Description
Graduate Programs Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards (DB) are a key component of online learning. They foster active participation of learners and dialogue with fellow learners and instructors. Graduate-level courses require learners to create original posts to course DBs and to engage in dialogue by responding to posts created by others throughout the course. Original posts and responses should be substantive, and if references are made to the works of others, APA guidelines for in-text citations and references apply.
Minimum Weekly DB Expectations
- Post an original and thoughtful Main Post to the DB prompt.
- Respond to at least 2 other posts from learners and/or the instructor (Response Posts).
- The first contribution (Main Post or Response Post) must be posted before midnight (Central time) on Friday of each week.
- Two additional responses are required after Friday of each week.
- For DB assignment prompts with a Part One and Part Two, Part One should be addressed in the first week of the unit with a Main Post and minimum of 2 Response Posts, and Part Two should be addressed in the second week of the unit with a Main Post and a minimum of 2 Response Posts.
More on DBs
At the end of each unit, DB participation is assessed based on level of engagement and the quality of the contribution to the discussion. DBs allow learners to learn through sharing ideas and experiences as they relate to course content. Because it is not possible to engage in two-way dialogue after a conversation has ended, no posts to the DB are accepted after the end of the unit. Learners must demonstrate an appropriate depth of understanding of course content to receive credit for having submitted substantive posts. Typically, this is achieved with 3–4 strong paragraphs for Main Posts and 2–3 strong paragraphs for Response Posts.
This DB has three parts:
- Compare and contrast vertical and horizontal integration. What are some of the variables make each of these integrations valuable? Provide an example of a vertical and a horizontal integration that has happened recently.
- In what circumstances should an organization consider diversification as a viable strategy?
- What benefit does a global strategy provide an organization? Describe a situation when a global strategy would not be a viable solution for an organization.
In your own words, please post a response to the Discussion Board and comment on other postings. You will be graded on the quality of your postings.
H
Jason Heyland
Reply
UNIT 4 – DISCUSSION BOARD – PART 1
Thu 6/15/2023 9:14 PM
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Jason Heyland
Business Research for Decision Making: MGT600
Unit 4 Discussion Board – Part 1
For this week’s discussion board, we’re going to discuss horizontal and vertical integration from a business perspective. Both of these integrations have to do with and revolve around strategies to expand a business. However, what are they and are there any differences?
When a business expands by acquiring another company in the same line of business and products it’s called horizontal integration (Surbhi, S. 2021). An example could be a franchise owner of a McDonald’s deciding to purchase a second McDonald’s franchise to have two stores. Another example could be two like companies deciding to merge to create an even bigger company. The point of horizontal integration is an attempt to lessen or eliminate the competition by the expansion of the business.
Let’s move onto vertical integration. This type of integration is similar to horizontal integration because the goal of this type of integration is also to expand the business. However, there also some important differences. The biggest difference is that with a vertical integration one company is trying to attempt to gain control over the entire industry in which it serves with mergers and acquisitions and deals more with supply chain (Surbhi, S. 2021).
When thinking of examples of vertical integration try to think of companies that manufacture and distribute their own products. Think of it like cutting out as many “middle men” as possible. There is a movie called American Gangster with Denzel Washington as the lead character that comes to mind when thinking of vertical integration. That was an illegal business, but the same ideas apply. When you have control over the supply and distribution of the best products in the world you are certainly going to have the advantage. The movie is based on a true story and is a pretty good watch. It’s also a great example of diversification within a business to create more market share.
Now that I’ve mentioned diversification, at what time should a company decide to diversify? There could be a number of reasons for this. One reason might be that revenue of the business has plateaued so to speak so it may be time to think of new ways to create more revenue. Diversification is a way to make that happen. Another reason could be that there is just too much competition in the current lines of business to remain competitive. It could even be that the owners are very aggressive and want to try and take over their whole industry.
*I will cover question three in week two of Unit 4.
References
Surbhi, S. (2021, July 27). Difference Between Horizontal and Vertical Integration. Key
Differences. https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-horizontal-and-vertical- integration.html