Buying a House: The Decision-Making Process

The home-buying decision process was examined for a couple buying a home. A fourstep decision process was developed by the team and tested on a couple considering buying their first home. The steps were: 1) specify primary criteria; 2) give weights to the criteria via pairwise comparison [1]; 3) select a slate of candidate homes; and 4) rank the homes via pairwise comparison for each criteria. A team member and his spouse whom had purchased homes in the past were asked to specify the criteria most important to them (e.g., price, location, floor plan, etc.). Criteria that were not preferentially independent were grouped to result in five main criteria. Pairwise comparison was used to determine the relative weights of the criteria. Several homes were then selected that met the minimum criteria – price range, number of bedrooms, general location, etc. The couple then selected five homes from the list that they would consider if they were purchasing a home now. Pairwise comparison was then used to develop weights for each home for each criterion. By multiplying the 1x5 criteria weight vector by the 5x5 house/ criteria matrix, a 1x5 vector of “Values” for each alternative (home) was obtained. Based on these values, the homes were ranked from highest value (most desirable) to lowest value. The decision process developed above was then tested with a couple currently seeking to purchase a home. The same steps were followed with the “sample couple.” The couple felt the structured decision process was very helpful in helping them to select a home. A primary assumption made was that buyers considering using this decision process have already considered their finances; that is, they have spoken with a lender to assess their credit and the maximum loan amount they can expect to have approved. It was also assumed that the grouping of criteria within major subheadings (e.g., “Location”) was reasonable and that the team had correctly identified those criteria that are, and are not, preferentially independent. Lastly, for purposes of this project, “virtual visits” to the homes were made via the multiple listing service (MLS) website data. For purposes of ranking the homes, this was considered equivalent to an actual visit to the home. Note: The presentation associated with this report is included here as a supplemental file

eBay: Strategy and Policy Issues

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In this Strategic Policy and Issues Project, we studied online auction giant eBay Inc. We try to give a light to its history a little bit, how a company was emerged which started as a hobby by Pierre Omidyar and his friend Jeff Skoll in 1995 to a position where as of 4th quarter of 2002 is serving as a trading platform for 62 million customers worldwide. The astonishing story of eBay is told from the perspectives of the industry challenges, the company strategy and the business model. First of all, we categorized the challenges facing the company as: technical, business, social and legal. We especially focused on their corporate strategy as a second step to demonstrate what difference eBay makes in the industry and what are competition and growth strategies and how they are coping with the challenges mentioned above, what are their precautions or reactions. Third and the last of all we tried to demonstrate the unique eBay business model

eBay: Strategy & Policy Issues: PowerPoint Presentation

A History of Auctions and ebay

Cross-Cultural Teams and Projects: Issues and Trends

To date, a team\u27s composition has been primarily studied through demographic variables such as age, gender, and race, or through organization-related characteristics such as tenure or functional background. 1 This paper endeavors to explore cross-cultural team issues. With increasing globalization and multi-national companies, cross-cultural teams have become more common. Cultural heterogeneity can result in teams that provide more thorough and creative solutions. This paper examines the benefits of Cross-Cultural teams as well as some of many cultural differences to be considered when assembling and running these teams. Cultural differences affect the ways in which individuals associate as a team, these differences are discussed in individualism and collectivism. Differences in individual performance expectations in regard to time, effort and deadlines are also discussed

Home Networking: PowerPoint Presentation

AGENDA Research and Statistics Market Drivers Home Networking – an Overview Need for Home Networking Different Networking Technologies Definition Pros and Cons Economic Analysis Conclusion Q

Home Networking

Executive Summary For the last fifty years, television has revolutionized entertainment and news industry, today Internet is revolutionizing how individuals and companies conduct commerce and communications. According to recent statistics, more than 50% of the homes in the U.S. have Personal Computers. With a market this pervasive, the potential for home networking products, typically called home personal networking products, is projected by research companies like International Data Corporation to expand significantly throughout the next three years. Considering the growth of technology, it is difficult to predict which technology will stay for long time. Any technology might stay in the field for two years to a maximum, soon the next technology or the same technology with lot of improvement will take over the earlier one. But with respect to home networking there are numerous technologies are available, which one to choose is a big question. Since most of the home users are not technically competent enough to handle any maintenance and repairs in the long run. So, it is very important to choose a technology with low maintenance at the same time provide better technology to the users with respect to flexibility, cost, security, expansion, etc. Out Cost benefit analysis, NPV and decision tree model will help a user to decide which technology will be suitable for them. It is completely users decision to choose any technology, since the priorities of each and every ones are different

Nurse Scheduling For Kaiser’s ICU: PowerPoint Presentation

Overview Kaiser Permanente - KSMC • Nurse Scheduling in a Nutshell • Current Model at KSMC • Issues and Problems • Proposed Model • Conclusion • Q/

Lab and Lab Case Tracking Software Development Project

In order to remain competitive and gain larger market shares in the dental/medical practice industry and to gain the trust within our current client base, First Pacific Corporation decided to add a new module for lab and lab case tracking. Project objectives: Provide the latest features to add a lab Enable to track the lab case for each patient and the lab. Provide a more up-to-date, visually appealing and ergonomically efficient interface to the clients. Create tighter integration with the appointment scheduling to reduce data entry. Develop the module in latest technologies as software reusable components. Project summary: Better Navigation. Maintain Lab information. Maintain lab-tracking information from patients as well as labs. Better appointment scheduling for lab case appointments. Reduction in production loss because of lab cases Faster and clean graphical interface for the data entry. Faster and usable retrieval of information