Chapter 1, Problem 1.8SE

Identify current competitive tools (Learning Objective 5)

Companies are facing a great amount of change in every facet of their operations today. To remain competitive, companies must keep abreast of current developments in several areas. You recently got together with a group of friends who work for different companies. Your friends share information about their current challenges in adopting new tools or complying with new regulations. Excerpts from the conversation are presented in the following section. Tell whether each excerpt describes data analytics, Six Sigma, sustainability, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), or enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

1. a. Jordan: My company has a new initiative at work. All employees are encouraged to recycle paper and other materials. Employees are also given one work day a year to volunteer to help local nonprofit organizations. Employees are also urged to think outside the box to find ways to reduce the company’s carbon footprint. The company has also begun an internal reporting system that reports on its triple bottom line.
2. b. Kate: I just started a new job in the Auditing Department. My new duties include assisting in the development of testing procedures and methods for determining internal controls effectiveness. I also oversee the testing for assurance of compliance with corporate policies. I am coordinating the review of SEC filings with our external auditors. I also am responsible for preparing periodic compliance status reports for management, the audit committee, and the external auditors.
3. c. Yiang: My company is working to demonstrate its commitment to continuous quality improvement. We are currently undergoing an extensive audit of our quality management processes and are striving to produce with a defect level of less than 3.4 defects per million parts produced. We hope to gain a competitive advantage through this process.
4. d. Christopher: We have just installed a system at our company that integrates all of our company’s data across all systems. We have one central data warehouse that contains information about our suppliers, our customers, our employees, and our financial information. The software retrieves information from this single data warehouse and all systems are integrated. The process of implementing this system has been very expensive and time consuming, but we are reaping the benefits of being more streamlined, of being able to respond more quickly to changes in the market, and of not having several different software systems operating independently.
5. e. Emma: Our company is considering whether to set up a sales division in India where we feel there is untapped market potential. However, we have to carefully consider the costs of such an expansion against the increased sales we would see from the new division.