Deer In Headlights Research Articles

Snack Time with Generation Z(A)

This case set draws on a summer internship in brand management to outline potential steps in bringing a new food product to life. While there are general guidelines to the new product (brand, grocery aisle, and target market), the rest of the product development is up to the team of marketers and research and developers. The assignment is split into three parts to give students the opportunity to suggest next steps, and then learn what the team actually did in terms of market research and overall timeline. Part A sets up the task at hand for the proceeding parts and includes the background information. This part defines the new product as a snack geared toward Generation Z, specifically teenagers, that must be branded by a cereal brand. Provided with general insights about the target population in the exhibits, the student must determine what they should do first to understand Gen Z's snacking habits and make strides toward product development.Part B begins by explaining the actual next steps that were taken—in-home focus groups with teens and their parents—as well as why this was the chosen tactic. After explaining the market research tactics, the case skips to the insights the team developed, including a job map and four functional attributes. This part ends with the question of what to do as a next step since insights have been developed, but nothing physical has yet to be created. Part C starts with additional qualitative testing to refine concepts and begin the prototyping phase. This part wraps up the entirety of the case with choosing finalists through focus group interviews. As the summer internship comes to an end, the case does as well with an outline of future steps for the team to complete prior to launching the new product (such as surveys, mock shelf simulations, test markets, and the possibility of additional research to define packaging). This case set is a great example of one of the many projects that MBA students might face during their summer internships or full-time jobs, as well as an overall learning in decision-making without perfect information to keep an idea afloat. This case is ideal for in introduction to marketing research. Excerpt UVA-M-0999 Jun. 3, 2020 Snack Time with Generation Z (A) Meade Brewster stared at her empty screen, contemplating the conversation she just had with her manager. “Where do I even start?” she asked herself. It was day three of Brewster's 2019 summer internship as an assistant brand manager in the snacking division for General Mills (GM), after her first year at the Darden School of Business (MBA '20). Days one and two were easy—HR and marketing training all day long. She now knew how to input her time and search for brands and key performance indicators (KPIs) in Nielsen. But after just being briefed on her summer-long project, she felt lost all over again. Brewster's manager, Henry, explained the project like this: “The snacking business unit is down and a major focus as we enter FY2020 (see Exhibit 1), especially since all trends in the industry show consumer preferences toward snacking increasing. As you can imagine, there's been a lot of disruption in the marketplace recently with the growth of insurgent brands due to low barriers to entry. What we need you to do is create a new growth product line to compete in the snacking aisle.” Henry paused and looked at Brewster, who must have looked like a deer in headlights as she thought of the many options already

Love Is Stronger Than Stewardship

Love Is Stronger Than Stewardship

Deer in Headlights: Incompetence and Weak Authoritarianism after the Cold War

Based on a detailed analysis of Belarusian politics and the rise of Aliaksandar Lukashenka in the early 1990s, this article explores the sources, character, and impact of authoritarian incompetence and skill on regime outcomes after the Cold War. One type of incompetence—deer in headlights—emerges out of the disorientation and persistence of older regime practices in the face of rapid political change. This type of incompetence was one important but largely unrecognized source of political contestation in the former Soviet Union and other parts of the developing world in the early 1990s. Rapid change in the international environment that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War created novel demands that existing autocrats often did not know how to deal with—even when they had the structural resources to survive. The result was greater contestation and more incumbent turnover than would have existed otherwise.

On Experts, Blame, and Bold Ideas

It all began innocently enough. I turned on MSNBC's Morning Joe as I do every morning. Hosted by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, its mix of news, bickering, and irreverence make it one of my favorite guilty pleasures. I'm accustomed to the screwball ideas so often presented by Joe and his guests, but this morning Arianna Huffington, co-founder of the Huffington Post, stunned me. She'd been talking to a real expert in education, I heard her say. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Oh, no, not I muttered as I scooped coffee into the pot. Not a real expert! I've lived long enough to know that whatever she said next would be uninformed and simplistic. After all, there is a self-appointed education expert on every street corner. All it takes to be an expert these days is a pulse, an opinion, and a blog. For example, only a few weeks ago, our national education expert was Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. Her top qualifications were being a parent and having a bachelor's degree in political science. If I'd been fully functioning when I heard those words, I'd have snatched the remote off the counter and smashed the mute button. And if I hadn't been able to find the remote quickly enough, I'd have stuck my fingers in my ears or smashed the TV itself. no, in my morning daze, I stood there like a deer in headlights. There's $100 billion in the stimulus package for education, Huffington announced self-righteously. But absolutely no reform of tenure, pay, or real teacher accountability. I felt my eyes roll back in my head. This is the time to be bold! Huffington proclaimed. Leaning against the counter to steady myself, I heard myself say, So, let me get this right, Arianna. Of all the items in the stimulus package that should be explored for 'bold' change, education is the most worthy of comment. And the only things in education --in the wide, wide world of education--that need change are teacher tenure, pay, and As I spoke, I felt as if I were descending into the Sixth Circle of Hell. Huffington's call for such bold moves seems a bit like suggesting we fix our financial woes by requiring that banks stop giving out free suckers at the drive-up windows or holding tellers responsible for bank failures. It just doesn't make sense that the blame for education's shortcomings falls on the shoulders--and only on the shoulders--of teachers. Of all the actors in schools and schooling, of all the people in the hierarchy, are teachers the ones who should be singled out? They, who are never included in making decisions about how schools operate? let's consider Arianna's expert's ideas. Would her expert propose that schools too poor to maintain their rotting buildings receive funds to fix the gaping holes in the roof only if teachers agree to end tenure? Or that we should replace toilets that haven't worked for years only when teachers agree that their salaries will be determined by some fly-by-night merit pay system or some mysterious, ill-defined accountability? And if we do that, what will teachers be expected to give up next? Lunch breaks? That's about all they have left. And if they don't give in, will the public be told that children get wet when it rains because teachers are lazy, greedy, and irresponsible? As Huffington and her expert present the need for pay and the rest, they act as though these are proven cures--as though implementing them would guarantee success. And teachers and their unions are just being obstinate when they resist. If that were true, I promise you I'd be the first person in line demanding their implementation. But, of course, they aren't proven. I've honestly never met a classroom teacher who said she would teach better or work harder if she were paid more. …