When I sit down and think of an ethical situation I have encountered lately, I think back to a few years ago. This was my rookie season in the NFL and I was a member of the Oakland Raiders. Each year towards the end of the season, it is expected of the rookies of that season to throw a end of the year party for his position group, known as "rookie night." I had heard about this tradition and was pretty skeptical about it because I had heard of the horror stories of what occurred at the parties. In addition, I had heard of the money that was spent to entertain the fellow teammates for an evening of fun. Well, on the last week of the season it was my turn throw my fellow linebackers a lavish party. I began to be worried that I could be put in some awkward positions that would test my morals and ethics. The night began pretty relaxed as we went to a Golden State Warriors basketball game. I paid for the catered food and enjoyed the game with them. After the game is where I was first tested. We were headed to a club when one of my teammates mentioned that they were going to need my credit card to open a tab for them to drink. I have been taught my whole life that drinking is not acceptable and against my morals and beliefs. This is something I struggled with internally, to basically provide alchol to friends of mine at my own expense. After much thought, I decided to do it, but to not participate in it. I felt awkward the rest of the evening as I continued to buy bottles of champagne and liquor for others. After the club I was then tested again when my teammates wanted to extend the evening by participating in immoral activities. This is where I drew the line and told them i would accompany then. At first I was a little embarrassed to tell them I wouldn't be joining them, but I was then immediately satisfied to know that I did not rest on my morals, despite the pressure. These two instances on that one particular evening, were two moral and ethical dilemmas that I have since looked back on glad that I acted the way I did under those circumstances.

When I think of a company that is troubled currently with misalignment issues, I think of the NFL. The NFL is currently in a labor dispute between the players and owners. There are many issues at hand that the two sides continue to debate over. The main one is that of revenue. Currently, the NFL has an annual income of about $9 billion. Of the income that the owners take home, 51% goes towards the players salaries. However, the owners are trying to minimize that percentage to 48%, which is a large amount of money when you are talking about billions of dollars. Other issues that are being fought over are that of an 18 game schedule, player benefits, and retired players benefits. The way that the owner and league offices are going about this ordeal is where the misalignment is occurring.
To take a closer look, we can examine the league by the 7-s model. First, you have the shared values. This might be their biggest misalignment. The NFL has always tried to portray an image that they take care of their employees, the players, and and make sure all is well. However, since the lockout has occurred, all health and retirement benefits have been lost. In addition, the staff part of the 7-s model has some discrepancies. The commissioner of the league, Roger Goddell, is widely disrepected by the players and coaches. Since he is paid by the owners themselves, he often sides with them on issue, like the lockout, and has constant tension between the players. As a result of this, the structure of the actual NFL seems to be misaligned. The relationship among the four functions(commissioner, owners, players, and coaches) is strained and there is very little options in which to give feedback to each organization. These and a few other issues are what have led the NFL to struggle lately with their labor dispute.

When I think of the first cell phones that were used, I think of Nokia. However, for the past few years this once iconic powerhouse has become almost obsolete. Analyst Ken Dulaney said, "The challenge to come back in the U.S. market is very significant." But with the aid of a new executive and a shift in strategy, Nokia is striving to make a comeback in the cell phone industry.

Nokia just announced that they will now use the Windows phone software from Microsoft in their smart phones. With this new Windows phone platform, Nokia is hoping to gain market share once again the in US. Their ultimate hope it that their phones will get backing from one of the large carriers, like AT&T or Verizon. It will be interesting to see if this company can make a rebound in the very competitive cell phone business.

From a strategy viewpoint, a few models are applicable here. The first would be the Growth Opportunities Matrix. The fact that Nokia is going to use Microsoft’s software is a new product in an existing market. Also, they plan to use a major carrier like Verizon which means that they’d be involved in an existing product and market. Furthermore, with new management begin hired on, they will leverage their general management expertise. This goes along with the hedgehog concept in that hiring Chris Weber and Jerri DeVard, who both worked at Microsoft and Verizon respectively, will help give them a clear goal and excellent leadership.

One of the emerging small chains in western United States is Sunflower Farmers Market. This organic food grocer is a lower-cost health-food/grocery-store combination focused on fresh produce and natural meats and poultry. They are generally lower priced than mainstream health-food stores such as Whole Foods and have benefited from consumer trends toward more healthful foods and lower prices. Their strategy is simple. They buy produce directly from growers and use a network of 50 to 70 private-label manufacturers to keep prices down. So, they are striving to serve the middle market of people that want health food but can not afford it.
CEO Mike Gilliland mentioned that in the start-up process, they would look at their competitors and model their behavior and then fill in the gaps. He goes onto mention that there is a desire for healthy food and that they are at a nexus of trends. As a result, Sunflower Farmers Market has capitalized on this trend, and in 2009 they saw sales grow by 50 percent from the year before, to about $300 million. According to the Nielsen Co., Sunflower's three Valley stores have 0.31 percent of the Phoenix-area grocery market. That compares with Trader Joe's at 1.96 percent, Sprouts at 1.61 percent and Whole Foods at 1.11 percent.

From a strategist viewpoint, it is easy to see that there were little barriers of entry in this market. Sunflower Farmers Market was able to enter into the market and after a few years, have 50% growth and a segmented portion of the retail grocery industry. They were also able break through the supplier power barrier by purchasing their products straight from the producers and using a network of private-label manufacturers. As a result, this small chain has continued to grow over the last few years with a bright forecast for the future.

Apple Inc.

When one thinks of technology these days, they think of Apple Inc. Since 1977, Apple has been a constant player in the computer industry. However, it was not until early 2007 when the leaders of Apple decided to tap into the profit pool of mobile consumer electronics. While other computer companies seemed to be taking over the computer industry in the early 2000's, Apple was striving to maintain their hold in the computer market. Then, in 2007 an announcement was made that Apple Computer Inc. was changing their name to Apple Inc. and dropping the title "Computer", because computers were no longer the main focus of the company. Since then, the profit pools of mobile consumer electronics and digital music players have helped pushed Apple to have revenue over $26 billion. Last quarter alone, Apple sold 19.4 million iPods, 16.2 million iPhones, 7.3 million iPads and 4.1 million Macs. Therefore, it is clear that Apple's main source of income is no longer computers, but rather the profit pools of mobile consumer electronics, the iPhone and iPad, and the digital music players, iPods.

I found these numbers to be interesting in that they show the complete shift of emphasis Apple made when the realized the potential that their other technologies possessed. As a result, they have become very successful and have an impressive forecast ahead of them.