Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Punctuations, just like words, even though they might seem vague, have meanings. The lack of a comma in between two words just cost Oakhurst Dairy, a company in Portland, $5 million in overtime pay. Three truck drivers for the company claimed they had not been paid their overtime wages for years because of how the commas were used in the legislation. According to the state’s law, overtime pay was not available for workers in ” the canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of 1) agricultural produce; 2) meat and fish products, and 3) perishable foods.” The truck drivers were able to argue that they were owed overtime as there was no comma separating shipment and distribution. The US Court of Appeals ruled in their favor, a ruling that benefitted other 120 drivers too.

Value chain is the firm’s activities starting from raw materials all through to the final good or service. Primary activities are concerned with creating and delivering a service or a product to the consumer. An example is marketing and sales.  Support activities help primary activities in achieving the ultimate goal of the organization. An example is procurement or infrastructure.

Outsourcing is the practice of sending out specific job functions to a different firm that can handle them. Outsourcing can improve a firm’s value as it lowers the costs that would have been incurred in case the activities were handled in-house. Also, the firm can now focus its energy on its core areas. Besides, outsourcing also opens up access to innovation that might not have been present in-house. However, there are specific problems that are associated with outsourcing. First, it can bring about a slower turnaround time. The company may also not have all the necessary business or domain knowledge of the firm and how it operates. Another critical issue is the cultural or language barrier. A good example of an outsourcing destination is India, and many times most people find it challenging to comprehend how they speak or understand their culture.

References

Doval, E. (2016). Is outsourcing a strategic tool to enhance the competitive advantage?. Review of General Management, (23 (1)), 78-87.

Haden, J. (2018, February 12). How 1 Missing Comma Just Cost This Company $5 Million (but Did Make Its Employees $5 Million Richer). Retrieved from Inc.: https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/how-1-missing-comma-just-cost-this-company-5-million-but-did-make-its-employees-5-million-richer.html

Salvi, H. B., & Pahurkar, R. N. Assessing the relationship between value chain analysis and competitive advantage.