Analyze a Business Article and Write Synopsis Discussion
The water cooler has become a symbol in business life. It, or any common gathering place in an office slightly removed from the cubicles and desks, is a place to share information, both casual and vital, and to build networks with colleagues you don’t necessarily see or interact with every day. The Watercooler activities throughout this course will help you get into the practice of looking beyond your metaphorical cubicle to seek out topical news stories and ideas and analyze them with your instructor and colleagues. Familiarity with current trends, topics, and events is an important element of your participation and success in the business world.
For the Watercooler activity, you will research current online journals to select an article of interest for this course. Using the following Watercooler template, write a brief synopsis, and submit it. Remember the exemplar provided is a brief illustration of the assignment. It is only a brief example meant to be used as a guide. Your work should be more complete.
Business Journals and Publications
- Business Week
- Harvard Business Review
- Industry Week
- Fast Company
- Marketing Magazine
- HR Focus
- Franchising World
- HR Magazine
- Logistics Management
- Leadership Excellence
- Computerworld
- MIT Sloan Management Review
- The Economist
- Reflections (Society for Organizational Learning)
- Fortune
- California Management Review
- Across the Board
- Workforce Management
- Various industry magazines and journals
Exemplar for the Watercooler Application:
Name: Jenny Smith
Date: 5/23/07
APA Citation of the source:
Hemerling, J. (2007). China: Ready for the next sourcing wave? Business Week Online, 19. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database. (AN 24667517)
Part 1: Synopsis of the article
This article discusses the evolution and future of sourcing components and products from China and other rapidly developing economies. This author states that while initially China was the source for cheap parts, it is actually starting to innovate in the area of research and development now and participates in creating new components and products.
In the future, the author believes that the China will become a global center for procurement, and that procurement headquarters and managers for large corporations will be located in the country. IBM has already made this move and the author sees this as signaling that the next wave of globalization’s influence on procurement has arrived.
Part 2: Analysis of article based on the course topic
This article relates to the course content because it covers a major trend in the global economy related to business operations. It is interesting because the trend seems to be somewhat new, but at the same time has already gained momentum, signaling how fast business methods are changing in today’s business world.
The topic covered in this article is one more example of how work that was traditionally done all in one place is being done by different populations around the globe. Not only is the work done globally, the management of that work is going global, touching on the themes of outsourcing, innovation, and localization.
