Strategic Issues Facing Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin is a global security Company that employs about 136,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. It was formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. It has its Headquarters in Bethesda, MD (Maryland). The Corporation reported 2009 sales of $45.2 billion, a backlog of $78 billion, and cash flow from operations of $3.2 billion. Lockheed Martin is one of the biggest Defense Contractors in the world. One of the biggest news in 2010 was that the United States had decided to buy up to 2443 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets. The F-35, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, is the U.S. defense department’s costliest weapons purchase at up to $382 billion over the next two decades. This makes it the biggest military deal ever. All this helps to pose an interest in this company. Cost Surge: The Lockheed Martin F-35 program is facing manufacturing inefficiencies, part problems and at least six engineering technical challenges as stated by the U.S Government Accountability Office (GAO). As such costs have grown and scheduled extensions are likely. Company’s contribution to the National Economy A large part of Q2 GDP performance, 0.39% of total GDP growth 1.6% for the U.S owes thanks to wars and general defense. The defense sector of which Lockheed Martin is a part has contributed heavily to the country’s overall GDP. Lockheed Martin is also involved in other public activities. Company’s contribution to the Regional Economy Lockheed Martin is a global security organization with its reach in countries and regions like Canada, United Kingdom, Africa, Europe, and Middle East, the Americas, Asia Pacific and Australia. Lockheed Martin has customers around the world and has partners in more than 50 countries outside the United States. Furthermore it has helped countries like Turkey by enhancing their defense capabilities. Recent Strategic Choice Lockheed Martin completed the divestiture of its Enterprise Integration Group business to Veritas Capital on November 23rd, 2010 for $815 million and also plans to sell off PAE in 2011. Source of Information on the Company: www.lockheedmartin.com (355 Words) Executive Summary This assignment basically tells about the Defense Industry, discussing one of the major Defense contractors in detail in the world and other variables linked to the industry and the company alike. This project covers a lot of areas, using various tools for the purpose of analysis based on facts and our judgment. There are a few models used in this project to assess the state of the company and the industry alike; the first being the Industry Life Cycle which specifies where the defense industry currently stands whether it is introduction, growth, maturity or decline. Another model used such as the Key Factors for Success is used to determine basically what factors any given company needs to survive in the defense industry. Another one would be Porter’s Five Forces which determines the forces affecting the company. These are models based on factors relating to the industry. The other three models used are based on the company itself including SWOT which analyzes a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; SFAS which take the most critical two factors of the lot; and TOWS Matrix which helps to devise new strategies in regard to SWOT factors. After an in depth analysis, the current company performance is assessed based on efficiency, effectiveness and return to investors in regard with their recent strategic choice. Review of options is the next step in the project which takes into account the strategies formulated in the TOWS Matrix and determining which ones are the most important or critical to implement. The next area which is implementation of strategies provides an overview of if the future strategies can be deployed effectively and efficiently based on factors like structure, systems and policies. And the last part of the project determines the usefulness of all the six models used in the project. (300 Words) The Defense Industry as you see is in the Growth phase of the Industry Life cycle. A few leading firms in the industry and the ones that are surviving are huge firms like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. These leading giants continue to innovate and create new products and services and refine old ones in order to stay in the game. The defense industry is basically a never dying industry due to the global conditions and national security challenges faced by the different nations of the world. Companies like Lockheed Martin have been there for 16 years now. There are several reasons on why the Defense Industry is in the growth stage. To begin with, despite the time the defense companies have been around, they continuously monitor customer needs and introduce new products and technologies into the market. This leads to increase in sales and growth. For example, the recent development of the F-35 fighter jet which was made possible with the collaboration between Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems has given the defense industry a new source of life. It is a new innovative product, which will intrigue customers to buy it and hence resulting in increased sales and ultimately growth. Technology development, innovation and engineering are the core areas of the defense industry. Companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing analyze these areas and respond accordingly. They keep up with changing times by introducing new products and technologies keeping the Defense Industry well in the Growth phase. Moreover it can be said that the Defense Industry is in the High Growth part of the Growth phase. Why it can be said so is because although the sales are increasing, the increase in sales is not exceptionally high. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the Aerospace and Defense sector in the period 2005-2009 was 8.7%. The sector grew by 0.4% in 2009 compared to 10.4% in the previous year. As said before, the Defense Industry is a never dying Industry and it continues to grow year by year by providing new technologies, weapons and advanced warfare systems. These Key Factors listed above are very important to survive in the Defense Industry. Taking Innovation and Technological advancement first, these are two of the most important factors for success in the Defense Industry. The giants in the industry like Boeing and Lockheed Martin have to keep up with changing times by providing or innovating new technologies and products. The National demands for defense technology are very high. And hence, the defense companies need to have advanced technology and innovative and creative personnel in order to deliver to the nation and hence succeed in the defense sector. The quality of the products is also very important. Customers can switch between defense contractors if they are not satisfied with the quality. The reliability of the products is also an important factor in the Defense Industry. As the products are designed for Warfare, product reliability is very crucial. Cost effectiveness is also among the most important factors in the Defense Industry. Every country has a defense budget. The Defense companies have to comply with the budget. Companies also need to have a skilled workforce in order to deal with complicated tasks including the likes of manufacturing military aircrafts. Diversification is also a very important factor to survive in the defense industry. Companies like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing are heavily diversified into related markets including manufacturing naval shipbuilding, aircrafts, helicopters etc. Also, Defense companies need to have government contacts in order to carry out Lobbying. Overall Lockheed Martin is fairing pretty well in the Defense Industry. Although, compared to Boeing and Northrop Grumman, it has a few shortcomings in areas like being Cost Effective; it is handling the other key factors very well. It is well above the average level of operations in the defense sector. Porter’s Five Forces Threat of New Entrants (Low): The threat of new entrants is quite low in the Aerospace and Defense Industry. Few factors like very high capital requirements to sustain operations, having highly differentiated products act as entry barriers into the industry. The defense industry has a few big firms including Lockheed Martin, Boeing etc. who are very well established. Their products are highly differentiated, acting as a barrier; also the customers are reluctant to switch to a new company’s product because personnel have to be trained again in order to use the new products raising switching costs. Companies in the defense industry need to have a huge amount of capital in order to sustain activities like building military aircrafts, naval ships etc. A new company will not have a large customer base and hence won’t achieve economies of scale in order to reduce per head costs. Rivalry among Existing Firms (High): The rivalry among existing firms in the Defense industry is quite high. The leading Defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman have intense competition over winning defense contracts. As the firms in this Industry are few, they analyze each other’s move very carefully and issue counter moves accordingly. Firms in the defense sector use innovation and new technology to in order to differentiate their service and deliver better than the competitor which ultimately increases competitive rivalry. Threat of substitutes (Low): There are actually no real substitutes for the defense industry. The military aircrafts, equipments, and other systems cannot be replaced with anything else. For example, considering the commercial aircraft segment in the Aerospace and Defense Industry, there are alternatives like Rail Transport which may act as a possible threat due to factors like global warming and carbon footprints. But, the Defense Sector doesn’t have any substitute. For example, a country’s Air Force cannot be replaced by zero emission gliders; it has to be military aircrafts. It is because they cannot serve the same purpose. A nation’s Defense Sector cannot be substituted as they are the only ones who can serve the National Security purpose. Bargaining power of Buyers (Low): The bargaining power of buyers is low in the Defense sector. Although, the buyers have some financial muscle as they are mostly Government organizations, this power is somewhat diluted as the government needs the defense systems and programs. It is very important to the government. Now, companies in the Defense Industry like Lockheed Martin don’t just provide military aircraft and hardware like missiles and other weapon systems but also cater to the repair and logistic needs of their buyers. This means that it increases switching cost for the buyers and hence reduces buying power. The differentiated products provided by the Defense companies also decreases buyer power. For example, a product specially designed by Lockheed Martin like the Exoskeletal Load Carrier HULC cannot be designed by Boeing and vice versa. Bargaining power of Suppliers (Low): The bargaining power of suppliers is low in the Defense Industry. Firstly, there are many suppliers to choose from. Also, there is no switching cost considering the suppliers which makes the power of the suppliers weak. The supplier costs also don’t form a large part of the organization. In the defense industry, the defense company’s major costs are in regard with RStrategic Issues Facing Lockheed Martin
Mathematics homework help. Planning an IT Infrastructure Audit for ComplianceDue Week 10 and worth 200 pointsNote:ÿChapter 5 of the required textbook may be helpful in the completion of the assignment.The audit planning process directly affects the quality of the outcome. A proper plan ensures that resources are focused on the right areas and that potential problems are identified early. A successful audit first outlines the objectives of the audit, the procedures that will be followed, and the required resources.Choose an organization you are familiar with and develop an eight to ten (8-10) page IT infrastructure audit for compliance in which you:Define the following items for an organization you are familiar with:ScopeGoals and objectivesFrequency of the auditDuration of the auditIdentify the critical requirements of the audit for your chosen organization and explain why you consider them to be critical requirements.Choose privacy laws that apply to the organization, and suggest who is responsible for privacy within the organization.Develop a plan for assessing IT security for your chosen organization by conducting the following:Risk managementThreat analysisVulnerability analysisRisk assessment analysisExplain how to obtain information, documentation, and resources for the audit.Analyze how each of the seven (7) domains aligns within your chosen organization.Align the appropriate goals and objectives from the audit plan to each domain and provide a rationale for your alignment.Develop a plan that:Examines the existence of relevant and appropriate security policies and procedures.Verifies the existence of controls supporting the policies.Verifies the effective implementation and ongoing monitoring of the controls.Identify the critical security control points that must be verified throughout the IT infrastructure, and develop a plan that includes adequate controls to meet high-level defined control objectives within this organization.Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment.ÿNote:ÿWikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student?s name, the professor?s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:Describe the parameters required to conduct and report on IT infrastructure audit for organizational compliance.Describe the components and basic requirements for creating an audit plan to support business and system considerationsDevelop IT compliance audit plansUse technology and information resources to research issues in security strategy and policy formation.Write clearly and concisely about topics related to information technology audit and control using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.Mathematics homework help
Review The Power of Good Design and select three of the ten principles noted for good design. Next in R,
Review The Power of Good Design and select three of the ten principles noted for good design. Next in R, utilize these three principles in a problem that you will solve. First note the problem to solve, the dataset (where the information was pulled from), and what methods you are going to take to solve the problem. Ensure the problem is simple enough to complete within a two-page document. For example, I need to purchase a house and want to know what my options are given x amount of dollars and x location based on a sample of data from Zillow within each location. Ensure there is data visualization in the homework and note how it relates to the three principles selected.
Negative Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic in Human Life Discussion
term paper help Negative Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic in Human Life Discussion.
Instructions:To begin this assignment, compose your Journal 30 answering the following prompt:Since we are composing our last journal for the semester (yahoo), let’s make some resolutions. A resolution is a “firm decision to do or not to do something.”I am sure you are aware that next semester is also going to be online, so this semester has been our chance to build our online “muscles.” We now know what works well and what doesn’t work at all for the purposes of maintaining work life balance and accomplishing your workload.For this journal, your last journal, you will write a paragraph describing your next semester’s resolutions. What will you do differently? What will you continue to do?Write your answer in a paragraph (150-250 words)
Negative Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic in Human Life Discussion
Abilene Christian University Visual Elements in Bank of Americas Website Analysis
Abilene Christian University Visual Elements in Bank of Americas Website Analysis.
*****follow up assignment to the Course Project – Final Visual Analysis Thesis & Outline******* For your Final Visual Analysis Paper, review the feedback and grading on your Week 4 Thesis and Outline submission. Apply the feedback comments in your written analysis paper. This paper needs to be atleast six pages in length using APA formatting; this length does not include images or the APA title/reference pages.Be sure to substantiate your analysis ideas with quotes and information from at least four academic sources.These four academic sources may include any of the following:Robin Landa’s etextbook,Additional readings located under each module, and/or articles you find in our LLS – for additional help finding research articles click here to set an appointment.In your final paper, remember to consider the effects the visual elements have on the viewers:Sensory Response – When analyzing the viewer’s sensory response to a particular visual, it is important to consider the visual elements that attract the eyes. Close your eyes when considering a visual. When you open your eyes, what are the first visual elements that you see? When analyzing a viewer’s Sensory Response, you may consider analyzing at least two of the following effects:ColorsLinesShapesBalanceContrastPerceptual Response – When analyzing a viewer’s perception of visuals, it is important to consider the audience. Consider who is or is not attracted to this type of visual communication. When analyzing a viewer’s Perceptual Response, consider at least two of the following effects:Target audience specifics (age, profession, gender, financial status, etc.)Cultural familiarity elements (ethnicity, religious preference, social groups, etc)Cognitive visuals (viewer’s memories, experiences, values, beliefs, etc.)Technical Response – When analyzing a viewer’s response to certain visuals, we need to consider the technical visual aspects that may affect perception. Describe how visuals affect the interpretation of the intended media communication message. Address specific technological elements that impact perception. When analyzing the Technical Response, consider the Laws of Perceptual Organization (similarity, proximity, continuity, common fate, etc), and at least two of the following types of visuals:Drop-down menusHover-over highlightingAnimationsQuality of visualsEmotional Response – When analyzing a viewer’s Emotional Response, it is important to consider the targeted audience preferences and emotional intelligence. Discuss what the viewer might want to see and what type of visual presentation will set the tone for that response. When analyzing the Emotional Response, consider the effects of at least two of the following types of visuals:Mood setting colorsMood setting lightingPersuasive imagesPositioning of search or purchase buttonsSocial media icons and share optionsEthical Response – When analyzing a viewer’s Ethical Response, it is important to consider the targeted audience values and beliefs. Identify any negative messages about certain ideas, groups, or cultures. Describe and pinpoint images that may be inappropriate for a variety of viewers. Keep in mind that your website can be accessed by all ages and groups. When analyzing the Ethical Response, consider at least two of the following types of visuals:Visual stereotypesLimitations in diversityInappropriate images for all audiencesDigital alterationsFalse representation or advertising
Abilene Christian University Visual Elements in Bank of Americas Website Analysis
Star London Hotels For Luxury Stay
London offers some great 5 star London hotels so you that you can experience the capital in luxury. The London’s 5 star hotels are some of the best in the world. There are the old established traditional hotels like Claridge’s, and other chic, modern boutique hotels like The Hempel, there is a great choice in London’s finest 5 star accommodations. Radisson Edwardian Hampshire is one such five star hotel and is located in the corner of Leicester Square. It is a grand hotel having magnificence, elegance and comfort. Grange City Hotel is another luxury 5 star hotel, offering exceptional panoramic views of the city. It is located near the Tower of London. The London Marriott Hotel County Hall is located opposite the Houses of Parliament. It has 200 bedrooms and is centrally located to visit all the magnificent sites. The Hempel is a five star modern hotel that redefines modern luxury. Wyndham Grand London in Chelsea Harbour is another five star hotel that offers all-suite rooms. It offers stunning views of the city and the Thames. The luxury five star hotels in London redefine luxury and you can experience it. 2. Manchester Hotels a place to stay for destination Manchester by hoteltravelexpress Manchester Hotels are the perfect place for you to stay if your destination is the city and you can explore the city to your hearts content. One such hotel is the City Inn that is a contemporary custom made hotel offering exceptional quality, value and service. Another Hotel is the Place Apartment Hotel located at the Ducie Street. It has got stylish loft-style apartments having Wi-Fi, Sky satellite TV, DVD players and dishwashers. Britannia Hotel is located in the Portland Street at the City Centre, Manchester. It is housed in a historic building and is close to the shops, theatres and bars. Hotel Radisson Edwardian is located in the Free Trade Hall at the Peter Street, City Centre. It is a 5-star luxury hotel located opposite Bridgewater Hall and Manchester Central. It has free Wi-Fi, elegant air-conditioned rooms and an indoor pool with jet stream, Jacuzzi and spa bath. There are many traditional as well as modern hotels in Manchester. The hotels are styled with absolute consideration for your comfort. 3. 5 star hotels Heathrow airport by hoteltravelexpress 5 Star Hotels Heathrow Airport make a great base for exploring attractions just to the west of London, such as Legoland, Windsor Castle, the Chessington World of Adventures; or attending an international rugby match at Twickenham. You can enjoy the traditional British food in Henley’s restaurant. Though the hotels near Heathrow airport can be noisy, but many hotels offer a haven of 4 star and 5 star hotels services, like the Runnymede-on-Thames, near Heathrow Airport are luxury hotels that look after your comfort. The Runnymede Hotel