AI Week 11 Criminal DB 153 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

AI Week 11 Criminal DB 153 - Essay Example It is therefore important to address the issue of whether criminal background should be applied in a blanket manner to influence hiring decisions. According to the every person should be given a second chance at proving their suitability to perform. Employers are faced with the ethical dilemma of balancing the safety of their businesses with fairness and in certain instances declining someone’s application for job could result into legal sues. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the year 2012 released guidelines that prohibit adoption of blanket policies in disqualifying job applicants based on their past criminal records. a past a criminal record doesn’t mean one is incapacitated and EEOC holds that blanket policies treating blacks and Latinos having criminal pasts differently from whites is discriminative and hence illegal. Regardless of whether employers equally apply a law, it is illegal for as longs it harms certain protected groups more than others. This does not prohibit employers from conducting criminal background checks but requires them to prove that their policies are able to link certain c riminal offences and their danger with those risks inherent to particular job positions. In conclusion therefore criminal background checks if not carefully conducted can be discriminative and as such employers are to strive and meet the legal EEOC’S guidelines. Ones criminal past should be checked in terms of nature and gravity, the time that has gone by since one was convicted or completed their sentence and type of job one is applying for. employers should try not apply blanket policies by initiating the criminal backgrounds checks at least at interview level, ensure their policies are in line with necessities of the business, ensure fairness and constantly train the HR teams to apply the best practices of hiring and also

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Marketing - Essay Example 3). E-commerce sites such as Amazon and Play.com are also sources of competitive threat as they provide the facilities for online purchasing. In online purchasing, the consumers have many of the same advantages when it comes to music downloading. Online purchasing offers greater ease of searching and convenience and the consumers can sample the products and read reviews. Online retailers also have the ability to offer a wider selection of titles than it is possible for a high street store like HMV. HMV has a solid platform from which to launch its new drive. As mentioned before, it has a high brand equity in the market. Therefore any initiatives are likely to be welcomed by the market as the consumers have trust in the brand (Kotter & Schlesinger, 2008, p. 138). The management of the company needs to formulate strategies which address the competitive threats from three sources: downloading, online purchasing and supermarkets. The supermarkets which are competing for the same market s hare are Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury. The management of HMV needs to consider the strengths of the competitors and formulate alternative strategies accordingly (Pearlson & Saunders, 2005, p. 19, Wang & Rode, 2010, p. 9). Therefore an industry analysis should be conducted (Pascale & Sternin, 2005, p. 73). The threat of new entrants is minimal because of the high competition. The threat of substitute products comes from online. These two threats combine to create a high threat of competitive rivalry. Buyers do have high bargaining power given the wide choice from online. For the same reasons the artists who provide the content have high bargaining power. Alternative strategic options According to Michael Porter’s theoretical model for strategy formulation, an organization has three competitive strategies available: cost minimization, differentiation and quick focus (Gosling & Mintzberg, 2004, p. 55). In the present context, differentiation is a viable option for HMV. The music an d entertainment retailing company can arrange to maintain a diverse product selection, thus reducing the competitive threat from online companies which are eroding the attractiveness of HMV’s business model by offering a wide selection of titles. Diverse product categories will also help to attract a greater number of market segments, thus enhancing the company’s market exposure (Winfield & Hay, 1997, p. 55). For example, HMV could increase the range of portable digital products. As the popularity of online purchasing grows, so will the demand for portable digital technology. The range of games hardware and software can also be expanded. Nintendo technology has taken the market by storm. Therefore products in this category should be emphasized upon in implementing the differentiation strategy. The pricing structure could be changed to increase demand. HMV is facing competitive pressure from music downloading because downloading facilitates lower prices. However in modi fying the prices, HMV should not forget about maintaining its brand image. If the prices were too low, then it would begin to affect its brand image as the consumers would start to suspect the quality of the products which are priced at such a low level. In pricing its products, HMV has five strategies: skimming pricing, competition pricing, psychological pricing, premium pricing and cost-based pricing (Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 1997, p. 510, Ross & Perry, 2002, p. 121). If HMV were to implement the pricing option, then it would