Comparison/Contrast Essay Eng101

Name Professor ENG 101 November , 2012 British PSA is the best choice Although both the â€Å"British PSA† and the â€Å"AT&T PSA† use the fear of injury and death to discourage texting while driving, the British PSA is more effective than the AT&T PSA because it focuses on the details of the injury and death during the accident. Both the British PSA and the AT&T PSA show the â€Å"life changing† and â€Å"life ending† consequences that can occur when a person chooses to text while driving.The British PSA shows a deadly multi-car crash that occurs because the texting driver crosses the centerline and hits another car head-on only due to the fact that she and her teenage passengers were distracted by a text message on her cell phone. Likewise, the AT&T PSA shows several different people whose lives have been destroyed by tragic car accidents (involving injury or death) caused by texting while driving.Both videos show the devastating effects that texting whi le driving can have on the texting driver and other innocent people, but the â€Å"British PSA† is the more effective video. The AT&T PSA shows three separate storylines of people who have been affected by injury and/or death because of texting while driving. The 1st storyline is about a teenage girl who died a year earlier when she was texting while driving. The story has a policeman describing the accident scene and the victim’s family and friends describing their loss.The 2nd storyline is about a teenage boy who killed a man on a bicycle when he was texting while driving. The 3rd storyline shows a mentally and physically disabled young man who became disabled from a car accident in which he was texting while driving. These 3 storylines bring out strong feelings in the audience of compassion for the loved ones, sadness for the injured, and concern that something like this could happen to you or your loved ones.However, this video does not show any details of the actu al accident, therefore making it difficult for the viewer to imagine this all came from just a simple text message. In contrast, The â€Å"British PSA† clip uses a dramatic approach by showing the details of a full-fledge highway multi-car accident. The clip shows the terrifying effects of a deadly head-on collision in slow motion. Immediately after the head-on collision, the car with the 3 teenage girls gets broad-sided (T-boned) by a third car travelling at a high rate of speed.It provides a bloody and graphic example of the devastating effects that texting while driving can bring and strives to promote staying off cell phones while operating a vehicle by depicting an event that the audience would never want to live through. Instead of just showing the aftermath or the long term effects of the accident, The â€Å"British PSA† uses an approach to shock the audience and literally scare them from ever wanting to text while driving by showing the injury and death of seve ral people involved.The â€Å"British PSA† is more effective than the â€Å"AT&T PSA† because it allows the audience to witness the horrible details of a car accident instead of just hearing about the aftermath several months later. Works Cited AT&T Don’t Text While Driving Documentary. (2010). Retrieved November 22, 2012 from http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=DebhWD6ljZs. PSA Texting While Driving U. K. Ad. (2009). Retrieved November 22, 2012 from http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=R0LCmStIw9E.

What are the main features of child directed speech and how does it help language acquisition?

The language traits that characterise child-directed speech tend to facilitate the acquisition of language. Children start their lives without language and are faced with the challenge of emerging into a world in which they cannot effectively communicate. From the time a child is born, however, they will begin to associate what happens around them with meaning. As time passes, they will begin to associate unknown verbal forms to known meanings. Parents show a unique type of speaking that is referred to as child-directed speech, motherese, or, more commonly, baby talk for example â€Å"moo-cow†.This speech has many unique characteristics that distinguish it from adult-directed speech. One feature of child language acquisition is that children master language by making mistakes until they fully acquire the skills. This ‘trial and error’ approach shows that learning is taking place, however, phonological development seems also to depend on physical ability to produce sounds. Some phonological errors used by children are deletion in words such as â€Å"do(g)† and â€Å"cu(p)†. Although some add on extra vowels, for example â€Å"doggie†.A lot of young children change one consonant or vowel for another, known as an assimilation such as â€Å"gog† instead of â€Å"dog†. These errors show that as a child learns a word is substitutes the sound of a letter for a different one. In phonology there are a variety of features used by parents for language acquisition such as higher pitch in the parents voice, a greater range of frequencies in the tone, a slower speed of speech, clearer enunciation, emphasis on one or two words in a sentence, and special pronunciations of individual words.This is more common from the mothers as it comes naturally to them and is done in order to allow infants time to process the information being conveyed to them. Rhythm is also emphasized when talking to a child and is used closely with th e emphasis of various syllables. One children can produce sounds effectively they can use these skills to form real words that others can recognize. Proto-words have meaning for the child and the parents so a child needs to acquire the vocabulary that will help them be understood by a wider audience. Also achild needs to learn the meanings of words in order to link objects and ideas. The rate of lexical development in children at 12 months is that they know 50 words which increase to 2,000 at 36 months which shows that language is aquired in the early stages. Parents also tend to use some lexical features in speech such as â€Å"mama† and â€Å"dada† to encourage the child to start speaking, as these words are usually the first two the child says in their early months. As the child starts to progress, the parent uses diminutives like â€Å"doggy†, â€Å"kitty†, â€Å"potty† for the child to understand easily.Children can link a word and the referen t easily as they can usually see it, or see a visual representation in a book. The social and interactive nature of many words also indicate the importance of interacting with others, suggesting that pragmatic awareness is vital to language development. The reduplicative such as â€Å"quack quack† and diminutives like â€Å"mummy† show the bridge between phonological and lexical development. Child directed speech features a unique syntax. Parents usually use short utterances rather than full sentence structures in order to convey meaning to their child.They are often repeated so children have practice in a particular concept. Child directed speech helps infants to detect syntactic boundaries and makes linguistic patterns easier to recognize. Children begin to understand word order through child directed speech which slowly expands into a deeper understanding of sentence structure. However, communicating with children can be difficult if you can’t maintain their attention, so you need to talk about a topic that interests them.For example if you are washing them you could talk about all the different body parts whilst washing them, if they splash talk about the splash. Ask a lot of questions and let them reply as this speeds the acquisition of verbal auxiliaries by the child. Parents should use lots of names for things and many words for actions as they play an important role in later language development. Conversations with children are mostly about the present, here-and-now, rather than topics pertaining to another time, past or future.Regarding grammar, in the first three or four years there is not much point in correcting them as it will just confuse them and may do harm to their confidence and self-esteem. It is best to let the child correct themselves spontaneously when they are ready. However you could drop hints to help them out in correcting what they are saying. In order to relate to a child during â€Å"baby talk†, a parent may deliberately fabricate some words, and may pepper the speech of non verbal utterances. The parents might refer only to objects and events in the immediate surrounding area, and will often repeat the child’s utterances back to them.Children employ a wide variety of phonological simplifications, usually assimilation or reduplication, in learning speech, where the child seizes on a stressed syllable, and repeats it to form a word. Within the context of normal conversation with their children caregivers use a variety of techniques to encourage the continuance of that conversation. Repetition is one of the most frequently used methods of prolonging conversation, as well as one of the particular traits of child-directed speech.Frequently heard words for objects will be better remembered and better articulated than other words once the child begins to develop a productive vocabulary of real words. The more times a child hears a sentence clearly modeled, the more that child†™s language learning is facilitated. The expand and recast technique serves as an alternative to repetition, and, is a method parents often use as it gives children new ideas and helps with the formation of grammar, as well as prolonging the conversation by recasting the prior topic into a new form.Turn-taking is another technique used in child-directed speech. Used early in the child’s development, turn-taking provides infants with the opportunity of learning the structure of conversations. The parents use cues such as exaggerated pauses to help infants learn to take their turns. Routines of turn-taking also serve other functions in linguistic development. Babies gain experience in vocalizing, and participate in situations in which that vocalizing becomes more language-like.

Hotel Management Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Hotel Management - Coursework Example The hotel's plush and warm interiors decorated with traditional works of art, hand picked local artifacts and tasteful furnishings; all coupled with the excellent service from staff who cares. The hotel is a combination of luxury and comfort with ultra modern facilities. Hotel City Park offers elegantly appointed rooms & suites that have been equipped with all types of modern facilities as upto the International standards of hotels. Room offers a spectacular view of lush green gardens. Rooms are perfectly designed with vibrant colors and furniture. Here guest can enjoy a comfortable stay. These rooms are considered to be lavishly appointed and are of comparatively larger size. Beauty Parlour, Travel Desk, Barber shop, Courier Service, Front Desk, Free Newspaper, Parking, Bar, Banquet, Restaurant, Safe Deposit Box, Conference Facilities, Business Centre, Swimming Pool, Health Club. Doctor on Call, Laundry, Valet, Travel Desk Service, Dry Cleaning, Post, Baby Sitting, Currency Exchange, Hair Dryer, Newsstand, Safety Deposit Box, Secretarial Services, Wake up service, Car Rental, Concierge, Chemist, Conference Halls. For example: In some countries every individual requires work permit for working in any organization or sector. This work permit is like a license which tells that the person is free to work in that country. This license includes date of issue, date of expiry, issued head office, issuing officer's name etc. The license signifies that the information provided by the individual is true and correct and his past records don't show any criminal background. Licensing framework of our Hotel City Park: Our hotel is doing well due to its well explained terms and policies which are followed by every individual who is dealing with the hotel. Our hotel holds proper Trade License issued by the Corporation/Municipality for running it along with an Excise License where alcoholic beverages are served. Our licensing framework is not so rigid and not so flexible. Off course there are certain specifications which can't be changed like environment and ambience of our hotel. Simultaneously we are flexible in dealing with the customers as they are the need and urge of our hotel. The Liquor and Gambling Commissioner is responsible for administering the Liquor Licensing Act. The purpose of this Act is to regulate and control the sale, supply and consumption of liquor for the benefit of related industries and the SA public. Particular emphasis is placed on encouraging responsible attitudes towards the promotion and advertising of liquor and

Hydrogels Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hydrogels - Term Paper Example A hydrogel construction can be described as a three-dimensional jetty is made up of linear polymer chains with covalent connections, which are in turn connected together by further cross-connections. These cross-connections could be covalent, ionic grafts or crystal sections [2]. Hydrogels form due to polarity and hydrophilic nature of polar groups existing between the polymer chains cross-connections that render it insoluble. There are several known methods of synthesizing hydrogels, some of which are explained below. A simple method of constructing hydrogels is by crosslinking water-soluble polymers (with functional groups like -OH, -COOH, -NH2) in solution. In solution co-polymerization reactions, ionic or neutral monomers are mixed with a multi-functional crosslinking agent. The reaction is initiated thermally using UV-light, or by a redox initiator system. The solvent serves as heat sink and minimizes temperature control problems. The reaction is carried out in an organic solvent to prevent water from reacting with the crosslinking agent. Once crosslinked, the resultant hydrogels are washed with distilled water to remove any unreacted monomers, crosslinking agent, and the initiator. Equation 1 shows one such solution polymerization reaction conducted on 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate monomers to form a hydrogel. This solution crosslinking method is often advantageous since the starting material used can be a well-characterized, purified polymer, and the crosslinking conditions required are mild enough to be carried out in the presence of an active agent. For example, poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) hydrogels are prepared from hydroxyethyl methacrylate by this method, using ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the crosslinking agent [3]. The hydrogels synthesized can be made pH- sensitive or temperature-sensitive as required by incorporating methacrylic acid or N-isopropylacrylamide [4] as monomers. Ionizing radiation, such as Co-ÃŽ ³ or

Sponsorship Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sponsorship - Assignment Example Creating a brand image is a corporate objective which NASCAR has embraced effectively. Through sponsorships, the company organizes races hat attract many fanatics. This forms a strategic opportunity to sell the brands. The techniques us include branded attire for drives, referring to car names to represent drivers and so on. The fitness and favorability of the driver attracts more attention to the car that he is driving rather than his personal being. This satisfies the marketing objective. The study reveals that the creating human like features on a brand is central to marketing process. The main emphasis here is selecting the best brand personality. This raises the idea of attitude towards the advertiser or the sponsor. This research shows that when people show positive attitudes towards an advertiser the n they have a favorable opinion on the brand. The personality of the drivers must blend with the qualities of the product that the sponsor wants to be transmitted to the potential buyers. This is because the sponsor-driver fit greatly affect purchase decision on potential customers. CRITIQUE While brand personality marketing yield better results, the research is extremely biased on the positive sides of brand personality. This is because the driver-sponsor fit is not the only factor that affects marketing. The relationship between the sponsor and the driver does not imply merging of attributes and thus their differences can be easily established by clients. For example, drivers’ characteristics may be consistent with the attributes of the product but the people’s attitudes towards the sponsor are not altered by the presence of the drivers, as such, people tend to differentiate the roles. From the research, the findings that imply the people favoring the brand personality favor the producer or sponsor is not well grounded. In many marketing scenarios, clients may have good ratings for the personality (driver) and thus come to the events to see h im in action, thus their interest may not lay in the brand which he’s representing. The essence of marketing is boosting sales. However, sales are boosted by the promotional efforts put in place by the sellers. The research is categorical that it is a requirement that the driver and the sponsor fit for the success of a brand. However, the potential clients might not be concerned about background relations between the driver and the sponsor. This is a work relationship. The choice of the consumers or buyers is influenced by the driver and the brand qualities. If a client observes how strong or fast a car is, then he or she will relate that to the brand that is being represented. As such, the driver sponsor congruence does not play an important role. Selection of a brand personality may affect the brand image in the long run. This is because the drivers are contacted for particular time or on certain terms. Therefore, the congruence hat last only during events may hurt the bran d later. An example is that the driver may be involved in scandals or situations that compromise the qualities and ethics of the sponsor. This affects that image of the brand among the existing and potential clients. Thus driver sponsor fit does not have total influence over the success of a brand. The research indicates that NASCAR events are well attended due to the fact that people fancy car races. However, the true motive for the race is marketing. Most people will attend the

The Usefulness of Motivation Theory for Managers Essay

The Usefulness of Motivation Theory for Managers - Essay Example According to the research findings, managers can use motivation theory to understand and address the training and development needs of an employee. For example, McGregor’s theory can guide managers to provide generic training or facilitate further studies for employees in order to make them feel valued and capable. This way, managers can retain talent or confidently delegate some duties to employees because they can handle them with ease. The knowledge of motivation theory enables managers to set specific achievable goals. Using Herzberg’s theory, for example, managers can establish good communication and allow employees to work with convenience in order to meet their department or unit’s goals. The lack of communication and convenience, which are examples of Herzberg’s hygiene factors, can cause employees to be de-motivated in working towards the set goals. Finally, managers with the knowledge of motivation theory acknowledge the importance of involving employees in the goal-setting process. For example, McClelland’s acquired needs theory will help managers to allow employees contribute to goal setting because this will help craft these goals in a way that appeals to the employees’ need for achievement. It is easy for employees to commit themselves to the goals that they consider achievable.  

Buddhism and jainism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Buddhism and jainism - Essay Example Buddhism is one of the indigenous religions in India, which came into existence around 2500 years ago. It is presumably the fourth largest religion in the world after the likes of Islam, Christianity and Hinduism (Doniger, 2010). The Buddhist followers around the world are approximately 390 million as of the statistics conducted in 2012. In India, Buddhism is very dominant in the East that is presumed to be the origin of the region. However over the years the region has influenced the west by constantly attracting new followers (Kelsang, 2011). Over the years since its origin, this religion has metamorphosed into a variety of sub-religions all which share common beliefs and faith. Despite the variety of religions that exist under the parent Buddhism the religion has grown into a form that emphasize on religious rituals and also strict emphasis on the worship of deities. However, Buddhism is primarily founded on the pretext that its followers are supposed to maintain pure mediation wi th the divinity and in this case Buddhist (Kelsang, 2011). The followers of this religion have the obligation to respect the teachings of Buddhism, which is the fundamental objective of this religion. Worship in Buddhism is conducted in a temple that is considered a sacred/holy place of worship where the followers are supposed to maintain purity as they are not supposed to enter the temple with shoes (Doniger, 2010). Buddha the divine element in this religion is regarded as a teacher who directs them on how they are supposed to lead their social life in order to receive favour from him. Worship in Buddhism is conducted in the Vihara but is not scheduled on a specific day or time to conduct the process; the followers are free to conduct worship sessions at any time of the day without any particular followed schedule or proceeding timetable (Kelsang, 2011). During worship food and flowers are placed at the Buddha statue in the

Asian Americans have faced from 1965 to today Essay

Asian Americans have faced from 1965 to today - Essay Example They also believe that the affirmative action has affected them in a negative way in regard to admissions to the best universities. For instance, in 1978, the United States Supreme Court gave a ruling that stated that the universities could consider the student’s race during admissions. Majority of the universities adopted this diversity policy in order to attain a student body that was more diverse. However, this diversity policy led to the admission of fewer Asian Americans into universities (Lee 33). Participation in politics is also another issue or problem faced by the Asian Americans. They have attempted to participate in politics in many ways and one of them is through donating money. However, the donations have been viewed as means through which the Asians are attempting to influence Americans politics to their benefits. For instance, in 1996, the Democratic Party was looking for funds for the reelection of President Clinton. Much later the Democrats were blamed for illegally accepting money from the foreigners; these foreigners as identified by the Congressional Republicans and the media were Asians. From this scenario, it is evident that the Asian Americans affected by racial profiling and prejudice regardless of their political affiliations. Their attempts to succeed both in the political and civic leadership are met with strong allegations that they have evil plans to dominate the world (Le 1). Another issue facing the Asians Americans is the great disparity in terms of socioeconomic status, occupation, and education among the subgroups. Some of the Asian subgroups like the Cambodians and the Laotians do not possess a high school diploma. Previously, education has been linked to high-income levels and professional skills but it is also linked to access to health care services. Majority of the Asian Americans are either poor or working for minimum wage and they have no access to

Strategic Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Strategic Business - Essay Example Furthermore, while the mission statement of Microsoft formally articulates organizational purpose, it is the organization’s culture that gives life to the organization and helps make the realization of its mission possible. The concept of Microsoft’s of organizational culture has been the focus of much attention with analyst associating it with superior corporate performance, increased productivity, improved morale and high rates of return on investment. The organizational culture is the collectively accepted meaning that manifests itself in the formal and informal rules of an organization or a sub-group. The culture embodies the collective symbols, myths, visions and heroes of the organization are past and present (Ouchi, 1981). Culture basically involves what to wear, how to address staffs and what is rewarded and punished. It is often not written. When individuals join an organization, in addition to learning about its formal aspects, they spend much of their time be ing socialized into the less formal aspects of organizational life which is the culture. As Microsoft developed their approach in analyzing their organization, it became apparent to them and their people, that they have different personalities and work in different rhythms. People who feel professional jealousy want to be recognized by the leader of the organization. As we have said earlier, rewards or punishment is a motivation. Some people when not being rewarded feel that they are less important in the organization and eventually become unsatisfied with their job and some simply want higher position in the organization. Communication with members of the organization is and good relationship towards each other important in order for the organization to achieve their goal which can be hindered by professional jealousy. On the other hand, people feel job dissatisfaction because they want more challenging jobs. They feel they are more capable of other job than what they are

The main ideas presented in Rouenby May Wedderburn Cannan Essay Example for Free

The main ideas presented in Rouenby May Wedderburn Cannan Essay Explore the main ideas presented in Rouen. How effective is it in exploring ideas about the First World War? Consider the structure, imagery and language. There are various key ideas that have been presented in Rouen by May Wedderburn Cannan. She has made a great use of different literary devices to describe her realities of war on the frontline whilst she worked as a VAD nursing injured soldiers. Regarding its wider use in exploring ideas about the First World War; it is a primary source and is about her experiences and the feelings that she had undertaken. Therefore we have first-hand evidence to use to compare and contrast against other poetry of the time. Wedderburn Cannan makes great use of nature and environment to describe and illustrate what she had experienced. She starts firstly by describing her transition to getting to Rouen and then speaks of all the young men with their heart breaking mirth; here she describes them as if they are all having fun and enjoying their comradeship. Thereafter she juxtaposes this idea with the train full of wounded who are being transported away due to the travesty presented thenceforth in Rouen. Men who came from darkness and went back to dark again the continuous work that they had only ended once they had passed. This shows that the sheer realities of death were omnipresent in her service as a VAD. She also makes reference to the King, bugles and our island although not to remember and be proud of them although to forget the eveningswhilst the world slips slow to darkness. Finally, she ends on the note that her heart goes out to Rouen and the trains that go from there. The language that Cannan uses within the poem is very emotive and she makes connotations with different things to help us feel what she is going through. For example the voices of the Indians from this quote we can see a deeper understanding into her ideas about World War One. She also constantly repeats and for effect and to act as a list that the idea of there being neverending problems with the sufferings of the men. This is repeated for every stanza except the last and it could also be seen as a way of her being overwhelmed by the situation emotionally and she just goes on letting it all out. The structure remains extremely mechanical and static throughout with thirteen quatrains; this is primarily extremely unusual for a poem and goes with the idea that she has become repetitive. I think that this fits in with the idea that she feels emotionally overwhelmed and thus due to this, she keeps on with this release in chunks. The poem hasnt been blurted out although it has been well thought and written showing that she must be from a well-educated background such as VADs had been. In Rouen, the persona seems to feels a sense of questioning and disillusionment for the purposes of the war. And the agony and splendour when they stood to save the King?. This shows the feelings that they had towards the War and the leaders who were making this siege in Rouen with such bloodshed. To conclude, I believe that Rouen is a good and effective source to use in order to explore the events of the First World War for women VADs such as Wedderburn Cannan on the warfront such as in the city of Rouen. The language and structure link well with her having a rather mechanical style of writing and that idea that she has become emotionally drained and overwhelmed; and that as an educated lady she has no other way to recapitulate these feelings.

Assessing Key Strategic Levels Of Electrolux Commerce Essay

Assessing Key Strategic Levels Of Electrolux Commerce Essay There are usually three levels under which a strategy can be implemented and formulated in a company or an organization. They include the corporate level, business unit level and the departmental or the functional level. The corporate level is mostly concerned with the identification of the potential competitors in the market which must be considered in the daily operations of a business. At this level of strategy, the business is concerned with the reach, competitive contacts and business interrelationships coupled with managing activities of the business. The utilization and consideration of the managing practices which the business engages into is paramount of consideration at this level. Secondly is the business unit level of strategy in an organization which deals mostly with a single unit in a business tasked with specific assignment like cost, revenue or profits. Their responsibility is to devise a strategy that will propel the businesses to conquer and acquire large market ar ea size bigger than its competitors while maintaining a competitive advantage in the market. Lastly, the functional level is fundamental since it determines the level of business operations within the independent units of a business (Thompson Strickland 1995, p. 23). Their collective activities form the overall business operations. Electrolux identified three levels of their market practices that they needed to capture, improve and rectify in order to effectively compete in the international market. First in the corporate level is the globalization aspect. Since the global competition is strong and stiff, the company devised production procedures that are cost effective providing the clients with variety of products at lower prices. In identification of corporate behaviors in the manufacturing industry, the company concentrated with quality development of products, extensive efforts to build their brand name as well as thorough efforts to capture wider market area size internationally. Secondly, the business level unit of business strategy involved the study of the market polarization and its dynamisms. The change of consumer preferences were taken into consideration before implementation of any production process to only deal with the products t hat are preferred by the customers. Market polarization was due to strong international competition, changes in consumer preferences and the rapid growth of the retail chains in the international market (Thompson Strickland 2001, p. 16). Therefore a thorough scrutiny of the consumer trends in the market is basic for companies to venture in those fields that are profitable. Lastly, in the departmental level of business strategy, Electrolux identified the steps to consolidate their retailer outlets for fostering the market segments to capture an extensive market area size. Therefore, Electrolux has introduced large scale purchases of raw materials in the production department not only to save on costs but also benefit from large scale economies. This coupled with a wider geographical coverage it strives to capture will propel the profitability of the business to higher levels. With proper consideration of retailers across the global market especially in developed economies, Electrolux has been in a position to supply wide variety of household appliances at reduced prices a fact that has created wider market for its appliances. The adaptation of supply to large scale out lets has also been incorporated under this level of strategy to capture a large international geographical area (Hill, Jones, Galvin Haidar 2007, p. 97). Porters Five forces model This is a business framework used by industrial stakeholders both manufacturing and service industries in their analysis and business strategy development. This concept utilizes industrial organization economies in addition to development strategies to identify and utilize the five market forces to increase companys attractiveness in the market in terms of profitability. The unattractive market situation according to porter occurs when the combination of these forces reduces the profitability of a business. Among the five forces in porters model, three acts from the external perspective of the business. Factors beyond business control greatly influences the market practices. They are well studied when divided into two components; horizontal competition involving the threat of established competitors, threat of substitute products and the threat of new entrants into the market. On the other hand, the vertical competition involves the bargaining power of suppliers as well as the bargai ning power of consumers (Porter 1980, p. 34). The existence of substitute products ion the market encourages customers to switch to alternatives if the prime company does not satisfy their needs and preferences. However the substitute element is dependent on a number of factors like; he customers cost of switching, their propensity to substitute products and commodities, the ease at which substitution is possible and the quality of depreciation to which the substituted product infer. When the market provides good and favorable conditions for businesses coupled with profitability, the entrant of new competitors in the same field is inevitable. This trend results to reduced profitability and the market approaches perfect competition scenario. However, this may be prevented by introduction of barriers to entry, high cost of switching, improving brand name and quality, increasing capital requirements and introduction of government regulations. The threat of competitive rivalry in the market is very evident in many business set ups. A business can therefore prevent this by adopting appropriate competitive advantage through market innovations and creativities (Porter 1980, p. 39). Other factors that determine the extent to which entry of potential competitors affects the business may include the advertising costs, strength of the competitive strategy, and the capital base of businesses. Bargaining power of customers which represents the market output of the firm or a business is paramount to existence of a business. The concentration of buyers and that of business should be proportionate to sustain the businesses; the buyers volumes should be substantial, the market information should be available to all participants and buyers should always be sensitive to price adjustments. Lastly the bargaining power of suppliers represents the market inputs for businesses. When the business has a good supply of raw materials, labor, components and services, its in a position to have a market command. For this force to work properly, the suppliers degree of product differentiation should be distinct, market should have input substitutes to be used in cases of shortage of pr ime inputs and the existence of supplier competition. Household appliances have also experienced several forces in the market not only for individual country but also in the international market (Porter 1980, p. 44). The bargaining power force identified is the growth of domestic market demand for Electroluxs products which witnessed the firm expands its operations to cover dishwashers and washing machines to satisfy the growing market. The threat of existing firms is evident when they introduced production plants in countries where the cost of production was low. This competitive force existing between dominant firms forces firms to venture to product development, brand building as well as improving marketing strategies. Household industry is also experience the threat of new entrants in the market especially from Asia producers of LG and Samsung the Unite States household appliance market. There has also been entry of new supplier of other household appliances which have forced Electrolux to venture also in the production and distribution of other appliances like dish washers and washing machines to remain competitively. There has also been supply of raw materials at lower costs in other countr ies like Mexico where existing competitors and new entrants have ventured forcing Electrolux to establish a manufacturing firm in Mexico as well (Porter 1980, p. 48). Household appliances industry over the recent decade proved to be a very attractive industry in provision of household items. The bargaining power of customers has been increasing over time resulting to mare and effective demand. The bargaining power of suppliers has as well tremendously increased which has witnessed the profitability of household appliances industry to increase tremendously. This increased profitability has rendered the household industry to be most attractive industry not only in the country but also in the international market. Strategic capabilities of Electrolux Strategic capabilities are the methods that a business implements allowing it to have an advantage in the market. They are the business strengths that a firm enjoys over its competitors in the market. The composition of the executive leadership of a business has also substantial effects to the future progress of a business in the industry especially when the competition is stiff. Their leadership and managerial skills towards addressing market issues forms a substantial component of the business and determines the existence of the business in the market. Therefore the skill for identification and restructuring of a business activity in the market greatly determines the capabilities of a business in a certain industry. Electrolux have diverse and strong capabilities that enable it to work properly and preserve the strong competition in the market. It is the largest company for the manufacture of professional and domestic appliances in the world market (Johnson, Scholes, Whittington 2 005, p. 24). Despite its wide market coverage, Electrolux manufactures a wide range of products from cookers, fridges, vacuum cleaners, chain saws to law movers. This diversification element presents it with an advantage over other businesses during tough economic periods. The wide market coverage also plays a vital role in the market diversification to secure from unprofitable regions which are compensated by other profitable ventures. This element allows the company to continuously remain in business. Its capital base is also strong a fact that makes it preserve strong economic conditions. Another notable capability that the company enjoyed is the able leadership of its presidents and Chief Executive Officers. Since early 1920s, the president of the company; Alex Wenner-Gren spreaheaded the growth strategy and created a wide pool of capabilities that the company relied on in its execution of duties (Johnson, Scholes, Whittington 2005 p. 86). The diversification plans the company explored to start production centers outside Sweden offered a proper opportunity for the company to stand a better chance to capture the market. Its establishment in UK, France, USA, German and Australia created a wide and large capital base for expansion and dealing with large scale economies of scale. The diversification strategy adopted by the company provided better grounds for expansion and capturing of new markets as well as sustaining the existing ones. The continued and able leadership the company enjoyed has provided a good platform for expansion both national and in the international markets. The company had also strong financial resources that allowed it to continue with numerous acquisitions not only in Sweden but also in other major trading blocks in America, Europe and Asia which further added to their strength of retaining a large market area size. These acquisitions were accompanied by disposal of non profitable ventures and subsi diaries of Electrolux in the international market. This step allowed the company to concentrate with the profitable branches and maximization of profit in other branches that were profitably. Lastly the company was in a position to heavily invest in marketing as well as building on the brand name which gave it a command in the international market (Johnson, Scholes, Whittington, 2005 p. 89). Strategies to strengthen competitive position Household appliances since 1930s were a competitive venture in the internal market. Demand for household appliance increased effectively especially after the send world war, therefore, many companies invested heavily to this profitable business threatening the existing companies in the market. However, for the existing companies to remain in the widely and strong competitive market, they had to devise a strategy of operation. One such company was the Electrolux which adopted several strategies to competitively remain in the market as a leader. First, the company resolved to continually pursue plans of cost cutting in all its branches and further reduce all the procedurals in the operations to avoid complexities. This would propel the company to manufacture household appliances at lower cost hence provide finished goods in the market at a reduced price than its competitors. Therefore, Electrolux will increase sales and expand its market area size as compared to the other investors and businesses in the same field. Secondly, Electrolux resolved to rely on consumer insights and information to continually increase its product renewal rates (Thompson Strickland 2001 p. 25). This strategy will not only increase sales for its products but will also be in line with changes in consumer preferences and tastes which will make Electrolux products relevant in the market maintaining its competitive position in the international market. Manufacture of customer specific products and commodities not only increases sales but also assists the company to implement innovative ways in the production process. Lastly, to maintain its market leader position in a highly competitive market, Electrolux decided to be undertaking frequent market investment plans to have first hand information concerning its position in the market. These investments were also aimed at building its brand name in the market regardless of other competitors action which will consequently increase the companys sale volume in the international market. The marketing investment will also assist the company to identify the under performing business units, identify low production units and destinations, i dentification of more efficient purchasing ventures as well as information containing activities of other competitors (Thompson Strickland 2001 p. 35). Corporate governance of Electrolux Corporate governance involves a whole set of customs, policies, institutions, laws and processes which directly or indirectly affects how an organization or a company is controlled, directed and administered. It also includes the relationship between and among all the stakeholders in an organization or a company. The major stakeholders involved in a company to be included in the corporate governance include; management, board of directors and the shareholders. Other stakeholders included in the corporate governance are the customers, suppliers, employees, creditors and the wider community. The principal objective of corporate governance is to eliminate and prevent any form of malpractices in business operations while promoting transparency and accountability. While corporate governance is executed properly, it enhances economic efficiency of the company as well as improving on the shareholders and other stakeholders welfare. Due to the accountability and transparency achieved by corp orate governance, the collapse of a company is not likely since there are checks and balances that occur among all the involved stakeholders (Hill, Jones, Galvin Haidar 2007 p. 101). Electrolux is governed under the statutes contained in the Swedish corporate governance, Swedish companies act, regulatory system of NASDAQ OMX Stockholm as well any other corporate Swedish and foreign law relevant to its operations. The companys governing structure is composed of more than 160 companies operating in over 50 countries globally. The parent company is the AB Electrolux situated in Sweden among the listed companies in the country. The major stakeholders are the external auditors who are nominated by shareholders in the Annual General Meeting, internal auditors appointed by the board of directors who oversee their operations as well as those of external auditors in addition of remunerating them accordingly. The company is headed by a Chief executive Office besides a management board. Under them, there are several boards dealing with specific departments like risk management, pension, treasury, audit and tax boards in charge of administration in their respective departmen ts (Hill, Jones, Galvin Haidar 2007 p. 104). Changing management in acquisition strategies Companies undergo acquisitions and mergers to expand and avoid bankruptcy. Most of these mergers and acquisitions do not meet their objectives and the deal fails due to lack of proper consideration of the change management necessary in such exercises. These changes include; cultural cohesion that should identify the cultural back core of the involved companies. The cultural components of acquisition process of companies include the conditions, disciplines, and beliefs that form the internal component of a company reflected in the external traits of the company. Secondly is the persuasion of missiology processes which involves the convincing of another company to join with another. The persuaded company abandons its values, beliefs and practices to join those of the other performing the acquisition. Meritocracy acquisition forms the other forms of acquisition changes that are necessary for the company to consider before engaging into acquisition of mergers (Thompson Strickland 2001 p . 24). Under this processes, retention of any stakeholder in the new entity after acquisition is dependent on the contribution to the company as opposed to longevity of employment. Lastly, acquisition changes may be effected by consideration of mettle. This involves the strength, spirit, character and courage that exist within a certain group of people within a certain organization. When an acquisition occurs, the mettle components of the acquired company must be adjusted to fit to those of the parent company. Therefore, Electrolux should adopt the cultural cohesiveness in the process of acquisition of other companies (Thompson Strickland 2001 p. 28). While acquisition has already taken place, several adjustments are necessary to the management in order to include all the stakeholders interests. In the leadership and management field, changes are virtually important to foster and reflect the interest of all the stakeholders as well as those of the company. Secondly, the operations field in another context under which changes is paramount to harmonize the operations of the acquired company with the parent company.

Furniture in Greenbelt :: Interior Design Furniture Essays

Furniture in Greenbelt A Sign of the Tough Times A view of the front of a typical housing project in the planned community of Greenbelt. The Greenbelt community was built beginning in 1937 as low income housing for people who were making between $1,200 and $2,000 dollars a year. The houses were built at minimum cost and this means that the rooms are small. Thus special furniture was designed in order to fit into these small houses and to provide sturdy, economical, and good looking furnishings for the new residents. "Instead of following the conventional pattern of designing the house from the outside in, Resettlement architects have built primarily from the inside out." (House Beautiful 1937) Miss Elizabeth Hofflin, the technical consultant for the Resettlement Administration, was quoted as saying "We made the furniture to fit the small rooms of these low-rent units. We found that ordinary living room furniture would overflow from wall space and block doorways and windows." (Daily News, April 20, 1937) "The furniture you see was built for these rooms and for these rooms alone."(House Beautiful, April 1937) The furniture that was designed for Greenbelt needed to be very affordable. "The idea was to provide essential items of furniture which will fit into a minimum amount of space and at the same time make them attractive, low-priced and extremely durable."(Daily News, April 20, 1937) Miss Hofflin explains, "we concentrated upon strong construction and simple design, which can be made with the least expense with factory machines. We used the three cheapest woods--maple, oak and gum; we have no acquaintances at all with mahogany and walnut." The government was able to furnish the Greenbelt community for very little money with careful planning and very frugal designers. And the furniture was affordable! In 1939 a resident of Greenbelt was able to furnish his entire household for $239.97. The full amount was paid off by the resident over a four year period at $5 a month. There was also a 3% interest charge payable in monthly installments of $2.50. This was an excellent deal for these New Deal residents. The federal government assisted the original Greenbelters, first, by building them an inexpensive home and, second, by enabling them to furnish their houses economically as well. In this way, the government provided many families with an opportunity to set up housekeeping on their own that they otherwise would not have had. Kimberly Myers expresses similar views on the government helping out the people in her exhibition on the construction of Greenbelt.

Recruitment and Selection in Business :: Papers

Recruitment and Selection in Business Organisations are always needed to recruit new staff every so often. There are many reasons behind this: * If the business has grown, more staff are needed to carry out existing jobs and new posts. * If any existing staff have left by retirement, dismissal and other reasons, these vacancies need to be filled. * Internal promotion offers the existing employees more goals to set. If they take this up, a new member of staff must replace their previous position. In order to perform successfully and remain competitive, a business must have a good recruitment and selection team within their human resource function. Recruitment must be a success by ensuring that they attract the best candidate for to fill the job vacancy. Selection processes are carefully devised and carried out on the possible candidates to help the organisation choose the best person possible to do the job. The Recruitment and Selection Process ===================================== Job Analysis [IMAGE] Job Description [IMAGE] Person Specification [IMAGE] Recruitment [IMAGE] Selection [IMAGE] Appointment/ Interview [IMAGE] Induction Job Analysis ------------ A job analysis is carried out to try and make the position available attractive to the right candidate straight away. In order to attract the ideal candidate, the Human Resources Department must state exactly what they want and be very clear about it. A job analysis must include exact information about: * What the job will involve doing. * What qualities are required to do the job, qualifications and personal attributes. * Wages * Hours Job Description --------------- A job description s designed to outline basic information about the job itself and the role of the employee for that job.

Battle of Tippecanoe Essay -- Military History

The Battle of Tippecanoe Introduction The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought during the early morning hours of November 7, 1811, on a tree-covered knoll just outside of modern day Prophetstown, Indiana. American forces, under the command of William Henry Harrison, were attacked by a band of Indian tribes unified by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. A relatively minor battle, in comparison to others remembered in American History, this small battle proved to play a significant role in the shaping of the newly formed country. Debatable among historians regarding the constructive effects of the battle against its negative repercussions , its importance is unmistakable. Ultimately, the results of this day would bring to an end any prospect for a United Indian Confederation, and never again would the Native Americans be able to effectively challenge American expansion. History William Henry Harrison, later to become the ninth President of the United States, was a military officer born to a political family. Joining the military at a young age he rose in its ranks under the tutelage of General â€Å"Mad† Anthony Wayne where he served as a lieutenant and Aide-de-Camp during the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The winning of this battle paved the way for the â€Å"peace† signing of the Greenville Treaty. This single treaty ceded most of present day Ohio and pushed many Algonquians from their tribal lands. In less than 15 years time, by Harrison’s efforts, 48 million acres of Native American lands would be lost by cessation. Appointed as Superintendent of the North West Indians and Indiana Territory Governor he was undoubtedly the single most powerful white in the West. Harrison, having higher ambitions then frontier... ... forces to take advantage of situation to shape the battle in his favor. Daring and willing to take calculated risks he was able to effectively negate all of the varying tactics the Indians attempted to employ at him to achieve his victory. References Cleaves, Freeman. Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1969. Eckert, Alan W. A Sorrow in our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh. Broadway, NY: Bantam Books, 1992. Eckert, Alan W. That Dark and Bloody River: Chronicles of the Ohio River Valley. Broadway, NY: Bantam Books, 1995. Jortner, Adam Joseph. The Gods of Prophetstown: The Battle of Tippecanoe and the Holy War for the American Frontier. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 2012. The Complete History of U.S. Wars: Manifest Destiny Wars, Ambrose Video 2004

Investigatory Project—Lever

A more proficient use of lever: A heavier lift Introduction A. Background of the study Buildings, infrastructures and a like were built using the help of machines. But have you ever ruminated how ancient structures like pyramids were built? Simple machines figured it out. Simple machines are any device that only requires the application of a single force to work. It is a tool used to make work easier. It gives mechanical advantage. This means that if you use a lever and the mechanical advantage it provides, you can lift an object that's much heavier than you are because the lever multiplies your effort. Lever, it is often used to move heavy loads with less effort. It is a rigid object that is used with an appropriate fulcrum point to multiply the mechanical force that can be applied to another object. B. Statement of the problem A study on the proficiency of lever in lifting heavy objects. Specific Objectives †¢To build a tabletop lever and investigate how changing the length of the effort arm affects the amount of effort it takes to lift an object. †¢To discover other factors that can affect the proficiency of lever. 2 E. Review of related literature The following definitions are the terms and concepts regarding the said investigatory project. Simple machines is any device that only requires the application of a single force to work. It is a tool used to make work easier. lever magnifies force or velocity. It is often used to move heavy loads with less effort. It is a rigid object that is used with an appropriate fulcrum or pivot point to multiply the mechanical force that can be applied to another object. Fulcrum , the support about which a lever turns. Beam, The bar of a balance from which weighing pans are suspended. Parts of the lever (in the experiment, still undefined) Effort end †¢Effort arm †¢Load end †¢Load arm *The First Class Lever, Second Class Lever and the Third Class lever. The only difference between them is the location of the fulcrum. *Levers help you move items that are very heavy. In the First Class lever the fulcrum is located in the middle. The load is on one end and the force is on the other. (crowbar) Second Class the fulcrum is on the end, the resistance force, the load, is in the middle, and the effort is at the other end. (wheelbarrow) The Third Class fulcrum is on the end of one side, the effort force is in the middle, and the resistance force, the load, is at the the top. baseball bat) *Levers are easy to spot because they help us in our lives. Some examples are: see-saw, claw hammer, crow bar, bottle opener, Piano keys, and car jacks. Bibliography Definition of terms: McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright  © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. http://encyclozine. com/science/physics/machines http://encyclopedia2. thefreedictionary. com/simple+machine http://www. thefreedictionary. com/beam Methodology A. Materials and equipment †¢Ruler (with centimetres) †¢Plastic bag †¢Masking tape †¢Scissors †¢Pencil †¢Soap box with soap in it †¢Marbles (in same sizes) B. Procedure To start this project, you will need to build your lever. The ruler will be the beam for the lever. Tape a bar of soap to one end of the ruler. The soap is the load you will be trying to lift. Next you will need to construct a container out of your plastic bag to hold the marbles in. The bag and the marbles you'll place in the bag will be the effort. As you add more marbles, you are increasing the weight in the bag and thus, the effort until you eventually have enough effort to lift the soap bar. Put a piece of tape approximately 1 centimeter (cm) from the top of a plastic bag . Fold the taped part in half. Using a pair of scissors, cut a slit long enough to allow the ruler to slip through. Slip the free end of the ruler into the slit. Tape the bag to the ruler so it does not slide around. Be careful not to tape the bag closed, as you will need to add marbles in it. tape pencil to the edge of a table. Place your lever on the fulcrum. The bar of soap should be resting on the table, and the bag for the marbles should be dangling over the edge of the table. Position the ruler so that the length of the effort arm is 6 cm. You can use the markings on the ruler to measure 6 cm. Add marbles to the bag, one at a time, until the bar of soap lifts off the table. Continue increasing the effort arm length by 2-cm increments until the measures 24 cm. Materials and Equipment †¢Metric ruler (preferably one that is stiff and has centimeter markings) †¢Plastic sandwich bag (1) †¢Tape (preferably masking tape) †¢Scissors †¢Pen or pencil †¢Bar of soap (still in its packaging) †¢Pennies (approximately $3 worth; alternatively, marbles, beans, or some other small numerous item will work) †¢Lab notebook †¢Graph paper Experimental Procedure 1. To start this project, you will need to build your lever. The ruler will be the beam for the lever. Tape a bar of soap to one end of the ruler. The soap is the load you will be trying to lift. 2. Next you will need to construct a container out of your plastic bag to hold the pennies in. The bag and the pennies you'll place in the bag will be the effort. As you add more pennies, you are increasing the weight in the bag—and thus, the effort—until you eventually have enough effort to lift the soap bar (the load). a. Put a piece of tape approximately 1 centimeter (cm) from the zipper part of the top of a plastic sandwich bag. Do this on both the inside and the outside of one side of the plastic bag. See Figure 2. a. below. b. Fold the taped section in half, width-wise. Using a pair of scissors, cut a slit long enough to allow the ruler to slip through. See Figure 2. b. below. c. Slip the free end of the ruler (the effort end) into the slit. Tape the bag to the ruler so it does not slide around. Be careful not to tape the bag closed, as you will need to add pennies inside it (the effort). 1. ncrease the length of the effort arm by 2 cm (total length should now be 8 cm) and repeat step 5 again. Did it take more or fewer pennies to lift the load? Record your findings. 2. Continue increasing the effort arm length by 2-cm increments and retrying the experiment until the effort arm measures 24 cm. Don't forget to record all the data in your data table. 3. Analyze your data. You can make a line graph with the length of the effort arm on the x-axis and the number of pennies it takes to lift the load on the y-axis. Do you see a pattern? What happens when you double the distance? What happens when you quadruple the distance? To use the computer to make your graph you can visit the Create A Graph website. . You are trying to determine the relationship between two variables: the effort (# of pennies) it takes to lift the load (bar of soap) and the length of the effort arm, so choose the XY graph. b. Select the Data Tab, fill in: ?The graph title ?X-axis label (remember, the x-axis is the length of the effort arm) ? Y-axis label (remember, the y-axis is the number of pennies is takes to lift the load) ? In the Data Set box, tell the program you have 12 data points. ?For each point, fill in the length of the effort arm (x) and the number of pennies (y). So, point 1x would be 6 since you took your first data reading when the effort arm was 6 cm long. Point 1y would be the number of pennies, recorded in your data table, that it took to lift the soap bar at an effort arm length of 6 cm. ?You can use the remaining options to customize the font styles and colors of your chart. c. When you are done, print it out. Variations †¢What happens if you double the load by adding two soap bars? Does the effort (number of pennies in this science project) required to lift the load also double? What if you triple or quadruple the load? Use a kitchen scale to determine how much the load (soap bar) weighs and how much the effort (number of pennies needed to lift the soap bar) weighs. Can you use this information to calculate how much effort it would take to lift you? †¢In your background research you learned that there were several classes of levers. In the project above, you built a class 1 lever. Try building a class 2 lever, too. Compare t he class 1 and 2 levers. Do they require the same effort to lift the load? Remember to keep the distance between the fulcrum and the effort end the same when comparing the levers!

There are many paradigms on the origins of strategy

There are many paradigms on the origins of strategy. Critically evaluate the various schools of thought existing in both the prescriptive and emergent schools. Use each of the schools as ‘Lens' to analyse organisation known to you. A strategy is a statement of intent, defining where an organisation wants to be in the long term. It is about understanding what processes are involved and how to avoid difficulties to help plan successful strategies. Strategy was once defined as â€Å"the art of planning and directing large military movements and the operations of war.† However, from an organisation point of view it is about mapping out the company's future and setting out which of its products or services they will tackle to which market and how this will be done. When an organisation has a strategy it enables them to ensure that decisions made on a day-to-day basis fit in with its long term interests. Strategies are also important as any decisions an organisation makes today can have a negative impact on its future results. A strategy will also help encourage employees, departments etc to work together to achieve common goals There are many beliefs on the origins of strategy and many authors have written about this. In 1996, Michael Porter wrote an article that appeared in the Harvard Business Review in which he argued that competitive strategy is was about being different. He also stated, â€Å"It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value† Porter (1996) Porter believed that strategy was about having a competitive advantage, distinguishing your products and services in the eyes of your customers, and about adding value through a mix of activities different from your competitors. According to Benjamin Tregoe and John Zimmerman of Kepner-Tregoe, Inc defined strategy in their book â€Å"Top Management Strategy† as â€Å"the framework which guides those choices that determine the nature and direction of the organisation† They believed that an organisation should select products or services to offer and the market to offer them in. However, Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) brought together elements of existing prescriptive and emergent schools of strategic thought into ten separate schools. The first three schools are grouped under the heading ‘Prescriptive Schools' which consisted of the design, planning and positioning schools. These schools believed in how strategies should be formulated rather than how they necessarily do form. The next six schools are grouped under the heading 'emergent schools'. These schools consist of the entrepreneurial, cognitive, learning, power, cultural and environmental schools. These schools concentrate less with prescribing ideal strategic behaviour, but more with describing how strategies are in fact made. Finally, the final school to be mentioned is the configuration school, which combines the methods and beliefs from all the previous schools mentioned. By describing each school in turn, we can critically evaluating each of these schools, then we can then go onto to use each of the schools as a ‘lens' to analyse different organisations. The first of the prescriptive schools is the ‘Design school' and this approach regards strategy formation as a process of conception, matching the internal state of the organisation to the external state of the environment. The origins of this school can be traced back to two writers Philip Selznick who in 1957 discussed the need to bring organisations internal state with its external opportunity whilst writer Alfred Chandler in (1962) recognised the design schools idea of business strategy and its connection to structure. The philosophy of this strategy formation is that it seeks to establish a fit between internal potential and external possibilities. The managing director, Dr Surendra, founded Rasmi electronics in 1974. They have grown to become one of the world's major filter manufacturers as well as being a major supplier of low voltage lighting transformers, energy lighting etc The strategy precedes structure in this type of organisation. Within the company they still adopt a hierarchal structure in which all decisions from marketing to production is made by the MD. They continually look for new market opportunities, which are a high priority within the company, by analysing the global market on a global basis and the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis is a common tool that is used. However, in 2002, Rasmi Electronics designed a series of filters in which they distributed via a company called OmronYaskawa. They did not successfully analysed their market in Spain and this lead to another rival company producing a similar product. Fortnuatley due to the relationship Rasmi Electronics had with the customer this manage to keep the contract. This type of strategy formation places a great importance upon the ability to forecast the future external environment otherwise the strategy will be unsuccessful. According to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) the advantage of this type of school is that it forces consideration of external factors and will be more appropriate in organisation that needs re-orientation. Around the same time as the design school, the planning school also originated. The main influence was by a writer H. Igor in his book ‘Corporate Strategy' published in 1965. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) classified this strategy formation as a ‘Formal Process'. It follows a precise set of steps from analysis of the situation to the development and exploration of various alternative scenarios. â€Å"If we examine these principles closely, we find that the classical theorists were in effect designing the organisation exactly like they were designing a machine† (Morgan 1997) This type of strategy is normally developed by a team of specialists who specifically trained in the science of developing strategies. An example of this was seen in a company called Oldelft. Oldelft is a small high tech company whom operates in a global market. They specialise in products requiring advances knowledge of optics, electronics, electron optics etc. Their products normally have a short product life cycle and competition was both global and fierce. In 1975, the company saw a decline in their fortune therefore the executive board at the time pointed towards a cost reduction drive as a urgent step towards retrieving some of its profit back. However, at the time Oldelft had no adequate staff available that were trained or had the knowledge to do an overhead analysis they therefore decided to recruit a policy advisory council ‘Beleids Advies Radd) (BAR). This was the first of many different groups that Oldelft recruited between 1975 and 1981 all reporting to the executive board. The different groups, which were set up saw the process become more important than the product and according to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) this type of process can lead to no place for creativity. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) advised that it was important that an organisation had a formal strategic planning department within the organisation. In 1981, Oldelft saw its first successful strategic planning school come into operation and is was lead by a man called Ab Baas. Ab Bass made it compulsive for managers to contribute towards the planning cycle and by contributing information about the business segments within the organisation and the external factors. In this school of thought, the method in which strategy development occurs is by thorough strategic planning methodologies and scenario analysis. The company compiled a completed situation analysis, which was made up with an analysis of the industry maturity and the weighing up of the business segments competitive positions. Eventually this lead to Oldelft to recover its former profitability and even saw an increase in R&D expenditure. The final school of the prescriptive is the positioning school in which Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel state it is the strategy formation as an analytical process. This approach is very much influenced by Michael Porter. His works looks at placing organisations within the context of the industry in which they are. It also looks at how the organisation improves competitively within that industry. In 1995 Easyjet airlines a low fair airline introduced low cost flights within the European market. Haji Ioannou the owner of Easyjet believed that by reducing prices will lead to more people flying. He also believed that positioning is company was concerned with establishing the company in the mind of the customer, in a position relative to other airlines in the market The formation of this strategy is a mixture of defensive and offensive moves. Easyjet regularly uses the ‘Guerrilla promotional approach' to advertising by using distinguishing attacks on the airline establishment and in a serious of PR stunts. The principle is that the structure of industry drives strategic positions, which then drives the structure of an organisation. In the summer, 2002 Easyjet faced its first problem in the fact it was growing to fast within its market. This meant there was a difficulty in recruiting and training pilots and flights crew, which influenced the consumers, has believed this would affect the safety on the flights etc. Easyjet admitted that they should have looked at the various elements that depend on each other and how they change over time. By doing a SWOT analysis, this would have given an insight of the internal resources and the main features of the competitive landscape in which it operates. Some of the tools and methods used within this company are Michael Porter's Generic Strategies and the ‘Profit Impact of Market Strategies' (PIMS). In addition, according to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel (1998) is that the advantage of this school is that it emphasis on the analysis and calculation of the previous mentioned tools can be very strong support to the process of developing the strategy however; it should not become the process. The fourth school Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel go onto to discuss is the ‘Entrepreneurial School' in which is the first of the group under the ‘Emergent Schools'. This approach regards strategy formation as a visionary process, taking place within the mind of the charismatic founder or leader of an organisation. An organisation that forms strategy as a visionary process, is the company called ‘Fortnum and Mason'. Fortnum and mason is an established food hall for over 300 years and is family owned. The chairperson is currently ‘Jana Khayat' whom took over after her father who stepped down in 2000. â€Å"To choose direction, a leader must first have developed a mental image of a possible and desirable future state of the organization† (De Wit, 1998) The company is now in the process of going international and are intending to open their first shop in Tokyo later on this year. However, going international has cost the company a drop in profits of 40% due to their reshuffling of their distribution channels to make going international possible. Mintzberg, Ashland and Lampel (1998) advise that this school of thought does not really use any tools or methods for strategy development as it is normally in the mind of the visionary. Even though going international is a big risk for the company, they do feel however, the vision, which has been imposed from many generations of the ‘Khayat' family, is what will get them through this. Jana Khayat feels strongly about her vision and brand, which she has printed in her new book. She stated in a recent interview with the Sunday Times â€Å"It's a mission of intent: where we should be. It is very easy for a store like Fortnum and Mason to become a pastiche of itself† (Khayat, 2004) The advantage of this school of thought is that it does acknowledge the tremendous input that a visionary genius can make to the organisation. However, problems can occur, as other employees of the organisation will not have an understanding on how the vision is created as this is normally done in the mind of the leader. There is also no real ability for the organisation to carry on after the visionary has left the company. The next of the emergent schools is the ‘Cognitive School' which strategy formation is seen as a mental process. The viewpoint of this school of thought is that strategy development is an act of cognition. It is about understanding how the mind works and processes information is the key to understanding strategy development. Cambridge broadband started in 2000 as a group of experienced individuals with a collective aim to deliver the worlds leading broadband fixed wireless access system. The group consists of the best engineers, academics, and commercial management in the industry. Cambridge broadband attracts these people, as they believe that it is an ideal environment to explore their diverse and highly developed talents. The collegiate atmosphere brings an informality that encourages creativity, According to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) this strategy formation is a cognitive process that takes place in the mind of the strategist. The CEO, Peter Wharton believes that Cambridge Broadband will become world leader in their industry by using the knowledge and expertise of its team to provide up to date technology and to increase its customer base. Many of the ideas they have come up with have been from using tools such as cognition maps, frames, and Schemata, which are terms used about the mental representation of events and situations. They are data structures for representing both generic and specific concepts about the outside world. The advantage of this school is that is shows great promise even though the school of thought is that it is still relatively underdeveloped. However, the focus to date has been upon strategy formulation as an individual rather than a collective process, which can be more difficult to understand and manage. The learning school is the sixth school Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel go on to discuss. This school of thought regards strategy formation as an emergent process, where the management of the organisation pays close attention to what works and doesn't work over a period of time, and includes these ‘lessons learned' into their overall plan of action.. â€Å"†¦most organisations seem to have severe learning disabilities; most â€Å"die† before the age of forty† (Morgan, 1997) The Kao Corporation is a company, which has a strong learning culture. Dr Yoshio Maruta president of Kao Corporation believed that an organisation is not only learned but also learned how to learn. He stated â€Å"An educational institution in which everyone is a potential teacher' (Dr Maruta, 1990) He believed that the success to his company at the end of the eighties what the ability to integrate and enhance their effective marketing and information systems through learning. This resulted in them producing new products ahead of their Japanese and foreign companies becoming the largest branded and packaged group in Japan by 1990. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) argued that the paradigm is that strategy in an organisation emerges because of trial and error from learning within the organisation. This was evident when Kao operation decided to become international. They were potentially a significant competitor therefore, decided that product division developed its own strategy for international expansion. However, the company's business portfolio and strategic infrastructure varied from market to market It is important that the organisation is familiar in that the strategy must be consonant with the patterns of behaviour and responses that are inbuilt within the organisation. In addition, it is important to be aware that strategy changes and evolves over time. There is however a danger that a lack of urgency or a lack of discipline may predominate and nothing significantly changes within the organisation. Hence, the decision to become international was not successful. Kao operation blamed this on the lack of international experience, fewer human resources assets, especially in top management and had far less accumulated international knowledge than their western competitors had. The have since invested into 10 day training schemes which all managers need to attend to develop a broader and international outlook and advised they did not have enough talented people especially at management level . The next school to be discussed is the Power School which this school of thought regards strategy formation as a process of negotiation. The development of this strategy is the process of negotiation between the power holders of an organisation or sometimes it can be between the organisation and the stakeholders. An example of this strategy formation can be seen within the University of Durham, in which negotiations take place within the micro power elements such as the individuals and groups within the organisation and negotiation is often done by political analysis and collective bargaining. This commonly seen within the University when negotiations about pay rise, policies etc are done with the trade union representatives. The interdependence the University of Durham has with its external environment is called ‘Macro power', which is when negotiations take place with the stakeholders etc. The university as part of their mission and strategy is to serve the international, national, and regional communities by understanding and engaging with the needs of its stakeholders. Power is clearly a building block in the development of strategy within this school of thought. This type of strategy would benefit large or mature organisations where power structures are well established. However, there is a tendency for organisation who adopts this type of strategy to have a narrow view in that all strategies are about power struggle or as a power exchange. The eighth school to be discussed by Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel, is the Cultural School this approach look at strategy formation as a collective process, which involves different groups and departments within an organisation. The reflection of the strategy, which is developed, is of the corporate culture of the organisation. The origin of culture was discovered by management in the 1980's, coming over from Japan. â€Å"†¦is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes ine group or category of people from another† (De Wit, 1998) A company with a strong culture is Argos, which is one of the UK's largest non-food retail chains, with annual sales exceeding à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½3bn. After the takeover, Terry Duddy became Managing Director with the challenge of improving the firm's performance. He has done this by strengthening the brand, the quality of customer service, and the corporate culture The development of this strategy is the process of social relations, which take place within the beliefs and understandings shared by the employees of an organisation. He stated that it was challenging yet essential that the organisation reflected its strategy and focus on the customer. A key element of the new approach has been the corporate culture at Argos and the building of an environment, which is normative and cohesive. The commitment of Argos employees to these values seems extremely high in its 2003 ‘Speak Out' employee survey; the company found that among its employees 82% believe the company wants to beat its competitors whilst 74% believe strong teamwork is a major contributor to the Argos performance. The concepts for this strategy development come from the values, beliefs, and corporate culture etc within the organisation. The organisation needs to be aware that the corporate culture however vague and ill defined, is a very significant variable that can affect the culture of the organisation. However, this school of thought does tend to favour the consistency and continuation of the existing culture within the organisation and this may discourage necessary change. Argos also continues to work at building what it calls its 'employer brand' – a clear set of values representing the attitudes and beliefs of its employees. In 2003, after consultations with staff, these values were stated as change makes us better and more successful The Environmental School is the ninth school and here strategy formation is seen to be a reactive process. The organisation needs to respond to the forces of its environment otherwise it may be become extinct. A company who are well known in responding to their environment are the company ‘Rolls-Royce', which was first, established in 1984 and is now operating within four global markets. The success of the company is due to the rapid and substantial gains in the market share. They believe they have built a strong business by growing organically and through successful acquisitions. In the beginning of 2003, the aero engine division of Rolls-Royce introduced ‘Grid computing' to help reduce airline flight delays and achieve cuts in the cost of engine Maintaince. Due to a successful university research project on ‘Grid Computing' it has now became a major part of Rolls Royce's future I.T. Strategy. According to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel (19998) traditionally the contingency theory was used within this school of thought however more recently organisations have ended up in cluster's within distinct ecological – type niches, in which they tend to remain until they die out. Similar to the positioning school the environment school is aware of the importance of environment as context, although it does recognise that the death of the business entities or indeed the entire industry is a natural or even expected fact. Rolls-Royce believes that the knowledge they will learn from the research into ‘Grid Computing' will enable then to understand a utility-based computing systems and how they can make money from it. However, the definition of the environment is often so complex that companies like Rolls-Royce will find it difficult to usefully analysis. In addition, it accords too much control to the environment therefore; two different organisations that are competing within the same industry can have vastly different strategies. The final school Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel discuss is the configuration school, which is often seen as the school, which unites all of the previous mentioned schools together. This strategy formation is seen as a process of transforming the organization from one state of decision-making structure into another. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel (1998) stated the key to this strategy if for the organisation to recognise the need for the transformation, however to be able to do this without damaging the organisation. In 1992, Serge Kampf executive chairperson of Cap Gemini Sogeti (CGS) decided for the company to continue to compete successfully it was important that CGS and the large number of acquired firms should be moulded into a coherent transnational company. Some of the problems CGS would face were the creation of a new organisational structure into a dual organisation, improving service to clients and reduce reporting levels. Serge Kampf believed that all parts of the company needed to work the same way to function as a transnational organisation. This would inevitable force major changes within the organisation. Between 1992 and 1993 even though changes were being made CGS saw there worse year in 1992 when competition mauled the company and they had to lay off 600 employees for the first time in 25 years. This is when 81 managers throughout the organisation made a decision to launch a full-scale transformation of the entire company. The team of 81 managers were responsible for transforming working habits and implement new tools such as the sales funnel throughout the organisation. They also launched a 7-axis development plan to help restore CGS profitability. These changes was not appreciated by the competitors and shareholders as the process of transformation of an organisation with 20,000 employees would not be done short term. However, CGS did succeed it the transformational of their company, as they have succeeded in remaining profitable in 2003 in what was an extremely difficult market, implementing restructuring measures, which significantly reduced operating costs and prepared it to enter 2004 in the best possible condition. Since 1965, the amount of publication and attention within strategic management has varied within the different schools mentioned above. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) illustrated how the schools take their place around and within the formation of strategy. In each of the schools of thought that have mentioned, the process of strategy formulation is regarded as something of a ‘Black Box'. However, the cognitive school did come close. None clearly describes how an individual or an organisation is able to leap from the collection and analysis of information to the conceptualisation of alternative courses of action. However, overall by looking at the schools together you can see why an organisation may favour one school from another. Overall, each of the schools offers some useful concepts, and some strong points to aid understanding, but has its disadvantages as well. â€Å"Strategy formation is judgemental designing, intuitive visioning, and emergent learning; it is about transformation well as perpetuation; it must involve individual cognition and social interaction, cooperation as well as conflict; it has to include analyzing before and programming after as well as negotiating during; and all of this must be in response to what can be a demanding environment† (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel, 1998)

Dialogue Between Plato and Nietzsche Essay

Plato and Nietzsche are sitting in a park enjoying a light picnic lunch. All of a sudden a man dressed in black, wearing a balaclava run’s past and steals Nietzsche’s Turkey sandwich. Nietzsche:This is preposterous! That immoral man has just stolen my last turkey sandwich! This is a horrible position to be in! Plato:What do you mean Nietzsche? Are you saying that you are in a worse position than the thief that stole your sandwich? Nietzsche:Yes that is exactly what I am saying. He isn’t the one who is going to starve to death now is he? Plato:Oh Nietzsche don’t be silly, you’re looking at this in the wrong way. You see, it is you who is in the better position since it is more shameful to inflict wrong than to suffer wrong. Evil derives from wrongful actions, those which by nature involve shame and/or pain. And theft is a very shameful act is it not? Nietzsche: Yes, being a thief is a very shameful way to live, as he is driven by his desires. He must have no self restraint what so ever. Without self restriction how could anyone lead a good life? For it is only through our will to power, strict obedience and restraint over a period of time can great thinking, art and virtue occur. Plato:I agree. The discipline to act justly, control and order one’s body and mind, not need anything and to live virtuously is the only way for true self-fulfilment. Those who repetitively satisfy their desires do not posses real power over one’s self because this gratification further stimulates, rather than eliminates, ones craving for desire. A person who is always fulfilling desire is in continuous need for further satisfaction, and thus acquires no true power over themselves as they are constantly controlled by their urges. Nietzsche:Not only does one need self discipline and obedience, like you said, but they also need to be freed from outer restrictions such as the â€Å"herd mentality† which constrains them from becoming a true leader. Who is to say that this thief does not have to qualities to rule? He has been trained that compliance and obedience toward his herd is best. This herd mentality forces its followers to repress their natural aspiration to become leaders, it unselfs gifted individuals and natural leaders. Qualities such as benevolence, modesty and pity are taught by the herd to be virtuous, when really it is the imaginative, daring, creative and courageous who are the virtuous ones, whom should rise above the herd because they are the natural leaders. Those who have to will to power (drive to do so) are able to live their lives the fullest and therefore ultimately become the ubermensch. Plato:Here is where we differ Nietzsche, the way I see it is that community or herd is not such a bad thing, leaders on the other hand are. Weaker people should not be subject to stronger people. Just like large countries should not attack the small ones, on the grounds of that they are stronger and therefore superior. Governments and communities help to restrain those who cannot restrain themselves and therefore guiding them into leading a more virtuous life. Leaders, such a politicians, on the other hand only seek to amuse and gratify rather than improve the soul. When morality is applied in the masses it is right and natural Nietzsche:But Plato, the theory of evolution has proved that God is dead and is no longer need to explain out existence meaning that conventional morality is irrelevant. Therefore we must create our own morality which is not transcendent or absolute. Plato:Wrong again Nietzsche. Just because there is proof that God may not exist, it doesn’t mean that man creates his own morality or anything else for that matter. You see, in this universe there are two different worlds, the material world and the metaphysical world. We experience the material world with our senses. We can see it, feel it, taste it and touch it. Whereas the Metaphysical world (world f the forms) exists beyond the senses. The Metaphysical world contains perfect examples of qualities and concepts that exist in the material world. We can recognise these concepts (beauty, justice, good etc) and qualities (colour, shape) because we have experienced them in the Metaphysical world. Our soul/mind experiences the Metaphysical world before birth, but the trauma of birth makes us forget this world and we must relearn it thorough philosophy. So, because there is a perfect examples of everything in the Metaphysical world that there is here in the Material world, there must be a perfect form of morality. This means that there is an absolute morality for mankind to live by.

Html Studyguide

The general syntax of a CSS style rule is selector { property1: value1; property2: value2; property3: value3; } Order in which style sheets are interpreted. The more specific style is applied instead of the more general. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Browser’s internal style sheet User-defined style sheet Author’s external style sheet Author’s embedded style sheet Author’s inline style sheet User-Defined Styles Almost all browsers allow users to modify the default settings of the internal style sheet. External Style SheetsTo link to an external style sheet use the following text directly above the closing head text tag: Embedded Style Sheets Styles are inserted directly within the head element of an HTML document using the style element: styles Or h1 {Color: red; Text-align: center;} The order in which external and embedded style sheets are processed depends on the order in which they are listed within the HTML file. In the below example the loads the external style sheet first and then the embedded SS. If the order were switched the imported SS gets processed after the embedded one. h1 {Color: red; Text-align: center;} Inline Styles Applied directly to specific elements using the style attribute: †¦ Importing Style Sheets To import a style sheet to a master style sheet use the @import statement BEFORE any other style rules: @import url(url); or for example @import url(sa_styles. css); Exploring the Style Cascade As a general rule of thumb, all other things being equal, the more specific style is applied instead of the more general . An additional factor in applying a style sheet is that properties are passed from a parent element to its children in a process known as style inheritance. body {color: blue;} h1 {text-align: center;} If you need browsers to enforce a style, you can append the ! important keyword to the style property, using the syntax: property: value ! mportant; Defining Color in CSS A color value is a numerical expression that describes the properties of a color CSS represents these intensities mathematically as a set of numbers called an RGB triplet, which has the format color: rgb(red, green, blue); color:#redgreenblue ; background-color: color; color: color; or or or or color: rgb(255,255,0); color:#FFFF00; background-color: rgb(255,255,0); or color:#FFFF00; or color:white; CSS also allows RGB values to be entered as hexadecimal numbers To set th e background color of an element, use the below property where color is a color name or a color value. To set the foreground or text color of an element, use the following property: color: rgb(255,255,0); or or CSS3 also supports the Hue Saturation Lightness (HSL) model that describes colors based on hue, saturation, and lightness hsl(hue, saturation, lightness) rgba(red, green, blue, opacity) hsl(360, 100%, 100%) rgba(255, 255, 255, 0. 8) hsla(360, 100%, 100%, 0. 2) CSS3 also allows page designers to augment RGB and HSL color with opacity where 0 = completely transparent and 1 = completely opaque. hsla(hue, saturation, lightness, opacity) or Selectors and Text Styles Web pages are structured documents in which elements are nested within other elements, forming a hierarchy of elements. To create styles that take advantage of this tree structure, CSS allows you to create contextual selectors whose values represent the locations of elements within the hierarchy: 1) 2) 3) 4) Parent elements Child elements Sibling elements Descendant elements Contextual Selectors Attribute Selectors Selectors also can be defined based on attributes and attribute values associated with elements. Two attributes, id and class, are often key in targeting styles to a specific element or group of elements. Styling Web Page Text The default font used by most browsers is Times New Roman, but you can specify a different font for any page element using the property: font-family: fonts; or font-family: ‘Arial Black’, gadget, sans-serif; Setting Font Face and Sizes: Sizes can be relative or absolute. To define a font face, use the style property: font-family: fonts; font-size: size; letter-spacing: size; word-spacing: size; To specify the font style, use the below style where type is normal, italic, or oblique. ont-style: type; To specify the font weight, use the below format where type is normal, bold, bolder, light, lighter, or a font weight value. font-weight: type; To specify a text decoration, use the below format where type is none, underline, overline, or line-through. text-decoration: type; To transform text, use the below code where type is capitalize, uppercase, lowercase, or none. text-transform: type; To display a font variant of text, use the below format where type is normal or small-caps. ont-variant: type; You can combine most of the text and font styles into a single property using the shortcut font property font: font-style font-variant font-weight font-size/line-height font-family; Combining Text Format in a single style or or or font-family: ‘Arial Black’, gadget, sans-serif; font-size: 0. 5in; or font-size: 36pt; font-size: 0. 5in; or font-size: 3pc; or font-size: 1. 7em; To set a font size, use the below style property where size is a CSS unit of length in either relative or absolute units. To set kerning (the space between letters), use the following style property: To set tracking (the space between words), use the following style property: Designing a List To define the appearance of the list marker, use the style below where type is disc, circle, square, decimal, decimal-leading-zero, lower-roman, upper-roman, lower-alpha, upper-alpha, lower-greek, upper-greek, or none. list-style-type: type; To insert a graphic image as a list marker, use the style below where url is the URL of the graphic image file. ist-style-image: url(url); To set the position of list markers, use the style below where position is inside or outside. list-style-position: position; To define all of the list style properties in a single style, use the following style: list-style: type url(url) position; To set the indentation of a list, apply the style below where size is the length that the list should be indented. padding-left: size; Using Pseudo-Classes and Pseudo-Elements A pseudo-class is a c lassification of an element based on its current status, position, or use in the document selector:pseudo-class {styles;} Structural Psuedo Classes