The metaphor of corporate ‘parenting’ seems insightful, yet like all metaphors it can mislead. When might parenting be an inappropriate guide to the proper corporate strategic management of an SBU portfolio?
What will be an ideal response?
One assumption here is that parents know what is best for their offspring. Sadly, the real world of
parenting too often indicates otherwise. Some parents offer no useful guidance at all, allowing
wayward offspring to make disastrous errors. Some encourage their children to pursue their own
(perhaps idiosyncratic, unrealistic or failed) ambitions. Yet others mean well, but bring up their
children in a punitive, adversarial and ultimately dysfunctional environment that harms rather than
helps the juvenile. Analogies exist in the corporate world for all of these scenarios. A further
limitation of the metaphor is that ‘adopted children’ i.e. corporate acquisitions may actually be more
experienced and worldly-wise that their ‘parents’. Does it make sense to acquire an enterprise made
succesful by a founder-entrepreneur or a capable management team and then tell them what they are
doing wrong?
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The purchasing process is part of the ____ process for a merchandising firm
a. order-to-cash b. purchase-to-pay c. conversion d. general ledger/financial reporting
The three types of business activities in which all corporations engage are _______________________, ______________________, and _____________________
Fill in the blank(s) with correct word
To achieve the goals of inventory management, operations managers should ask this: ______?
A. How much inventory should we order or produce B. What products should we offer C. At what price should we offer a product D. What level of quality should we offer
Describe, in general terms, how the SCOR model works. What are the benefits to firms using this model?