All Museums Should Be Free Of Charge All The Time Essay

All Museums Should Be Free Of Charge All The Time - Essay Example Museums are repositories of knowledge and through them, we discover and find out important aspects of our civilization. Free access to museums would help a greater number of people to learn and discover additional things about their country and help to encourage feelings of nationwide unity and identity, at the same time as promoting greater comprehension and acceptance of foreign cultures. A number of museums in the United States have made an entry for the public free of charge. These museums generally use the city and county tax collections for funding their maintenance. The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore has eliminated entry charges. Since it has an internationally renowned collection of art, the removal of admission charges would bring a greater number of people in contact with the culture of the world. The museum has a collection of a variety of world art spanning from pre-dynastic Egypt to Europe belonging to the twentieth century. It treasures a priceless collection of Greek sculptures and Roman sarcophagi; ivories of the Middle Ages and Old Master paintings; jewelry from Art Deco and nineteenth-century American and European masterpieces (Smith; The Walters Art Museum). The Toledo Art Museum in Ohio follows a free admission policy laid down in its charter of 1901, the year of its establishment. It has a huge collection of European and American paintings, glass works, Roman, Greek, Asian, African and medieval art and sculptures as well as modern and contemporary works. The Toledo Museum of Art still remains as a private, non-profit foundation and exhibits its collection to the public, free of admission charges and is open six days a week (Museum Home). The St. Louis Art Museum also guarantees free entries to the museum. This policy came up after they started using the county and city tax revenue in 1971.

Business Intelligence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Business Intelligence - Essay Example Howard Dresner, a Research Fellow at Gartner Group in 1989, established the term "Business Intelligence", to describe a set of concepts and methods to improve business decision-making by using fact-based support systems. In "Business Intelligence: The Savvy Manager's Guide" David Loshin describes the basic architectural components of a business intelligence environment, ranging from traditional topics such as business process modeling, data modeling, and more modern topics such as business rule systems, data profiling, information compliance and data quality, data warehousing, and data mining. David Loshin has described Business Intelligence on the basis of Data Models, Data Standards. He has also extensively appreciated the use of XML as a framework that is gaining in popularity for developing data standards. While XML is not used to prescribe a standard; it is used to define standards for the exchange of information through conforming documents. Data values in an XML document are surrounded by tags (labels), that identify where the data content begins and ends. "To leverage business intelligence, business users need to understand the value of business intelligence and how it can help them. One of the more popular tables: promoting BI to increase adoption. It was simple, soft selling - business intelligence is value added and not obviously essential to many users. It requires a more proactive, promotional approach. Business intelligence also demands promotion because it is still relatively new as a technical innovation so few business users know all the myriad ways BI can be leveraged. To effectively promote business intelligence, you first need to apply some marketing concepts to your BI deployment. Fail to do this first and at best you will have zero impact and at worst come across as a glorified technocrat trying to justify your existence." Promoting Your Business Intelligence Initiative, Cindi Howson, 8th October 2008. http://www.b-eye-network.com/view/8656. As any marketing guru would confirm, the success of any business depends on marketing. Marketing as a concept has to keep in mind various factors and has to be managed in a planned and strategic manner. In "Promoting Your Business Intelligence Initiative", , 8th October 2008, accessed on 3rd Nov,2008, http://www.b-eye-network.com/view/8656. Cindi Howson, states the following: "Marketing is about focusing on what customers need so providers can build better products they'll actually use. It's the strategy that goes into the BI application before you begin touting it as your company's killer app." In common terms, business intelligence can be described as the sum total of factors, which help take major decisions in any business. These factors include customers, competitors, business partners, economic environment and internal operations. Customers are the key to any business' success. The entrepreneur must make it a point to keep the customer's preferences in mind while designing a product. Again, geographical and cultural factors need to be given due importance while designing a product for a certain market. Business intelligence can be used to align businesses and products according to customers' preferences. Business Intelligence is used to collect data from customers within the marketplace. Customer surveys and polls are tools to gauge

The Importance of Feasibility Analysis

The Importance of Feasibility Analysis This report analyses the importance of Feasibility Analysis to businesses when they are deciding on the viability of a proposed business venture involving the implementation or improvement of an information system. This report is split into three parts the initial part defines a feasibility analysis, the second part explains how an IT feasibility analysis should be conducted using the template of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and the last section in this report examines a completed feasibility study by Powerco, a utilities distribution Company in New Zealand. What is a feasibility analysis? As the words feasibility analysis suggests a feasibility analysis is carried out to decide on the viability of a proposed venture; basically it answers the essential question of is it a viable option and should the project be implemented. All stages of the analysis are carried out in order to answer this question. When researching it is clear that the majority of all large successful businesses conduct a feasibility study to ensure they embark on a viable project, for example Microsoft have a large research department situated in many different cities throughout the globe, this department collaborates with many institutions producing many feasibility analyses a year. When examining successful businesses such as Microsoft, I discovered they will not commit to a new project without first thoroughly assessing all of the variables and reviewing the probability of success through a feasibility study. The feasibility analysis process As a feasibility analysis is often time consuming and expensive (many companies pay consultants to perform the analysis), a preliminary study is undertaken to determine if it would be worthwhile to proceed to the feasibility analysis, within this preliminary study the evaluation of alternatives is made along with brief cost and benefit analysis. A feasibility study is usually conducted after the project managers have discussed all project ideas and every possible scenario, only if the results are positive the feasibility study begins. The content of feasibility Analysis Within a feasibility study it is necessary to discuss a number of areas including; details of the present system; what are the functions and objectives, who are the Stakeholders and the reasons to improve or replace the current system for example inconsistencies / inadequacies in functionality or performance, is there any possible solution alternatives and the advantages and disadvantages of the alternatives. Feasibility analysis can be split into four types; Operational factors; Operational feasibility is used to assess how well the information systems will work if implemented in the given environment. Define the urgency of the project If the project is implemented, will it be a success? Does management support the project? How do end users feel about the new system? People tend to resist change can this problem be overcome? Can management and end users adapt to the change? Has the proposed venture conflicted with organisational or government regulations? Schedule factors; It often takes time to build and implement an information system solution; will the project still be necessary on completion? The technology may exist, but are there the skills available to not only complete the project but complete it on schedule? Is the project deadline reasonable? Is the deadline desirable or mandatory? What are the results of failing to meet the project deadline? Technical; Technical feasibility is the measure of the practicality of specific technical information system solutions and the availability of technical resources. Often new technologies are solutions looking for a problem to solve: Is the technology for the information system solution practical? Does the necessary technology exist? Is the technology proven? Is the technology practical and reliable? Are the necessary skills available to design and implement the system? Is there the infrastructure to cope with ongoing maintenance (problems, upgrades) Economic; This is regularly the most important analysis made, it asks important questions; Is the project justified (i.e. will benefits outweigh costs)? Can the project be done, within given cost constraints? What is the minimal cost to attain a certain system? Which alternative offers the best return on investment? How much will it cost to maintain? The 12 Stages of an ITIL Feasibility Analysis ITIL is a global guidance document that provides worlds best practices for IT service management companies. ITIL guidelines are often used in feasibility studies and are broken down into twelve stages. These twelve stages are described in this next section and if necessary a brief example has been given; Introduction It is important that an introduction to the feasibility analysis is made; this introduction includes the content, the intent, the intended audience, the purpose, and organizational details of the feasibility analysis. Management Summary This stage summarises, what the other stages within the template will explain in more detail; this section provides a quick overview of the feasibility analysis and would include the following, an Introduction, Management Summary, Background of the Project, Objectives, Situation, Benefits, Problems and Risks, Technical Requirements, Options, Cost/Benefit Analysis, Financial/Budget Implications and Recommendations Background to the Project A project is proposed for a specific scenario and this step describes the reason the proposal exists. For example; current sales are at a low due to increased competition, the proposal is for a new company website, where customers are able to buy directly. Objectives The high level business purposes of the proposal, including the long-range management goals. For example, the proposed project is to increase sales by an estimated 15% per annum over the next ten years. Situation This step describes the present condition, without the service in place, including market conditions, it is necessary to highlight the need for the proposed system, and the consequences of the proposal not being authorized. Benefits In the benefits section, it is necessary to focus on the short term benefits of the proposal; this is different to the objective stage which focuses on the long term gains and the cost-benefit step which focuses primarily on the financial benefits. An example of this could be the increased customer satisfaction of the proposed website. Problems and Risks It is important to identify and assess possible problems and risks of the proposed project associated with it within the development, design, and deployment stages. This is done by doing a risk assessment on the proposed system; this will be used to identify problems in many different areas, including technologies, lack of user support, or resources. Technical Requirements Has the business the technological infrastructure for the proposed system? These requirements include knowledge of the hardware and software required, for example, does the business possess the database architecture, network structures, and hardware to sustain the website, will it be necessary to outsource? Options It is recommended in the ITIL framework that a feasibility analysis includes any alternatives to the proposal, including advantages and disadvantages and costs. An example of this could be advertising to increase sales and would show the estimated cost of this. Cost/Benefit In this step, the total cost of the project is calculated; this includes development, design, deployment, and maintenance of the new service. Costs include facilities, hardware, labor, and software. The project cost is compared to the financial benefits provided by the proposed system. What are benefits? These are examples of benefits, more accurate / timely information. Improved operation, increased flexibility of operation, increased output, error reductions, cost reductions; benefits can be placed into three different categories; Monetary; when money values can be calculated, Tangible; when benefits can be quantified, but monetary values cannot be calculated. Intangible; when neither of the others apply, this applies there is a benefit, but it cannot be quantified. There are different types of costs; Project related; development, purchasing, Installation, training costs, Operational costs; these costs are often ongoing costs and include; Maintenance on the hardware; maintenance, lease, materials Software; maintenance fees and contracts Personnel; operation, maintenance There are a number of tools used, which helps in the economic section of the feasibility analysis these are; Cost-benefit analysis (CBA); which estimates and totals up the equivalent money value of the benefits and costs of proposed projects to establish whether they are worthwhile. Payback Analysis; which is used to calculate how long it will take to pay the costs of the project Return on Investment Analysis; which compares the lifetime profitability of alternative solutions, Net Present Value Analysis: using current monetary values, profitability is determined of the proposed project, Return On Investment (ROI) compares the lifetime profitability of alternative solutions, (Lifetime benefits Lifetime costs) Lifetime costs and finally you can compare alternatives with the feasibility analysis matrix. Financial/Budget Implications Once the overall costs have been established, it is necessary to verify if the necessary funds are available, if so how? This may result in changes to the budget or priorities and reducing expenditure to accommodate the costs. Recommendations In this final step recommendations regarding the proposal are made including scheduling and budgeting Summary In summary these twelve steps that make up the ITIL is among the first activities a manager will undertake in preparation for a proposal for a new IT service, though it is important to remember these steps make a general guide and different information systems may require amendments. Examples of feasibility analysis Though the majority of businesses keep their own feasibility analysis private, research identified an interesting feasibility analysis conducted by Powerco. In this section I will briefly review this feasibility analysis in a case study due to the word restrictions on this essay and the extensiveness of the ITIL framework. Powerco has an estimated 410,000 consumers which makes it one of New Zealands largest utilities Companies. These customers expect a reliable service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Powerco applications are split between two platforms; Oracle RAC and Microsoft SQL Server, which has meant that the business had additional expenses of licensing, supporting, operating, and maintaining two systems. Additionally it was awkward for staff to alternate between the systems when working. As the Oracle platform of Powercos warranty cycle was approaching expiration, and the financial system was scheduled an important upgrade, it was clear to the company that it was time to reassess its options and whether it should consolidate to a single server platform or replace existing hardware. Powerco acknowledged that to consolidate the database platforms would create a more simple IT environment and would reduce the total cost of the database system significantly. The case for consolidation was simple why maintain two systems if you dont need to? explains Mr. Griffiths, Infrastructure Manager, Powerco. Powerco undertook preliminary study of the solutions and assessed the pros and c ons of Oracle versus SQL Server. This analysis pointed towards some significant advantages in choosing SQL Server over Oracle. These included reduced licensing and maintenance costs, ease of management and fewer requirements for a specialised skill set to manage and service the system. A feasibility study of migrating to SQL Server was then completed by consultants on Powercos behalf including a cost/benefit analysis, a risk assessment, analysis of the alternatives and the four factors discussed earlier in this report, this confirmed Powercos applications could be supported on SQL Server, with the remaining end of life applications being replaced with SQL Server compatible ones, the feasibility study showed that unlike other options Microsoft SQL Server, serving could be done in-house. Microsofts SQL Server was the cheapest option to license, maintain, and support, particularly because of the specialised nature of Oracle. The business would be more streamline and efficient with just the single platform. Increases security. Further Tangible and Non-tangible benefits. Due to the results of the feasibility study, Powerco changed from the two platforms to solely Microsoft SQL Server, the result of this consolidation has meant Powerco has been able to reduce costs significantly, also ensuring it was easier to maintain and manage in-house and eliminating the need for external consultants. The migration to SQL Server has cut the overall cost of ownership by $390,000 a year, also helping to streamline Powercos IT systems and have given a number of other Tangible and Non-tangible benefits. Conclusion In conclusion this report has explained what a feasibility study is and when it should be used, I have then reviewed the various stages which are recommended by the IT industry experts at the ITIL and have given an example of a successful feasibility study undertaken by Powerco. I believe to be objective this report should have explored examples of a unsuccessful feasibility study, however this was not possible due to my research not providing any suitable cases, but still the findings of this report are clear, it is advisable to do a feasibility analysis, as it is tried and tested and the vast majority of large and established companies use this method to check the viability of a proposed venture and are taking a substantial risk if a feasibility study is not carried out before embarking on new project.

body image project :: essays research papers

I visited the art gallery this month they are featuring Larry Kirkwood's Body Image Project. The purpose of this exhibit to to help people understand that it's who we are on the inside that makes us beautiful. The first thing I saw when I walked into the gallery was a big piece of cardboard with pictures from magazines and people who visited made comments about them. Overall, everyone who commented stated that beauty that we see in magazines is not real. The people in the magazines send the message that you aren't beautiful if you don't look like them. But in reality beauty is whatever you see it as, not how you look. This exihibit shows that beauty is found in all shapes and sizes, not just one shape and size. As I continued to walk around I saw all different body shapes. Each of them were beautiful in their own way. There was one body of a woman who was 56 years old. Her chest was not that of a 'normal' woman because her breast implants leaked, and left indentations in her chest. There was another woman who had one breast removed and wanted to be a part of this art because she wanted to offer hope to those who are going through breast cancer. After I left the exhibit I went to the artists website, he has pictures of some of the bodies he's casted and why each of them is beautiful. Also on the website he has his mission of this project. He says his mission is to " give you a more honest and healthy view of who we really are physically." As an example of that there is a model who, in the past was bulemic. She still thinks shes fat, but now she has a more realistic view of what she looks like. One man stated that the media is trying to make people feel ugly and disgusting. One of his examples was a few years ago he saw a shampoo commercial on tv. A man was in an elevator and noticed he had a few dandruff flakes on his shoulder.

Wendy Geiger

Your friend, Wendy Geiger, owns a small retail store that sells candies and nuts. Geiger acquires her goods from a few select vendors. She generally makes purchase orders by phone and on credit. Sales are primarily for cash. Geiger keeps her own manual accounting system using a general Journal and a general ledger. At the end of each business day, she records one summary entry for cash sales. Geiger recently began offering items in creative gift packages.This has increased sales substantially, and she is now receiving orders from corporate and other clients who order large uantities and prefer to buy on credit. As a result of increased credit transactions in both purchases and sales, keeping the accounting records has become extremely time consuming. Geiger wants to continue to maintain her own manual system and calls you for advice. Required: In Microsoft Word write a memo to her advising how she might modify her current manual accounting system to accommodate the expanded business activities.Geiger is accustomed to checking her ledger by using a trial balance. Your memo should xplain the advantages of what you propose and of any other verification techniques you recommend. Dear Wendy. I see that your business has grown significantly from where you started off and I thought that I might offer you a few suggestions regarding your record keeping. you are gaining larger clients, that it is necessary for you to not only keep a record of cash customers as a whole, but cash and credit customers individually.This will keep you 100% protected from fraudulent charges and bank related issues as well as will eep you organized and on top of things fguratively. No matter how big or small your business is, numbers can make or break you. You need to keep track of each number as if it was your only one.Manual Accounting Modifications for Expanded Business This memo is to advise you of the best possible ways for you to modify your current manual accounting system to accommodat e the expanded business activities for your retail store.Pursuant to our conversation, you generally obtain your goods on credit using purchase orders, and your sales are primarily cash. You currently keep your manual accounting system using a general Journal and a general ledger, and you make one summary entry for cash sales at the end of each business day. Due to increased demand for your products and higher sales volume, including credit sales, maintaining the accounting records has become time consuming, but you would like to continue with your manual system.Allow me to provide pertinent information that ill assist you in continuing your manual system in the most efficient way. The accounting information system is one that collects and processes relevant data from transactions, and organizes them into relevant reports. This system is also used to report and record the exchange of goods and/or services. It is critical for you to understand how and what transactions are occurring in your business. A small business like yours can be effective with a manual process and with the use of special Journals and subsidiary ledgers.With the issues you mentioned in mind, most f your transactions can be categorized into the special Journals with the use of four individual Journals to complement the general Journal you are currently using. Special Journals are used to record and post transactions, and are uniquely designed for each business, but for most merchandising companies, the Journals used are sales Journals, for recording sales on credit; cash receipts Journals, to record sales made by cash; purchases Journals, for recording goods obtained on credit; and cash disbursements Journals, for†¦

Case Study About Southwest Airline Essay

Southwest Airlines was incorporated on June 18, 1971, serving three cities, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. It has been a successful business that has grown into a powerful force in the airline industry. The reason Southwest has remained financially viable is their commitment through point-to-point service with a quick turnaround time. The more planes in the air and the less time on the ground is a profitably business model. Although, there are some areas where Southwest struggled and could improve upon (Kruggel, 2001). In a large competitive Airline industry that has a strong entry barrier, Southwest Airline succeeded on their customer service and quality differentiation distinct any other Airline contributor. The company set them self up for any breakdown what might would happen in the future. Nevertheless, September 11, 2001 attack happened and the Airline could have been better prepared for that event (Anthony & Govindarajan, 2007, p. 114). After 9/11 attack struggling airlines had changed their business strategies and offer lower pricing. Almost every aspect that differentiated Southwest airline from other companies were cut because of having to adapt to new security protocols. These strategies caused Southwest not staying in competitive advantage position, and therefore, they had to slash their pricing lower than average. Of course, loyal customers would continue using Southwest over other airline industries. Analysis: Southwest competitive advantage strategies are as follow: Southwest implemented the first and most simplistic frequent-flier program: purchase eight flights and get one free. Other are their point-to-point services, which are generally targeting the frequent business traveler. With several regular flights per day, if a passenger happens to miss their flight, they will be automatically booked onto another flight. Secondly, secured routes through secondary airports which generally had lower fixed costs for the airlines and less overcrowding of travelers ease? (Koke, 2011). Southwest focal point on fast, dependable turnaround time utilizing only one type of aircraft, make available for staff and passenger to be familiar with the effectiveness of the service. Passengers are not allocating seats, which let the passenger to be guided more efficiently. In addition, Southwest’s point to point system is more dependable because it does not depend on the time arrival of an earlier flight for departure. After Porter’s five competitive forces model, Southwest airline utilizing the differentiation from competition by allowing a friendly, warm flying experience for the travelers with low cost flights undercut the competition, which would fit under the threat of substitutes. Other aspect of preventing the threat of substitutes is the reliability of the airline (Porter, 1987, pp. 28-35). The Southwest airline is determined not only to take care of their stakeholders, but to protect our planet and its natural resources as well. Conserving fuel and water, employing green purchasing practices that meet the leadership in energy and environmental design standards for new construction and building are some of the practices they are determine to retrofit. Gary C.  Kelly Southwest president and chief executive officer said,† Looking Forward As we look to our future in building Southwest Airline, our priority is to maintain the excellence we have built over the past four decades with our brand, culture, customer service, operational excellence, and consecutive annual profits. I am enthusiastic about our 2013 plan and believe our transformation efforts will make us better, stronger, and more competitive. And, the outstanding efforts, commitment, and dedication of our people give me confidence in our ability to successfully execute our plan. We are committed to our purpose to connect people to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel. That purpose will guide us to go forward on our journey in pursuit of our vision to become the World’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline† (Movawad, 2010). The founder of the Southwest Airline Herb Kelleher in his recent interview mentioned, â€Å"We don’t know everything about everything. We know about one thing. I have seen other airlines make mistakes, buying radio stations, hotel chains, rental car businesses, and so forth and so on. And I thought, We do not want to get into thinking that we’re massive and great because we’ve done pretty well. And that is still the policy today† (Reingold, 2013). One of the Southwest airline competitor’s was United airline in terms of new services and prices. It started a program called â€Å"Shuttle by United†. The disadvantage Sout hwest airline had, was how to deal to access the program at hand. The next one was to figure out how to respond to the initiatives. Specify the decision factors while approaching the circumstance, there were some unpredictable conditions that Southwest airline had to deal with (Freiberg & Freiberg, 2006, pp. 65-70). First, it was the determination of the profitability of the flights they were profiting from and losing from competitors such as United airlines. The concern was how many round trips each airline made, how many miles each flight was, and load factor of each flight. Daily profit calculation for each flight showed how much profit they made each city and finally state wide. After some calculation â€Å"Shuttle by United† program was forecasted that it would put the United airline into debt if they do not gain more profit from it. As of now the program costs more to run than it will pay off (Anthony & Govindarajan, 2007, p. 115-116). Conclusion: While the airline industry in the United States has not made flourishing financial headlines, one small company has been able to fulfill its customers and gain a place in Fortune 500 companies in a short period of time. Southwest has adapted to the business traveler who is looking for reliability and less hassles. In addition, it has a fast reward system that is easy to comprehend and helps retain customer loyalty. In addition, Southwest hires the best people and rewards them accordingly, in a fun, enjoyable environment. Management-employee relation, organizational training and strong leadership are identified as the source of employee motivation. Finally, Southwest negotiates fuel prices for their airlines years in advance allowing the company to keep their pricing consistent (Lunsford, 2008).

The Unforgetable Man

The Unforgetable Man Being an orderly at Scottsdale Memorial Hospital was a fun job that required a strong heart. The hospital was a great place for me to experience the beauty of life and the unwanted death of humans. Throughout my year of employment at the Community Hospital, I was able to enjoy my work by interacting with many kinds of interesting patients. Without the hospital, I would have never imagined to be carrying on conversations with most of these people. Aiding curses required many long exhilarating hours of work each day, but I loved experiencing the daily recovery of patients, in which I was able to be some part.The night of August sixth became a different story. Just as my shift was coming to a normal close, a nurse‚s call light from one of the patient‚s rooms had illuminated. On one of my many repetitive walks down from the station to a patient‚s room, I had nothing else on my mind except for my evening plans with friends.Nurse log, Quinault Rain Forest Nature TrailI was extr emely happy that this would surely be the last call light I would be answering that shift. As I entered the room, a crying relative came yelling at me. "He is going, something happened, do something, do something now!", demanded the distressed lady standing right at the bed side. I had seen this man before, although I had never spoken to him. I had know idea that he was not in a stable health."All right, all right," I replied in frustration, not knowing exactly what to do first. I looked at the 84 year old overweight male patient. He appeared very pale with his brown colored eyes half shut looking desperately at me for some sort of help. My mind was becoming blank, as I could not believe what...

The Lightweight Reflective Jacket Essays - Fast Retailing, Uniqlo

The Lightweight Reflective Jacket Essays - Fast Retailing, Uniqlo The Lightweight Reflective Jacket By UNIQLO Europe Ltd. 7th December 2015 3242 words Table of Content Pages i.Executive Summary.3 ii.Introduction..4 iii.Organization Background.5 iv.Environmental Analysis....... a.PESTLE Analysis.8 b.SWOT Analysis10 v.Marketing Objective..... 12 vi.Marketing Strategy (STP).13 vii.Marketing Mix.. a.7.1. Product..15 b.7.2. Place..15 c.7.3. Price..16 d.7.4. Promotion..16 e.7.5 Budget17 f.7.6. Performance evaluation.....18 viii.Conclusion...19 ix.Bibliography.....20 x.Appendix.. 25 Executive summary UNIQLO has been a successful company with their wide range of clothing products and is continuing to grow bigger each day. One of their greatest inventions, the Ultra Lightdown jacket collection has been a great hit to the market. With users become more safety conscious; the company has planned to produce an improved collection of multi-use jacket, which is the Lightweight Reflective jacket. Other than the usual features that are light, thin and can withstand light rain, the new collection of jacket will have reflective strips that can make the user to be seen in dark condition or at night. The jacket is suitable for users of all ages, especially for someone that wants functionality aside from the usual fashionable clothing. Environmental analysis using PESTLE and SWOT has been used to provide a better understanding into the market for the new lightweight reflective jacket. Marketing tools have been use extensively by the company for the marketing of the product. The new collection of jackets is produced in China with UNIQLOs partner factories and will be shipped to UNIQLOs warehouse in London. The distribution of the product will take place in their retail stores and the product is available to be purchased online. The price of the product will be affordable as the company positioned itself as a low cost, high quality fashion retailer. Promotion of the product varies from advertisement in several platforms, which are newspapers, magazines, television and also from UNIQLOs main website. Moreover, the product will also be advertised through social media such as Facebook and Instagram. UNIQLO believes that with all the promotional activities, their new range of Lightweight Reflective jacket will be yet another successful business venture. Introduction Fashion industry has been growing rapidly in United Kingdom (UK) for the past five years (Fashionunited.co.uk, 2015). With the growing industry, more foreign fashion retailers are adding UK into their expansion plan. Fast Retailing Co Ltd., a Japanese retail company, enters the UK market with the opening of its first UNIQLO store in London in 2001. UNIQLO is a brand that is well known for its simple designs and comfort clothing to their customers. The report is aim at the senior management of Fast Retailing Co Ltd. and UNIQLO to produce an improved version of their famous Ultra Lightdown jackets, which is the Lightweight Reflective jacket. Organization Background UNIQLO is a unisex casual wear retail store, which owned by Japan-based apparel business group Fast Retailing Co Ltd. It was founded by Tadashi Yanai and the first retail store opened in Hiroshima, Japan in 1984. Initially, the name UNIQLO was unique clothing warehouse which means simple and clever, like their clothes, high quality and functional. UNIQLO has expanded rapidly in the past decade from a family business to a well-known global brand. As of today, UNIQLO has become the fourth largest specialty store retailer of private label apparel (SPA) after ZARA, H&M, and The GAP. In 2001, UNIQLO opened their first store in London and up to now they have 10 stores in United Kingdom. Furthermore, UNIQLO currently has approximately 54960 full-time employees across over 18 countries and produce about six hundred million of items annually. Due to low-cost labour of China, 90% of their apparel is manufactured in China with the remaining 10% of their production in other Asian countries. Thus, UNIQLO can maintain low price and provide their customers with high quality product. According to Fast Retailing (2014), UNIQLO has become the third worldwide apparel specialty stores with a large proportion of market share. Its offerings include jeans, trousers, skirts, t-shirts, sweaters, knitwear, jackets, and inner wear. Moreover, UNIQLO has established SPA (Specialty store retailer of Private label Apparel) business model, which engages in design, production and sales. UNIQLO successfully differentiates itself from other apparel companies on account of adjustments to production and minimize store construction cost. Besides, they purchase large amounts of the materials of apparel to maintain low cost thereby allow them to pass these cost savings to their customers. However, Ashley Mcgown (2010, p.1) said, We

Business Logistics and Supply Chain Management

The Supply Chain Management is one of the important functions of an organization that is concerned with the administration of the flow of the services as well as products of the particular pany (Christopher 2016). It is concerned with the inventory and transport as well as storage capabilities of the raw materials. This report deals with the logistics challenges faced during the process of transporting the l otives, thermal coal and wagons for the construction of a railway line from â€Å"Central Western Queensland† to â€Å"Abbot Point Port† located in the Northeast Queensland. The challenges of the logistics are discussed in detail with focus on two key areas. The objective of this report is to identify the logistics challenges during the process of transportation of the raw materials from initial point (Germany) to the final destination (Abbott Point Port). The raw materials are required for the construction of a railway line and hence must reach the final destination in a timely manner. It is also important that the raw materials reach the international mining pany in proper condition, thus minimizing any damages or risks in transit. The report will outline the primary challenges faced in the supply chain management. It will also focus on details like port activities, inland details, sea freight details and various logistics activities. It will also discuss the â€Å"Australian Quarantine and Inspection Services Requirements† in order to understand the issues in a better manner. The major deliverables of the project include the identification of the major issues in the process of logistics and strive to seek suitable solutions for it. The range of activities which deals with effective and efficient transfer of goods as well as services from the â€Å"point of origin† to the â€Å"point of consumption† is known as Supply Chain Management (Monczka et al. 2015). It involves the process of raw materials storage, inventory management and the movement of the goods from one place to the other. The process of logistics deal with the right products delivered in right quantity to the right customer at the right cost (Christopher 2016). The products must be delivered in right time and at the right place. The process of logistics usually deals with the transport activities of a single organization, however, the supply chain management, deals with the transport activities within a network of panies that work in a collaborative manner (Wisner Tan and Leong 2014). The integrated logistics deal with the customer service, production planning, purchasing, transport and the warehouse activities (Christopher 2016). There are important supply chain activities that must be undertaken by the pany for the purpose of successfully delivering the materials to the final destination. There are three broad logistics activities that can be carried out by the pany- Inbound logistics, outbound logistics and Conversion operations (Christopher 2016).   Some of the important activities are described below- There are two important areas in the process of logistics management. They are discussed below- Transportation- It is important to focus on the transportation of the raw materials. There are several reasons for efficient transportation of freight. The specialty and the surplus is responsible for the purpose of trading. The trading enhances the specialty as well as aim for greater surplus options for the panies (Christopher 2016). The process of transportation is required from the process of delivery of the raw materials to the manufacturing process (Christopher 2016). The transportation accounts for one-third of the total logistics costs. It is one of the most important factors that influence the efficiency of the logistics process (Christopher 2016). The panies must aim for maintaining economic transportation facilities in order to control the expenditure of the pany (Christopher 2016). The cost of the transportation should be controlled so that the pany maintains high market share and the logistics costs can be kept under control (Jensen and Bergqvist 2013). The transportatio n costs consist of various expenses such as vehicles cost, cost of terminals, pallets, containers, time and labour (Christopher 2016). The logistics specialist must take into account the operation of transport system in the country so that the highest efficiency can be achieved. The process of transportation is an important step for the purpose of the conversation of the raw materials into finished goods (Eskandarpour et al. 2015). The plexity of the transportation is an important consideration in the total quality management. It acts as a bridge between the consumers and the producers (Christopher 2016). Materials handling- The pany must pay attention to the materials handling department of the logistics management. There are four dimensions in the materials handling job such as movement, time, quantity and space (Alanjari Razavialavi and AbouRizk 2014). This task requires the management of the raw materials from procurement to transport. It is important to increase the effective capacity of the logistics process and reduce the malfunctioning in the product handling process. The pany must ensure that the raw materials are delivered to the clients using an excellent cost-effective carrier and at the right time (Rushton Croucher and Baker 2014). It should also be ensured that the products are not damaged in transit and it is important to maintain the optimum quality of the raw materials (Alanjari Razavialavi and AbouRizk 2014). There can be several factors such as premium freight, production shortage, inventory adjustments and others (Alanjari Razavialavi and AbouRizk 2014). There can be issues with the materials handling managers such as incorrect material bills, shipping errors, production reporting errors, incorrect cycle counts and others (Alanjari Razavialavi and AbouRizk 2014). It is also important for timely release the products so that it can reach the clients in a timely manner. There are a number of issues in the logistics operations that can be faced by the pany. The challenges are described as below- The pany should pay attention to the excellent transport of the modities so that it reaches the final destination safely. The pany should pay attention to the transportation of the goods through the sea containers (Davenport 2013). The pany should focus on the logistics process through the utilization of sea port terminals. An alternative to the sea freight can be â€Å"inland carrier† (Talley 2014). This implies that the pany must utilize carriers other than the ocean modes. These can be water, land or air, depending on the budget as well as convenience of the logistics pany (Davenport 2013). There should be different considerations that should be considered such as cost, time, convenience, nature of goods and others (Davenport 2013). It is important to consider the important port activities that are an important part of the logistics process. There are many disparate activities in the port such as movement of the containers, movement of the ships, cargo management, custom activities, loading as well as unloading of the ships and others (Bichou Bell and Evans 2013). There are other important factors such as channels, anchorages, human resources, berths, tugs, warehouse and others (Bichou Bell and Evans 2013). The logistics specialist needs to gain knowledge regarding the efficient management of the port (Bichou Bell and Evans 2013). These include managing the resources as well as the flow of money. There should be bination of efficient cargo handling services and the reduction of the unit costs (Selinka Franz and Stolletz 2016). It is important to check the application of technology in the cargo handling services. An efficient cargo handling services should ensure minimum damages of the goods (Bichou Bell and Evan s 2013). The logistics specialist should take into account the efficiency of the ports before dealing with them regarding the transport of the goods. The Australian Government has formulated a strict security inspection and quarantine measures for the inward as well as outward movement of goods entering a particular state in Australia (Weng   An and Hu 2015). The quarantine measure checks all the cargo entering the state for possible contamination by microorganisms (Weng An and Hu 2015). The AQIS is a government agency in Australia which is responsible for quarantine laws, on behalf of the Department of Agriculture (Australia.gov.au 2016). This activity would minimize the threat of severe pests and protect the agriculture industry in Australia. The logistics specialist should consider the AQIS specifications so that there can be smooth functioning of the logistics process (Weng An and Hu 2015). The logistics pany should aim for finding a solution for the logistics challenges. It should try to maximize the transportation efficiency of the pany. It should focus more on the creation of dedicated shipping partners which would make the transportation process hassle free. The pany should ensure the timely delivery of the raw materials. The pany should also focus on the security of the goods that are transported. The port activities and the sea freight details must be considered by the logistics specialist. The detailed processes in carrying out supply chain management as well as logistics function of the pany are elaborated. This report would enable the CEO to understand the intricacies of the logistics function. This report is to be submitted during the planning phase of the supply chain management process that would give a clear picture to the senior management of the pany. Alanjari, P., Razavialavi, S. and AbouRizk, S., 2014. A simulation-based approach for material yard laydown planning.  Automation in Construction,  40, pp.1-8. Australia.gov.au. (2016).  australia.gov.au. [online] Available at: https://www.australia.gov.au/ [Accessed 21 Sep. 2016]. Bichou, K., Bell, M. and Evans, A., 2013.  Risk management in port operations, logistics and supply chain security. CRC Press. Bowersox, D.J., 2013.  Logistical excellence: it's not business as usual. Elsevier. Christopher, M., 2016.  Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson Higher Ed. Davenport, T.H., 2013.  Process innovation: reengineering work through information technology. Harvard Business Press. Dekker, R., Bloemhof, J. and Mallidis, I., 2012. Operations Research for green logistics–An overview of aspects, issues, contributions and challenges.  European Journal of Operational Research,  219(3), pp.671-679. Eskandarpour, M., Dejax, P., Miemczyk, J. and Pà ©ton, O., 2015. Sustainable supply chain network design: an optimization-oriented review.Omega,  54, pp.11-32. Fay, S. and Xie, J., 2014. Timing of product allocation: Using probabilistic selling to enhance inventory management.  Management Science,  61(2), pp.474-484. Fernie, J. and Sparks, L., 2014.  Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan Page Publishers. Jensen, A. and Bergqvist, R., 2013. Seaport strategies for pre-emptive defence of market share under changing hinterland transport system performance.  International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics,  5(4-5), pp.432-448. Mentzer, J.T., 2015. Logistics Modeling in the 1980’s: A Decade of Challenges. In  The 1980’s: A Decade of Marketing Challenges  (pp. 156-160). Springer International Publishing. Monczka, R.M., Handfield, R.B., Giunipero, L.C. and Patterson, J.L., 2015.Purchasing and supply chain management. Cengage Learning. Rushton, A., Croucher, P. and Baker, P., 2014.  The handbook of logistics and distribution management: Understanding the supply chain. Kogan Page Publishers. Selinka, G., Franz, A. and Stolletz, R., 2016. Time-dependent performance approximation of truck handling operations at an air cargo terminal puters & Operations Research,  65, pp.164-173. Stadtler, H., 2015. Supply chain management: An overview. In  Supply chain management and advanced planning  (pp. 3-28). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Talley, W.K., 2014. Maritime transport chains: carrier, port and shipper choice effects.  International Journal of Production Economics,  151, pp.174-179. Waters, D. and Rinsler, S., 2014.  Global logistics: New directions in supply chain management. Kogan Page Publishers. Weng, X., An, J. and Hu, Y., 2015. Research on the Market Access of Cold Chain Logistics Service Quality Safety for Agricultural Products.  Journal of Service Science and Management,  8(6), p.793. Wisner, J.D., Tan, K.C. and Leong, G.K., 2014.  Principles of supply chain management: a balanced approach. Cengage Learning.

Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 5

Leadership - Essay Example Discipline thinking is important in minimizing strategic blunders as plans are thoroughly thought through. It promotes a system of self/ internal correction while at the same time enhancing clear modes of formulation and implementation of ideas. It enhances an organization’s self-discipline, self-monitoring and self-corrective thinking and apart from enhancing and effective and open communication within the organization, it enables effective interpretation of ideas leading to solid conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards. Strategic thinking saves costs that may be incurred from poor decision making - capital that can be redirected towards further development (Encyclopedia of Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2013). The organization has overtime exhibited disciplined thinking and behavior that has served to propel it to global heights. For example, the idea to establish offices worldwide has helped expand the market and consumer base to every corner of the world and boost its competitiveness. Also, the increased variety of goods and services offered such as loan and banking services, video game equipment, mobile phones, televisions, music and sound systems, clothing amongst others has seen to a capturing of millions of varied consumers on a global scale. Disciplined thinking is a process that can be enhanced in an organization by promoting and encouraging new ideas amongst workers and motivating employees to feel part and parcel of the organization. The workers must feel that the organization’s problems are their problems in order to be innovative and creative enough. Cases of ridicule of ideas and negative office gossip must be weeded out from the workplace and those who have seen their ideas fail or get rejected by the organization must be encouraged to soldier on and not throw in the towel as further innovations and ideas could offer a breakthrough and shape fortune of the organizatio n. Strategic thinking can further still be promoted by constituting idea sharing forums, seminars and suitable, convenient channels amongst all workers with enhanced open upward, downward and sideways communication for flow of ideas. Workers should be offered a conducive, calm and peaceful work atmosphere and their efforts and breakthroughs recognized through promotions, pay rises, employee of the duration awards, parties, trips and vacations fully catered for by the organization and so on. Positive deviance is

Does the Beauty and Majesty of the Natural World Need to Be Tied to a Essay

Does the Beauty and Majesty of the Natural World Need to Be Tied to a Higher or More Spiritual Force to Be Truly Understood - Essay Example Even in the cases when nature itself is considered divine, more conscious attitude to one’s own religious beliefs is psychologically beneficial. Some objections to this view are examined and followed by counterarguments related to current environmental ethics and politics. People need to have values in life. The need for spirituality is proven by psychological studies (Schroeder, 1992) and numerous moments of our daily experience. We want to transcend the limits of our own personalities by experiencing Other, be it in God, nature, or other entities (Schroeder, 1992, p. 25). Protection of environment is another acute need of humanity. There are numerous ways of satisfying these two necessities. The difference between them lies in the question where is the Other. Or, to put it playfully, who is the Significant Other? Once a person has decided, it becomes clear what God and nature mean to him or her. For pantheists and deep ecologists, nature is valuable by definition (Naess, 197 3). For most of the believers of world religions, nature is beautiful and majestic as long as its phenomena are sanctioned by some deity. Even pagans worship the deities of streams, trees, and rocks, not nature itself. But regardless from the forces considered divine in any one of these cases, the value of nature should not be mediated and limited by any other values.... It often establishes some hierarchy: many animals are believed to be ‘unclean’ or ‘sacred’ in various religions, and the believers treat those animals accordingly. Usually, this inequality does not result in animal massacres or maltreatment, but it has subtler implications for the entire ecosystems. In most of such hierarchies of world religions, human beings are usually situated above the other living creatures, so that the decisions about the entire ecosystems are made, so to speak, in their ‘favour’. This anthropocentrism of traditional culture is blamed for environmental crisis by deep ecologists and radical environmentalists, as it fails to represent the parts of ecosystem as interrelated (Leopold, 1949). There is also selectivity of non-human species: for instance, people are more likely to preserve the spotted owls than the insects that belong to the same ecosystem. It may be argued that human eye is selective by nature and that our exper ience of nature is still mediated by something, be it religion, science, or anything else. This view echoes the one expressed by Ralph Emerson, a classic representative of transcendentalism: that the poet’s eye â€Å"can integrate all the parts† (Emerson, 1836), thereby giving them sense. For Emerson, art and spirit were superior to nature: â€Å"Have mountains, and waves, and skies, no significance but what we consciously give them, when we employ them as emblems of our thoughts? (...) the whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind† (Emerson, 1836). From the fact that our interaction with nature is mediated, it does not follow that our view is right. Schroeder (1992) explains that spiritual experience, including the spiritual experience of nature, should be

Chinese Current Religion Development Situation Term Paper

Chinese Current Religion Development Situation - Term Paper Example Indeed, the religion has enjoyed a lot of support from the masses and became a guiding ideology in the Chinese context. However, Confucianism did not actually develop into a concrete national belief. Presently, over 85 % of the Chinese people subscribe to some form of religious orientation while the rest are regarded as real atheists. The atheists comprise those who do not have any religious guiding philosophy and do not engage in any religious activities in their lives. Since the beginning of Chinese history, religion in the country has always been characterized by pluralism. Religion in the country basically depends upon the free will of the people and does not really require any form of adherence. In this regard, Buddhism remains one of the most widely practiced forms of religion in the country. Indeed, this religion has a very rich history in the country dating back to the 1st century. In the same way, popular religion is one of the most widely accepted religious traditions. ... Christians make up close to 4% of the total population while Muslims stand at 1.5%. It is further important to note that several religious movements are scattered across the country considering that China is a very large country with a huge population. Many of the intellectuals in China mostly subscribe to Confucianism. Indeed, religion is a very integral part of Chinese society and this is clearly evidenced through the presence of many tall religious statues across the country. These statutes were created to represent various deities and religious personalities from the different forms of religion realized in the country (Clart, 54). The republic of China was established in 1949 and the government of the country is officially atheist. Indeed, the government views religion as a form of feudalism and an imposition of colonialism on the people and does not therefore support or regard any religion as above the other. However, the people of China are always free in terms of making their decisions. More importantly, the government has established a strong separation between the state and the church. Much of the changes with respect to religion were realized during the Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1967 which was a policy basically geared towards the elimination of religions. During this time, many places of worship in the country were destroyed. There was a considerable relaxation of this policy in the 1970s which marked the end of the Revolution and subsequently religious expression was permitted in the country (Jenner, 46). The 1978 Constitution of China guarantees freedom of religion for everyone in Article 36. As such, it is a policy that no one shall be discriminated upon on the basis of their religion or compelled to join any religion. There

How to Write a Paper that Gives the Author's Own Argument Essay

How to Write a Paper that Gives the Author's Own Argument - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that the paragraphs that follow the thesis statement are logically organized and all follow the thesis statement and points that are made. Each clearly defines one point that relates to the main topic. The paragraphs also give examples and opinions that are followed by facts. Each of the paragraphs works independently to show the main point of the essay while providing an organization that relates to the overall thesis of the paper. More importantly, each of the paragraphs in the paper moves through a chronological order that defines the process of writing, editing and creating a solid paper. For an individual who is learning to write an essay, this provides effective methods that are logical and supported through the thesis. Even though there are adequate points in the body paragraphs, some of the details provided are irrelevant. The examples that are given and some of the statements made drive away from the main thesis and take away from th e objective of the paper. For instance, in paragraph 4, the author begins speaking about organization processes for a thesis paper and not having this as being a distraction. The very next sentence distracts the reader by talking about a television or a younger sister screaming. The reader begins to think about these situations, as opposed to the organization needed to write a paper. The concepts in the paper can be improved with revisions that would enhance the paper. The most important revision to make is from the unnecessary statements and examples that take the reader out of the main subject of the paper.

The culture of an international non-profit organisation Essay

The culture of an international non-profit organisation - Essay Example This essay using the cultural web analyzes the culture of a non-profit (referred to here as Company X). Company X is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1981 in the United States as a charity aimed at improving the lives of children and families. Over its 20 years the company’s mission has narrowed to or become more specific targeting early childhood care and education, children’s rights and grassroots community development. Company X is currently headquartered in California in the United States but has a presence in five continents as follows: Africa – Kenya, Zimbabwe and Ghana; Asia – India and Nepal; Europe – Norway, South America – Chile and North America – the U.S. Company X primarily obtains its operating resources from individual and corporate donations predominantly from within the US. To supplement this funding, Company X owns and runs two exclusive pre-schools in California that boast of an enviable waitlist as well as f our other high cost pre-schools in the same state. Over and above this, the non-profit has offered and continues to offer consultancy services on early childhood care and education at very competitive rates to other non-profits, for-profit corporations and even governments such as the government of Singapore, Ecuador and even the state of California as another source of funding. The local chapters in Africa and Asia have wholly been dependent on obtaining slices of the US funding â€Å"pie† to sustain their programs. ... To supplement this funding, Company X owns and runs two exclusive pre-schools in California that boast of an enviable waitlist as well as four other high cost pre-schools in the same state. Over and above this, the non-profit has offered and continues to offer consultancy services on early childhood care and education at very competitive rates to other non-profits, for-profit corporations and even governments such as the government of Singapore, Ecuador and even the state of California as another source of funding. The local chapters in Africa and Asia have wholly been dependent on obtaining slices of the US funding â€Å"pie† to sustain their programs. However, with the global recession of 2008 hitting the US funding base, Company X has been pushing for heads of its global chapters to source for local funding to sustain their programs. Company X has been implementing this slowly over the last three years through activities such as the following. First it has instituted greate r controls, monitoring and reporting over all funds disbursed. Then it demanded that each chapter develop their own five year strategic plan which will show how they will increasingly source their own funding. Thirdly, from 2009 Company X reduced its funding by 10 to 15 per cent depending on their projections over which local chapters had better odds of fundraising depending on the economic condition of that host country. The problem though is that to date none has successfully fundraised. With the economies of Europe and America, poor for the former and sluggish for the latter, the typical donors that Company X relied on have tightened their purses as they cautiously weigh their own investments. This coupled with the rising economies of

XYZ Scholarship Program Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

XYZ Program - Scholarship Essay Example As the telecommunications and communication science fields are quickly evolving, I recognize that it is a driven industry that relies on electrical engineering and computer science.   Bioinformatics, as difficult as it may seem, is also intertwined with computer sciences, algorithms and advanced relational databases and computing.   I am extremely driven to make these endeavors a reality due to my lifelong interest in these areas and my dream is to utilize my gained wealth of knowledge to help give back to others in the future.   When considering what generated this interest in computer science, electrical engineering and telecommunications engineering and my aspirations of working in bioinformatics or advanced communications, I would have to say that I have always been fascinated by tinkering by taking things apart and putting them back together again to see how they work.   Additionally, my father is an electrical and mechanical engineer and I can recall always going to bed late at night after watching my dad work on funny looking drawings, which I know now were blueprints to something bigger and better.    With bioinformatics in mind, this sector influenced my career goals due to my fascination of the human genome project which is being completed under a National Institute of Health (NIH) Nationwide grant at several leading universities.   This type of sophisticated research relies on the rapid and advanced computerized system arrays operating at Peta flops and eventually Hexa flops.

The culture of an international non-profit organisation Essay

The culture of an international non-profit organisation - Essay Example This essay using the cultural web analyzes the culture of a non-profit (referred to here as Company X). Company X is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1981 in the United States as a charity aimed at improving the lives of children and families. Over its 20 years the company’s mission has narrowed to or become more specific targeting early childhood care and education, children’s rights and grassroots community development. Company X is currently headquartered in California in the United States but has a presence in five continents as follows: Africa – Kenya, Zimbabwe and Ghana; Asia – India and Nepal; Europe – Norway, South America – Chile and North America – the U.S. Company X primarily obtains its operating resources from individual and corporate donations predominantly from within the US. To supplement this funding, Company X owns and runs two exclusive pre-schools in California that boast of an enviable waitlist as well as f our other high cost pre-schools in the same state. Over and above this, the non-profit has offered and continues to offer consultancy services on early childhood care and education at very competitive rates to other non-profits, for-profit corporations and even governments such as the government of Singapore, Ecuador and even the state of California as another source of funding. The local chapters in Africa and Asia have wholly been dependent on obtaining slices of the US funding â€Å"pie† to sustain their programs. ... To supplement this funding, Company X owns and runs two exclusive pre-schools in California that boast of an enviable waitlist as well as four other high cost pre-schools in the same state. Over and above this, the non-profit has offered and continues to offer consultancy services on early childhood care and education at very competitive rates to other non-profits, for-profit corporations and even governments such as the government of Singapore, Ecuador and even the state of California as another source of funding. The local chapters in Africa and Asia have wholly been dependent on obtaining slices of the US funding â€Å"pie† to sustain their programs. However, with the global recession of 2008 hitting the US funding base, Company X has been pushing for heads of its global chapters to source for local funding to sustain their programs. Company X has been implementing this slowly over the last three years through activities such as the following. First it has instituted greate r controls, monitoring and reporting over all funds disbursed. Then it demanded that each chapter develop their own five year strategic plan which will show how they will increasingly source their own funding. Thirdly, from 2009 Company X reduced its funding by 10 to 15 per cent depending on their projections over which local chapters had better odds of fundraising depending on the economic condition of that host country. The problem though is that to date none has successfully fundraised. With the economies of Europe and America, poor for the former and sluggish for the latter, the typical donors that Company X relied on have tightened their purses as they cautiously weigh their own investments. This coupled with the rising economies of

Individualism and Communilism Essay Example for Free

Individualism and Communilism Essay How far can a person go in life without the need of others? Is it possible for him or her to achieve success without having any sort of social dynamic to aid in the progress of their lives? Does having strong social connections aid a person in shaping his or her character to achieve their goals and can these achievement be defined as his or her own if there was intervention of any sort from a social group? It is possible to deduce answers to such notions upon a better understanding of the distinction of community and the individual and the effects of these ideas on each other. The following essay will try to define the distinction between the ideas of communalism and individualism. It will try to isolate the characteristics of each ideal in order to better comprehend their influence on a person life and try to provide an argument on why these two ideas may need to work together in order for a person to lead a fulfilling life. Communitarianism defines the idea where the individual needs of a person are secondary to the overall development of the social group he or she communes. The social group can be represents as any group of people that share common goals and ideals. Possible factors that define ideals of the group include ethnic background, social or economic status, religious and cultural beliefs. Constant social interaction is important with this ideal. It is communitarian teleology that humankind is social by nature and that this idea grows naturally to this end. Aristotle was a proponent of communitarianism and – according to class lectures on the subject – believed that being part of a community eased the burden of everyday living. He provided an example on the natural development of speech as a direct result of the necessity of humans to interact with each other to participate in a community. He also hypothesized that in order for human development to flourish there needs to be a sharing of skills and ideas within the social group. The contrasting idea to communitarianism is individualism. Individualism focuses on the idea of the promotion of an individual thoughts and desires before those of a social group. This idea believes that external involvement from others is unnecessary when trying to achieve an individual’s goals, unless the external interference aids in the achievement of the individuals goals. Advocating social isolationism is not a necessary factor under this ideal; rather the individualist is often part of a social group and adheres to the communal laws and practices set forth upon them in order to promote their own personal gain. Thomas Hobbes defines an extreme extend of complete individualism. He states, that under individualism, humans care only about themselves and have no regards for the necessity of others and have no moral concern for their actions. Under this state of reality, it seems highly unlike for human development to expand as all focus lie on achieving individual goals for the sake of individual gain rather than sharing the results of intellectual, social, economic, etc. endeavors. Hobbes realized that such a state of reality cannot naturally exist and deduced that the individualist enters society and agrees to abide by its rules and regulations with the sole purpose of expanding their own personal goals; he coined this compromise â€Å"the social contract. † Based on the interpretations of the ideals of communitarianism and individualism it is possible to obtain an idea on how these ideals shape the individual’s outlook on life. Communitarianism appears to promote the well-being of all, the question to this is at what cost? The idea that the needs of the many are more important than the needs of the one fails to account for moral responsibility. If we explore individualism further and do not use the extreme representation of the term, we realize that being an individual actually means being free to make choices outside of what other people expect or dictate. In other words, by being an individual you are free to choose and are directly responsible for your actions and their moral implications. Being an individualist is to have free will. It is impossible to deny that humans tend to gravitate toward the state of a social-collective and in fact, there is evidence that social interaction is necessary. For example, as children we tend to obtain knowledge from many others. We do not learn from one person or one experience, rather we continue to expand our knowledge and thereby our self. In this sense, communitarianism works by providing the individualist with the tools to make choices and commit to actions, but it does not dictate how this person will use the knowledge. It is up to the individual and his singular choice to decide how to use this knowledge. Communitarianism may hinder personal development. If the individual considers the needs of his community, before his own how can he or she expect to develop as a person? In fact, in some cases, the community will try to keep an individual from growing. For example, in certain communities poverty is the prevalent norm. If the person acts to try to remove him or herself from such a community through his own achievements, some in such community may see him in a different light, not wanting to be part of the group anymore. This sense of guilt can weight on the individual and create doubt on his achievements and on himself. Although he or she was free to make the conscious choice to get out from poverty, the community still has an indirect control over the person. Communitarianism may also interfere with a clear sense of moral judgment. In general, a person’s self-worth and values are defined by their individual actions. In some cases, communitarianism blurs the distinction between the values of the individuals and the values of the group. In such instances, wrongful generalizations of a person values and choices can be made based solely on the choices and values of the community they belong to; this is called stereotyping and/or racism. It is unclear how the will of others can influence the moral decisions of a person. Communitarianism can server a person in the early stages of life (when individual thought and reasoning are not fully developed) to provide the tools necessary to shape their life. However, in the end, the individualistic actions of a rational, independent, free-to-choose individual that define a person.

Management Essays Leadership and Management

Management Essays Leadership and Management Leadership and Management Leadership and management often remain confused as these two are mostly taken in one content. John kotter who belongs to Harvard Business School classifies these two indifferent content, leadership as a part of management. According to him a single word management include different concept and leadership is one of its concept. Leadership actually means ability to influence other behaviours and acts in order to achieve a certain goal. In multi-national organization, leadership strategy is used by the managers as they want to lead their sub-ordinates to achieve that purpose for which the organization is made for. In any leader, confidence, motivation, better communication system, influencing others, decision making and goal setting characters are essentials as these are the major characters of any leader. The topic that the paper will cover is the leadership in McDonald within US and China. The paper aims to see the differences in leadership strategy used by US and China while particul arly taking McDonald in consideration. This difference enables us to know different strategies these two countries have adopted. Moreover, the paper aims to describe the different leadership strategies used by these countries. Leadership in McDonald by US The democracy in US is more than in China, the reason compromises that US have high political background and have high delegate authority. The political system of the US country favours the democracy and the top management do not love to involve in the issues rather they use to delegate the authorities to their sub-ordinates and much of the authority is in the hand of middle and lower level managers. In US the individualism is preferred than the group working. US McDonald usually seek the Variety reduction in leadership, means that they use to remove the uncertainty by focusing on limited number of resources. This enables the US leader to control the poor performance of their subordinates. Moreover, the McDonald in US prefers to get experienced employees in their firm. The McDonald of US focus mainly on opportunities and less on problems and that is why the McDonald adopted diversification in US. The US manager working in China for McDonald are less ethnocentric rather the Chinese ma nagers. The US manager believes on giving the authority form the top while giving the decision making and problem solving authority to the middle manager. The organizational process in US McDonald is that main authority is passed form the top while lower level mangers that directly interact with the customers solve the problems by them selves. They decide by themselves that how they have to treat people and what will be their next step in the future. Leadership in McDonald by China According to Charles W.L. Hill, Gareth R, Jones (2003) democracy trend in china is very low and that is the reason that leaders in china usually take care of their employees. In fact, China believes on high group orientation, where the leadership strategy works less rather team working is preferred more. We can say that in China paternalistic strategy work more in which the employees are considered as partners. Above all, the china though does not prefer leadership, but do not allow the MNE’s of international firms to lead the china employees in their showroom and firm. McDonald working in China can not adopt leadership strategy to lead the Chinese employees in their country and thus found many problems. Chinese usually adopt the variety amplifier strategy in which the uncertainty increases as the Chinese manager usually seek different alternatives, evaluate them for their further future use. Chinese leaders are the problem seeker; they believe that solving different problems within the firm can reduce uncertainty and increases efficiency while seeking the opportunities. They believe that solving the existing problems while seeking the new opportunities is more important fro the firm to work in the future. The individual behaviour in the McDonald working in China is different form that of USD. The individualism is not a belief of china rather they believe on group dynamics. The organizational behaviour in Chinese McDonald is basically depending on team working and on paternalistic in which a system works on define pattern. Authority and major decision are in the hand of top management, not believe on individualism rather work in teams or groups to solve different problems. While working in US and China, McDonald faces different problems as what type of leadership strategy they must adopt in order to achieve the goals and objectives. A detail theory and concept is provided that will suggest that what type of strategies the firm must adopt to deal with this leadership in these two countries. The very first section deals with contingency design theory and the other section will deals with structuration theory. Contingency theory Al Dunlap experience shows that different leadership strategies must be adopted by the firm when working at global level. The reason is that different countries culture and tradition highly affect the leadership in countries. Some people do not love to lead while some people love to get supervision form the top to know that what should be their next step. Therefore, contingency theory suggests that different leadership strategies should be adopted according to the country type. In this contingency theory, different concept and strategies are used and these will be the part of paper description. Fielder Model According to fielder contingency model, the group performance can be made better if the proper matching of leader style and situation is gained by the leader. This is actually a proper matching between the leader style and type of situation. Different situation required different styles of leadership. For this the leadership style is required to be identified according to the situation. To know that what actually the style should be Fielder developed last preferred co-worker questioner. This questioner will help the leader to know that either their employees are task oriented or relationship oriented. Fielder develops a 16 pager questioner in which he ranked question into two categories, task oriented and relationship oriented. These questioners are then circulated within the employees who than elaborate that what type of leadership strategies are required by the employees. Similarly the McDonald should adopt the similar way of questioner before operating in any country to know that what type of leadership strategy they want in the company, either want task oriented leadership or relationship oriented leadership. While working at global level, such mechanism won’t work as the number of employees is huge and taking view of each employee at each region would not be possible by the McDonald. Later fielder has developed three contingency dimensions which should be taken in consideration as these will define the key situational factors of any firm. These three contingency dimensions are given as Leader-member relations: this defines the relationship within the employees and their leaders. This dimension also shows the degree of confidence, respect and trust the members have on their leaders. Task structure: this dimension enables the leader to know that which job assignment should be structured and which should not be structured. Position power: this dimension describes the power of the leader such as power of hiring, firing, promoting and salary increase. According to fielder view, the more the better relation within the leader and the employee, better will be the structure of an organization. The stronger the position of the leader in the firm, the more he/she will has control over the employees. In matching leaders and situations, the fielder proposed that task-oriented leaders can work better in situation in which the circumstances enhance the task orientated nature of the leaders. For instance fro task oriented leaders, a better structured and manages system will work better. Moreover, the more the power given to the task-oriented leaders, the more they can achieve their task efficiently and quickly. Cognitive resource theory Fielder with his co-worker Joe Garcia re-conceptualized the above mentioned theory and suggests a new theory that is named as cognitive resource theory. According to this theory, they two suggest that the stress actually influence the situation and leadership quality but experience and intelligence can lower this stress that influences the leadership quality. Rationality actually affected by this stress because this affects the logical and analytical thinking of the leaders. But they also suggest that the intelligence and experience of the leaders can help them to minimize this stress. According to this concept they suggested three conclusions Directive behaviour result the good performance only when the high intelligence is linked with the low stress. In high-stress situation, the link between the job experience and performance become very positive and strong The intellectual abilities of the leaders when matched properly with the group performance, it leads to a low stress situation. Hersey and Blanchard’s situational theory This theory was developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard and is named as situational leadership theory. According to Stephen P. Robbins (2001) â€Å"Situation leadership is a contingency theory that focuses on the followers. Successful leadership is achieving by selecting the right leadership style, which Hersey and Blanchard argue is contingent on the level of followers, readiness.† Book: (organizational behaviour, 9th edition) p. 322. The main emphasis is on focusing the followers and readiness. Focusing on followers means that actually the leadership style depend on the followers, what type of leadership style they want. Readiness means the willingness and ability of the followers and people to accomplish any task. Hersey and Blanchard developed four leader behaviours that are from highly directive to highly laissez-faire. Whereas according to them the most effective behaviour always depends on the follower’s ability and motivation. According to these two studies, when the followers are unable and unwilling, then task-oriented behaviour and leadership is required that lead such followers to accomplish different tasks. But on the other hand, when the followers are willing to do work and are able than the relationship based leadership would be a better choice. Taking McDonald in consideration, the Chinese employees are very able and willing to work hard; therefore, the relationship strategy would be a better choice for the McDonald chain in the china. Where as in US the McDonald has to seek the types of employees in different regions as not all the employees and followers in US are able and willing to work hard. Leader-member exchange theory According to this Fred Luthans (2001), leader usually under pressure form different in-group and out0group. In0group followers are those which are preferred by the leader more, they are more close to the leaders as these people are more efficient. With time, the leaders come to know that which of the followers are more efficient, have competencies and are more able than other. This helps the leaders to form the in-group and out-group formation. In in-group followers the relationship of the leaders are different than out-group. The leaders are more friendly and dependent on the in-group and have relationship leadership. Where as, with the out-group the leaders usually adopt the task-oriented leadership behaviour. These in-group people have personalities and are efficient to provide higher performance, more output and extra working rather out-group people. This differentiation of eladers helps the leader to adopt different leadership strategies with these followers. This situation is m ostly seen in different organization. Therefore, it is advisable for the McDonald to adopt such behaviour in US but when working in China, such behaviour is not advisable as this work on equality and hypocrisy is what Chinese hates. Therefore, it is advisable for the McDonald to achieve the in-group and out-group strategy in US but working in china, the McDonald has to take care of their employees and must provide efficient relation with all employees. Path Goal Theory Robert House path goal theory in contingency model provides an efficient way for the leaders. According to this theory, the leader must provide efficient assistant to the followers so that they can achieve the goals according to the firm objectives. The leaders must lead the followers efficiently to keep them on the track for achieving the particular goals. According to Robert House, there are four different styles of leadership that a leader must adopt Directive leaders: the strategy states that the leaders should direct their followers efficiently so that their sub-ordinates and followers can achieve the specified goals. They should provide them efficient schedule and guidelines to accomplish their tasks Supportive leader: according to this, the leaders must be supportive for their followers so that they can be friendly enough to support them at their difficulties. Participative leader: the leaders should take suggestions from the followers and sub-ordinates so that they together can make a better decision. Achievement –oriented leaders: these are the leaders that provide challenges to their followers and expect from them that they can provide the high level performance to these tasks. According to Robert, environmental contingency factors and subordinates contingency factors affect on these four leadership styles. The leaders can adopt different leader’s styles among these four styles according to the environmental factors and subordinated factors. The leader can choose different strategies among these according to the situation. A leader must have these styles that can be changed with time and situation. This white paper suggest that the McDonald top management should also adopt this strategy in which different leadership styles can be adopted with time and situation while working in china and America. Leader participate model Philips Kotler (2003) argued that leader participate model describes that leader should participate in any problem and decision making when required. It is advisable that the leaders can provide a set of rules and followers should adopt these rules. While major problem solving and decision making must be given to the middle level and lower level managers. This is suitable for the top management. The top management of McDonald are advised that they can provide the set of rules but rest of decision making and problem solving authority should be given to the managers so that they can decide accordingly. It is noticed that leaders are some time irrelevant in aiming decision making. Moreover, in globalization of firm, the top management can not understand the situation at each step and at each region. Structural theory Peter Ferdinand Drucker (2007) stated that structural theory describe that what type of structure a firm must adopt while working at global level. Either too many hierarchies would be a better choice, or a flat organization. A simple organizational structure is better than a bureaucracy. Team working would a better choice or the centralized decision making would be the better choice. Weber describes that when a firm working at global level than the bureaucracy would be the better choice. In bureaucracy, division of labour clearly defines rules and regulations and impersonal relation ship is used to from a clear structure. Therefore, McDonald is advised to adopt the bureaucracy structural model when it seeks that the employees are not able and unwilling to do work. In such situation bureaucracy is the better choice. While working in China, it is preferable to adopt team working organizational structure in which the leadership strategy must be based on relation ship. Different teams should be made at each department and level that together work for the organization. A complete structure of the organization defines that how much power should be given to each employee, how the conflict will be solved and who will solve this, what will be the matrix of the organization. Conclusion McDonald while working in China must consider their ethics and values and most adopt the strategies that they usually used. The firm while working in UIS or china should adopt leadership strategise according to the region in which they are working. The more they are according to the employees expectations, the more they will gain the satisfaction. The above mentioned four leader’s styles must be adopted by their leaders in order to provide sufficient leaders qualities with change in time and situation. References Charles W.L. Hill, Gareth R, Jones (2003) â€Å"Strategic Management† 6th Edition Fred Luthans (2001) â€Å"Organizational Behavior† edition 9th Stephen P. Robbins (2001) â€Å"Organizational Behavior† edition 9th Peter Ferdinand Drucker (2007) â€Å"Management† 1st edition Philips Kotler (2003) â€Å"Marketing Management† Eleventh edition

Cold War and Its Effects Essay -- World History

The end of the cold war signified a new era of history that has changed the entire world. The face of Europe and Asia has changed dramatically. Vast changes have been felt socially, politically, and especially economically. Also the effect the cold war had on foreign policy was paramount. The effect of these changes is not only felt across the ocean but can be felt here in America. The goal of this paper is to define what the cold war specifically was, and reflect upon the various choices throughout the world as a result of the end of the cold war. The cold war was a period of time in which the United States was the world power in the western world. The Soviet Union (now Russia) was the leading power in the eastern world. While this would seem typical in any planet to have two world powers this case is extremely interesting because they had different governmental structures that were completely the opposite. On one hand there was America. We are a free market economy that is defined as being capitalist. Capitalism is a social and political system that means every person must fend for themselves. This is true economically and politically. Each individual has the ability to do whatever they choose with their life. They can make their own choices, and move wherever they want. While there are laws, the government has no say so over things that we take for granted everyday such as freedom of expression, religion, the right to bear arms, and even march down the street in support of the Ku Klux Klan if you so choose! The Soviet Union at that time was represented by a form of governmental control called communism. Communism was formed by a man named Karl Marx. The belief is that the government should control ev... ... It all comes down to choice. After the Cuban missile crisis ended both superpowers realized the severe consequences of nuclear war. They knew the implications involved, and religion was not the issue. The Russian government suppressed it to an extent. It was humanity. What good would it do to blow up the earth? What good did it do to drop atomic bombs on Japan? Imagine what Bush felt on Sept. 11 and the choices he made to vow that this would not happen again. These are all choices that countries think about everyday, and the cold war is the latest and most powerful example of something that almost ended the world. References: http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/03so/03sowall.htm, "After the Cold War", by Mitchell B. Wallerstein, 11 pages. Twentieth Century World History, by William J. Duikker, 1999, Wadsworth Publishing, page 337 and page 166.

Employment Discrimination Essay -- Gender Discrimination

Issue 1. Did ABC advertising discriminate against Jean on the basis of sex when they failed to promote her? 2. Did ABC discriminate against Jean because of her religious beliefs and practices? 3. Did ABC discriminate against Jean because of her national origin? Brief Answers 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ms.Riyadh has not proved enough evidence to conclude that ABC discriminated against her because of her sex. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes, Ms. Riyadh has some strong evidence that a reasonable jury might conclude that she has been discriminated against because of her religious beliefs. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No, Ms. Riyadh hasn’t any proof of being discriminated against because of her national origin. Pg3 Statement of Facts   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ms.Riyadh has been employed as a account executive by ABC Advertising since 1978. ABC Advertising is a national marketing and advertising firm specializing in domestic and international advertising. She was hired by ABC after receiving her M.B.A with honors from the University of Michigan. While being employed by this company she has won three national awards.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ms.Riyadh feels that ABC has illegally discriminated against her. She alleges that it is company practice to promote employees from within. She states that each year she has received â€Å"outstanding performance† evaluation ratings since she has been employed there ABC has never given her a promotion and has repeatly pasted her over for any.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ms. Riyadh claims that all the male employees hired between 1978 and 1988 in same classification as she is have received a promotion from one to four times, and they also earn higher salaries. None of these employees have won any awards and are marginal employees. Ms.Riyadh says only three women have been promoted since she was hired, but men do outnumber women in all positions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At a preliminary inquiry ABC’s response to Ms.Riyadh’s allegations were that she was not promoted because she doesn’t â€Å"fit the image† that is right for the higher positions. They claim that the higher positions have high visibility, require extensive travel and have increased client contact which include presentations before corporate and professional groups. Although ABC states that Ms.Riya... ...9 F. Supp. 2d 844, 855; 2000) Plaintiff did not show that his employers refusal to give him a light- duty assignment was because he was a Jew. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ms.Riyadh has proved that she is a good employee ABC doesn’t dispute this fact. She has shown that she is qualified for the administrative position. Ms.Riyadh has not proved enough evidence that she was discriminated against because of her sex or gender. Nor has she prove enough evidence that her national origin played a role in not being promoted . I feel that she has provided enough evidence of being discriminated against due to her religious beliefs and practices. A reasonable jury would likely conclude that ABC legitimate non discriminatory reason for not promoting Ms.Riyadh is merely pretext and that her failure to believe in drinking alcohol and eating certain foods would not interfere with a higher position with ABC. Pg11 Reference: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  www.lexis.com †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  www.eeoc.gov.com †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  www.findlaw.com †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Legal Research and Writing for Paralegals by Deborah E. Bouchoux