Discussion A Family Owned Business and Strategic Planning

Background Information
Welcome to the first discussion. In this course you will be introduced to a topic in the discussion. The first week of the module you will write about your initial thoughts after reviewing the resources. The initial post should be at least 300 words.

During the following week you will reply to at least two of your classmates. The replies should be at least 100 words. See the discussion rubric for more details on grading.

Discussions should always be completed prior to “class.” If you are in an online class or an on ground course this is prior to the lesson portion of the week. Are you ready to begin?

Watch Ted Talk: Hidden World of Box Packing
https://www.ted.com/talks/mick_mountz_the_hidden_world_of_box_packing
Review the Amazon Robotics website
https://www.amazonrobotics.com/#/
Read the Nielsen eCommerce Report
http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/nielsenglobal/vn/docs/Reports/2015/Nielsen%20Global%20E-Commerce%20and%20The%20New%20Retail%20Report%20APRIL%202015%20(Digital).pdf
Initial Post Discussion
If you were to manufacture a product where would you have the factory?
Would you use technology like Amazon’s robotics?
What are the benefits of using robots?
What is negative about using robots?

SAMPLE SOLUTION

The main challenge for businesses is obtaining profitability and maintaining business sustainability. To overcome this challenge, it would be necessary to have a factory for manufacturing my product in one of the low-cost countries where the business can make a profit and be sustainable. My preferred low-cost country for locating the factory for my product is China. In China, the production costs would be low and there is a large selection of suppliers for inputs (Page, 2016). Due to the large population, the supply of labor is high, and therefore the cost is fairly low.
I would prefer to use technology like Amazon’s robotics. This is because of the many advantages that technology would bring including; increased efficiency of the manufacturing process; an expanded range of what can be produced; increased…