Ethics In Business: The Bernard Madoff Investment Scandal

Ethics In Business: The Bernard Madoff Investment Scandal The organizational leadership of Bernard Madoff Investments Securities LLC was held by Bernard Madoff himself. Madoffs charismatic leadership style included seducing friends, those in secluded groups, and even his own employees. He seduced his clients by making them to believe they were investing in something special. He would often turn people away, which helped Bernard in courting people and charities with more assets to offer. Bernard Madoff created a system which was promising high returns in short terms and was nothing else but the Ponzi scheme. The systems idea relied on funds from the new investors to pay misrepresented and extremely high returns to the existing investors. He was doing this for years; tempting billions of dollars from wealthy individuals, charities by getting them to invest in his hedge fund. And they did so because of the extremely high returns, which were promised by Madoffs firm. But if anyone would look deeply into the structure of his firm, it would defin itely show that something is wrong. This is because nobody can make such big money, especially if no one else could at the time. How could one person, Madoff, who held all his clients assets, priced, and managed them. It is clearly a conflict of interest. His company was showing profits year after year, despite most of the companies having looses. In fact, Bernard Madoffs case is absolutely amazing, both in its range and in its list of investors who got caught up in it. Bernard Madoff Case Summary Bernard Madoff opened his firm in 1960. His business began to grow when his father-in-law Saul Alpern, who was an accountant, came to the firm. Because there were a lot of competitive firms at that time, Madoff decided to use innovative computer information technology to spread its quotes, which later on became the NASDAQ. This technology provided his firm with a really good income and at this point his securities become the largest buying and selling market maker at the NASDAQ. Eventually, his scheme reached a staggering 50 billion dollars under his management. It came to an end after market conditions let to a considerable amount of redemptions when investors started to take their money back. After Bernard Madoff, former NASDAQ chairman, was arrested on December 11, 2008, he acknowledged that his performance was nothing but the Ponzi scheme. He pled guilty to the biggest investor fraud ever committed by anyone on March 12, 2009. On June 29, 2009 Bernard Madoff was put in jail, and will spending there long 150 years. Stakeholders Madoff was able to align himself with government, rich individuals, and businessmen. This empowered him to have an unlimited access to different groups of investors. Among Madoffs Ponzi scheme victims, it is easy to find wealthy individuals, charitable organizations, and its stakeholders, such as employees, communities, vendors, and government. Investors that took the biggest losses, which was billions, because of this scheme are marked in the Wall Street Journal; among them are Fairfield Greenwich Group, Tremont Capital Management, Banco Santander, Fortis, and others. Investors lost their money because of their lack of conscious and unwillingness to understand or realize that it is impossible to have such high returns in a legally managed investment operation. They also failed to understand that one day they could lose everything. They would rather believe in a fairy tales about high returns in short terms, without any consequences. 7 Steps 1. What are the facts of the case? Madoffs business had obvious facts that showed he was doing a scheme. First of all, because he was being a pioneer in electronic trading, he refused to provide his clients with the on-line access to their accounts and sent out statements by mail. Though, most hedge funds in that time were e-mailing statements to their investors, in order to provide its customers with convenience and the ability to analyze their account. It should have been an important signal to investors, but it was ignored. Secondly, Madoffs firm processed all of its trades and appeared as its own broker-dealer. This made impossible for the outside investors to verify their actual holdings. In fact, one of Madoffs unusual tactics was to get rid of his holdings by selling them at the end of the period. It helped him to avoid filing disclosures of his holdings with the SEC. As well, he was always refusing to talk to any outside audit for the reason of secrecy of his firm. This should raise questions and concerns amongst its investors, but again it did not. The fact that Madoffs fund only had five down months since 1996 could have shown investors that Madoffs business was at least suspicious and warned them to avoid investing in his hedge fund. It is, for sure, impossible in investment or any business to have only a couple down months in more than 10 years of a companys performance. Besides, there are some known factors that helped Madoff to commit his fraud for years, including the following: Madoff had a good reputation in the investment field over the years. Madoff knew how to create the aura of trust. Madoff constantly promised high and stable returns to his investors. 2. What are the ethical issues? In 1980s Bernard Madoff was providing payments to his brokers to perform the customers orders through his brokerage. Later this system received a name, a legal kickback, and because of this he became the biggest dealer in the U.S. stock market. When academics questioned the ethics of these payments, Madoff replied that those payments did not change the price that the customer received, and were a legal business transaction. The SEC investigated Madoffs fraudulent practices and they had concerns that his firm did not show its customers orders to other traders, but they could not find anything illegal in the period from 1999 till 2000. As well, Madoff was too secretive about his investment performance and kept all financial statements closely protected. He usually refused to meet directly with his investors. After some time, he decided to invent a new investment method that was promising constant returns to selected investors, rather than supplying all new investors with high returns. This new innovation was too complicated for outsiders to understand. That should, for sure, raise some questions in his investors, but they did not demand any information and explanation. Of course, there were some investors in the Madoff case that used caution and could see that something is not really clear in his business, and as well because they did not want to lose their money, they removed it. And it was their best decision in regards to this fraud. 3. What are the norms, principles, values related to the case? The culture of a company is heavily influenced by the actions of upper-level management. Their actions are seen by workers throughout the organization and help develop a cultural norm within the company. When lower level employees witness those above them acting unethically, they will think that those actions are acceptable and the norm. This can lead to all types of unethical actions like, fact concealing, budget twisting, and many other unethical actions that were prevalent in the Madoff case. Ethical boundaries arent always clearly defined. The ethical action is not always perfectly obvious, placing investors money into risky investment while trying to gain in the short term is illegal. However, if not done carefully, it could be viewed as unethical. Because of this, it is necessary to train employees in ethical decision making processes. Then they will be able to make the right decision when the ethical thing to do is not completely obvious. In addition, an ethical environment must be set by management, in order to promote good ethical decision making processes. Making the correct decision in an ethical dilemma requires good judgment. Having a good example to follow definitely helps. However, a persons values and beliefs are important in making an ethical decision. If a decision does not seem morally right, then it is most likely not an ethical business decision. Promoting strong values and internal judgment helps employees at all levels of a company behave ethically. 4. What are the alternative courses of action? a) It is very important to provide education to board members about financial and operational matters, as well as analyze and modify all procedures in governance policy and investment policy areas, and always to remember to avoid conflicts of interest in business practice. b) It is also important to provide investors with companys records, for the purpose of due diligence. Inform and explain to the investors about each companys performance, even though it is a time consuming process. This effort will demonstrate a companys commitment to its investors. 5. What is the best course of action? The best course of the action is definitely to be open and clear with investors and committed to the best practices in governance and operations. This will help the company to succeed in the competitive investment environment. 6. What are the consequences of each possible course of action? These actions will open new horizons to interest new investors and will lead the company to profit and success. 7. What is the decision? The shocking Madoff scandal and an unfavorable economy created challenging times for stakeholders. In order foster a competitive environment that will interest new investors, a company needs to legally make profits and always provide clients with all the information. Laws are the minimum code of conduct to which the company has to abide by. The company can always take further actions, beyond what the law requires, in order to ensure investors confidence. What recommendations would you make to your client about the existing 35% investment with Bernard Madoff? I would explain to the client that keeping 35% investment in one investing company can be very risky, especially if the company is Bernie Madoffs which is not regulated or publicly traded. I would further advise my clients the following: Sell off 30% investment with Bernard Madoff. Invest 20% in equity mutual funds. Invest 5% in equity exchange-traded funds. Invest 5% in individual stocks. What recommendation would you make regarding the $100,000 they currently have in cash? I would advise that the $100,000 in cash cleverly would be to invest in different areas, such as in hedge fund the $15,000, Treasuries $25,000, mutual fund $10,000, Madoffs fund $10,000, and the rest $40,000 to spend on buying fixed asset. How would your recommendation be affected if your client tells you that they would like to give the additional $100,000 to Madoff to invest? My recommendation would not change if my client tells me that they would be interested in investing additional money in Madoffs fund. This is because my recommendation is based on the fundamentals of investments. However, I would spend more time explaining to my client the excessive risk they are taking by putting a significant portion of their eggs in one basket. With the information you have at this point in the case, is there anything else that you should do? Definitely, I have to inform the client of a possible risk of investing in Madoffs fund. I will present one some arguments, such as: Bernard Madoff denied outsiders access to records. The company hedge fund was not registered until 2006. Madoffs fund rarely lost its value, even in times of economic downturn. Should you mention to your client that the $5 million in sales may draw the attention of the IRS, because of the relative size of that number compared to the rest of the return? Based on the AICPAs Statements on Standards for Tax Services (SSTS) and Treasury Department Circular 230, which provides authority to the Treasury allowing disbarment or suspension from practice before the IRS, it is not considered unethical to mention to my client that the $5.0 million investment sales can interest and raise questions of the IRS. Though, I should make the client aware that $5 million in sales will be a red flag for the IRS because of its relative size to the rest of the return. At the same time I would need to let the client know that any sales number must be supported by proper documentation that would unquestionably prove its validity. As a professional tax practitioner, I would refrain from making those kinds of comments without any valid evidence. It can even be misleading to the client to give this kind of unsubstantiated advice. Should you discuss with your client the possibility that their account is being churned? I would not discuss with my client the possibility of the account being churned because it is beyond the scope of regular tax preparation. Additionally, churning, if proven can lead to prosecution of the broker since it is considered a fraudulent practice. Churning has been labeled as a falsified practice in 1934. Churning is when stock-brokers execute a large volume of sales on their customers accounts. Since those brokers are earning a commission on each transaction, they get paid more if they execute more transactions. So, those fraudulent brokers would carry out excessive amounts of small transactions, in order to earn their commissions, which would slowly drain the customers account. After awhile, the investors account would be reduced because of the constant charges. Eventually, the customers account would be drained and they would not know how it occurred, or that they had been defrauded. In fact, if I would have suspicion that the clients account is being churned, I should disclose that to the client. Churning is illegal and unethical, and suspected churning should be addressed. I should share with the client that sometimes brokers and traders maliciously trade securities very actively in a brokerage account in order to increase brokerage commissions rather than customer profits. And in this particular case Madoff may be tempted to churn the clients account because Madoffs income is not transparent and could be directly related to the volume of trading of the clients account. Based on the information you have thus far in the case, what further information do you believe you need in order to prepare the tax return with regard to the Madoff investment? I would need following information: The investment sale prices in order to estimate and accurately report capital gain/losses, and include the result in the gain/loss report. The investment purchase prices in order to correctly calculate and report capital gains/losses, and include the result in the gain/loss report. The date of the investment purchase and sale is also important in order to determine if the capital gain is short-term or long-term. As well, I would need the following data to complete the return: Investment sales price. Investment purchase price. Description of the securities purchased and sold during the year. Gain/Loss from the options. Market value of the open options at year-end. For sure, in order to prepare tax return to the Madoffs investment I should obtain all necessary tax forms from Madoffs accounting firm, including a 1099B for sales, 1099DIV or 1099 INT. I cannot just rely on his accountants explanation on how to calculate dividend and interest. Moreover, since options trading is a very complex subject I must do additional research on how to report income on options trading, and be sure that all the necessary tax forms are provided by Madoffs firm. We now know the Madoff investments for some period of time have been fraudulent. Were there indicators that might have caused you to react differently with regard to your clients investment? There were the following indicators: There was no online access to accounts. There was no issuance of forms a) 1099B (for investment sales transactions), b) 1099 DIV, and c) 1099 INT. David G. Friehling, a sole CPA practitioner, audited the hedge fund. Madoff did not file any disclosures of his holdings to the SEC, because he was easily selling his holdings. The business cannot have only couple down months when operating for years, it is impossible. In other words, the Madoff case was filled with signs of fraud that could have led one to think that something was going on and changed the way the average investor feels about investing. Fraud comes in many forms, it can be as simple as taking money from a companys account, or it can become as complex as the Madoff case. In order to catch fraud in companies as complex as Mr. Madoffs, one must pay attention to more subtle signs that could point to fraud. The transparency of Mr. Madoffs company was minimal and should have alerted someone that something was wrong. Mr. Madoff repeatedly denied outsiders access to records, which should have been available. The companys hedge fund was not registered with the SEC until late in 2006, which should have been another sign that something was amiss. This shows that Mr. Madoff had something to hide, because he did not want the SEC evaluating his hedge funds. In addition, the companys auditor was Mr. Madoffs brother-in-law, which opens the door for fraudulent activity. Auditors are supposed to be independent and definitely not family members of the company that they are auditing. This situation becomes more alarming when you consider that Mr. Madoff was frequently opposed to outside audits of any type. A family member as an auditor and a strong resistance to all other audits should have been the first sign that something fraudulent was occurring. Funds managed by Mr. Madoffs company performed so well, that it could have been another clue to the fraud that was taking place. Forecasts were matching outcomes, in areas like earnings per share, to the point that it became unrealistic to be able to forecast that accurately. Earnings per share figures have so many variables that it is nearly impossible to predict them accurately time and time again. In 2008, one of Mr. Madoffs hedge funds, which invested in the SP 500, gained almost 6% in value, while the SP 500 itself was down over 35%. This was yet another clue that something in this company wasnt right. Mr. Madoffs funds rarely lost value, even in times of economic downturn. So, while most investors were losing money in the market, Madoffs funds continued to profit. With the advantage of hindsight, what additional due diligence could you have performed? In regards to Financial Planning: A quick search on Google could have shown that Madoffs practice starting 1990s was exposed to accusations that he was front-running his investors, and the idea of this practice was to buy or sell shares before filling investors orders. All of the articles and complaints about Madoff in the early 2000s would have been revealed as well. Independently investors have to check the stock prices and trades on a daily basis. Dig into the small accounting Firm that audited Madoffs Fund. To check any Web sites in order to gain more information about his practice, such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA. I would quickly come to the conclusion that my client should divest 100% of their investments in Madoffs fund. In regards to tax preparation: Dig further into the multi-page printout of listing of hundreds of transactions. Request for a formal 1099B (for investment sales transactions), 1099 DIV, and 1099 INT. Recalculate the gain/losses reported on the summary sheet. If you run across a similar situation in the future, do you feel any more comfortable about how to handle it? Yes. Would you report such situation to SES, IRS, or other regulatory body? Yes. Madoff stopped trading and has been fabricating investment return of his clients during middle 1990 till 2008. He and his accomplices have committed fraud. The crime was committed based on the value of greed and a get rich quickly scheme. From the investors position, greed is also what fueled billions of dollars to be invested in Madoffs Hedge Fund. Investors should have avoided the following: Invest into an unregulated hedge fund. Too little due diligence. Higher than average returns usually cannot always be realistic. Absence of the audit of financial statements. Now that we know how Madoff performed his Ponzi scheme, we will able to figure out and try to avoid scheme in future, and do not forget to: Broadly analyze the company performance. Watch closely for warning signs. Verify filing with the SEC. Check for the company reputation. 6 Pillars Applied: Responsibility: Though Madoff was performing the investment operations as a Ponzi scheme, but when his investors wanted to have their money back, they got it without any delays. Of course, this does not show his responsibility to all the investors, but a little percentage to those who were smart enough to withdraw their investment from his fund. Those investors definitely were aware that Madoffs firm does not conduct its business transactions according to law and ethics. In fact, Madoff has violated mostly all 6 pillars, such as trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. His only goal was to benefit himself and his family, while completely ignoring the well-being of others. Madoff cared little about those he harmed and only worked to better himself at the expense of others. Therefore, from an ethical perspective, Madoffs scam was a white color crime. White color crime creates victims by establishing trust and respectability. As in this case, victims of white-color crime trusting clients, who believed there were many checks and balances certified the Madoff investment operation as legitimate. Madoff appears to be the classic white-collar criminal. He was an educated and experienced individual in a position of power, trust, respectability, and responsibility, who abused his trust of personal gains. From the inception of his investment business, he knew he was operating a Ponzi scheme and defrauding his clients. As a result, he is serving jail time and will be paying restitution for the rest of his life. In the end, he knew this day would come.

Parker

PARKER : Penning global strategy Ankita Jain Hrishikesh V Nilotpal Sinha Abhinav Sharma Great Lakes Institute of Management November 18, 2011 Caesar had perished from the world of men, had not his sword been rescued by a pen. Abstract In this study, we look at two strategies adopted by Parker Pen. The ? rst is a highly successful strategy of product di? erentiation through technological innovation. The second is an unsuccessful execution of globalization strategy. 1 A brief history of Parker Pen The Parker Pen Company was born in 1888 when George Sta? rd Parker tried to repair some fountain pens that were leaking and in the process began to manufacture his own pens. Six years later in 1894, Parker Pen won the patent of the †Lucky Curve† feed, which was claimed to draw excess ink back into the pen body when the pen was not in use. This technology remained the di? erentiating factor for Parker pens until the arrival of the Duofold in the 1930s. 1 2 The forty years period ra nging from 1920s to the 1960s, in the pre ballpoint pen era, was the golden period of Parker Pen’s reign when it consistently ranked either number one or number two in worldwide writing instrument sales.In 1931 Parker Pen created 1 2 Key words and phrases. Parker Pen, fountain pen, ball-point pen. This study was conducted for completion of the group project for Strategy Execution. 1 the Quink (quick drying ink) which eliminated the need for blotting and led to the development of the most widely used pen in history Parker 51 which generated over $400 million in sales. A Parker pen stood for quality, prestige, tradition, steadfastness and strength highlighted by the fact that Parker pens were the pen of choice to sign important documents in history such as the World War II armistices.Parker Pen expanded its business and by 1980s the company had extended up to 154 countries. The company adopted globalization strategy to establish market presence. However the execution of this st rategy was unsuccessful; the managers failed to create proper marketing strategies that would have made them compete in international markets with inexpensive products from other parts of the world. In 1993 Parker Pen was acquired by the Gillette Company, which already owned the PaperMate brand, one of the best-selling disposable ballpoints.In 2000, Gillette sold the writing instruments division to Newell Rubbermaid, whose own Stationery Division, Sanford, became the largest in the world owning such brand names as Rotring, Sharpie, Reynolds as well as Parker, PaperMate, Waterman and Liquid Paper. In recent years, Parker Pen has abandoned both the entry level market as well as the traditional retail outlets in North America and moved into up-scale luxury retailers. 2 Innovation as a di? erentiation strategy Throughout its history, Parker Pen has used technological innovation as a strategy to di? erentiate itself from the competition.The company has been a pioneer in research on writi ng instruments and introduced several revolutionary products . In this section, we look at some of the iconic products from Parker Pens which have driven both the company as well as the pen market. (The current portfolio of Parker Pen’s products can be found in Ref. [1]) 2. 1 Duofold – 1921 In 1921 the company introduced the Parker Duofold (Ref. [2]) fountain pen. It was a state of the art pen for its time and Parker Pen positioned the Duofold in the premier segment and priced it expensively $7. 00, equivalent to about $85 in 2011.In 1926 the Duofold became the ? rst pen in the world to have a guaranteed life of †forever†. It was an instant success. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used one to write the exploits of Sherlock Holmes. General Douglas MacArthur signed the document ending World War II in the 2 Paci? c with his 20 year old Duofold (Ref. [3]). By the early 1930s the Duofolds design had grown dated in the USA but it remained popular in Europe until the 1960s . In 1988, Parker launched the Duofold Centennial series of pens. The modern Duofold is a key part of Parker Pens product portfolio. . 2 Quink – 1928 In 1928, after three years of research and an investment of $68,000, Parker Pen came up with Quink (a portmanteau word from ’quick’ and ’ink’; also known as Double Quink and Parker 51 Ink) that would eliminate the need for blotting. The success of Quink lay in the fact that it had a number of useful features: it resisted water, it did not clog, it had the desired quality of ink ? ow, it resisted moulding, it was non-corrosive, it did not leave deposits, it did not fade, and, most importantly, it was quick-drying.However, the new ink was strongly alkaline and contained isopropyl alcohol, a solvent not previously used in inks, which often damaged the pen barrels of that time which were manufactured using pyralin. This problem eventually led to the development of the world’s most successful pen, t he Parker 51 in 1941. In 1941, when the Parker 51 was launched, Double Quink was renamed and repackaged as †Parker 51 ink† as a marketing initiative. Parker Pen’s ink sales became the key to maintaining the company’s pro? tability.This revenue generation model is used by the modern day computer printer companies, whose main source of revenue comes from the sale of printer cartridges. Further enhancements were made to Parker Pen inks with its revolutionary †Super Chrome† ink. This ink was marketed in 1947 after a research period that lasted 17 years and cost over $200,000. This was the ? rst basic ink improvement in the last three centuries. Today, more than seventy years later, Quink is still the world’s biggest selling pen ink. 2. 3 Vacumatic – 1933 The Parker Vacumatic (Ref. 4]) fountain pen was introduced in 1933, as a replacing the Duofold as Parker’s top-of-the-line product. The Vacumatic featured a new ? lling mechanis m which boasted a much higher ink capacity than the Duofold. The pen remained Parkers top-of-the-line product until the launch of the Parker 51 in 1941. The US production continued through 1948, and until 1953 in Canada. 3 2. 4 Parker 51 – 1941 In 1941 Parker Pen introduced the Parker 51 (Ref. [5]) which arguably is the best pen of all time both in terms of popularity and sales. General Eisenhower signed the victory in Europe in 1944.The futuristic design of the Parker 51 heralded as †Ten Years Ahead† of its time, a revolutionary pen, with its hooded, tubular nib and multi-? nned collector, all designed to work in conjunction with the pen’s proprietary ink, allowing the nib to stay wet and lay down an even line with either the ultra-fast drying ink or more traditional inks. It was advertised as the ’The Worlds Most Wanted Pen’ which created huge demand which took Parker several years to ful? l. By 1970, the Parker 51 generated over $400 millio n in sales, higher than that generated by any single pen ever. 2. 5Jotter – 1954 In the 1940, the world had seen a ? erce battle for market share fought between the traditional fountain pens and the new ballpoint pens. Despite some initial success, ballpoint pens died a consumer death and by 1951, the fountain pen became the pen of choice of the world. In 1954, Parker Pens introduced its ? rst ballpoint pen, the Jotter which wrote ? ve times longer than the best ballpoint pens available in the market, the Eversharp and the Reynolds ballpoint pens. It was the introduction of Jotter that revived the ballpoint pen market. Parker sold 3. 5 million Jotters at $2. 5 to $8. 75 in less than one year. In 1957, Parker Pen introduced the T-ball Jotter with tungsten carbide textured ball bearing which to this date remains an industry standard. The famed styling of the Parker Duofold was revived in 1972 as a ball pen and within the next decade, ballpoint pens overtook fountain pen as the number choice of pen in the world. 3 Rise of competition – 1980s After about a century of dominating the ? ne writing instrument market, Parker Pen entered into a period of crisis in the 1980s and the reason for this was that the company was driven by the wrong strategy.Parker was facing competition from three fronts. First, the Japanese were mass marketing cheaper and disposable pens and had captured a large portion of the low end market in USA and Europe and were gradually eating into Parker Pen’s market share. Second, like the Japanese, American brands such as Paper Mate, Bic, Pilot, and Pentel had created signi? cance presence in the low end segment and gradually eroding and were pulling away parker Pen’s customer. Third, in the high 4 end segment which had been Parker Pens main target segment, competition had become ? ercer with reputed German brands such as Montblanc and A.T. Cross making progress in the European markets. 4 Globalization strategy – 1982 Parker Pen faced two contrasting challenges. On one side the weakened dollar generated high foreign revenue since about 80% of the company’s sales were abroad, the pro? ts derived from those sales represented even big pro? ts when translated to local currency. But on the other side, this over dependency on foreign sales exposed the company to foreign competitors, especially the inexpensive brands from Japan which used low pricing as a strategy to compete in the international market.Parker Pen realized that a competitive strategy based on product di? erentiation through technological innovation was not su? cient to thwart the challenge from competitors. In 1982, James R. Peterson became the CEO of Parker Pen,having joined it from Reynolds. He was given the responsibility of reinventing the brand. Peterson decided to launch a global marketing campaign to target all market segments. A consequence of the decision to adopt globalization was standardization. Everything includi ng products as well as marketing campaign was to be standardized for all the markets across the world. Issues in executing globalization strategy When Peterson took over Parker, he was met by a highly proud, mismanaged company that prided itself on its extensive decentralization. The atmosphere re? ected the founders pride in the fact that they had a unique pen for every place in the world. They were a federation of autonomous geographical units. It became immediately clear to Peterson that huge changes were on the anvil. The immediate problems were twofold. The ? rst was the products positioning. Having positioned itself at the higher end of the market for a signi? ant part of the previous century, it had now began to face problems with regard to its image. It was clear that a complete clarity of its brand positioning and image was essential. The second issue that confronted Peterson was its complete ine? ciency in managing its product portfolio. When Peterson entered Parker, it di dnt even have a proper idea of the range of products that it was manufacturing. It was a situation of complete chaos 5 with more than 500 products in simultaneous existence. Its decentralized structure had completely turned against its pro? ability, resulting in every distant subsidiary and distributor involved developing a customized product for that particular market. While the company was proud of its decentralized multinational structure, it was ailing on account of an obvious lack of economies of scale and a uni? ed command and strategy. The company clearly lacked a common driving force across markets. However, this decentralization had its positive aspects as well, most notably in the area of advertising. Pens meant and mean di? erent things to di? erent people.While the Europeans tended to choose a pen based on its style and feel, people in less-developed countries tended to see a pen as nothing more than a badge of literacy. Within Europe itself for instance, tastes tended t o vary from one country to another. While the French showed a de? nite attachment to the fountain pen, the Scandinavians favoured the ballpoint pen. The company justi? ed the existence of numerous advertising agencies in its employ feeling that while it bred a certain amount of ine? ciency, it paid o? from a sales standpoint. Many individual advertising ? ms were able to develop excellent customized messages for their audience that successfully struck a responsive chord within them. For instance, the Lowe Howard-Spink agency in London was able to make the UK division of Parker the most pro? table division during its tenure. Its creative genius is clearly visible in the advertisement that it created showing a dead plumber with a giant Parker pen protruding from his heart. The situation seemed bleak to Peterson. He immediately implemented a strategy by which Parker would position itself in the entry-level segment.He felt that in the face of the trends at that time, this would be the i deal positioning that would succeed in turning around the company. He also dissociated Parker from the numerous advertising ? rms that it was associated with, retaining only one, Ogilvy and Mather, to oversee a worldwide common strategy in terms of communication and advertising. However, this strategy failed miserably on two counts. It failed to provide a customized communication strategy to each market and thus failed to account for the cultLural di? erences across geographies.It also failed to leverage the premium positioning of the brand and reduced it to an entry-level brand. 5. 1 Two speci? c cases of execution failures The following examples show two speci? c cases of execution failure by Parker Pen. 6 (a) At a corporate level, Parker Pen targeted almost all market segments. However at the business level, management failed to introduce products which would cover the market segments with middle and lower income levels. This allowed competitors with inexpensive products to take up the market. (b) Some of the marketing campaign failed to adjust to the local environment.For example, when Parker Pen ? rst expanded their market to Latin America, they wanted their advertisement to say, †It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you. † The company did not realize that the Spanish word †embarazar † has two meanings; it means †to embarrass,† and it also means to †impregnate. † So, to some unsuspecting people, the ad read: †It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant. † (Ref. [6]) 6 Acquisition of Parker by Gillette and beyond In May 1993, Gillette announced its acquisition of Parker Pen Holdings Ltd (Ref. [7]). (See Exhibit X).This made Gillette the world leader in the pen market. Gillette took an after-tax charge of $164 million for a reorganization of its overseas operations, including the integration of the Parker Pen facilities into the Gillette structure. Nearly 2000 jobs were l ost as a result of this restructuring process. Gillette sold the writing instruments division to Newell Rubbermaid, whose own stationery division, Sanford became the largest in the world with brand names such as Rotring, Sharpie, Reynolds as well as Parker, PaperMate, Waterman and Liquid Paper under its umbrella.The next few years were one of a complete downsizing of Parker, marked by job losses across the board. In July 2009, the 180 workers at the Parker headquarters of Newhaven, UK were given notice that the factory was going to be shut down on account of the production moving to France. On August 18, 2009, Newell Rubbermaid announced that Janesville Wisconsin would close the remaining operations of Parker. This resulted in the loss of 153 jobs. According to the company, †This decision is a response to structural issues accelerated by market trends and is in no way a re? ction on the highly valued work performed by our Janesville employees over the years. † Newell Rub bermaid stated an o? er of transitional employment services and severance bene? ts. What remained of the Parker brand was moved to the upscale segment of the writing instrument market and was sold via luxury retailers. Traditional retail outlets were abandoned. This completely removed the brand from the entry level segment of the market. 7 In 2011, Parker Pen announced the ? nest innovation in the history of writing, Parker 5TH Technology which o? ers a genuine ? th way of writing. Until then the world knew only four forms of ? ne writing – fountain pen, ball point, roller ball and the mechanical pencil. ground-breaking innovation has rea? rmed placed Parker as leaders in terms of both innovation and market share. 7 7. 1 Exhibits Financial statement 8 7. 2 Product display Duofold – Lucky 8 Limited Edition Ingenuity Parker 51 9 7. 3 Current product portfolio TABLE I T ype Ink Quink Fountain Pen Duofold, Premier, Sonnet, Vector, IM Ballpoint pen 7. 4 M odel Facet, Execut ive, Esprit, Frontier, Urban, I. M. , Vector JotterAcquisition of Parker by Gillette References [1] http://parkerpens. net/catalogue/parker catalogue 2009. pdf [2] http://www. parkerpen. com/en/discovery/range/iconic/duofold [3] http://www. patricktaylor. com/parker-duofold [4] http://www. vintagepens. com/Parker Vacumatics. shtml [5] http://www. pentrace. net/penbase/Data Returns/full article. asp? id=468 [6] http://parkerpens. blogspot. com/2007/09/advertizing-campaings-that-wentwrong. html [7] http://www. nytimes. com/1993/05/08/business/company-news-gillette-completesacquisition-of-parker-pen. html 10

Impact Of Technology On Education And Society - 1139 Words

To whom this may concern, Recently the school board has been debating on whether they want to start â€Å"Shut Down Your Screen Week†, a campaign dedicated to getting students to not use any form of electronic media for an entire week. Though this campaign is only being aimed towards students, the loss of modern technology and media if directed towards parents and teachers would make their jobs much more difficult is not impossible. With that said, â€Å"Shut Down Your Screen Week† should not be implemented due to technology’s growing importance in education and society. To begin, most of us already know that students of the 21st century are quite tech savvy meaning they use technology periodically and get a great amount of use from it. Judging by the amount of time spent on these devices, it should be obvious that many students use these devices for reasons beneficial to their education. For example, is a student is having a difficult time completing a homework assignment, the internet will always have sources for the research needed for their assignment or tutorials on how to do certain math problems. Though it can be argued that technology isn’t allowing us to think deeply about certain things as said by this quote, â€Å"The fact is, you’ll never think deeply if you’re always Googling, texting, and surfing.†- The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, it can easily be argued that from the research and information gathered from the internet can be used in a productiveShow MoreRelatedImpact Of Technology On Education And Society1139 Words   |  5 Pagescampaign is only being aimed towards students, the loss of modern technology and media if directed towards parents and teachers would make their jobs much more difficult is not impossible. With that said, â€Å"Shut Down Your Screen Week† should not be implemented due to technology’s growing importance in education and society. To begin, most of us already know that students of the 21st century are quite tech savvy meaning they use technology periodically and get a great amount of use from it. Judging byRead MoreTechnology And Society : Impact Of Technology On Society1511 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Technology has impacted people, businesses and society as a whole. The roles that technology has played on communication, business and education have been more than impactful. As the power of computers continue to increase with help from databases, social networking and businesses, it adds an increase to office productivity compared to using typewriters, and filing cabinets. Although there are plenty of good things about technology, the way we use it determines if it impacts are positiveRead MoreThe Concept Of E Learning Inclusion Into An Education Essay1555 Words   |  7 PagesThe Concept of e-learning inclusion into an education begins with the teacher and the manner in which they teach. A simple explanation of the view is that the teacher is the final authority and source of knowledge.The problem for many teachers is transition of teaching in manner than accommodate the use of technology. Mining how they have previously been teaching with the use of technology which gives birth to e-learning. In e-learning, Technology is simply a mean that teachers may use in differentRead MoreEffects Of Technology On Society792 Words   |  4 Pages How Technology Affects Society Without technology, would the world people live in today be as successful? Bill Gates once stated, â€Å"’The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency.’ ‘The second is that automation is applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.’† Although some people feel that technology makes a negative impact on society, it does not. Technology has improved theRead MoreImpact Of Technological Advancement On Education1071 Words   |  5 PagesTechnological Advancement In Education. â€Å"Education is evolving due to the impact of Internet. We cannot teach our students in the same manner in which we are taught† –April Chamberlain. In the present generation, the technology available in comparison to the technology preceding this generation is great and powerful. It has changed tremendously in globalized system. Technology advancement made in education has made student to access stored information because of these development, it is easy to getRead MoreImpact Of Technology On Society1007 Words   |  5 PagesResearch Essay: Impact of technology in our society There is no doubt that technology has been bettering the way that we learn and makes it more enjoyable and easier than ever. No more fear from going to school early, meet teachers and waste time looking for books on large library shelves. Nowadays with the modern technology people save time, money and energy. They can do a vast number of important things in brief time, with a simple click even while staying in their beds. Of course, not everythingRead MoreTech vs Men1223 Words   |  5 PagesJune 2013 Technology and Social behavior. When human beings are supposed to be free by nature, the truth is that we possess an obvious tendency to live under certain regimes that mark us and define us throughout our lives. We are creating in our own environment some features that enslave us but we are curiously interested to maintain. The essay is to support the idea that men,from birth, is victim of a consecutive series of technological regimes that has as a result an impact on society. It is aRead MoreTechnology And Its Impact On Society1198 Words   |  5 PagesTechnology is used on a daily basis to accomplish specific tasks or interests. Modern technology increases human capabilities and this technology has evolved with years. Technology simplifies life in so many ways and everyone defines technology in their own way. They’re new types of technology on the market, this technology simplifies our daily lives. They’re endless demands as consumers of technology, people use technology to accomplish simple tasks every day. Technology’s used in business, educationRead MoreTechnology Has Changed Our Society Essay1425 Words   |  6 PagesRATIONALE The predominance of technology has significantly influenced our society. Technology is being used all over the place, anywhere and is instant. When we say technology, it can mean a lot of things. But according to the New Zealand Ministry of Education, â€Å"technology is the use of practical and intellectual resources to develop products and systems (technological outcomes) that expand human possibilities by addressing needs and realising opportunities.† Technology is currently more complex andRead MoreTechnology, Social Media, And Education890 Words   |  4 PagesThe three most significant new developments in society during my lifetime thus far would be: technology, social media, and education. For my father, the three most significant new developments in society throughout his lifetime would be the Soviet/Afghan War, migration, and technology. In the past decade, technology has revolutionized the way humans in society today think, speak, work and communicate. With the rapid progression of technology, the world has become a smaller place; keeping in touch Impact Of Technology On Education And Society - 1139 Words To whom this may concern, Recently the school board has been debating on whether they want to start â€Å"Shut Down Your Screen Week†, a campaign dedicated to getting students to not use any form of electronic media for an entire week. Though this campaign is only being aimed towards students, the loss of modern technology and media if directed towards parents and teachers would make their jobs much more difficult is not impossible. With that said, â€Å"Shut Down Your Screen Week† should not be implemented due to technology’s growing importance in education and society. To begin, most of us already know that students of the 21st century are quite tech savvy meaning they use technology periodically and get a great amount of use from it. Judging by the amount of time spent on these devices, it should be obvious that many students use these devices for reasons beneficial to their education. For example, is a student is having a difficult time completing a homework assignment, the internet will always have sources for the research needed for their assignment or tutorials on how to do certain math problems. Though it can be argued that technology isn’t allowing us to think deeply about certain things as said by this quote, â€Å"The fact is, you’ll never think deeply if your always Googling, texting, and surfing.†- The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, it can easily be argued that from the research and information gathered from the internet can be used in a productiveShow MoreRelatedImpact Of Technology On Education And Society1139 Words   |  5 Pagescampaign is only being aimed towards students, the loss of modern technology and media if directed towards parents and teachers would make their jobs much more difficult is not impossible. With that said, â€Å"Shut Down Your Screen Week† should not be implemented due to technology’s growing importance in education and society. To begin, most of us already know that students of the 21st century are quite tech savvy meaning they use technology periodically and get a great amount of use from it. Judging byRead MoreTechnology And Society : Impact Of Technology On Society1511 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Technology has impacted people, businesses and society as a whole. The roles that technology has played on communication, business and education have been more than impactful. As the power of computers continue to increase with help from databases, social networking and businesses, it adds an increase to office productivity compared to using typewriters, and filing cabinets. Although there are plenty of good things about technology, the way we use it determines if it impacts are positiveRead MoreThe Concept Of E Learning Inclusion Into An Education Essay1555 Words   |  7 PagesThe Concept of e-learning inclusion into an education begins with the teacher and the manner in which they teach. A simple explanation of the view is that the teacher is the final authority and source of knowledge.The problem for many teachers is transition of teaching in manner than accommodate the use of technology. Mining how they have previously been teaching with the use of technology which gives birth to e-learning. In e-learning, Technology is simply a mean that teachers may use in differentRead MoreEffects Of Technology On Society792 Words   |  4 Pages How Technology Affects Society Without technology, would the world people live in today be as successful? Bill Gates once stated, â€Å"’The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency.’ ‘The second is that automation is applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.’† Although some people feel that technology makes a negative impact on society, it does not. Technology has improved theRead MoreImpact Of Technological Advancement On Education1071 Words   |  5 PagesTechnological Advancement In Education. â€Å"Education is evolving due to the impact of Internet. We cannot teach our students in the same manner in which we are taught† –April Chamberlain. In the present generation, the technology available in comparison to the technology preceding this generation is great and powerful. It has changed tremendously in globalized system. Technology advancement made in education has made student to access stored information because of these development, it is easy to getRead MoreImpact Of Technology On Society1007 Words   |  5 PagesResearch Essay: Impact of technology in our society There is no doubt that technology has been bettering the way that we learn and makes it more enjoyable and easier than ever. No more fear from going to school early, meet teachers and waste time looking for books on large library shelves. Nowadays with the modern technology people save time, money and energy. They can do a vast number of important things in brief time, with a simple click even while staying in their beds. Of course, not everythingRead MoreTech vs Men1223 Words   |  5 PagesJune 2013 Technology and Social behavior. When human beings are supposed to be free by nature, the truth is that we possess an obvious tendency to live under certain regimes that mark us and define us throughout our lives. We are creating in our own environment some features that enslave us but we are curiously interested to maintain. The essay is to support the idea that men,from birth, is victim of a consecutive series of technological regimes that has as a result an impact on society. It is aRead MoreTechnology And Its Impact On Society1198 Words   |  5 PagesTechnology is used on a daily basis to accomplish specific tasks or interests. Modern technology increases human capabilities and this technology has evolved with years. Technology simplifies life in so many ways and everyone defines technology in their own way. They’re new types of technology on the market, this technology simplifies our daily lives. They’re endless demands as consumers of technology, people use technology to accomplish simple tasks every day. Technology’s used in business, educationRead MoreTechnology Has Changed Our Society Essay1425 Words   |  6 PagesRATIONALE The predominance of technology has significantly influenced our society. Technology is being used all over the place, anywhere and is instant. When we say technology, it can mean a lot of things. But according to the New Zealand Ministry of Education, â€Å"technology is the use of practical and intellectual resources to develop products and systems (technological outcomes) that expand human possibilities by addressing needs and realising opportunities.† Technology is currently more complex andRead MoreTechnology, Social Media, And Education890 Words   |  4 PagesThe three most significant new developments in society during my lifetime thus far would be: technology, social media, and education. For my father, the three most significant new developments in society throughout his lifetime would be the Soviet/Afghan War, migration, and technology. In the past decade, technology has revolutionized the way humans in society today think, speak, work and communicate. With the rapid progression of technology, the world has become a smaller place; keeping in touch