking if you like making money. Of course you like making money, and of course people do not always act ethically. At the end of the day though, it is necessary for success and prosperity. What Arthur Anderson did, I would not consider ethically wrong. Morally wrong it may be, but in the world of business it was wrong. Mr. Anderson was hired as a Consulting/Auditing firm to do an analysis of the company as it was. Now i am basing my answer on what i have been told and not all the facts. The primary job of a consulting firm, is to analyze the problems of the company and or task of which is in question. They are to analyze and indicate weaknesses in the managerial system and or to her problems within the company. It is not the job of a consulting firm to implement any of these changes, and the analysis is confidential to purchaser unless allowed to be distributor by its owner. Mr. Anderson, from what it reads, located numerous problems, as it mentions about him shredding multiple documents around the time of Enron's implosion. While yes, what Mr. Anderson may have discovered was not proper business practices, it was not his job to change and alert authorities. his job was to notify Enron Superior's to the potential risks, which he did. What Enron executives choose to do with this information is their choice and not he choice of Mr. Anderson's team, unless directed to implement changes by Enron Executives. In conclusion, Arthur Anderson is not acting against ethical principals of the business world. He is just doing his job. It was Enron executives acting unethical.

The Collapse of Enron #5 Dan Wolski

Arthur Anderson absolutely behaved unethically. Anderson ignored the truth and distorted the figures to help Enron execute their scam. As an auditor you need to act impartially for the sake of the stakeholders. In this case the actions of Skilling, Lay, Fastow, Anderson and anyone else who new or partook in the scheme acted unethically because the stakeholders especially the stockholders were mislead and taken advantage of. in the end a lot of people lost a lot of money. the executives of Enron walked away filthy rich. Then they went jail, i say good! the David D'Alessandro quote for the Tuesday agenda is most fitting for chapter two. "Don't lie, cheat, or steal. Power won't protect you from disgrace."

The Collapse of Enron - Question #3

3. How might the culture of the company under the leadership of Lay and Skilling have contributed to Enron's ethical problems?

Enron's ethical problems were significantly impacted by the leadership of Lay and Skilling. They performed in such a way that only benefit themselves and their families ,which is exactly why Enron eventually fell through. Lay and Skilling obviously did not behave ethically and they had no ethical code to abide by. The mistake on Lay's part was when he found out about the risks associated with the partnership strategy. He was sent an outline from an Enron Official that informed him of all the things that could make his partnership project fall through. Yet, he still continued with the partenerships, and in 2001 he sold millions of dollars in his own holdings at Enron. Lay also made a point to make sure that his employees did not sell their stocks with Enron. The second mistake was when succesor Jeff Skilling decided to move out 15 percent of the employees that were considered "underperformers" every six months. He was lieing on performance appraisals and making a certain employees look better than they actually were.
Lay and Skilling had very poor decision making skills and if they would have been good leaders they would have done away with the parternships. I think that the worse thing that Lay could have done was to know about the risks that could take place and still continue what he was doing. If Lay and Skilling actually stopped to think about the importance of Enron as a business and the responsibily of being a manager these issues would never have taken place.

Question #4
I feel Kenneth Lay was definitely not a victim of an agency problem. High level executives such as himself could not possibly be unaware of a scandal so large in their own organization. Bryce made it clear that Lay was not the most ethical person and had abused his position at Enron to help make his families business ventures successful. I think its clear that Kenneth Lay had some type of involvement in the scandal and even if he did'nt, theres no way he did'nt know about what was happening. Either way Kenneth Lay definitely played a role in a role in the demise of Enron legally and ethically.

Class Code Of Ethics

1. Honesty (Don't lie, cheat, or steal) or (Tell the truth)

2. Respect Others (Don't interrupt) or (Listen to others)

3. Come to Class Prepared (Don't skip chapter assignments or blogs) or (Bring pen,notebook, and brain)

4. Be Punctual (Don't skip class or group meetings) or (Come to class within reason)

5. Trust (Trust leader/group members to be organized) or (Don't fail to come through)

Sanctions: Warning first

Enron- Question #5

5. Did Arthur Andersen behave ethically? If not, why not?

As far as I am concerned Arthur Andersen is just as guilty, if not more, than Ken Lay, and Jeff Skilling. He was acting in his own interest, and to save an important client. They paid him almost $52 million in the year 2000, I think it is obvious that they were paying him off to keep their sketchy business practices under wraps. An auditor is supposed to review physical assets, journals and ledgers, and board minutes to ensure that all activity with significant financial implications is adequately disclosed in the financial statements. After reading this case, I can safely say that this was not the what was happening.

Enron- Question #2- John Garrity

In the wake of one of the largest scandals in US history, many of us could just drop our jaws in shock and disgust of how low people in our society get go, pertaining to the burden they put on their shareholders and employees. Fiduciary duty is defined as a person or entity whose property or power is entrusted for the benefit of another. Enron did not carry out their fiduciary even to the smallest extent…the evidence being their secrecy of their partnerships and the selfishness and profit hungry individuals who ended up ruining just about every employees life and retirement funds. The limitation behind the board of trustee’s effectiveness deals with Lay’s secrecy. How can the board of trustee’s be effective when nobody but the high executives knew about the partnerships in the first place? This is true example how what goes on behind closed doors, sometimes stays behind closed doors. We all know that if anybody on the board decided to squeak out any information, many, if not all, would lose their multimillion dollar salaries in an instant. I don’t know about you, but how can a board of trustee’s be effective if they aren’t letting the community around them know about the importance of many things that are going on around the company itself. I understand that some things need to stay out of public view, but the fact of the matter is that if it deals with the company’s well-being and survival of the company, somebody should be relaying that information to their employees. The magnitude of Enron’s problem not only sunk them into jail, it brought down almost every single employee with them.