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Case Discussion  
SMITHFIELD’S CUSTOM FURNITURE
It is 1901. Alicia Smithfield, daughter of the founder of Smithfield Custom Furniture, just inherited the company. She is the only surviving heir to the furniture empire her father built.  
Headquartered in upstate New York, the company has grown significantly over the past 60 years. Began in a shed built next to his log cabin, Jonas Smithfield’s quality furniture developed a huge following among New York City’s wealthiest residents.
After being educated in the best business schools in Europe and America, Alicia has run the business side-by-side with her father for the past 15 years. When there were many issues confronting the business, a tree being felled took an unexpected route and brought Jonas’ life to a surprising end.
The company had just moved to a facility large enough to house its workers: 10 carpenters; 5 furniture designers; 5 wood finishers (varnish and dye experts); 10 machine operators to assist with the various equipment needed to cut the wood into various designs, polish and sand the wood; 5 mechanics to keep the vehicles (5 trucks) and boats (7) that transported wood from upstate New York and Canada to the work area in good repair; 15 lumberjacks who cut wood in nearby areas and moved it downriver by boat or over the rugged highway by truck; and 5 office personnel who assisted with filing, invoicing, drafting and responding to correspondence, handling customer inquiries, and performing other necessary office functions. More than half of these employees were hired in the past 5 years.
Alicia’s Big Issues
The major issues confronting Alicia Smithfield are these:  
(1) The furniture manufacturing functions are very disorganized. It is not clear how to best organize these functions. For example, the varnish and dye experts each use a different method to complete their tasks.  
(2) The production schedule is a mess. It is not clear which projects should be completed first to ensure products are being delivered to customers on time. 
(3) The lumberjacks, both cutting trees down and shipping them by truck or boat, differ on the best methods to perform these tasks. 
(4) Tempers are flaring as a result of the disorganization. The office, clerical, and support workers are rude to each other and can’t seem to act as a cohesive work unit.
(5) While the company is financially successful, as it has grown from a small family-owned business to a large and complex enterprise, the organizational structure has not kept pace. Few formal rules exist, and the keeping and maintenance of records are haphazard.  
(6) Employees are feeling overworked and losing satisfaction in the work they are doing. They believe their basic needs are not being addressed.
Alicia’s Proposed Issue Solutions 
Alicia Smithfield is familiar with all of the contributors (e.g., Weber, Gilbreath, Taylor, among others) to the management theory you have read about this week. She has decided to hire six (6) of those contributors to management theory from the week’s readings as consultants. (We shall now refer to those contributors (e.g., Weber, Gilbreath, Taylor, among the others) in this week’s readings as “consultants.”)  
Each of the six (6) consultants selected will be assigned to solve only one of the six (6) issues listed above. Alicia’s problem is that she is unclear as to which of the six (6) contributors selected from the week’s reading to be her consultants are best matched to solve each of the six (6) specific issues listed above.   
Your Task for Your Initial Post 
You are to answer four (4) of the above-mentioned six (6) issues identified by Alicia Smithfield. Specifically, she has asked you to recommend a consultant to solve four of the six issues confronting her. You have been requested to explain to Alicia why you selected the four consultants you chose to solve each of the four selected issues. Each consultant will solve one of the four issues you identified that particular consultant to address. You must explain the major contribution/idea of the consultant selected and how that contribution/idea applies to the specific issue you have recommended that the consultant solve. You must identify the school of thought that each consultant represents.  
Note: You may not use any of the individuals in the readings to solve more than one of the four (4) issues. If a person you select is deceased, do not let that inconvenience stand in your way. You may still use that individual to solve a specific issue.
For research associated with this discussion, you must use course materials only. You must provide in-text citations and references for each of the four (4) issues you select.
Format for Your Initial Post
Use the exact numbers and corresponding headings for your initial post for each of your 4 selections. For example, one student’s post may be numbered 1, 3, 5, 6; another student’s post may be numbered 1, 2, 4, 5; and so forth. Any four of the six issues listed that a student selects to answer will be acceptable.     
Manufacturing Functions are Disorganized 
Production Schedule is a Mess
Lumberjack Disagreement Methods To Cut Trees/Load Boat  
Tempers Flare among Office Support Staff 
Lack of Formal Rules/Record-Keeping Processes  
Basic Needs and Job Satisfaction Overlooked 

One of the fastest-growing segments of the online payments business is mobile payments. U.S. mobile payments are expected to reach $140 billion by 2019 and purchases using mobile devices could account for half of all online retail sales by 2017.
Google introduced one of the first digital wallet products that would work on a mobile device in 2011 when it also introduced support for the operation of NFC chips in its Android mobile operating system. Google Pay stores a MasterCard account for users that agree to maintain a cash balance with the card’s issuing bank, so it operates essentially as a debit card. Google Pay does not charge a fee to merchants or the MasterCard issuing banks, nor does it charge a transaction fee. Instead, it generates revenue from advertisers who pay to display ads, offer coupons or other promotions (specific ads are displayed based on the mobile device’s proximity to the stores that are making the offers). Google Pay has been slow to catch on with users.
In 2014, Apple introduced a digital wallet product for its mobile devices called Apple Pay. In operation, Apple Pay is similar to Google Pay; however, the infrastructure and revenue model is different. Apple Pay charges the issuing banks a fee of 0.05 percent of the transaction amount and guarantees each transaction; that is, if the transaction is fraudulent, Apple will cover the loss. Credit card companies normally charge merchants a fee ranging between 2 and 3 percent of the transaction amount, so the additional Apple Pay fee serves as a low-priced insurance plan for them. Consumers will not be charged at all for using Apple Pay and will not be given advertising messages. Further, Apple has stated that it does not collect information about consumer buying habits from Apple Pay data. Apple arranged for American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa credit cards to be included in their system, along with a group of large card-issuing banks. They also included major retailers such as Bloomingdales, Disney, Staples, Walgreens and Whole Foods. These participants will be able to collect data on consumer buying habits, but only on those consumers that use their card or shop at their stores. Apple reported that more than a million credit cards were registered with Apple Pay in the first three days it was available. After Apple Pay’s introduction, an increase in the number of retailers that accept NFC payments (as you learned in this chapter, NFC technology is used by both Google Pay and Apple Pay) caused an increase in the use of Google Pay.
Amy Lawrence, the owner of Random Walk Shoes, has asked you again to help her as she launches her company’s first Web site (see week 5 case study). She is interested incorporating a mobile application to her brick and mortar operation and wants your recommendation regarding credit card processing. This week’s assignment is to research Google Pay and Apple Pay and compare the benefits and drawbacks of each from a consumer’s standpoint, a retailer’s standpoint, and a bank’s standpoint. Include why you think Google decided to develop this new product why Google also decided to continue offering its Google Pay product. In addition, please include an explanation what a “card not present” transaction is and why it presents a greater risk than card present transactions for a retail business. Amy foresees that her business with grow into a large company, so discuss how the Electronic commerce software for a small online store must summarize sales and shipments, and contrast it with how software for a large enterprise might do so.
The following requirements must be met:
·        Write between 1,000 – 1,500 words using Microsoft Word in APA style.
·        Use an appropriate number of references to support your position, and defend your arguments. The following are examples of primary and secondary sources that may be used, and non-credible and opinion based sources that may not be used.
o   Primary sources such as government websites (United States Department of Labor – Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Census Bureau, The World Bank), peer reviewed and scholarly journals in EBSCOhost and Google Scholar.
o   Secondary and credible sources such as CNN Money, The Wall Street Journal, trade journals, and publications in EBSCOhost).
o   Non-credible and opinion based sources such as, Wikis, Yahoo Answers, eHow, blogs, etc. should not be used.
·        Cite all reference material (data, dates, graphs, quotes, paraphrased statements, information, etc.) in the paper and list each source on a reference page using APA style. APA resources, including a template, are provided in the Supplemental Materials folder.