Deception Point Page 8

The President gave her a comforting grin, and Rachel sensed firsthand the legendary Herney affability. The man possessed an easygoing countenance political cartoonists loved because no matter how skewed a rendition they drew, no one ever mistook the man's effortless warmth and amiable smile. His eyes mirrored sincerity and dignity at all times. â€Å"If you follow me,† he said in a cheery voice, â€Å"I've got a cup of coffee with your name on it.† â€Å"Thank you, sir.† The President pressed the intercom and called for some coffee in his office. As Rachel followed the President through the plane, she could not help but notice that he looked extremely happy and well-rested for a man who was down in the polls. He was also very casually dressed – blue jeans, a polo shirt, and L.L. Bean hiking boots. Rachel tried to make conversation. â€Å"Doing†¦ some hiking, Mr. President?† â€Å"Not at all. My campaign advisers have decided this should be my new look. What do you think?† Rachel hoped for his sake that he wasn't serious. â€Å"It's very†¦ um†¦ manly, sir.† Herney was deadpan. â€Å"Good. We're thinking it will help me win back some of the women's vote from your father.† After a beat, the President broke into a broad smile. â€Å"Ms. Sexton, that was a joke. I think we both know I'll need more than a polo shirt and blue jeans to win this election.† The President's openness and good humor were quickly evaporating any tension Rachel felt about being there. What this President lacked in physical brawn, he more than made up for in diplomatic rapport. Diplomacy was about people skills, and Zach Herney had the gift. Rachel followed the President toward the back of the plane. The deeper they went, the less the interior resembled a plane – curved hallways, wallpapered walls, even an exercise room complete with StairMaster and rowing machine. Oddly, the plane seemed almost entirely deserted. â€Å"Traveling alone, Mr. President?† He shook his head. â€Å"Just landed, actually.† Rachel was surprised. Landed from where? Her intel briefs this week had included nothing about presidential travel plans. Apparently he was using Wallops Island to travel quietly. â€Å"My staff deplaned right before you arrived,† the President said. â€Å"I'm headed back to the White House shortly to meet them, but I wanted to meet you here instead of my office.† â€Å"Trying to intimidate me?† â€Å"On the contrary. Trying to respect you, Ms. Sexton. The White House is anything but private, and news of a meeting between the two of us would put you in an awkward position with your father.† â€Å"I appreciate that, sir.† â€Å"It seems you're managing a delicate balancing act quite gracefully, and I see no reason to disrupt that.† Rachel flashed on her breakfast meeting with her father and doubted that it qualified as â€Å"graceful.† Nonetheless, Zach Herney was going out of his way to be decent, and he certainly didn't have to. â€Å"May I call you Rachel?† Herney asked. â€Å"Of course.† May I call you Zach? â€Å"My office,† the President said, ushering her through a carved maple door. The office aboard Air Force One certainly was cozier than its White House counterpart, but its furnishings still carried an air of austerity. The desk was mounded with papers, and behind it hung an imposing oil painting of a classic, three-masted schooner under full sail trying to outrun a raging storm. It seemed a perfect metaphor for Zach Herney's presidency at the moment. The President offered Rachel one of the three executive chairs facing his desk. She sat. Rachel expected him to sit behind his desk, but instead he pulled one of the chairs up and sat next to her. Equal footing, she realized. The master of rapport. â€Å"Well, Rachel,† Herney said, sighing tiredly as he settled into his chair. â€Å"I imagine you've got to be pretty damned confused to be sitting here right now, am I right?† Whatever was left of Rachel's guard crumbled away with the candor in the man's voice. â€Å"Actually, sir, I'm baffled.† Herney laughed out loud. â€Å"Terrific. It's not every day I can baffle someone from the NRO.† â€Å"It's not every day someone from the NRO is invited aboard Air Force One by a President in hiking boots.† The President laughed again. A quiet rap on the office door announced the arrival of coffee. One of the flight crew entered with a steaming pewter pot and two pewter mugs on a tray. At the President's bidding, she laid the tray on the desk and disappeared. â€Å"Cream and sugar?† the President asked, standing up to pour. â€Å"Cream, please.† Rachel savored the rich aroma. The President of the United States is personally serving me coffee? Zach Herney handed her a heavy pewter mug. â€Å"Authentic Paul Revere,† he said. â€Å"One of the little luxuries.† Rachel sipped the coffee. It was the best she had ever tasted. â€Å"Anyhow,† the President said, pouring himself a cup and sitting back down, â€Å"I've got limited time here, so let's get to business.† The President plopped a sugar cube in his coffee and gazed up at her. â€Å"I imagine Bill Pickering warned you that the only reason I would want to see you would be to use you to my political advantage?† â€Å"Actually, sir, that's exactly what he said.† The President chuckled. â€Å"Always the cynic.† â€Å"So he's wrong?† â€Å"Are you kidding?† the President laughed. â€Å"Bill Pickering is never wrong. He's dead-on as usual.† 9 Gabrielle Ashe gazed absently out the window of Senator Sexton's limousine as it moved through the morning traffic toward Sexton's office building. She wondered how the hell she had arrived at this point in her life. Personal assistant to Senator Sedgewick Sexton. This was exactly what she had wanted, wasn't it? I'm sitting in a limousine with the next President of the United States. Gabrielle stared across the car's plush interior at the senator, who seemed to be far away in his own thoughts. She admired his handsome features and perfect attire. He looked presidential. Gabrielle had first seen Sexton speak when she was a poli-sci major at Cornell University three years ago. She would never forget how his eyes probed the audience, as if sending a message directly to her-trust me. After Sexton's speech, Gabrielle waited in line to meet him. â€Å"Gabrielle Ashe,† the senator said, reading her name tag. â€Å"A lovely name for a lovely young woman.† His eyes were reassuring. â€Å"Thank you, sir,† Gabrielle replied, feeling the man's strength as she shook his hand. â€Å"I was really impressed by your message.† â€Å"Glad to hear it!† Sexton thrust a business card into her hand. â€Å"I'm always looking for bright young minds who share my vision. When you get out of school, track me down. My people may have a job for you.† Gabrielle opened her mouth to thank him, but the senator was already on to the next person in line. Nonetheless, in the months that followed, Gabrielle found herself following Sexton's career on television. She watched with admiration as he spoke out against big government spending – spearheading budget cuts, streamlining the IRS to work more effectively, trimming fat at the DEA, and even abolishing redundant civil service programs. Then, when the senator's wife died suddenly in a car crash, Gabrielle watched in awe as Sexton somehow turned the negative into a positive. Sexton rose above his personal pain and declared to the world that he would be running for the presidency and dedicating the remainder of his public service to his wife's memory. Gabrielle decided right then and there that she wanted to work closely with Senator Sexton's presidential campaign.

Personally Identifiable Information and Ethics: Use of Cookies

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Ethics: Use of Cookies Cookie Trails In today’s era of technology, many people are concerned about internet privacy. Most concerns are usually sparked by misinformation. One piece of technology that is most misunderstood is the cookie and its uses. Many people believe that cookies are programs that can transfer viruses onto their computers. This is absolutely false. Cookies are typically harmless. Cookies are little text files left on your hard disk by some websites you visit (Williams & Stacy C. Sawyer, 2013, p. 05). These text files store information about the user like preferences, log-in name, and password. Cookies can be very beneficial for users who frequent many sites. It is very convenient to forgo having to remember every user name or password for every site you visit on a regular basis. Another convenience is using the shopping cart feature of a retail site. For instance, you have added items to your cart, and suddenly lo se internet connection. Once internet connection is restored and you return to the site, your shopping cart items are still listed there.Websites also benefit from using cookies. Sites can store user preferences with the purpose of having a unique appearance for each user. Sites can also use cookies to track how many visitors a site receives. This particular piece of information is vital for sites who offer free access. Lately, many consumers have been distressed over how websites are using tracking cookies. Tracking cookies could potentially amass a compilation of all your browsing habits. Marketing companies such as DoubleClick have taken tracking cookies a step further. The cookie it dispatches will come alive every time you visit another site that does business with DoubleClick† (Peneberg, 2005). DoubleClick can then take that information it has gathered and pair it with personally identifiable information like a phone number or email, and most troubling a home address. Do ubleClick was pummeled six years ago when it announced its intent to create a database of consumer profiles that would include names, addresses, and online purchase histories.After public outcry and a class-action suit (which was settled in 2002), DoubleClick did an about-face and said it had made a huge mistake (Peneberg, 2005). When cookies are used in this manner it definitely brings ethical issues to the forefront. It is an invasion of privacy to take, use and potentially sell information that was not knowingly shared. It is an abuse of privileges users innocently extend to websites. If this invasion of privacy is allowed to continue, one could only wonder what will await the unsuspecting user in future.It is quite plausible for large marketing and advertising firms to start tampering with cookies, eventually creating more evasive ways of snooping on users, and in the process obtaining more crucial information like social security numbers. Marketers don't fear that the governmen t will ban or restrict cookies someday. After heavy lobbying they managed to secure an amendment to the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act that would exempt cookies from any spyware legislation that passes in the House (Peneberg, 2005).The people could rally together to band cookies, but that would make browsing the web difficult for all. It would make more sense to establish stricter regulations against tracking cookies. When companies start to dig too deep and go too far, the people will rebel. Cookies should remain just simple text files that mutually benefit the site and the user. There is no need to invade users’ privacy for profit. References Peneberg, A. L. (2005, November 7). Cookie Monsters: The innocuous Text Files that Web Surfers love to hate. Retrieved November 5, 2012, from Slate: http://www. late. com/articles/technology/technology/2005/11/cookie_monsters. html Williams, B. K. , ; Stacy C. Sawyer. (2013). USING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: A PRACTI CAL INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS ; COMMUNICATIONS (10th ed. ). Boston: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Text files are stored as name-value pairs. [ 2 ]. Tracking cookies are third-party cookies placed by a marketing or advertising company that is interested in tagging visitors. Often they make sure a user won't be hit with the same ad twice.

Activity-based-costing (ABC) in practice - the factors affecting the Essay

Activity-based-costing (ABC) in practice - the factors affecting the successful implementation of an ABC system - Essay Example ABC also provides useful information about the cost of the product which is helpful in decision making (Weetman, 2012, pp. 85-88). According to Drury, ABC method can be used for various cost management applications like customer profitability analysis, business process management and value chain analysis. According to some other management accounting literature ABC can be divided in four genres like contingency research, basic research, critical research and consulting. It can be seen that type of the contingency research is one of the most important development on the topic of ABC. However, some countries have given more attention to the contingency based research. Johnson (1990) has described that ABC, ROI and Variance Analysis are the most important concept of management accounting in 20th century. According to Mitchell (1994), ABC system got high profile popularity by the work of Kaplan and Cooper. Bhimani and Piggott (1992) have stated that Activity Based Costing has many important benefits over other costing systems like it increases the cost accuracy of product and provides more comprehensive information about cost incurred to ensure better performance. It also provides more accurate data which helps the managers to take better decisions and increase efficiency for sensitivity analysis. It is also considered as a valuable model which adds value to the organizational activities and transactions. According to some research studies, respondents told that they are satisfied and they think that ABC provides more accurate costing result than the traditional method of costing. These studies have also stated other benefits like accurate profitab ility analysis for customers, positive behavioral effect on employees, accurate insight into cost behavior and causation and better measurement of performances. According to Mitchell and Innes (1991) have stated that Activity Based Costing gives more relevant costs

Portfolio management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Portfolio management - Essay Example The most vital decision regarding investing that an investor can make involves the amount of risk he or she is willing to bear. Most investors will want to obtain the highest return for the lowest amount of possible risk. However, there tends to be a trade-off between risk and return, whereby larger returns are generally associated with larger risk. Portfolio management helps to bring together various securities and other assets into portfolios that address investor needs, and then to manage those portfolios in order to achieve investment objectives. Effective asset management revolves around a portfolio manager's ability to assess and effectively manage risk. With the explosion of technology, access to information has increased dramatically at all levels of the investment cycle. It is the job of the portfolio manager to manage the vast array of available information and to transform it into successful investments for the portfolio for which he/she has the remit to manage. Portfolio management has faced lots of ups and downs due to the market turbulences caused by the global market credit crunch. In this following section, the functions and roles played by the portfolio managers are discussed upon.Portfolio management is principally about risk and return strategies. It is concerned with the construction and management of investment assets. There are two fundamental ways that a portfolio manager can add value which are follows ( Lumby, 1994): Strategic diversification- The portfolio manager generates value by effectively exploiting diversification opportunities between the assets in the portfolio. For instance, two stocks that are not well correlated can be combined so as to get more return relative to risk. Alpha return- The second way that fund managers add value is by generating returns that are in excess of what could be obtained by a reasonable combination of the asset classes in the fund. Alpha generation may be due to the relative weight given to each of a series of asset classes at any given time or it may be due to the specific stocks selected within an asset class-finding the best stocks in a sector. Passive portfolios have predictable styles. A passive investor knows exactly what types of securities he or she is invested in. Active managers, on the other hand, can vary the composition of their portfolios significantly over time - a problem known as "style drift". The styles of portfolio management are discussed in the following section. Active portfolio manager An active portfolio manager is one who constantly makes decisions and appraises the value of investments within the portfolio by collecting information, using forecasting techniques, and predicting the future performance of the various asset classes, market sectors, individual equities or assets. His goal is to obtain better performance for the portfolio. He uses personal ability and judgment to select undervalued assets to attempt to outperform the market. The active managers adopt strategies, all involving detailed analysis, as given below (Brentani, C. 2004, p.93): i. Top-down approach- This approach involves assessing the prospects for particular market sectors or countries (depending on the index), following a detailed review of general economic, financial and political factors. Sector weightings may be changed by fund managers depending on their view of the prevailing economic cycle (known as sector rotation). If a recession is likely, shares in consumer sectors such as retailing, homebuilders and motor distributors will be sold and the proceeds reinvested in, say, the food manufacturing sector. A portfolio is then selected of individual shares in the favored

Chinese and Comparative Company Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Chinese and Comparative Company Law - Case Study Example Nowadays, globalization has become a trend. If we want to develop our economy, we'd better cooperate with others and adjust ourselves to the environment. In such a situation, more and more foreign companies have swarmed into China and become one of the strong strength to support the development of the economy. In our country, there are also many aspects of company law in order to protect people's legal profit. For instance, there is an established system of the company, the capital system of the company and the restructuring system of the company. Company law is concentrated on the management of the companies. It is helpful for all of the stuff to get equal chances and gain equal treatment. For the head of the companies, it is good for them to organize and manage the whole company much better. "The company law is just like a pair of glasses for the shortsighted. Putting on it, you can see much clearer and strengthen your judgment. Without it, you shall not have sharp insight. "2 It is a good metaphor. If there is no law for a company, we have no way to protect people's legal right and the equal computation will get nowhere. Besides, it also can limit some people's right who are in high position. "If a member of a liquidation group is found to have abused his or her power to seek personal g ains by resorting to deception, or speculated the company's property, he or her shall be ordered to return the property to the company, have the illegal proceeds confiscated and be imposed a fine one time to five times the amount of the illegal proceeds. If the case is serious enough to constitute a crime, criminal responsibility shall be affixed according to law."3 Aim at not abusing the right, the law has made out the punishment. If anyone confirms it, they will be punished undoubtedly. Although the company law is just one part of Chinese law, it also promotes Chinese law's development. In worldwide, merger&acquisition companies have become one of the most popular forms. However, the complicated work model must be under the control of sound law. Merger&Acquisition Company is considered as a kind of system to welcome winners and eliminate losers in nowadays economical condition.  

Commentary on a macro economics topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Commentary on a macro economics topic - Essay Example This manifests the government’s efforts towards maintaining economic stability in case of unemployment. However, the article reckons that the federal government’s temporary â€Å"extended† and â€Å"emergency† unemployment compensation programs accrue benefits only after the state exhausts its benefits in case of a recession (Mulligan 1). This demonstrates the federal government’s concern on unemployment and depicts the government’s efforts towards economic challenges like recession. Notably, the federal unemployment insurance and any other temporary federal programs have expiration dates to discourage people from leaving their jobs, which would lead to increased unemployment levels. In fact, the article notes that although the Unemployment benefits from any program have great importance to the unemployed, they equally depress the labor market by encouraging retrenchments and allowing people to remain unemployed (Mulligan 1). Nevertheless, wh ere the victims are yet to get other jobs before the expiry date of such programs, the Congress extends the expiry date as part of the fiscal cliff deal (Mulligan 1). Indeed, the Affordable Care Act may replace the Emergency Unemployment Compensation if it expires on December. The new program will be more beneficial since it will cover the unemployed and the premium subsidies for health insurance (Mulligan 1). This manifests the long-term concern by the federal government to address unemployment in the country. Moreover, the article presents the fact that the continued presence of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation and the new health care assistance derives an incentive for workers and employers to create and retain jobs (Mulligan 1). This is a long-term strategy to eliminate unemployment in the country. The article advocates for employment since it leads to income that generates additional taxes and withheld benefits for the federal government (Mulligan 1). However, high tax r ate discourages people from working. (Mulligan 1) The broken line depicts the level of the marginal tax rate if the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program expires on December 2013. The diagram shows that upon the expiry, the tax rates are bound to increase more at the beginning of next year. It also shows that the tax rates are bound to increase at a lower rate if the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program does not expire in December 2013. Ideally, the health assistance will compensate the benefits lost from the expiry of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program. The fiscal cliff as used in the article refers to a combination of expiring tax cuts and across-the-board government spending cuts effective Dec. 31, 2012 (â€Å"Investopedia† 1). Ideally, the fiscal cliff sought to avoid the adverse effects of expiring tax cuts and reducing the government spending at the same time. The fiscal cliff has an overall effect of reducing the federal budget deficit ( "Investopedia† 1). On the other hand, the marginal tax rate refers to the rate of tax paid to an additional dollar earned through employment (Reynolds 1). Notably, an increase in income leads to an increase in the marginal tax rate. As such, low-income earners accrue lower marginal tax rate that the higher income earners. Although, marginal tax rate seems like an equitable taxation strategy, many people

Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Financial Management - Essay Example If the current ratio is below 1, the company is said to be unable to meet its liabilities. In the M. D. Ryngaert & Co, the profitability may have contributed to the increase in the current ration and making the turnover ratio to remain constant. The profits got from the daily operations in the company are used to expand the operations thereby leading to the changes in the current ratio. This includes the gross and the net profit after the daily expenses are deducted from the revenues got. The gross profit is used to determine the margins the company is getting. In the same way, it can be a measure of the efficiency of the company in carrying out its operations (Milkovinch, 2010). On the other hand the net profitability depends on the daily expenses in the company. The higher the expenses the lower the net profit and this will affect the company’s running. This may result to the company selling some of its current assets in order to meet the liabilities. Many scholars have advanced in the analyzing on the reasons that would lead to an increase in the current ratio while the turnover ratio remains constant. The major explanation given to this would be the improved liquidity in the company. According to Thomas (2003), liquidity is the capital already available in a firm. In a deeper explanation, a company’s liquidity is the amount of cash or capita which is available for use or spending. In the M.D Ryngaert & Co. the rise in the current ratio while the turnover ratio remains constant can be attributed to several reasons. The company may have seen an improvement in the liquidity due to some reasons. In the M. D. Ryngaert & Co, the external cash flow may have been directed to acquiring new products or the getting more employees. All this may have contributed to the rising of the increased current ratio while the turnover ratio remained constant. In cases where the current ratio of a company falls below 1, the company is unable to meet its

Work Ethics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Work Ethics - Assignment Example Research methods.-Books and Journals related to the subject. 6. Data collection & analysis. The body-Change in the Work Ethic – A Slow Transition Conclusion References (range them alphabetic). Work Ethics Abstract Work ethics is defined as one’s attitude towards work, job, career and vocation. Work ethics is intrinsic that is, it is a desire to do work ethically. Philosophically, this may lead to various perspectives; the truth about work ethics, can be answered from the Work Ethics come from God the creator. Historical evidence shows how the meaning of work has changed over the centuries. Every occupation has a different work ethics but the moral values more or less remain the same. A strong work ethic involves the belief that the work is the core of moral life useful to oneself, family and community. Strong work ethics stress on building character and discipline. As strong work ethics emphasizes moral superiority than the idle laziness, pride in craft over carelessnes s and earned income over unearned income. Work Ethics 1 Introduction: Definition Work ethics is defined as one’s attitude towards work, job, career and vocation. Work ethics is intrinsic that is, it is a desire to do work ethically. The word ethics in the corporate world constitutes various notions like honesty, responsibility, attitude, communication interaction and respect. From historical perspective, the cultural norms places work in positive moral values, as work ethics are essentially intrinsic. A definition by Hall, 1986 in Protestant Work Ethic states, â€Å"work is an effort or activity of an individual performed for the purpose of providing food or services of value to others ;it is also considered as the work performed by an individual.†According to Fineman, 1987, from Protestant Work Ethic, work is very important aspect of middle class as it describes its identity and is a means of its security; it is a secure predictable reward for its labor or efforts. De velopment of Work ethics –Brief history There has been significant change in the attitude towards work since Classical period. As cited by Roger B. Hills ,The Traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs state that sometime after the dawn of creation, man was placed in the Garden of Eden "to work it and take care of it" (NIV, 1973, Genesis 2:15). There is a likelihood that an ideal work situation was disrupted when sin entered the world and humans were thrown out of the Garden. Genesis 3:19 described the human plight from that time on. "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are Work Ethics 2 and to dust you will return" (NIV, 1973). Rose stated that the Hebrew belief system viewed work as a "curse devised by God explicitly to punish the disobedience and ingratitude of Adam and Eve" (1985, p. 28). Numerous scriptures from the Old Testament in fact supported work, not from the stance that there was any joy in it, but from the premise that it was necessary to prevent poverty and destitution (NIV; 1973; Proverbs 10:14, Proverbs 13:4, Proverbs 14:23, Proverbs 20:13, Ecclesiastes 9:10). Change in people’s Attitude In the present times people attitude towards work has changed drastically .With these attitudinal changes some questions need to be answered. Ethics, According to William H.Shaw (P.7), deal with individual character and moral rules that govern and limit our conduct .It investigates questions of right and wrong, duty and moral obligation and moral responsibility. The Work ethics are intrinsic; they come from within. Philosophically, this may lead to various perspectives; the truth about work ethics, can be answered from the Work Ethics come from God the creator. God made humans in His image, and His word proclaims these

Samsung Analysis Essay Example for Free

Samsung Analysis Essay 1/Identify the ressources and competencies of an organization with which you are familiar using Exhibits 1 and 2 (WA). I decided to undertake an analysis of the Samsung company because I spend a full year in South-Korea, from july 2011 until august 2012. Hence, Samsung is an extremely important conglomerate in this country, working there is for many considered as a  « dream-job  » and furthemore produce as much as 20% as the country total exports. Samsung is well known for their electronic product created by the electronic subsidiaries of the company, Sansung Electronics. Their flagship phone, currently being the Samsung Galaxy S3 sold over 40 millions units. They produce TV, Computer, Display, semiconductors, Cameras But if Samsung is mainly known in the western countries for the Samsung Electronics subsidiaries, it is possible in Korea to live your whole life with Samsung products. Indeed, among the subsidiaries, we can find Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Heavy Industries (mainly a shipbuilder subsidiarie), Samsung CT There is even some  « Samsung Cities  », like the Suwon Samsung Digital City. It is areas where only the Samsung employees and their families are allowed to get in. Here, there is appartment, school, hospital, entertainment, and everything ones need to lead a life, except that everybody around you is working for samsung. Indeed, Samsung is producing itself almost all the component the company need. So there is enourmous production needs, that lead to enourmous production site. Many of the Samsung employee have so no other choice than living on site with their family. If I am introducing this company that way, it is in order to help us understanding some of the most valuable asset of the company. Samsung has won the trust and the loyalty over thousand of workers who are willing to go the extra mile for the company. Korea is famous to have one of the longest work time in the world. Indeed, in most of the companies workers must be willing to do many hours. Samsung has the intangible benefit of an extremely flexible workforce. But not only flexible, this workforce is also particularly well educated, thanks to the korean education system, one of the hardest in the world. As we said earlier, working for Samsung is considered for many as a dream job, and Samsung workers are more willing than any other worker to go to the extra mile, because they receive a better treatment than other workers in similar Korea company as LG, etc. (In term of salary, but also in term of insurance, and retirement plan : we should not forget that Samsung is not only Samsung Electronics, but also Samsung Life Insurance, and so this company can offer excellent deal to their workers). There is also a prestige for working at Samsung. Consequently, Samsung can easily recruit the elite of Korean student, of Korean researchers, and this indeed is an extremely important competitive advantage other the competition. No company in Korea has this attractiveness, and outside Korea only Apple and Google might be able to have similar advantages. But Apple and Google are western companies, and this mean that not all of their workers agree to give their life to the company. They are certainly not as much loyal as Samsung worker, because Samsung has become part of Korea itself, a national pride. This allow Samsung to have an outstanding capabilities for bearing mass production of any given product at any time. Without the willingness of Samsung employees, the company would certainly not be nowadays worldwide number one top selling smartphone company, neither be able to produce high quality product and being recognized worldwide for their quality. 2/Undertake an analysis of the strategic capability of an organization with which you are familiar in order to identify which capabilities, if any meet the criteria of (a) value, (b) rarity, (c) robustness and (inimitability).

Marketing Plan for Shiseido Essay Example for Free

Marketing Plan for Shiseido Essay One hundred and forty years ago, Arinobu Fukuhara built on his experience working as chief pharmacist at a navy hospital to establish Shiseido, Japan’s first Western-style pharmacy in the Ginza district of Tokyo. Concerned about the inferior medications then available to the public, he aspired to separate medical care and pharmaceutical dispensing in Japan. Shiseido’s first president, Shinzo Fukuhara, led Shiseido into the cosmetics business in 1897. The only cosmetics sold in Japan at that time, powder and lipstick, were simply for altering appearance. Dissatisfied with the status quo, Shiseido brought a fresh perspective to cosmetics (n.d.). They formulated their products like pharmaceuticals because they strongly believed that the true value of cosmetics was in achieving healthy, beautiful skin. Based on this belief, Shiseido has developed with an unwavering philosophical commitment to high quality, innovation and authentic value. Millions of people have come to know and trust the Shiseido name as a result. The origin of the company name â€Å"Shiseido† is a passage from the Chinese classic, I Ching (The Book of Changes): â€Å"praise the virtues of the great Earth, which nurtures new life and brings forth new values.† Shiseido puts the intent of this passage into practice by discovering and creating new value. This is our founding spirit, and it continues unbroken as Our Mission, Shiseido’s raison d’à ªtre (Annual report 2012). Having started out as a pharmacy, it wasn’t until 1915 that Shiseido changed direction and committed to the cosmetics industry. The move was masterminded by Shinzo Fukuhara, the third son of Arinobu Fukuhara and the company’s first president. †¨ An experienced photographer, Shinzo Fukuhara combined artistry with high quality manufacturing, underpinned by the very latest in research and development, to establish Shiseido as a unique presence in the cosmetics industry (n.d.). The beginnings of Shiseido’s corporate philosophy As part of the transition from a family business to a more corporate setup, in 1921 Shiseido set out Shiseido’s Five Principles as the foundation of its corporate philosophy and activities as a company. These went on to form the basis of Shiseido’s Corporate Philosophy in 1989. Having undergone a number of changes since then, this finally evolved into, a new corporate philosophy reflecting the Shiseido Group’s internat ional operations and diverse brand portfolio, in 2011. Establishing a global production network With production facilities already up and running in areas such as North America and Taiwan, as well as in Japan, in 1991 Shiseido opened its first production facility in Europe, thereby establishing a truly global production network. Operations later got underway at a factory in Beijing in 1993 as Shiseido made its first steps towards expanding operations in the Chinese market. In 2010, the company commenced operations at a factory in Vietnam, as part of a concerted effort to tap into new growth in the so-called â€Å"masstige† market (n.d.). Reviewing a description of the market including the economic system to be targeted in this marketing plan, it has been found that Thai woman are interested in new products to whiten their intimate areas. Fair skin is a symbol of opportunity, success and status. There are already skin-whitening pills and diet supplements claiming to pick up where the cosmetics leave off. But this is the first time that a vaginal whitening wash has hit the Thai market (Hodal, 2012). Asian skin ages different than others, instead of Asians being concerned with fine lines and wrinkles, Asians worry about dark spots. Using pale Korean and Japanese pop stars as illustrations, Thai womens magazines are full of fair-skinned Asians promoting products that promise to whiten, lighten and boost the complexion, with slogans such as Show off your aura and Get to know the miracle of white skin. Fair-skinned actors and singers dominate the media nearly all over the Asia-Pacific region, where the skin-lightening indu stry is expected to reach $2bn this year with the fastest growing markets in China and India (Hodal, 2012). Shiseido has been at the forefront of skin-brightening research since launching the lotion Hydrogen Peroxide Cucumber in 1917 (Annual report 2012). They have developed about one-third of the active skin-brightening ingredients used in Japanese cosmetics. Shiseido is concentrating on aging research so that people can grow older beautifully. There are three key aspects in conducting research: functionality that creates healthy, beautiful skin; sensitivity and sensations such as pleasant usability, scent, color and beauty methods; and most important, safety that allows consumers to use their products worry free. In Thailand, Shiseido needs to grow existing products and embrace its brand value. They need to use the foundation they have built to generate solid growth in Thailand. Shiseido will continue to shift through fundamental reforms in order to invest for growth, and will implement fresh initiatives. According to their website, Shiseido has always embraced innovation, progress and challenge. The only way that Shiseido can evolve is by integrating its growing strengths to continuously create new and richer value in new markets. They should see the Asian culture as a future growth driver, and should therefore put their focus on commercials and in-store visuals to build the reputation of the Shiseido brand. They should also consider focusing on local customer needs, promote seasonal cosmetic changes and realize their customers purchasing behavior. People use the Internet to acquire information by themselves and comparison shop beyond category boundaries (Annual report 2012). Shiseido needs to recognize and accommodate to these major changes in the market by taking on the challenge of a new business model that could increases regular users of products by bringing together their existing store-based sales with business and direct marketing using the Internet. I want Shiseido to build direct relationships with customers and use them to steadily deliver the value they generate. I would also like to see Shiseido grow from the cosmetics business by providing total beauty solutions. The key to success for Shiseido lies in offering a suite of products targeted at a wide range of customers, but with special emphasis on the growing luxury and natural sector. There are several reasons behind the growth in high-end cosmetics: the expansion of new markets in Russia and Asia; changing social norms that make the wearing of makeup more acceptable; celebrity worship; promotion within fashion magazines; improvements in the technology that creates makeup; the influence of mass retailers that can offer lower prices, and raising affluence. As makeup becomes less expensive, better and more accessible, more women have moved away from older brands of makeup and skincare in search of higher-quality new products and more exclusivity. Works Cited (n.d.). Retrieved from http://group.shiseido.com/company/info/index.htmlThere are no sources in the current document. Annual report 2012. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://group.shiseido.com/ir/library/annual/pdf/2012/anu00001.pdf Hodal, K. (2012, 11 23). Thailands skin-whitening craze reaches womans intimate areas. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/23/thailand-vaginal-whitening-wash

Potential Problems In Raising Brand Awareness

Potential Problems In Raising Brand Awareness Product Branding Using relevant examples from the public, non-profit and private sectors, discuss the reasons why different types of organizations might consider branding to be the most important aspect of their product or service. What are the potential problems with building brands? One thing in common between Coca-Cola, McDonald, Disney, Nike, Sony, and Microsoft is that they all have powerful brands that are recognised all over the world. The well-established brand names have helped these companies generate enormous fortune. There is little doubt that brand names are the most valuable assets for many companies. For this reason, there are still many companies that are struggling to build their brand names and the majority of today’s large companies have taken the legacy of existing brands in order to make them more competitive. For example, although mineral water is an undifferentiated product, Nestle acquired Perrier for $2.5 billion because of the Perrier’s long established brand name that carried a charm invaluable to Nestle. There has been a growing interest in the value of brand names. As of 1993, the most valuable brand name was Coca-Cola with an estimated worth of $36 billion (Owen 1993). The world’s10 most valuable brands in 2006 we re (in rank order): Coca-Cola, Microsoft, IBM, General Electric, Intel, Nokia, Toyota, Disney, McDonald, and Mercedes-Benz. Coca-Cola’s brand value was $67 billion, Microsoft’s $57 billion, and IBM’s $56 billion. With these well-known companies, brand value is typically over one-half of the total company market capitalization (Business Week 2006). The reasons for such high worth of brand names include: (1) the costs of new product launch reaching approximately $100 million and high failure rates; (2) the reluctance of consumers to buy unfamiliar new products; and (3) high returns successful brands yield (Aaker 1991). Today’s successful companies have launched brands that create a wealth of perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, and experiences to turn a product and name into something to which the consumer relates. Their branding strategy has been developed to meet the needs and desires of consumers (Stobart 1994; Kochan 1996). The focus of this essay is to look the reasons why most organizations considered branding as the most the important aspect of their products or services as well as looking at the potential problems when building a brand. What is a Brand? There is little doubt that brands are at the heat of marketing and business strategy. Strong brands can make companies win in today’s highly competitive marketplace. One may question, â€Å"How did a brand originate?† and â€Å"What does a brand mean?† The aim of this part is to answer these two questions and to examine the implications for branding. The Origin of a Brand According to Nilson (1998), the term â€Å"brand† originated from the Scandinavian word for â€Å"branna’,† meaning â€Å"to burn a mark on something.† The Swedish word for fire is â€Å"brand.† In the earliest days of farming, farmers or ranchers put their symbols on the cattle with the help of a hot iron in order to assert their right to ownership (Kochan 1996; Nilson 1998). Since then, branding has been used in order to claim someone’s ownership of a good or service. Literatures show that the first example of branding is the manufacture of oil lamps in the Greek islands. During this time, people bought a primitive form of oil lamp, but the quality of the lamp varied. People could not tell between a good and bad lamp when they made purchase. For this reason, craftsmen in one Greek island started to put a special symbol on their long-lasting lamp so that people can distinguish their products from less-lasting lamps produced by others. They branded their goods so that they could differentiate their product and, presumably, charge a premium price (Nilson 1998). Similarly, today many companies seek to build brands so that consumers can pick their products not those of others. The Definition of a Brand According to Brassigton and Pettitt a brand is the â€Å"creation of a three-dimensional character for product, defined in terms of name, packaging. Colours, symbols etc., that helps to differentiate it from its competitors, and helps the customer to develop a relationship with the product† (Brassigton and Pettitt 2003, p. 1099). Some experts have, however, argued that it is dangerous to adopt one single definition of a brand because there are many other things to be taken into account. They insist that brand definitions should be categorised under six headings: (1) visual; (2) perceptual; (3) positioning; (4) added value; (5) image; and (6) personality (Nilson 1998). In addition, we need to look at other meanings in order to have a better understanding of a brand. There are two representative models – brand image and brand identity that are different from each other. Brand image refers to the image of a brand that exists in the minds of consumers as a result of all the information they have received about the brand, from experience, word of mouth, advertising, packaging, service and so on; the information is modified by selective perception, previous beliefs, social norms, forgetting (Randall 1997). Companies can control their brand images as long as they understand the essence and expression of their brand. The four dimensions form the essence at the centre. The brand identity, such as the brand’s name, logo, colours, tagline, and symbol (Kotler 2003), becomes strong only when the four dimensions support each other constantly. If any quadrant is weak, or sending conflicting messages, then resulting image in consumers’ minds will be confused (Randall 1997). Reasons why most organizations consider branding to be the most important aspect of their products or service: A brand is a necessity for a business and – whether the manager likes it or not – a business will have a brand profile. Working closely with the brand, rather than in the classical business sense of leaving it to the customers to work out what to think about the company, will give the organization some distinct advantages. The importance of branding in a private organization can be summarized in two categories: first it is financially beneficial for the company, and second it gives the employees a sense of purpose. For the purpose of boosting morale, a brand that the employees can be proud of, and feel a sense of belonging to, can have considerable positive effect on the morale in a company (Nilsoon 1998). One example is the Virgin group where founder Richard Branson’s very high profile and clear statements about company purpose serve as morale booster for the whole group. Similar effects appear to be at play at Microsoft, where a strong sense of identity with the company – and consequently with the brand – pushes employees to high levels of productivity and, not least, loyalty (Nilson 1998). For profit making purposes, a strong brand in a private sector creates barriers to entry. The stronger the brand values of the leading brands in a sector, the stronger the reputation of the main competitors and the more difficult it is for other players to enter the market. Brands also often represent continuity which is important in the sense of keeping customer relations. Having a strong brand does create economies of scale, not least in communication. A well-established and correctly built brand will in an instant communicate a distinct set of values (such as trustworthy, reliable and leading-edge) much quicker and more effectively than any expensive commercial (Nilson 1998). Branding helps a firm to introduce a new product that carries the name of one or more of its existing products, because buyers are already familiar with the firm’s existing brands. For example, Heinz regularly introduces new tinned products. Since consumers are used to buying the brand and have a high regard for its quality, they are likely to try the new offerings. Branding also facilitates promotional efforts because the promotion of each branded product indirectly promotes all other products that are similarly branded (Dibb et al 1997). Branding also helps seller by fostering brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is a strongly motivated and long decision to purchase a product or service. To the extent that buyers become loyal to a specific brand, the company’s market share for that product achieve a certain level of stability, allowing the firm to use its resources more efficiently. When a firm succeeds in fostering some degree of customer loyalty to a brand, it can charge a premium price for the product (Dibb et al 1997). For example, Consumers are loyal to buy Armani because they appreciate its status and fashionable values, and Apple computers because they appreciate their creative and human values. These values reflect and enhance the consumer’s sense of him/himself and provide a key source of brand differentiation (Kochan 1996). Similarly, the importance of branding in the public sector cannot be under-estimated. While it remains an essential part in the day to day running of private sectors for the purpose of maximising profits, the profit making purpose is however less significant with public sectors. A distinct example of branding in the public sector is the NHS. Rather than being portrayed as a brand for profit making, the aim of the NHS is provide adequate health care service for the nation. Due to the virtual non-existence of an aim of making profits, there is little or no competition for the NHS, therefore there ought to be other reasons for their various forms of branding. A significant example of the essence of branding for the NHS is their association with life saving ventures such as safe sex practices and â€Å"quit smoking† campaigns (Lecturer’s Note 2006),. The various steps taken by the NHS to encourage safe sex practices through the television and newspaper adverts ensure that t hey are easily associated with any life saying adverts and their â€Å"NHS† brand once seen on TV means a life saving advert is coming on. Even though, this is not fore the sake of making profits but people start taking them more seriously, likewise what they preach, thereby achieving the ultimate goal of saving lives (Lecturer’s Note 2006). Like the private companies, they spend some money on adverts and branding but more emphasis is on profit making by the private companies than the public companies. Essentially, branding is a way of getting attention and developing a relationship with target audiences and this is especially important for public organizations with little or no aim of profit making. The competitiveness brought about by branding in the public sector is therefore targeted at getting audiences rather than making more profits than private companies (Colyer 2006). Furthermore, branding for non-profit making organizations is as important as those for private and public organizations albeit with a slightly different aim and approach. The aim of competition is as important for non-profit making organizations as it is important for private organizations. Branding here is therefore aimed at building a better relationship with supporters, thereby establishing greater trust in the organization. Interestingly, it may be surprising to find out that competition among non profit making organizations such as various charities may be as fierce as private organizations. This competition is however aimed at making one’s charity the most important in the minds of the people than other charities. For example, the impact of branding by the NSPCC may be the outstanding factor that determines if to donate money to them rather than the heart foundation. Similarly, the charities we choose to support may be borne out of the fact that a significant aspect of i ts branding appeals to us more than other types (Lecturer’s Note 2006). While most charities aim to save lives, the branding may be geared towards making the life saving purpose more urgent than others. The different Tsunami charities set up in 2004 after the Tsunami tragedy as part of their branding gave vivid views of devastating events in Asia as they set out to outdo one another in donations, even though they were for the same course. In this case, the competitive nature of branding may be said to be, to generate as much funds as possible for a similar course rather than for making profits (Mitchell 2005). Potential problems in raising brand awareness The power of a well-known brand name, supported by strong advertising, is so great (and long lasting) that 20 of the top 25 leading brands in 2005 were also among the top 25 in 2006. But companies are finding it increasingly difficult to attract the customer’s attention and create brand awareness because of the clutter of new products, brands, and advertising in the environment. Thus, approximately 90% of new products are pulled from the market within two or three years of their introduction. Most of them failed for lack of name recognition – consumers were just not aware of them (Morgan 1999; Bulkeley 1991). The risks of creating a new brand are so great that many companies are developing so-called line extensions. Rather than developing a new brand name, marketers are applying their existing, well-known brand name to new products. Red Bounty (with dark chocolate), Coca-Cola Light, and Ariel Colour are but a few well-known examples. Building name recognition can be very difficult and very expensive, especially for small companies. Market leaders often command budget upon 10 times greater than smaller companies. For instance, Nike and Reebok spend about $100 million. Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola can afford to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on extensive advertising campaigns (Pereira 1991). Get help with your essay from our expert essay writers Customer Factors Some customers like to seek variety in their experience; they get bored with the same product or life experience. Other customers like change and variety and are happy with old. The variety-seeking customers may switch from one brand to another, not because they are dissatisfied with the first brand’s performance and other values, but rather simply for the sake of change and variety. The more variety seeking a customer is, the less brand loyal he is likely to be (Sheth et al 1999). Conclusion In conclusion, the key to developing a brand vision is to assess the values of the organization, distil them into a vision and not tamper or interfere with the vision’s simplicity and power. Consistency and clarity are all-important. Coke forgot the strength and simplicity of its existing product values when it tried re-launching its much loved product under the banner of ‘New Formula’ (Coca cola Seminar Video 2006). Conversely, Mars understood perfectly its existing product values when it launched Mars ice cream on the back of the Mars bar. Design and presentation of the product flows from the values. Coherence is once again the name of the game. The presentation of the packaging, the use of the logo, the typeface all need to accord with the brand values and be internally consistent with Cost effectiveness (Nilson 1998; Kochan 1996). Nevertheless, it is clear that branding plays an important role in the private; public as well as non-profit sector. However, a com pany raise profit if it builds a strong brand name. The company can benefit if consumers buy its brand in preference to other brands, and it gains more benefits if this preference maintains for long periods. If customers perceive one brand as superior, then they become less sensitive to price. Rather, they will be willing to pay more for the brand they like. Such brand loyalty allows the company to charge more and thus generate healthy cash flows. It also makes it harder for competitors to enter the market. Building a brand has become concern for every business. Brands are, therefore, at the heart of marketing and business strategy. References Aaker, D. A., (1991), Managing Brand Equity: Capitalising on the Value of a Brand Name, New York: The Free Press Business Week, (2006), ‘The Worlds 10 Most Valuable Brands’, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_32/b3744003.htm Colyer, E., (2006), ‘Branding in public’, http://brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=310#more Kochan, N., (1996), ‘The World’s Greatest Brands’ London: McMillan Business, 1996, pp. x-xi Kotler, P., (2003), Marketing Management, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Lecturer (2006), ‘Lecturer’s handout and Coca cola Seminar video’ Birkbeck College Mitchell, B. (2005), ‘Make Poverty History – passion statement’, http://brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=249 Morgan, A., (1999), Eating the Big Fish, New York: John Wiley Sons, Inc Nilson, T. H., et al., (1998), Competitive Branding: Winning in the Marketplace with Value-Added Brands. Chichester: John Wiley Sons Nissim, B., (2004), ‘Nonprofit Branding: Unveiling the Essentials’, http://www.guidestar.org/DisplayArticle.do?articleId=833 Ourosoff, A., (1994), ‘Brands: What’s Hot? What’s Not?’, Financial World, Aug. 1994, pp. 240-55 Owen, S., (1993), ‘The Landor Image Power Survey: a Global Assessment of Brand Strength’, in Brand Equity and Advertising, ed. Aaker, D. A., et a. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Pereira, J., (1991), ‘Name of the Game: Brand Awareness’, The Wall Street Journal, 14 Feb. 1991, pp. B1, B4 Randall. G., (1997), Branding, London: Kogan Page Sheth, J. N., et al, (1999), Customer Behaviour: Customer Behaviour and Beyond. Fort Worth: The Dryden Press Stobart, P., (1994), Brand Power, London: The Macmillan Press Ltd

In this essay I will compare the presentation of family in digging

In this essay I will compare the presentation of family in digging with at least one other poem in identity. I have chosen to select Follower. The title of the poem Digging could refer to turning over soil for planting or harvesting, or digging deeper to uncover some sort of treasure. Alternatively the poet could be thinking of digging up the past, or uncovering some secret hidden in the past. The poem is written from the poet’s perspective and there is no doubt that this poem is about a writer for in the opening lines we learn that: ‘Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests...’ The poet is writing in his room which is upstairs and overlooks the garden. His attention is caught by the ‘clean rasping sound’ of a spade digging into the ‘gravelly ground’. The poet looks out and sees his father digging as he has done for twenty years. Heaney describes his father with great admiration for his strength and skill as a farmer. The poet reflects ruefully on the skill that his father and grandfather possessed with a spade. He is slightly in awe of them as he celebrates their skills and he regrets his own inability to wield a spade. The careful, deliberate, way his father cuts into the earth with his spade makes digging for peat sound like a skilled craft: ‘The course boot nestled on the lug, the shaft.’ When the poet describes his father uncovering the potatoes he uses alliteration again in ‘tall tops’ and ‘buried the bridge edge deep’ to capture the sharp, precise sound of the spade entering the soil. When the poet hears the sound of his fathers spade digging he lets us hear it to in the word ‘rasping’, an onomatopoeia, and in the hard alliterative sound of ‘gravelly ground’. In digging the dis... ... him the child: ‘Fell sometimes on the polished sod; sometimes he rode me on his back.’ This conveys to the reader just how close the relationship was between father and son but it also shows how following him was not always easy on the rough ground. Now he is grown up though it is his father who is the follower and he now keeps stumbling and ‘will not go away’ Even though the word ‘love’ is never used in the poem, it is obviously the word that best describes the basis of the relationship existing between Heaney and his father. The poem is very much a personal experience, but it has a much wider significance relating to any kind of hero – worship by a ‘follower’. Now that he is himself an adult, Heaney acknowledges that the father he hero worshipped as a young boy has grown old and needs as much tolerance and patience as he himself once showed his son.

Smoking Cigarettes Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Example Essays

Smoking The first article for review is titled Self-efficacy, Health Locus of Control, and Smoking. This article studies how the participants confidence levels and health locus prior to entering treatment predicts results of the quitting program. The program is called "Fresh Start" and was conducted in Victoria, Australia. It consisted of three groups: (A) those who made an attempt (Stop for one day), (B) those who met criteria in A, and did not smoke for duration of program, (C) those who abstained for six months. Confidence was tested by questionnaires (post, during and at 6-month period). Health Locus is defined by how the participant attributed health outcomes (internal, external or by chance). The results of this experiment showed that those individuals across the three groups who had high levels of self-efficacy was related not to the number of attempts to quit, but the success of the attempts, while "the role of Health Locus of Control [was found to be] complex needing further investigation" (Stuart, Borland, & McMurray, 1994, p. 1). The second article for review is titled, Sensation Seeking, Nicotine Dependence, and Smoking Motivation in Female and Male Smokers. This study was conducted using a sample of French smokers (36 F, 60 M) and non-smokers (23 F, 45 M). The goal of the experiment was to study "the relationship between sensation seeking and smoking" (p. 221). The objectives of the study was (a) to see if smokers are higher in sensation seeking than their non-smoking counterparts, (b) to see if there are any gender forces in smoking and sensation seeking, and (c) to examine "in each sex, the nature of the relationship between sensation seeking and smoking" (p. 221). These three items were measured on four sub-scales, they are: 1) The Disinhibition subscale (DIS) - shows desire to be socially open, extroverted 2) The Thrill and Adventure Seeking subscale (TA... ...s, 19(3), (p. 219- 227). Pergaman Press Ltd., Oxford, England. Crittendens, K.S., Manfredi, C., Lacey, L., Warnecke, R., & Parsons, J. (1994). "Measuring Readiness and Motivation to Quit Smoking among Women in Public Health Clinics" in Addictive Behaviors, 19(5), (p. 497-507). Pergaman Press Ltd., Oxford, England. Garvey, A.J., Hitchcock, J.L., Heinold, J.W., Rosner, B. (1992). Addictive Behaviors, 17, (p. 367-377). Pergamon Press Ltd., Oxford, England. Grove, R.J. (1993). "Attributional Correlates of Cessation Self-Efficacy Among Smokers" in Addictive Behaviors, 18(3), (p. 311-320). Pergaman Press Ltd., Oxford, England. Parrott, A.C. (1993). "Cigarette Smoking: Effects Upon Self-Rated Stress and Arousal over the Day", in Addictive Behaviors, 18(4), (p. 389-395). Pergaman Press Ltd., Oxford, England. Stuart, K., Borland, R., McMurray, N. (1994). "Self-Efficacy, Health Locus of Control, and Smoking Cessation" in Addictive Behaviors, 19(1) (p. 1-12). Pergaman Press Ltd., Oxford, England.

Communication and information handling

You should be able to complete this observation in the course of your normal duties as you implement a care plan. It may be best if the individual you choose to communicate with is someone you have not spent much time with before. You need to get the permission of the others involved for the assessor to observe you in your work tasks. As an alternative to your assessor, you may, with your assessor's agreement, arrange for an expert witness to observe and write an account of this observation. Your assessor will want to see you communicating with the individual, with your colleagues and with others, in the best way for them.Your assessor will also be looking out for: a) how you find out and meet the individual's needs, wishes and preferences in b) how you reduce barriers to communication c) how you check that your communication has been understood d) how you seek advice about communication e) how you demonstrate confidentiality when talking to your colleagues and others f) how you take into account the individual's preferences about their care plan and the likelihood of danger or harm arising from their choices Your assessor may ask you some follow-up questions about using a care plan and risks.When preparing for the professional discussion with your assessor you will need to consider how to seek advice, support and information about a range of topics including: effective communication confidentiality equality, diversity and inclusion partnership working and resolving conflicts. Your assessor will plan the content of your professional discussion and will advise you to help you to prepare beforehand. The professional discussion may cover more than this section of your Assessment Workbook.Discussion process The discussion process will offer you the opportunity to show that you know how and when to seek additional guidance and information in a variety of situations. The assessor will also wish to discuss how you To prepare for your professional discussion, you shoul d think about how you could answer questions such as the following: Within your workplace, who should you go to for information, advice and support? When should you approach someone in your organization for information, advice and support? Who should you approach outside your own organization for information, advice When should you approach them? How should you find out this information from different sources? How useful is the information from each source? Is there anything you could do differently when you try to find out information in the future?

Fiction as History Essay

He was known as â€Å"Gabo† to the people living in Colombia and to those who knew him by his reputation. He was not only a short-story writer, a novelist and a screenwriter by profession for he was also a journalist—these were only among the many things which gave him the honor as among the famous writers of Latin America and one of the most significant 20th century authors. At the age of 65, Gabriel Garcia Marquez was given the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982: the product of the combination of an early life largely influenced by his grandfather and a life lived through the ways and means of journalism after quitting law school (Williams, p. 135). Gabo is considered to be a pioneering author in the Latin American â€Å"Boom† during the 1960s, stemming from the fame he achieved through his masterpiece One Hundred Years of Solitude and his indispensable presence and role in Latin American literature (Maurya, p. 54). One Hundred Years of Solitude has been significantly understood by critics and literary scholars as a history of Gabo’s rendition of the circumstances during the strike that happened back in 1928 in Colombia (Posada-Carbo, p. 401). That magnus opus of Gabo is said to scrutinize the Colombian regime’s repressive nature as well as the strike itself which claimed the lives of many workers. Throughout the course of his career, the literary style known as â€Å"magical realism† has been largely attributed to Gabo as he was the one who popularized the literary technique of using magical events and elements so as to give real experiences the fitting explanations (Hinds and Raymond, p. 897). Gabo is also said to have been an influential writer not only for his fellow Latin Americans but also for fresh authors and budding writers from other nations. For Gabo, reality is a very significant theme and ingredient in his writings, especially evident in his works â€Å"In Evil Hour,† â€Å"Big Mama’s Funeral† and â€Å"Nobody Writes to the Colonel† (Aizenberg, p. 1239). These three works of Gabo reflect the kind of Columbian society where he lived inasmuch as they also reflect the reality of life in the nation. The theme of reality is the foundation for the rational structure of the books of Gabo, although European readers may tend to be less aware of the reality that Gabo wants to send across and tend to be more inclined to interpret his works as testimonies to his magical realist craft. The first few years in the career of Gabo Marquez saw a struggling journalist in him. He was literally a travelling journalist simply because he was always on the move, transferring from town to town across Latin America and Europe. At one point, he worked for El Espectador back in 1955 as a correspondent reporting from Rome and Paris. Although the newspaper was shut down by the dictator Rojas Pinilla which took away his position as a journalist, Gabo nevertheless was able to pick up on where he was left and continued his writing career in Mexico City. In the City, he did not only work as a journalist; he also worked as a screen writer and as a publicist before moving back to Barcelona during the 1970s. Although Gabo was a well-travelled writer, it can be said that he never fails to at least think about his hometown and reflect it on what he has written. Evidence to this is his constant use of the town â€Å"Macondo† in his many stories which reminds the readers of the town of Aracataca where Gabo was born and lived his childhood days (Molen, p. 4). This was true right from the time when Gabo began writing to the time when he was able to considerably attain success in the literary limelight. Nonetheless, the time when Gabo began writing was a significant event for the literary scene in Hispanic American societies because the literature in those regions was characterized either by realist-modernist or super-regionalism during the middle part of the twentieth century. Those were the times when Latin American writers were busy either writing as a modernist or as a realist—both having the tendencies to categorize themselves as ‘regional’ writers or writers who either depict or mask reality in their respective places. Maurya Vibha further suggests that there is an apparent â€Å"absent history in the Third World conditions of Latin America† and a â€Å"link between postcolonial fiction and a desire to think historically† in the works of Gabo (p. 54). If Vibha is indeed right, then there is strong reason to believe that what Gabo did in his works is to provide that link and, in the end, to capture the significance of those ‘third world conditions’ into a piece of literature which depicts the stark reality in Latin American societies. Apparently, the works of Gabo, if not the course of his life, present the struggles faced by Latin Americans in their own territory as well as in others. In effect, it can be said that Gabo’s ‘magical realism’ is indeed a combination of the depiction of the social realities that the author saw in his lifetime and of the literary magic that he used in depicting those realities. Although European readers may get the impression that the literature of Gabo is ‘magic’ in itself, it should not be the case that the substance of his works be confined to that magic alone for it transcends the barriers of that magic by portraying reality at its highs and lows. Works Cited Aizenberg, Edna. â€Å"Historical Subversion and Violence of Representation in Garcia Marquez and Ouologuem. † PMLA 107. 5 (1992): 1239. Hinds, Elizabeth Jane, and Raymond Leslie Williams. â€Å"Interview with Gabriel Garcia Marquez. † PMLA 104. 5 (1989): 897. Maurya, Vibha. â€Å"Gabriel Garcia Marquez. â€Å" Social Scientist 11.1 (1983): 54. Molen, Patricia Hart. â€Å"Potency Vs Incontinence In â€Å"The Autumn of the Patriarch† Of Gabriel Garcia Marquezpotency Vs Incontinence In â€Å"The Autumn of the Patriarch† Of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. † Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature 33. 1 (1979): 4. Posada-Carbo, Eduardo. â€Å"Fiction as History: The Bananeras and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. † Journal of Latin American Studies 30. 2 (1998): 401. Williams, Raymond Leslie. â€Å"The Visual Arts, the Poetization of Space and Writing: An Interview with Gabriel Garcia Marquez. † PMLA 104. 2 (1989): 135.

Non-Invasive Diagnostic Techniques

Non-Invasive diagnostic techniques| | X-rays| An X-ray machine is essentially a camera. Instead of visible light, however, it uses X-rays to expose the film. X-rays are like light in that they are electromagnetic waves, but they are more energetic so they can penetrate many materials to varying degrees. When the X-rays hit the film, they expose it just as light would. Since bone, fat, muscle, tumors and other masses all absorb X-rays at different levels, the image on the film lets you see different (distinct) structures inside the body because of the different levels of exposure on the film. Ultrasound| Ultrasound or ultrasonography is a medical imaging technique that uses high frequency sound waves and their echoes. The technique is similar to the echolocation used by bats, whales and dolphins, as well as SONAR used by submarines. | Thermography| | MRI| MRI scanners vary in size and shape, and some newer models have a greater degree of openness around the sides. Still, the basic des ign is the same, and the patient is pushed into a tube that's only about 24 inches (60 centimetres) in diameter.The biggest and most important component of an MRI system is the magnet. There is a horizontal tube — the same one the patient enters — running through the magnet from front to back. This tube is known as the bore. But this isn't just any magnet — we're dealing with an incredibly strong system here, one capable of producing a large, stable magnetic field. The strength of a magnet in an MRI system is rated using a unit of measure known as a tesla.Another unit of measure commonly used with magnets is the gauss (1 tesla = 10,000 gauss). The magnets in use today in MRI systems create a magnetic field of 0. 5-tesla to 2. 0-tesla, or 5,000 to 20,000 gauss. When you realize that the Earth's magnetic field measures 0. 5 gauss, you can see how powerful these magnets are. Most MRI systems use a superconducting magnet, which consists of many coils or windings of wire through which a current of electricity is passed, creating a magnetic field of up to 2. 0 tesla.Maintaining such a large magnetic field requires a good deal of energy, which is accomplished by superconductivity, or reducing the resistance in the wires to almost zero. To do this, the wires are continually bathed in liquid helium at 452. 4 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (269. 1 below zero degrees Celsius) [source: Coyne]. This cold is insulated by a vacuum. While superconductive magnets are expensive, the strong magnetic field allows for the highest-quality imaging, and superconductivity keeps the system economical to operate. |

Capabilities in the Workplace Bangles Pvt. Ltd.?

Abstract: A business is likely to flourish when it makes best use of its core competencies, organization capabilities, and increases its capacity. This paper describes a firm, Bangles Pvt. Ltd, which is headquartered in UK and is looking to expand into the Asian market via its online store. The paper discusses the core competencies the firm has along with its organizational capabilities which will help the firm in making this expansion successful. Introduction: Bangles Pvt. Ltd is an online business based in the United Kingdom and run through social media sites, the company’s own personal website, and through other buying/selling websites such as eBay and other portals. The business originated in 2006 after the owner finished her Arts degree from a local college and decided to use her expertise in her own small enterprise. Initially she took the responsibility of production herself and began to produce highly colourful, intricately designed, handmade bangles on order. However, as business began to boom she hired two other designers to help her with the production in 2007 and currently employs 10 people to produce bangles in the ranges of collections titled casual/everyday bangles, semi-formal bangles, bridal bangles, and exclusive designs. The company basically operates upon an order service in which customers either send their orders in the inbox on sites such as Facebook or fill out order forms on the company’s own personal website. The sites are full of colourful albums full of designs of various bangle creations which are updated regularly and articles targeted towards different target audiences regarding how to use the bangles and other fashion tips (Bangles Pvt Ltd, 2014). While the company instantly began to gain steady business and maintained a commendable reputation, the company is currently facing a number of issues as it plans to expand further into other markets and has also recently begun to supply bangles in Asia via the owner’s relatives and friends who live there. The Asian market shows high potential for the company as the use of bangles is highly widespread in many Asian countries and the designs of the bangles support Asian cultural traditions while adding a contemporary touch to what is traditionally worn by Asian women. However, this will add an additional burden upon the employees at Bangles who are already over-absorbed in producing bangles for current customers. The owner i s slightly worried that if the brand is not managed properly by the distributors she appoints (friends and relatives), which may cause a detrimental impact upon the company’s name and future prospects (Bangles Pvt. Ltd, 2014). Thus, it is essential for her to ensure that the operations and delivery processes in Asia are properly conducted and reliable. There is also danger that her products will end up in the retail market in Asia if no controls are implemented and may be sold to customers in bulk. The owner of Bangles also needs to ensure that her employees in Asia conform to company policy and are highly cooperative with her and her UK-based employees. She needs to maintain decorum with her employees and coordination with respect to meeting customer demand and responding to customer preferences. This paper will outline the company’s main core competencies, organizational capabilities, and capacity-building tools which can help Bangles solve its current expansion prob lems in the Asian market. The paper will then conclude by providing recommendations as to what the organization needs to further develop and commenting upon its managerial practices while summarizing the main points made in the paper. Core Competencies, Organizational Capabilities, and Capacity-Building: Core competencies are the unique qualities or strengths that a firm has which differentiate them from their competitors and are difficult to replicate. They are a source of competitive advantage for a firm and enable the firm to perform efficiently and effectively in a particular area relative to their competitors (Gupta, 2013). Bangles Pvt. Ltd has several core competencies which strengthen the firm and result in increased business. One of the core competencies of Bangles Pvt. Ltd is the diversified workforce, which consists of close friends and students of the owner who originate from different countries and are able to provide Bangles with unique and original ideas for bangle designs. Thus, the aesthetic appeal of Bangles’ products suits the modern tastes of consumers in the UK, India, Pakistan, Turkey, China, and Nigeria as the designers of Bangles originate from the countries mentioned. Another core competency of the firm is the owner’s personal involvement in the business and the fact that the owner provides customers with a personalized service and is highly interactive with the customers. Additionally, the owner also provides a customized service to customers who wish to get their own bangles designed at an affordable price. Also, the owner’s large social circle and connections with people in Asia who can help in expanding and managing the business is also a core competence as the owner will not have to associate with unknown parties in order to achieve expansion into Asia. The organizational capabilities of the firm are the manner in which people are managed in a firm in order to gain a competitive advantage (Grafton, Lillis, & Widener, 2010). The organizational capabilities of Bangles include the owner’s excellence in human resource management as she has been successful in motivating employees since the business’s inception. The owner’s charismatic leadership style and the informal organizational culture of th e firm help the employees remain comfortable and united with one another. The owner also attempts to organize the employees in the organization through the use of various communication tools including a personal group on WhatsApp, an intranet which enables the employees to interact with one another, and through the use of video conferencing when applicable (Bangles Pvt Ltd, 2014).The business’s strong internal associations and the fact that all of the designers in the firm are educated, trained, and experienced in the field of arts and crafts enables the firm to perform faster and more efficiently in order to quickly meet customer demand. The lack of misunderstandings between employees and the close connection between employees and the owner also serves as a source of competitive advantage and enables the work to be done quicker. The organization is currently working on capacity-building as it has previously increased its capacity by purchasing three small machines, which hel p cut the thread and sew on the beads for intricately and delicately designed bangles. Using these machines has sufficiently increased the capacity of the firm and Bangles has been able to complete more orders than it previously had. The company has recently tried division of labour and instead of asking one designer to complete a full pair of bangles, they have tried to break down the tasks and let one worker complete a portion of an order while the others complete other portions. This has shown commendable results recently as capacity has slightly increased. In order to solve the problems arising from an expansion into the Asian market, Bangles must use its core competencies, organizational capabilities, and capacity-building tools to its advantage. The owner can use the core competency of having a diversified workforce to be able to accurately meet the aesthetic demands of customers in Asian countries. Moreover, the owner needs to use her social connections in order to appoint a reliable manager in Asia who will help in the distribution of Bangles’ products and also manage the brand image of the firm. The owner can make use of the firm’s strong communication network to set up a system in which she communicates with customers in Asia herself or responds to their messages as soon as possible if there is a difference in timings in order to provide them with a personalized and customized service where applicable. Thus, to efficiently manage business in Asia, the owner must make use of her charismatic leadership style to constantly remain in touch with employees and the manger in Asia and ensure she is updated upon changing trends. The owner must also have a rigid plan towards crisis management in order to ensure that she is able to solve such problems without increasing hassle and confusion and risk in damaging the brand’s reputation. The owner can also extend the intranet to include employees in Asia and to ensure that she communicates wit h them personally in order to ensure that they are familiar with the organizational culture and are absorbed into the enthusiasm of being a part of the organization. These are the strategies that the firm can use by making use of its existing core competencies and capabilities. However, the firm may also need to enhance other departments in order to efficiently compete in the Asian market. Conclusion and Recommendations: It is evident that the firm has numerous core competencies and organizational capabilities which enable the firm to efficiently compete in the market and which can be used to its advantage in expanding into the Asian market. However, the firm may consider increasing its efficiency and capacity by hiring additional designers in Asia who can produce the bangles there and ship them to customers easily and without additional cost. Moreover, the firm may also hire additional staff in the UK to ensure that there is always someone available online to cater to customer queries and demands. In order to appropriately achieve this, Bangles may also consider giving its staff training in customer service and managing across cultures. Hence, the firm’s core competencies of a diversified workforce, strong social connections, and the owner’s personal involvement in the business serve to be highly beneficial while organizational capabilities of a strong communication network and informa l organizational culture are redeem high benefits. References Bangles Pvt. Ltd. (2014) Facebook Page [online] Accessed on: February 20, 2014 Available at: https://www.facebook.com/bangles Grafton, J., Lillis, A. M., & Widener, S. K. (2010). â€Å"The role of performance measurement and evaluation in building organizational capabilities and performance.† Accounting, Organizations and Society. Vol. 35(7) pp. 689-706. Gupta, R. K. (2013). â€Å"Core Competencies for Business Excellence.† Advances in Management. Vol. 6 (10). pp. 712-723

A Struggle Between Greed And Lack Of Wisdom In Esther Forbes Novel Johnny Tremain

A Struggle Between Greed And Lack Of Wisdom In Esther Forbes' Novel Johnny Tremain Universal Concepts:Johnny Tremain In the storyâ€Å"Johnny Tremain†,by Esther Forbes, the main character, Johnny Tremain, struggles with his arrogance and selfishness prior to the Revolutionary War. Several concepts, like pride, disillusionment, and loss, are introduced by events that the protagonist encounters such as his work as a silversmith,his crippled hand, and the loss of Rab.These concepts are further reinforced by the thoughts and actions of Johnny Tremain in response to events. Johnny Tremain displayed the concept of pride in the story when he was making a handle of a silver basin for John Hancock, a wealthy man from Boston. This was shown in the passage, â€Å"By Sunday noon, Johnny, following Mr. Revere’s advice and his curve, had got the model of the handle exactly right. He could tell with his eyes closed. It felt perfect.† After experiencing many failures, he prided his success in making the handle perfectly. Evidently, we see him seem to â€Å"soak† in the satisfaction of his achievement, further displaying the concept of pride in this passage. The concept of disillusionment was revealed when Johnny Tremain realizes that because of his crippled hand, he cannot pursue his dream of being a silversmith. The text states,†He got up, stood facing them stiffly, his bad hand jammed into his breeches pocket. ’I’m going out,’ he said thickly.† In this section, we can see the reality of the situation dawn on him and affect him mentally. From the disillusionment, we also see him turn away and avoid the comfort from others in the Lapham’s household. The idea of loss is shown in the novel when Johnny Tremain was informed of Rab’s death.Upon fully facing the truth that Rab was dead, he felt as if,†He had moved off into a strange lonely world where nothing could seem real not even Rab’s death.† This is significant to note because we can already see that losing Rab had affected Johnny Tremain emotionally and had given us a sense that he finds the experience almost surreal. And with its surreal feel, he also felt the loneliness with the death of Rab, showing the massive impact that losing Rab had. In the novel, Johnny Tremain’s actions are similar to certain events in my life. Upon being discouraged, Johnny Tremain turns away from the comfort of others. I recall many times when a family member or friend were discouraged, and when I attempt to comfort them, they quickly turn away. In conclusion, the concepts in the novel- pride, disillusionment, and loss- have been displayed through the thoughts and actions of Johnny Tremain.

Renewable Energy VS Fossil Fuel Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Renewable Energy VS Fossil Fuel - Research Paper Example There has also been question over the possibility of depletion of current fossil fuel reserves, fossil fuels are those that are not renewable, one they are exploited, they cannot be replenished. In this regard, there has been a concern to opt for other sources of energy that are renewable and can be used over and again without depletion. It is then construable that renewable sources of energy can provide a solution to the myriad of problems that comes with the fossil fuels and should be fast tracked to check on the challenges occasioned by overreliance on one source of fuels-fossil fuel The need to consider other sources of energy is even accentuated by the fact that fossil fuels that are not only non-renewable, they are also scarcely distributed and this brings more competition on the resource leading to the increase in the cost of using such sources of fuels. This move to opt for other sources of energy comes at a time when other countries fully depends on the production of the fos sil fuels to drive there economy. Notwithstanding, the move to consider alternative sources of fuel is aimed at easing the pressure that is mounted on the use of fossil fuel so that prices can be moderated while at the same time the environment is kept clean (Singh and Steven 21). As indicated in the first paragraph, fuels can be classified into renewable and non-renewable, fossil fuels fall under the category of non-renewable sources of fuels. There is a clear distinction between the sources of energy that one is able to identify and classify them owing to the nature of their formation. Different types of fuel that fall under either fossil or renewable, and each has its own distinct characteristics setting it apart from the other. Fossil fuels are those that emanate from changes in the atmosphere from the carboniferous era, they consist of Coal, Petroleum, and Natural gas, fossil fuels are made from the process of anaerobic decomposition of the organism that were buried long time. The dead buried organism will have to be subjected to intense heat and pressure which then results into the formation of the fossils fuels. It has to noted that for the organisms to turn into fossils fuels, the take millions of years underground, for instance, there are those that takes up to about 650 million years for the organisms to give fossil fuels. One of the characteristics of the fossil fuels that is notable is high percentage of carbon content, though the percentage of the carbon in the fuels to differ from one compound to the next. There content of carbon is the facilitating factor for the environmental pollution; on the other hand, renewable energy is that which originates from materials that receive continued replenishment from nature and include sunlight, tides among others. The fact that, renewable source of energy are spread in almost all the geographical regions makes it suitable for the production of sufficient energy to drive the economy unlike that of fossil fuel s that is only skewed to selected geographical areas. This make renewable source of energy to be a better alternative of reducing cost of the fuels, controlling pollution, and providing enough energy that can sustain the high demand that is in the offing. Given the nature of the renewable sources of energy, there is only modification and development of the sites for them to be harnessed, for example, in a river with a waterfall, the only development expected for the energy to be harnessed is fixation of the turbines and construction of the hydropower station. Advantages of the Fossil Fuel Fossil fuels that include coal, petroleum, and natural gas presents a plethora of

Strategic View of The NRF 97th Annual Convention & Expo Case Study

Strategic View of The NRF 97th Annual Convention & Expo - Case Study Example The presenter recommended that building of mutual aid networks, tightening the management, communicating effectively, being foresighted and taking preventing measures are the way to minimize the losses occurring from the threat to homeland security. The human resources are considered to be the most valuable assets of a company. They are also referred to as the 'intellectual assets' of the company since they are knowledgeable about the company's policies, processes, and workings. Managing these assets properly (talent management), prevents a business from making losses. By efficiently managing these resources, the company can do more with less. The important thing is not to let employees leave their company because when an employee leaves the company, he/she takes away the knowledge with him/her. Therefore the presenter recommends that jobs should be made more interesting, working should be team based to increase motivation, the working environment should be friendly yet challenging and rewards and credits should be given to individuals for their ideas and contributions. (Huang, 1998) Crime in the business vicinity takes a major portion in the losses incurred by the company. Shortage in the merchandise caused by employee theft and shoplifting, accounts for 78% of the losses in the merchandising business, while errors make up the rest. According to the presentation, organized retail crime is behind most of the shrinking merchandise. Their intent is to steal desirable products with the intent to resell. These sales can be made at a local pawn shop where approximately they receive 30% of the retail price. With the technological advances, they can also send these items online where no links of stolen goods can be found and get up to 70% of the value. However, return fraud is also very common where people return the stolen items back to the retailers by creating counterfeit receipts and tickets. To prevent these issues the presenter recommends the use of intelligence sharing, installing tracking equipment like GPS, data mining to analyze fraudulent trends, training an d Education programs to catch their people and invigorating the legislative efforts to put stricter punishments for the offenders.

Methods Used To Evaluate Supply Chain Performance Essay

Methods Used To Evaluate Supply Chain Performance - Essay Example 166). The measurement of performance of the supply chain is quite vital especially in setting objectives and evaluating the performance of such supply chains as well as determining the necessary future course of action. Companies should consider themselves in the chain supply not as the producer or just as the suppliers of the products thereby reducing the products and or service cycle time. Additionally, a significant supply chain allows competitors to cooperate in order to achieve smooth movement in the supply chain. Companies are engaged in planning and coordinating the process of product flow from the foundation to the end user as a combined system rather than independent processes (Keebler 33). This has made the evaluation of the chain of supply mandatory to ensure that the more profitable supply chain is applied in the course of the business. Therefore, businesses must use the different methods of evaluating the performance of the supply chain to ensure that they remain abreast in the competition by employing the most effective supply chain in the business. Businesses are often involved in different supply chains including those that supply raw materials and the finished products. Therefore, without a proper functional supply chain, business that involves at the same may waste time and resources in such supply chains resulting to low productivity and profitability of such businesses. Hence, it is vital that product manufacturers

Business law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Business law - Assignment Example Since Joe’s work includes a lot of heavy machinery and labour, one of the main regulatory and legal issues within the legal framework to be adhered to should be employee security and safety. He should also be able to provide adequate amount of medical facilities to his workers in case anything goes wrong since he is aware that he is working with heavy machinery that is likely to cause damages due to negligence. Thus, Joe should modify his business in such a manner that he does not get held or prosecuted for wrongfully being negligent about these crucial parts of his business. Since Joe’s work is mainly based on contract laborers, Joe should lay down a set of terms and conditions pertaining to the entirety of the business so that he comes off as taking at least some amount of charge for anything that happens or goes wrong. This can be done with ease since he already has a high number of clients and a building repute. (Legal Issues With Contract Labour) All these measures will not only help Joe to safeguard his employees and maintain his repute but might also help to check the reasons for the high rate of employee turnover that exists within his firm. When it comes to the choice of entity, it means what type the business will actually take place as, from a legal aspect of course. Here the main thing to be discussed is what kind of a firm Joe will form for his own. According to all the information provided, Joe already has a company because he has a number of workers working for him, however he owns it solely. If he wishes, he may convert this into a partnership form of firm because he can then have someone else sharing the profits, since the revenue turnover is extremely high, that would not really be a problem. Also, the main thing to look into is the fact that in a partnership, the liability is extended out to all the partners and