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Executive Summary The global business strategy refers to various business strategies that different organizations, companies, and other firms use while operating in the global field to serve customers. This paper will discuss the appropriateness of various management styles that will help in dealing with the various complex business situations. It will also use the case study of Apple Company to try and elaborate the concept of business strategy and management style. Apple is one of the Global companies that are dominating the electronics market. A lot of electronic companies have developed different forms of strategies that play a role to gain advantage so that they can be able to compete on the global scene. A company with clear strategies will always become successful in business. Any form of careless decision making and silly mistakes can easily take a company down within days. Furthermore, the paper will also cover various decision-making strategies; The discussion will further go ahead and describe areas that the company needs to adjust so that it can remain competitive in this century where technology is changing continuously. Table of Contents Executive Summary......................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 4 Evaluation of the Apple Inc Company........................................................................................ 4 Management style in Apple Company..................................................................................... 4 Conclusion....................................................................................................................................... 6 Bibliography.................................................................................................................................... 6 Introduction The Apple Company is a prestigious and one of the most valuable brands in the business world. It is a company that offers various electronic goods to various parts of the world. The company provides various goods that are designed for different purposes and people, including businesses, individuals, service providers, institutions and resellers. The Apple Company tends to produce various products including personal computers, mobile communications, portable digital music players, and media devices. It also produces other products like Apple TV, iOS, operating system, OS X, I Phone, Mac and a portfolio for the consumers. However, one of the major products that makes Apple Company stand out from the other electronics companies is the iCloud that stores music, photos and other applications (Rigby and Bilodeau, 2013). Evaluation of the Apple Inc Company In recent years, the Apple Company has been one of the best companies when it comes to the production of the electronic devices. It has been producing products that target the premium market, which in turn enabled the company realize high returns from goods sold. Nevertheless, in the recent years, competition has increased in this field of production. This competition is being brought by the Samsung Company, which besides selling the application processors to Apple Company; it also produces smart phones and sells them at a much cheaper price. This is because their production cost is always low compared to that of the Apple Company. The Samsung Company is the current largest market shareholder (Rigby and Bilodeau, 2013). The Apple Company is experiencing a lot of issues regarding management styles and the way people perceive the strategies they are employing in managing the company. The paper will be focusing on different issues regarding the management methods and how they affect the performance of the company on the global scene. Management style in Apple Company For the Apple Company to remain competitive in the world of business and capture the largest market share, it has to have proper management (Avolio et al., 2013). The company is paying close attention to the vertical development of leadership instead of concentrating on the horizontal development of leadership, something that has been happening in the recent years. The Apple Company majorly focuses on the horizontal type of leadership whereby, the individual working in a company expects the leadership roles to be transmitted from one leader to the other. The employees in this kind of management do not have to work hard so that they can earn the title of a leader in the company (Rigby and Bilodeau, 2013). Many companies are now looking for better ways to ensure that their employees remain relevant in the workplace and keep improving on their skills (Avolio et al., 2013). Many people were not responsible enough when it came to the handling their development in the workplace, leaving that responsibility to someone else. However, research is now indicating that people who handle their progress will always develop faster than the people who are not keen on handling their progress (Rigby and Bilodeau, 2013). Handling your progress is the only way to realize your mistakes make and be able to make amendments. Any person who does not follow and monitor his progress is likely to commit mistakes when given a much more responsibility. However, it is not easy to monitor your progress and it call for a lot of dedication. It is because of this reason that we have the mentorship program in the Apple company so that it can be easy for the company to monitor and support the progress of the people. It is always easy to have the support of the company as it provides the necessary resources for the progress process. We have the current leadership models that encourage people to be in a position where they can handle their development. The individuals in the Apple Company were not focusing on their development, instead they left others to oversee their development. The diagram below is showing the three important points that the management has to put into consideration. In an organization like Apple, it has the task of producing of high-quality goods and services. It has a team that is working around the clock to ensure that everything is working according to the plan. An individual also in the diagram below is very important; especially in helping the company move forward (Avolio et al., 2013).   Figure I. Usage data for the leadership model website (model and TBM 2015) Apple Company uses the checklist as it considers it as one of the best ways of evaluating the performance of a company. It is simple and effective since it consists of a series of questions that were used in the past and they only need a Yes or No answer. When we have an abnormally negative response, it means that that employee still needs a lot of training to improve the management skills that they have. It is easy to use the checklist so that it can easily be able to determine the type of employees that have deficiencies in different fields of production. The usage of the critical incidence method can be applied where the manager keeps a record of both the good and the bad incidences certain employees so that they can talk about it during the performance review of that employee (Cummings and Worley, 2014). “The Apple Company” is encouraging its employees to feel free to consult whenever they have an issue regarding production or any other activity. The company is using the collective method rather than the individualistic method of management so that each person can be able to share information and consult whenever they have a problem. In the past, many Companies were practicing what was an individualist and elitist style of management whereby, it was only one person who had to make the right decision (Robbins et al., 2013). It was only one person that could make the decision while the other people in the organization were acting as the implements. In the modern management style, we now realize a change in the paradigm and many people are embracing the collective method of management. Observing the management of the Apple Company, you will easily realize that the company is now focusing on the collective type of leadership. The collective type of leadership is dealing with a group of individuals with the people who also hold the decision right regarding the company’s operations. In this form of leadership, people view the process of leadership and management as a process that is spreading across the network of various people. It is going to be easy for the question to shift from “who are the leaders?” and people will start asking about “what are the favorable conditions that are important and are going to help in bringing success to the Company? (Robbins et al., 2013) The apple company is working hard to ensure that it provides the relevant support to the people around the world. The company is focusing on diversification in the labor force to try and bring balance in the workplace. It is recruiting individuals from all over the world so that they can undergo training and help the company to carry out its activities. The management of the Apple Company is also targeting the production of the environmentally friendly products that will ensure the safety of all individuals in the world. It is through the production of environmentally friendly products that the company will be able to convince the other users that they care about the future. Many people are now becoming environmentally sensitive and any form of environmentally negligence can lead to serious consequences. The Company’s management believes that they are the face of the world and they are aiming at producing the best products that are not changing. It also believes in collaboration with other companies to try and improve the performance of those companies or learn for the Company. The company is also contributing to the gross domestic products of many countries that it is operating in by selling and employing the locals (Robbins et al., 2013). Diversification in the workplace is also playing to the advantage of the company as they are working hard to ensure that they are portraying the face of the world. The company has also won awards for their efforts to incorporate the physically challenged individuals in the company. In the world, Apple company is known for their profound diversification at work place and it is through these efforts that the company is having an upper hand against the competitors. Lack of diversification at workplace reduces the confidence of the customers and many of them will prefer working with companies that show diversification. Having diversification help the company beat the competitors. Conclusion In conclusion, it is clear that the Apple Company focuses more on the management strategy that aims at making their employees comfortable and improving their wellbeing. It uses the models of management that facilitates easy information flow from individuals who holds the decision right to those who implement. The horizontal method of management is important to the company as it ensures that people can work hard to earn promotions instead of waiting to be promoted. There are several leadership theories that are playing a major role when it comes to the management of different organizations in the world. The Apple Inc. company tries to put into consideration the different management theories that will help improve their management styles. The Company is following the Situational type of leadership to manage their daily operations. The company believes that it is important for leaders to react according to the circumstance and make quick decisions to solve a particular situation. The majority of the leaders tend to fear this type of leadership even after going through a lot of training. This is because they still have an unconscious belief that is fixed about the application of the theory. For the theory to be a success, the company is needed to encourage its employees to try and work on their underlying psychology so that they can be able to attain the goals set. Bibliography Avolio, B. J., Sosik, J. J., Jung, D. I., & Berson, Y. (2013). Leadership models, methods, and applications. Handbook of psychology. Cummings, T., & Worley, C. (2014). Organization development and change. Cengage learning. Rigby, D., & Bilodeau, B. (2013). Management tools & trends 2013. Bain & Company. Robbins, S., Judge, T. A., Millett, B., & Boyle, M. (2013). Organisational behaviour. Pearson Higher Education AU.

Section 1: Introduction Customer satisfaction has increasingly become a popular field of interest in recent years. Customer satisfaction can be measured by how customers are satisfied with a product or service offered. The question of how to satisfy customers has gained significant importance in every business today, as customer satisfaction information such as reviews and ratings can highly influence a business's success. In addition, every company is customer-oriented as these are the people who buy their products or services. Satisfying the customer is, therefore, of utmost importance. There are essential aspects to consider when considering how to help customers in business. Business persons and managers need to understand these aspects, including measuring customer satisfaction and using it to establish and maintain competitive advantage, influence purchasing behaviour and gain customer loyalty. Many types of research have related customer satisfaction with various positive outcomes, such as a good reputation and increased customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is the relationship between a customer and a business enterprise, marked by the willingness of the customer to buy from a selected business enterprise compared to its competitors. Customer loyalty is an outcome of customer satisfaction as customer attitudes regarding products, services, and brands highly influence their choices of whether to make a repeated purchase or opt for a competitor's product (El-Adly, 2019). Due to the diverse and vast benefits offered by customer satisfaction to a business, there is a great need to identify ways of measuring customer satisfaction and use these measurements to monitor a business's financial performance appropriately. This report is a review of existing literature on measuring customer satisfaction. In addition, the report focuses on identifying how these measurements can denote the financial performance of a business and guide it toward success. The rest of this paper is organized into sections as follows: Section 2: Methodology. This section describes the methods for conducting this review. Section 3: Findings and discussion. This section gives citations and analysis of selected articles. Section 4: Conclusion and recommendation Section 2: Methodology This review was guided by a primary agenda of measuring customer satisfaction. I narrowed down the selection of materials and resources for this review to include journals, books and articles relating to the topic. I typed the keywords" measuring customer satisfaction" in Google Scholar and selected the papers closely associated with the keywords. As the identified literature was still vast and could not be accommodated in this review, I conducted a paper-by- paper study to select the most relevant peer-reviewed journals, books and publications published since 2016. Section 3: Findings and discussion After critically reviewing the literature, I identified the most popular methods of measuring customer satisfaction. These methods are discussed in depth below. : Service quality The service quality method has successfully been used in different experiments to measure customer satisfaction. Hamings et al. (2019) write that this instrument measures customer satisfaction from different dimensions: reliability, empathy, responsiveness, assurance and tangibility. Through a survey, customers are asked to rate the delivered service or product compared to their expectations. This comparison of customer experience and expectation identifies gaps, exposes the shortcomings of the service provided, and appropriately addresses them. The model highly focuses on the customers' needs and therefore does not consider how the business wants to be identified or viewed (Dam et al., 2021). The critical working of the servqual model is that the difference between expectation and perception is the difference in quality. It is essential to know what customers expect from a business; hence this model identifies specific gaps that might arise between the customers' needs and the services provided by the company. These gaps include the knowledge, standards, delivery, communications and satisfaction. Despite the capability of this model to measure customer satisfaction and its use in other research, Hamings et al. (2019) write on the various shortcomings of this model. To begin with, the writers, in sync with prior research, agree that the service quality model dimensions are not to be viewed as generic but should be adjusted to fit different cultures. Another shortcoming identified by Gocłowska et al. (2019) is that the model is time-consuming and expensive and needs a thorough comprehension of basic concepts and ideas for its application. : Important-performance Analysis (IPA) This technique has been widely used for the measurement of customer satisfaction. This analytical approach is based on identifying service or product characteristics that can be improved for quality performance. Panday (2021) writes on the usage of this technique mainly in transportation. According to his literature, this technique has lost popularity due to the advancement of quantitative methods and the loss of support. He adds that the design is highly applicable in different fields such as higher education, and is not limited to tourism. It is easy to manage and interpret, besides its valuable guidance in making strategic decisions (Panday, 2021). The technique compares the elements of importance and performance, whose comparison can identify how well customers are satisfied with products and services. : Other methods Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis- This method is based on models, various criteria and evaluation of satisfaction levels to guide decisions by determining the strong and weak points of the delivered service (Drosos et al., 2020). The analysis of the customer's preferences and expectations results inform the level of customer satisfaction and further guide the development of a tool that comprehends the identified outcomes. Drosos et al. (2020) highlight that this method collects data through questionnaires that question customers about their preferences and overall satisfaction. This model is very beneficial because it considers customers' perceptions in determining the best quality of service. Section 4: Conclusion and recommendation As identified in the selected articles, there are different customer satisfaction methods. The methodologies mentioned above are just examples of many other ways. Most literature has identified a correlation between product and service attributes and customer satisfaction. Business persons can use the effective measurement of customer service to guide financial performance and steer a business toward positive outcomes relating to customer satisfaction, such as competitive advantage and customer loyalty. The reviewed literature, however, has not identified the best method for measuring customer advantage and influencing a business's financial performance, as there is no evidence of different results when using different methodologies. As customer satisfaction is a crucial factor in a company's success, further research is needed to fill the gap of customer satisfaction as a significant factor as a driver of finances in business. References DAM, S. M., & DAM, T. C. (2021). Relationships between service quality, brand image, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 8(3), 585-593. Drosos, D., Kyriakopoulos, G. L., Arabatzis, G., & Tsotsolas, N. (2020). Evaluating customer satisfaction in energy markets using a multicriteria method: The case of electricity market in Greece. Sustainability, 12(9), 3862. El-Adly, M. I. (2019). Modelling the relationship between hotel perceived value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 50, 322- 332. Gocłowska, S., Piątkowska, M., & Lenartowicz, M. (2019). Customer satisfaction and its measurement in fitness clubs of Warsaw. Economics & Sociology, 12(2), 205-218. Gocłowska, S., Piątkowska, M., & Lenartowicz, M. (2019). Customer satisfaction and its measurement in fitness clubs of Warsaw. Economics & Sociology, 12(2), 205-218. Otto, A. S., Szymanski, D. M., & Varadarajan, R. (2020). Customer satisfaction and firm performance: insights from over a quarter century of empirical research. Journal of the Academy of Marketing science, 48(3), 543-564. Panday, R. (2021). Service Quality Evaluation on Railway Transportation Using Important- Performance Analysis. ITALIENISCH, 11(2), 530-539.

Manitoba is a Canadian province that borders Saskatchewan to the west and Ontario to the east. It is one of the prairie provinces and has a landscape of prairies, forests, mountains, rivers and lakes stretching from Hudson Bay on the eastern side to the Arctic Tundra in the north. Manitoba has a population of about 1.3 million people and has its headquarters in Winnipeg. The province has vast business opportunities ranging from tourism to agriculture. The government of Manitoba has been continually working to make starting a business as accessible as possible for its residents. For instance, different programs are available for people that desire to start farming, such as AgriInsurance, AgriDiversity and AgriInvest (Dubois, 2022). Individuals that reside in other countries but have excellent business ideas have also been provided with The Entrepreneur Pathway that guides them on how to immigrate to the province and start their business (Dubois, 2022). Nonetheless, depending on the type of business that one intends to put up, there are different legal forms that they have to submit. This essay explores the entire business legal structure and process of business registration in Manitoba. Different Legal Forms of Business Ownership After conducting market research, developing a business strategy and seeking financing, the entrepreneur needs to pick a business structure. The business structure also determines the legal forms required to get it running. Sole Proprietorship In a sole proprietorship, the entrepreneur has complete control of the business; it is also very inexpensive and easy to set up as there is no need for registration with the province (Dubois,2022). However, the entrepreneur is fully liable for all their obligations and debts to the business. This implies that in case of business failure, the entrepreneur will lose their assets such as savings and home. Partnership A partnership comes with increased capital and shared liability. They are the most suitable when there is more than one owner (Dubois, 2022). Partnerships can either be limited or general. General partnerships allow for the liability of all partners and equal power to make decisions, while the limited partnership has limited partners restricted control over the business. Corporations Corporations are much more complex than sole proprietorships and partnerships. They come with advantages, such as being a separate legal entity and having limited liability. They can be either provincial or federal. Manitoba requires that all corporations be registered with the Companies Office. Non-Profit Corporations, Cooperatives and Societies Non-profit corporations and cooperatives are much more expensive to incorporate and also more expensive to operate, but they also come with limited liability and allow ownership of property. Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Legal Forms of Business Ownership   2.1.            Sole Proprietorship Advantages Disadvantages Usually has a low startup The owner has unlimited liability for the   company's debts, and there is no distinction       between business and private assets   (Tasmanian Government, 2023). The owner keeps all profits. There is limited capacity for raising capital   (Tasmanian Government, 2023). Easy to establish and operate The role and responsibilities in making day- to-day decisions solely lie with the owner (Tasmanian Government, 2023). It is easy for the owner to change the legal structure later (Tasmanian Government, 2023). It is hard for the business to retain employees of high caliber.   Taxation happens to a single person, and the   business has a limited life. 2.2.            Partnership Advantages Disadvantages There is an extra set of hands The partner cannot make decisions on their   own. There is additional knowledge Profits need to be split. There is less paperwork compared to a   corporation There may be disagreements. The financial burden is less. The partners are still not separate from the   business. There are fewer taxes involved. Taxation is done individually. 2.3.            Corporation Advantages Disadvantages Easier capital access, continuity, business security, and protection from personal liability. Protocols and rigid formalities must be followed, subject to double taxation and time- consuming. Non-Profit Organizations Advantages Disadvantages Continued existence, it can get funding, is entitled to the property, can start legal action, and has limited liability. Its incorporation is more expensive. The operation of a non-profit organization or society is more expensive. This comes as an       administrative burden where the auditor needs to be appointed (Companies Office Website, 2023).     New Registration Sole Proprietorship and Partnerships   Forms Description Fee Request for reservation of   name Name reservation is needed   before registration of a name. $45.00 Name Registration of the business Registration of an unincorporated business, such as a partnership or a sole proprietorship $60.00 Registering of a Limited Partnership Registering an extra- provincial limited partnership or a Manitoba Limited Partnership $350.00 Registering a partnership that has limited liability Registration of an extra- provincial limited liability partnership or a Manitoba partnership with limited liability $350.00 Power of Attorney The appointing of a power of attorney is needed when none of the registrants of the unincorporated business $40.00       resides in Manitoba.   Consent & Undertaking/ Consent This applies when one company is giving another consent to use their name - New Corporations   Forms Description Filing Fee Requesting name reservation. Before the incorporation of a new corporation in Manitoba, a name is required. $45.00 Articles of Incorporation (Share Capital) Needed in the incorporation of the new business in Manitoba $350.00 Articles of Incorporation (without share capital) For incorporation of a new corporation in Manitoba that is non-profit. $120.00 Consent to Act as the first director of the incorporation This refers to the consent to be the director of a new corporation in Manitoba when the individual is not an incorporator of the corporation (this is filed with the articles of incorporation) No fee is charged. Articles of Amalgamation (Share Capital) These are needed when an amalgamation of two corporations in Manitoba is being done to form a corporation with share $350.00       capital.   Articles of Amalgamation (without share capital) This is needed during the amalgamation of two or more corporations in Manitoba in the formation of a corporation without share capital. $350.00 Power of Attorney During the formation of a corporation, a power of attorney needs to be appointed when no officers or directors of a corporation in Manitoba reside in the province. $40.00 Certification of counterparts This is the certificate of comparison given to the lawyer during the submission of documents in counterpart. No fee is charged. New Cooperatives   In coming up with a new corporative in Manitoba, the following payments are made for new registration:   Forms Filing Fee Requesting name reservation. $45.00 Articles of Incorporation For incorporation that is not in subclause (ii), the charges are $250.00 For incorporation of a cooperative       under community service, the   charge is $70.00 Request of consent to perform in the capacity   of the first director. No fee is charged. Articles of amalgamation $250.00 Options of paying. Payments in the company's office are done   through Mastercard or Visa. (information in these tables has been obtained from the Companies Office website, 2023) After a business has been registered, the entrepreneur usually takes the next step is opening a business bank account. At the local financial institution, the entrepreneur can open a bank account. The requirements for opening the bank account are a copy of the business registration document, the Business Number and a partnership agreement. After opening the bank account, the entrepreneur can consider registering a domain name for the business. Reserving a domain name is essential in creating a website and obtaining a custom email address (World Trade Center Winnipeg, 2021). To confirm if the Internet registration authority is available, the entrepreneur can check with the Canadian Internet Registration Authority through www.cira.ca. After completing the above steps, an entrepreneur must confirm whether to apply for a business license. Application for an occupancy or building permit also needs to be done. Businesses outside the city of Winnipeg, they must get in touch with their local municipal offices. Application for a vendor/ direct seller's license may also be required. This is particularly important if one plans to advertise their goods through a vehicle, flyers, business cards or door- to-door (World Trade Center Winnipeg, 2014). An application for registration must be made to Manitoba as a craft operator/home hobby, renovator or manufacturer. Registration of tax accounts is also essential. PST or RST stands for retail sales tax, which refers to the tax applied on rental or retail sales of goods and services in Manitoba. The Goods and Services Tax covers taxes that are applied to most services and supplies in Canada. Maintenance of business records is also essential for any business. They are mandated by the law to record all their transactions as support for their expenses and income. The business must keep tax documents for at least six years from the current year. Different documents have different retention periods, which a business must adhere to. Further guidance regarding this can be obtained from ARMA International, HR professional personnel, lawyers or accountants. Insuring property is also essential for a business, whether starting up or running for some time. Businesses must consider other insurance forms such as bonding, inventory, errors and omissions, business interruption, disability and liability. For businesses intending to export and import commercial goods, adding an export/import account to their business through contact with the Canada Revenue Agency is essential. Some of the factors to consider for such businesses include international trade agreements, labeling and packaging requirements, and export/import controls. References Companies Office Website. (2023). Forms and Fees. https://companiesoffice.gov.mb.ca/forms.html Dubois, A. (2022, October 25). How to Register a Business in Manitoba? Hardbacon. https://hardbacon.ca/en/business/register-a-business-in-manitoba/ Tasmanian Government. (2023). Sole Proprietorship- Advantages and Disadvantages. https://www.business.tas.gov.au/manage_a_business/tax/choosing_a_business_structure/sole_proprietorship World Trade Center Winnipeg. (2014, April). Starting a Business in Manitoba Checklist. https://cfmanitoba.ca/images/heartland/docs/starting-a-biz-checklist.pdf World Trade Centre Winnipeg. (2021, August). Your Guide to Starting a Business in Manitoba. https://www.wtcwinnipeg.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Your-Guide-to-Starting-a- Business-in-MB.pdf

Business organizations are faced my numerous challenges and this implies that business managers should adopt and implement effective strategic approaches in order to solve such challenges. For example, a company facing difficulties when trying to serve their clients can solve this problem by creating an online website which customers can use to order for goods without necessarily having to physically visit the premises. Over the years, many business corporations have been utilizing the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) strategic management model to restructure their commercial contexts. This concept incorporates the key forces that adversely affect companies' activities. Ideally, volatile markets are subject to dynamic and uncertain changes such as sharp price variations and change of customers' tastes and preferences. Chaotic and interconnected factors in business operations characterize complexity in this model. The final aspect, ambiguity, implies that organizations face situations that are unclear as well as difficult to comprehend (George, 2017). This paper evaluates and summarizes the Panera Bread case study and subsequently off ers an example of how another business can solve its issues using the VUCA model. Considerably, Panera Bread was able to devise, implement and adapt to new changes by understanding their organizations strengths within their capacity. The Panera  Bread  Problem  and  an Example  of  a Business  That  Can Apply  the  VUCA Model Panera Bread faced the issue of long queues of consumers waiting to place their orders. The average waiting time for a customer was seven minutes. Even after customers awaited their orders this long, a significant portion of about ten percent of the total orders was wrong (Jargon, 2017). The ten percent was remarkable shortcoming since the business encountered similar problems in all its two-thousand restaurants. The management team realized that the commercial enterprise incurred reductions of profits and its market share would shrink in the near future. Consequently, the organization decided to change its ordering method to an online system (Jargon, 2017). It was hopeful that the new service model would result to a more profitable business in both the short and long run. However, the company did not implement these changes within a short period; it took slightly more than six years to arrive at the right process as it tested how store managers were patient and working hand-in-hand with top managers, an activist shareholder, as well as Wall Street business analysts. Currently, online orders constitute more than twenty-five percent of the company's sales. Besides, the average waiting time dropped to one minute from the previous seven minutes (Jargon, 2017). Analysts argue that Panera is one of the leading examples of businesses that have successfully incorporated technology in their operations. Although Panera Bread solved its issue, similar challenges continue to affect many businesses across the world. Panera applied the VUCA model effectively partly because they had a clear vision. This vision helped them to see what changes needed to be implemented to alleviate the "mash pits". Understanding that the need to decrease waits time, they used innovations, online ordering to reduce the customers wait time and make for an overall pleasant experience. Panera Bread case highlights some key aspects which are important when implementing new strategies in a business setting. These aspects include; understanding: In order to fulfill their current vision, Panera needed to weigh their strengths and weaknesses, did they have the capabilities to pull this new strategy off. Courage: Panera demonstrated an inordinate amount of courage when they decided to implement the new changes. This meant throwing half of what they did out of the window and starting again. Training and hiring new staff to cover the new aspects of ordering and fulfilling the orders, the advertising, website creation and staff abilities, all these aspects had to be addressed and it was a tremendous undertaking financially and physically. Adaptability: The changes were not easy to implement and they did not happen overnight. Over the course of six years, Panera implemented different aspects of their new system. They realized that presented the changes in one fell swoop would be too much, not just for the organization, but the customers as well. They made changes gradually over time and it proved to be a successful change. Panera is a prime example of how the implementation of VUCA created a successful venture into the unknown waters that was online ordering. We see it now in just about every major franchise around the country. As Kallet (2017) suggests, the management of this business can apply the three steps in critical thinking to find a solution to this ordering problem it faces. This critical thinking framework involves discovery, information, and ideas that result in clarity, conclusions, and decisions. Importantly, critical thinking should have a strong basis for decision­ making, relatively long period of achieving clarity, and shorter period for adopting decisions. Discovery of the problem would involve learning the real issue affecting the business, while the organization would achieve a high level of clarity by establishing the deep-rooted causes of the matter (Kallet, 2017). Once it identifies these facts, it can embark on finding a solution to the issue. Clearly, as outlined above, Panera used the critical thinking framework Kallet outlined in his book, like a roadmap to get them to their desired destination. Personally, I encountered a similar experience in my business were I had to use critical thinking and the VUCA system (unknowingly) to achieve optimum results. The company I was contracted required us to use a pool of money to advertise as a group, even though we were independent contractors. I was fine with pooling our funds to maximize exposure, I was not in agreement with the type of advertising they were proposing. This was in the early 2000's, the internet and social media were in their infancy. I was fairly young as was most of my staff, but I worked in an industry were many of my colleagues were much older. My vision was using the internet as a new, less expensive source for advertising.  I proposed using a portion of our dollars in something new. My demographic was targeted for a younger crowd, the type that was more likely to use social media and the internet. I pushed for this but was unsuccessful. They wanted the status quo, phonebook advertisements, newspapers and radio spots. I used the phonebook at the time as a doorstop, read the paper online and had satellite radio, none of these mediums would ever reach me or my desired customers. I pushed for a clause to opt out of the pool and use my dollars were I thought I would maximize a return on investment. It was an undertaking, I was going to receive less commissions and compensation because I was opting out. This was something I was willing to do because I had the understanding that I would make what I was losing out on, plus much more, for a fraction of what others were spending. I needed to do this, I knew I had the staff that was proficient and had a better understanding than I, of how to use the internet and not only target but serve the population we were hoping for. It was a little unnerving to go rogue and try something that had never been attempted, but I knew I had the right people and it was the right choice for me. After all, the dinosaurs died out due to their inability to change, right? To implement the changes, we started advertising on Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube and on several other online search engines. I did divert a small portion of my budget to the traditional mediums, just in case. Our venture proved fruitful. We had the fastest growing business in the Pacific Northwest territory, which encompassed 5 states. Soon after, all our advertising would go into the internet and social media. As we know now, it is the number one way to advertise, but it seemed something so out of the realm when we started. My model was soon implemented by the company wide when pooling funds. Of course, being dinosaurs, they still used portions towards traditional advertising but that changed gradually over the years. Recommendations According to my opinion, this business should adopt an online platform of enabling its customers to place orders in real-time. In the current market situation, competition is a major factor in play and therefore organizations should stay in pace with advancements in technology lest they lose their market shares. Consequently, consumers will be satisfied with the services of the business and they will most likely remain loyal as well as act as referrals. This recommendation relies on evidence in the fast-food industry because McDonald's has adopted technology that is different from what its rivals are using (Kahlon & Sur, 2018). Notably, this technology, which is also known as geo-fencing technology, involves an app in which customers place and pay for their orders online. As it applies to my situation, we used technology to leverage our advertising funds to maximize profits while tapping into a new medium that would soon be the standard that all businesses now use. How VUCA Would Affect the Situation and Recommendation Arguably, the VUCA Model would affect the recommendations in this paper since it will promote the supply chain management as well as performance in the business. According to what other companies, such as McDonald's and Panera Bread, have  achieved using this model,  the VUCA approach to finding innovative solutions to issues will help industry leaders to change the conventional supply chain management. It takes vision, courage, innovation and hard work, but bold strategies are needed in an ever changing world. We need to use technology and changes to our advantage, otherwise, we drown. I inadvertently used the VUCA model in my business, I had never heard of it before. But I recognized the changes that were needed and used a strategic method to implement them. Conclusion From the above discussion, it is apparently evident that when business leaders and managers face ambiguities, complexities, uncertainties, and volatile situations, they can possibly apply the VUCA concept to achieve innovative answers to these problems. The above discussion proves that organizations can utilize this model to change business issues into avenues of attaining achieving a competitive advantage. Donut's can use the critical thinking model to identify its issues as well as adopt an innovative solution that relies on the VUCA framework. Notably, this model has been beneficial to companies such as McDonald's and Panera Bread, it also proved very effective in my business.   References George, B. (2017, February 17). VUCA 2.0: A strategy for steady leadership in an unsteady world. Forbes.  Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/201  7/02/17/vuca-2-0-a-strategy-for-steady­ leadership-in-an-unsteady-world/#7  4c8c24413d8 Jargon, J. (2017, June 2). How Panera solved its mash pit problem. The Wall Street Journal. Kahlon, K. G., & Sur, K. S. (2018). Digital Adoption for Consumer Delight: £-Restaurant. Sansmaran Research Journal 2(5), 1-16. Kallet,  M. (2014). Think smarter:  Critical thinking to improve problem-solving and decision­ smaking skills. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons.

Executive Summary In this technological era, business environment is increasingly becoming extremely complex and dynamic, thus heightening competition worldwide. Therefore, it has become very important for marketing researchers to explore ideal ways that company marketers can use to understand their target customers. From this review of different scholars' viewpoint, it is clear that consumer attitude towards marketing objects continue to receive high attention by marketing researchers.  Based on the attitude theory in marketing research, consumer attitudes towards products, brand, services or prices can either be functional attitudes or constructive attitudes. Functional attitudes which are supported by the functional theory of attitude are stable and therefore exist for a long period of time, while constructive attitudes which are supported by constructive theory are attitudes which are short-lived and are often formed at the point of sale. These two theories were explored exhaustively in the review of the reading material in this paper. After reviewing the reading material, this study selected the functional theory of attitude as being an ideal school of thought that can help answer the research questions in the reading material. The studies selected different other reading materials on this area of study from different researchers that focused on functional theory of attitude to help understand the formation of customer attitude as well as how these attitudes can be altered by marketers.  The review of different school of thoughts regarding to consumer attitudes showed that consumer attitudes are greatly influenced by the function of attitude. Introduction Consumers' attitude is of paramount importance to all the marketing researchers. Attitudes play an instrumental role in influencing purchasing behavior among consumers, making it a vital aspect to marketers as they seek to understand it with the view to influencing the attitudes of their target customers (Vainikka, 2015). Marketers often seek to gauge the responses of consumers towards their marketing objects like advertisements, brands and products. Attitudes reflect either unfavorable or favorable assessment of a certain marketing object.  The object in this case can be in the form of brand, product, service, package, price or advertisement and therefore attitudes influences customers on whether they should purchase a particular product or not. The understanding of consumer attitudes should start with comprehending the consumer theory behavior theories that trigger formation and change of consumer attitude (Ioana-Daniela et al., 2018). However, it is important to note that even though attitudes are normally consistent with consumer behaviors, they are often situational in the sense that consumer attitude may sometime be influenced by the prevailing situation. It is therefore paramount for marketers to try and comprehend consumer attitudes to be able to effectively persuade their target customers toward purchasing their goods and services. Brief review of the reading material: Consumer Attitudes Revisited: A Review of Attitude Theory in Marketing Research. Research Question This brief review of the reading material seeks two research questions. First, the review will seek to answer the question regarding whether it is true that attitude is correlated to the object relationship which is stored and remembered from  consumers' memory whenever need arises or not. The next question that the brief review will also seek to answer is whether attitude is cognitive in the sense that it's about thoughts and beliefs that are related to a particular or it is affective in that it depends on emotions and feelings. Brief Review of the Reading Article According to this reading material, it is important for marketing researchers to seek to understand the attitude formation process as well as the general concept of attitude with the view to influencing consumers to act in a certain way. In a bid to comprehend the concept of attitude, marketers often encounter two fundamental issues; attitude being related to the object association that is stored and remembered from consumers' memory or impulsive assessment of the object whenever the need arises. The second issue which marketers encounter when seeking to understand attitude concept is the attitude cognitive which entails the thoughts and beliefs that are related to a particular object or affective which is based on the emotions and feelings of the consumer.  These issues according to the reading article have resulted into two distinctive views of attitudes that include constructive and functional. Based on the reading article, functional theory, attitudes entail memory-based object­ related relationships that can be remembered. On the other hand, constructive theory holds the view that attitudes entail on-the-spot decisions as opposed to being memory-based processing. Based on these two theories of the concept of attitude, it is clear that consumer attitude is not only based on the attributes of the products, but can also be influenced by other factors such as the transient emotional states of consumers as well as their goals (Argyriou & Melewar, 2011). Moreover, attitude is directly associated to the evaluative classification because it plays a vital role in activating distinct brain processes. When consumers are exposed to a particular object, the information stored in their memory regarding the object can either provoke unfavorable or favorable attitude information which then influences their purchasing decisions. Therefore, marketers' scholars have come to a general consensus regarding the significance of understanding consumer attitude because of its influence on the intention to buy the products. According to this reading material, functional theory of the attitude concept supports the fact that consumers normally have particular responses towards marketing objects which they evoke from their memory. Based on this theory, consumers frame attitudes with the view to summarizing large amount of information which they have regarding the marketing object. Consumers normally store their initial response to the external stimuli in memory, then form an attitude and would often recall it whenever they are encouraged by advertisers, marketers and researchers. Therefore, attitude can be formed via two processing modes that include associative model and deliberative models. Associative or spontaneous models hold that attitudes depend on affective factors while rule-based or deliberative models is of the view that attitudes depend on the kind of cognitive thoughts that are stored in consumers' memory (Argyriou & Melewar, 2011). Contemporary functional theory appears to support associative modeling for retrieving attitude, particularly, in regard to attitude being an association which is stored in the memory between a certain object and consumer's assessment of this particular object.  In this regard, attitudes that are formed from close experiences often tend to be more strongly related with the behavior as opposed to attitudes that are formed from indirect experiences. Based on the review of different scholar's deliberations and conceptualization of their viewpoints concerning consumer attitude in marketing, scholars of this reading material found that attitudes entail the aspect of evaluative decisions measured through classification on a range involving many feature dimensions, but their formation often emanate from qualitatively diverse processes.It is therefore paramount for marketers to try and understand the concept of attitude which involves the lasting state of mine to be able to differentiate contextual assessments from stronger earlier established object-related relationships that have been stored in consumers' memory. In this review, the scholars also established that objected-related relationships often entail rational and affective components (Argyriou & Melewar, 2011). Moreover, the difference between emotion and attitude was also made clear in the sense that the former is likely to occur automatically in the absentia of cognitive processes while the latter requires a little bit involvement of cognitive processes such as appraisal to occur because appraisal can be heuristic or automatic. In this respect, this review found that different point of view regarding the formation of attitude as held by different researchers hardly implies contrasting viewpoints, instead they are supplementary in the sense that they lead to further integrated theories of attitude. Moreover, based on this reading material, it is important for marketing researchers to recognize the prevailing processes that are fundamental to the attitude formation process in diverse situations.  Whether constructive or functional, attitudes will continue to reflect consumers' evaluative position regarding marketing object, which is based on both the affective and thought processes. In this respect, the reading material concludes that the contemporary constructive and functional as well as the dual-cognition theories are set to continue dominating the area of attitude studies and as the technology continues to advance, it will aid scholars to shed more light on areas of human cognition that are yet to be explored. Moreover, the reading material recommends future researchers in this area to concentrate on specifying conditions under which the measurement of attitudes occurs as well as the involved variables with the view to enhancing the inference of factual attitude formation process. Selected School Of Thought That Answers the Research Question The research questions that this review seeks to answer are whether it is true that attitude is correlated to the object relationship which is stored and remembered from consumers' memory whenever need arises or not and also whether attitude is cognitive in the sense that it's about thoughts and beliefs that are related to a particular or it is affective in that it depends on emotions and feelings. In this respect, functional theory of attitude is the best school of thought in this regard, which can help to address these research questions effectively.  Functional theory of attitude which was developed by Daniel Katz provides a good explanation regarding the functional motives of attitudes such as the utilitarian function, the value-expressive function, the knowledge function and the ego-defensive function to consumers (Soomro, Hameed & Hameed, 2012). According to Katz, each one of the aforementioned functions of attitude tries to provide an explanation regarding the purpose and source that a certain attitude can have to the consumer. Therefore, one of the fundamental steps toward altering consumers' attitude is by trying to comprehend the purpose of consumers' attitude and that is why functional theory of attitude has been selected as the ideal school of thought which can aid address the aforementioned research questions. Functions of Attitudes According To Functional Theory of Attitude Based on the functional theory of attitude, there are four probable functions of attitudes that aid marketing researchers to explain the purpose and source of a certain attitude to the consumer (Soomro, Hameed & Hameed, 2012). These functions include: the utilitarian, the value-expressive, the ego-defensive and the knowledge function. Utilitarian Function According to the functional theory of attitude, this function of attitude is based on the utilitarianism ethical theory where by consumers make decisions on the basis of producing the greatest amount of happiness (Soomro, Hameed & Hameed, 2012). Therefore, the attitude of consumers often depends on the usefulness their decision especially when it revolves around the degree of pleasure or pain. The Value-Expressive Functions Based on the functional theory of attitude, this function is used whenever customers are basing their attitudes about a certain object on central values or self-concept. According to Soomro, Hameed & Hameed (2012), the reflection or association that an object has on the customer prompts him/her to embrace the value expressive function. In this regard, this function is often employed whenever consumers accept an object which can be a product, brand, service or price with the view to influencing their social identity. The Ego-Defensive Function When individuals feel that using a particular product or service is likely to compromise their personality, this function becomes noticeable (Soomro, Hameed & Hameed, 2012). Similarly, the ego-defensive attitude is very hard to alter once it has been formed as such is a way that people deny their own upsetting objects. In this regard, company marketers need to be very carefully when structuring marketing messages to consumers who exhibit such attitudes that are based on this function. The Knowledge Function According to the functional theory of attitude, the knowledge function is obvious in people who are extremely carefully regarding the aspect of providing and organizing structure concerning their opinion or attitude of a certain object (Ioana-Daniela et al., 2018). In this regard, attitude formed on the basis of knowledge can be altered by marketers by employing real-world statistics or fact-based comparison in their marketing messages. In this respect, irrelevant and vague marketing campaigns can hardly change consumers' attitude formed on the basis of the knowledge function of attitude. According to Ioana-Daniela et al. (2018), the most common marketing campaigns are those that appear to appeal to the behavior of consumers based on the utilitarian and value-expressive functions. In this case, the utilitarian marketing campaigns seek pass across a message concerning the kind of benefits consumers stand to benefit for using certain product or services. According to Soomro, Hameed & Hameed (2012), marketing campaigns targeting customers with value-expressive attitudes will characteristically comprise of an image strategy and product symbolism. According to the study conducted by Ioana-Daniela et al. (2018) regarding consumers' attitude toward luxury cruise, fantasy, and willingness to pay a price premium, the scholars employed functional theory of attitudes to examine the structural associations among the value­ expressive, social-adjustive, utilitarian and hedonic functions of attitudes, delusion and readiness of customers to pay a premium.  The scholars used an online survey to collect data from the Americans and the results of the research proved the fact that the all the four functions of attitude according to the functional theory of attitudes depicted a significant positive influence on fantasy. According to Ioana-Daniela et al. (2018), fantasy depicted a significant positive influence on the customers' readiness to pay premium and the association between fantasy and value-expressive function was moderated by the sensory innovativeness while the association between willingness and fantasy was moderated by maximization of the benefit. Fantasy emanates from the perceptional features of an individual's intrinsic desires, wishes and needs, as such as it is kind of defense mechanism for conflict resolution and fulfillment of an individual wishes. Moreover, Ioana-Daniela et al. (2018) study utilized the fantasy concept as being pivotal mediator of the association between the aforementioned functions of attitudes and consumers' willness to pay a premium. On the other hand, concepts of maximization and sensory innovativeness were also key moderators in the associations between willingness to pay premium and fantasy albeit in the context of luxury cruise (Ioana-Daniela et al., 2018). According to Ioana-Daniela et al. (2018), fantasy can be used by marketers as source of authentic product experience to alter consumer attitude towards that particular product. The study by Vainikka (2015) regarding the psychological factors that influence the behavior of consumer also uses makes use of the functional theory of attitude to understand different aspects that significantly influence the behavior of consumers. Vainikka's study focuses on the "how "and "why" questions in regard to customers' purchasing decision making behavior. To comprehend the rationale behind the fundamental purchasing decision making processes and how company marketers can understand well the way individuals behave and think, Vainikka (2015) applies different models and theories, and key among them is the functional theory of attitude. According to Vainikka (2015), functional theory of attitude plays an instrumental role in describing the way consumer attitudes facilitate their social behavior. Based on this theory, the existence of attitude is meant to serve a particular function for every individual as such, individuals' attitudes is often influenced by their motives. The study by Vainikka (2015) also underscores the significance of the four functions of attitude as provided by psychologist Katz Daniel in the theory of functional theory of attitude, in the sense that they provide an important description of the different ways that consumer attitudes serve several functions in the society that is driven by consumers. According to Vainikka (2015), it is the responsibility of markers to develop strategies that can alter consumers' attitude in a manner that hardly results in ethical or social damage. ABC model in this case is very instrumental in altering consumer attitudes because it entails affective, behavioral and cognitive elements that are very instrumental in the formation of consumer attitude (Vainikka, 2015). The study provides four vital strategies that marketers can use to change the cognitive structure of consumers' attitudes and they include changing beliefs, shifting importance, adding beliefs and changing ideal to naturally alter consumer attitudes towards a particular product or service. According to Soomro, Hameed & Hameed (2012), the main objective of any business is to influence consumers to purchase their products or services without directly altering their behavior and beliefs, an aspect that can be effectively achieved by making alterations to the emotional element of consumers' attitude. A study conducted by Soomro, Hameed & Hameed (2012) also provides a good insight regarding the significance of functional approach in a bid to comprehend consumer behavior. The study seeks to explore the existing association between ego defensive, utilitarian, value expressive and knowledge functions regarding consumer attitude and as a result on the aspect of selecting coffee parlor by customers. The researchers in this study employed a structured questionnaire which was designed on the Fishbein model to collect data and utilized regression model to determine the effect of the function of attitude on their choice of coffee parlor. According to Stankovic, Djukic & Popovic (2012), the existence of attitude is meant to serve some vital function for the consumer in the sense that they are based on an individual's motive. Moreover, the findings of the study by Soomro, Hameed & Hameed (2012) are in line with the viewpoint of Daniel Katz in his functional theory of attitude in the sense that consumers often form attitudes when they anticipate dealing with same information at near future. The application of the functional theory of attitude in this study depicted a positive correlation between all the functions of attitude and the consumers' decision to select a coffee parlor (Soomro, Hameed & Hameed, 2012). In the case of utilitarian function, this study established that the functional attributes of the coffee parlor coupled with its tangible benefits that consumers stand draw from a coffee parlor significantly influence consumer's decision making process regarding the choice of a parlor shop. Strategies of Changing Consumer Attitude According to Vainikka (2015), alteration approaches can include classical conditioning, mere exposure or affect towards a website/ad, where classical conditioning entails an aspect of stimulus evoking the response which was previously evoked by a different stimulus. In this respect, brands can create marketing campaigns that contain catchy songs in the sense that whenever consumers get to hear those songs playing, they would automatically associate them with particular products or brands (Makanyeza, Macheyo & du Tait, 2015). Aff ective element of the consumer attitude can be modified by website ads and other advertisements by enhancing positive responses, an aspect referred to as affect toward a website or Ad, considering the fact that websites play a vital role in drawing in consumers by using methods as celebrity appeal, humor, sensory content or invigorating design. Mere exposure on the hand entails the aspect of bombarding customers with marketing contents with the view to altering their attitudes towards a particular product or brand. According to Stankovic, Djukic & Popovic (2012), altering consumers' behavioral element of consumer attitude is stated in the ABC model and it involves the tendency of an individual to respond in a particular manner to a product or an activity. Based on the findings of Vainikka' study, buying behavior forms first before affective and cognitive components are developed and therefore altering consumer behavior before changing the cognitive and affective elements is based on the operant conditioning. Reference Argyriou, E., & Melewar, T. (2011). Consumer Attitudes Revisited: A Review of Attitude Theory in Marketing Research. International Journal Of Management Reviews, 13( 4), 431-451. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2370.2011.00299.x Ioana-Daniela, S., Lee, K.-H., Kirn, I., Kang, S., & Hyun, S. S. (2018). Attitude toward luxury cruise, fantasy, and willingness to pay a price premium. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 23(4), 325-343. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2018.1433699 Makanyeza, C., Macheyo, R., & du Tait, F. (2015). Perceived product necessity, perceived value, customer satisfaction and affective attitude: an integrative model. Journal Of African Business, 17(1), 69-86.  doi:  10.1080/15228916.2016.1112709 Soornro, Y. A., Harneed, I., & Harneed, I. (2012). A Functional Approach To Understand Consumer Behavior While Selecting Coffee Parlor, American Journal of Scientific Research, 80, 138-148. Stankovic, L., Djukic, S., & Popovic, A. (2012). Research of consumer motives and attitudes about tourist destinations. Marketing, 43(2), 104-112. doi: 10.5937/rnarkt1202104s Vainikka, B. (2015). Psychological Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour. Bachelor’s Thesis, Centria University of Applied Sciences, Kokkola.