Choose one item from the following list that you understand well enough to evaluate. Develop several criteria of evaluation that you could defend to distinguish excellence from meritocracy in the US area. Then choose an item you don’t know much about and explain the research you might perform to discover reasonable criteria of evaluation for it. Smart phones, NFL quarterbacks, fashion designers, Navajo rugs, UN secretary generals, contemporary painters, hip-hop bands, organic vegetables, athletic shoes, historic U. S. battlegrounds, breeds of dogs, former British prime ministers.

Explanation:

Choose one item from the following list that you understand well enough to evaluate.

Develop several criteria of evaluation that you could defend to distinguish excellence from meritocracy in the US area.

First we need to understand what meritocracy and excellence are after which we can choose any topic from the list and evaluate it using these.

What is meritocracy?

Meritocracy is Governance by elites who deserve to wield power because they possess merit (defined as 'intelligence plus effort') instead of by those who merely possess wealth or belong to privileged classes.

Such a system, in theory, forms the basis of an 'equal opportunity' society. But, in practice, unrestricted meritocracy may result in a society without rules and concentrate power in only a few hands. The term was coined by the UK sociologist Michael Young in 1958 book, 'The Rise of Meritocracy.'

Hence we can infer that meritocracy is governance by elites who possess intelligence along with efforts (hard work).

Now we thing of what is governance by excellence?

Excellence means that you're indispensable. At least right now, in this moment, there's no one else I would choose but you. You, the excellent one, are so surprising, so delightful, so over-the-top.

The Governance Excellence model identifies 3 inputs that boards and senior management should strive to align to maximise performance and generate sustainable results for all stakeholders.

These inputs are Value, Capability and Support and represent the following areas of the business and organization:

Value

Capability

Support

So in order to understand the scenario with the case subjects we choose from the list the Smart phones for understanding the market share and customer preference for smartphones and is it due to excellence or meritocracy.

First we prepare the list of popular smartphones that are sold in US:    

Rank

Brand

Units shipment (millions)

Market Share (%)

1

Samsung

82.8

22

2

Apple

46.7

12.4

3

Huawei

39.1

10.4

4

Oppo

30.0

8

5

Xiaomi

28

7.4

Here it can be inferred from the point of view of meritocracy as:

Meritocracy of Samsung as a brand in US market:

Launches unique products which are first in market

Advance and reliable technology

Pioneer in smartphone design and adaptability

Meritocracy of Apple as a Brand:  

Apple is more inn innovative and refined than Samsung

Uses its own operating system and hardware

Unique design and brand quotient

Meritocracy of Huawei as a brand in US:

It plays in the niche market of having advance software and hardware compositions.

The built quality is not so good and smartphones manufacturing is not the prime business of the enterprise.

Meritocracy of Xiaomi as a brand in the US market:

Routine design and adapts prevalent concepts that are ongoing in the market.

Uses not so premium hardware and software.

Built quality is not so good and misses refinement.

Hence the meritocracy of these market players in the smartphone market in the US justify their market share they hold.

On the other hand when we analyze the same data with excellence as our perspective we find:

Excellence of Samsung as a brand:

Wide spread marketing and advertisement strategy.

Customer feedback and trial runs

Participation in international platforms for promotion of brand visibility.

Enduring hardware.

Wide spectrum of models available.

Efficient supply chain.

Excellence of Apple:

Manufactures only premium products with custom hardware.

Appeals to a certain range of customers.

Costly and efficient.

Research and development.

Limited models available.

Costly supply chain.

Whereas excellence of rest three brands can be assessed jointly as:

Efficient supply chain.

Good advertising and marketing.

Then choose an item you don’t know much about and explain the research you might perform to discover reasonable criteria of evaluation for it.

Hip-hop bands is an area that I don’t know much about and would like to do an extensive market research to understand the effects of excellence and meritocracy as effective in their market success.

List: Smart phones, NFL quarterbacks, fashion designers, Navajo rugs, UN secretary generals, contemporary painters, hip-hop bands, organic vegetables, athletic shoes, historic U.S. battlegrounds, breeds of dogs, former British prime ministers