Divorce, the Cause and Effect

The divorce rate in America is at an all time high with approximately 41% of the first time marriages and 60% of second marriages ending in a divorce, which I am a statistic of both. Two major causes that lead to a rise of divorce rates is lack of communication and financial problems; the overall effect of a divorce is a person’s general happiness. One of the primary reasons why people cannot stay married is a lack of communication. Communication is a vital element in a marriage couples need to discuss their problems with one another. If a couple does not discuss how they feel, their spouse will never understand what they are feeling. Open communication will allow each other to know the situation he/she does not like, so that maybe they will be more considerate of the others feelings, and will adjust to accommodate the other spouse. We should also listen to what our spouse is trying to tell us; sometimes we hear, but we do not listen. For example, if we find ourselves arguing over the same topic over and over again, that means one of us was not listening. Communication is a vital key to a successful marriage and without communication; the marriage is doom to fail. I can personally attest to this. I have been married three times, the first was a cause other than communication, but the second was defiantly due to the lack of communication and one not being able to accept what the other one was saying. The second cause of divorce is financial problems. Sometimes when there is financial hardships due to the loss of a job, economy, or illness, a spouse will lose control oppose to keeping their composure and supporting a loved one. Just because you spouse got laid off from work does not mean that everything is going to crumble. This is the time a spouse should be supportive of the other spouse in a new job search. If the financial problems are due to over spending and living beyond one’s means, then the two spouses shall sit down and discuss their spending habits and ways to correct the problem. Effects of a divorce can be general happiness. Some people after a divorce can be severely depressed because they feel they have lost everything. People realize the places and things they used to do were as a couple. A person feels isolated and alone at a married friends house, a person especially females no longer feel the financial stability, and security. Some people need a companion all the time; so the loneliness leads to depression and they cannot cope without having someone with them, leading to medication or alcohol to try to overcome the depression. In conclusion, I believe that if a couple communicates with each other and will support one another financially through difficult times they will have a successful marriage. If a person has a successful marriage, then they should be a happier person. The divorce rate would be lower if people would sit down and take the time to realize what they want and what their spouse wants. Before a couple gets married they need to learn to communicate and be financially supportive of each other, then that is when a couple knows that they are ready for marriage.

The Significance of Cultural Differences for Foreign Companies

My essay is about significance of cultural differences for international companies which want to set up a business in China. To do a clearly demonstration, I break it down into 3 parts: First is an example that the culture differences affect international companies in China; Second is the significance of these cultural differences; Third is how the companies would overcome them. For the first part, there will be examples of international companies which set up a business in China. As we know, since China joined the WTO in 2001, many foreign companies were attracted by China’s huge market and lower labour cost. But some of them experienced hard times when they came into Chinese market. The unfamiliar of the cultural difference is a very important factor. From their experience, we can have a direct impression of how the culture differences would trouble for foreign companies in China. Second part is very important. As I choose China as the country. I will try to show some Chinese features, which are the Chinese cultural difference from others. I will to analysis why the cultural differences are significance and what effects they will cause. Real evidence will be given to support my idea. The third part is most critical, because it is not enough for us just know about the problems. We should find out ways to solve them. I will from four parts to demonstration, and try to cover the ways which can both improve the ability of foreign companies to deal with cultural difference in China as possible as I can. Example that the culture differences affect international companies in China: Looking back at past, we can find that China has been the first place of absorbing international capital in all developing countries for nearly 18 years. Since China joined the WTO in 2001, many international companies had been attracted by China’s huge market, lower labour cost, preferable government policies for foreign investors. But in fact, we can easily find some of them had come across a hard Why KFC had a better development than McDonalds? The reason is KFC was more careful to deal with culture difference in China. Before the year 2004, the McDonalds focus their customer group on children, and then parents and young people. Meanwhile, KFC focus on young people, then children and parents. We cannot say McDonalds strategy was wrong, because it brought great successful for it in USA. But it is not suitable in China. A survey made by China Chain Operation Association (CCFA) showed that no matter in the ratio of customers number or the ratio of money consume, the young people account for more than 60%. After 2005, McDonalds push-off its new series called â€Å"I just like it†, and changed their strategy to young people, the situation came better. This is an example of difference of the market positioning caused by the culture difference. [3] The McDonalds’ failure was not only because of this. It also ignored that people in different culture background may have different tastes. The GADLING website (2005) [4] showed that before 2005, while KFC began to create some news kinds of foods which were fit for Chinese people’s tastes, such as the Traditional Peking Chicken Loaf, Tomato and Egg Soup, the McDonalds still insisted on its western taste hamburger. In this period, the McDonalds had to cut half price to attract customers. And there was a thing which had a very bad influence about McDonalds. The Sina website [5] has some details about it. In June, 2005, McDonalds pushed a new advertisement. One scene of this advertisement is a man kneels down to beg the McDonalds lengthen the promotion period. This advertisement caused a very bad effect. Because in China, kneel down is very important and serious thing. Chinese people think kneel down to others is a sign of lost dignity. In some countries, people may regard it just as a funny advertisement. But in China, this kind of advertisement should be avoided. This is the difference of philosophy caused by different culture. It is also which the international company should be careful. The McDonalds’ example shows us how the cultural differences affect international companies in China. Then, in the following part, I will give a more clearly demonstration based on real evidence and shows what are the China’s specificity and why the culture differences is significance for international companies in China. Significance of cultural differences in China Culture is a very widely identity. For a company, we usually consider two main parts: the national culture, and the corporate culture. So when talk about Chinese culture’s influence to international firms, I will include both Chinese national culture and Chinese corporate culture. For Chinese national culture, we need to consider many parts, such as the philosophy. Because of the long history, China has formed very complete and complicated philosophy, which has a great different from western countries. Some traditional ideas are still kept in every Chinese people’s mind. A simple example is the advertisement of McDonalds mentioned above. Kneel down in China could never be a joke or used in an advertisement. Because of the influence of Confucianism, Chinese people in some parts are more conventional than western people. Some things which have a strong sex and violence implication may be forbidden by the government. The Techcn website (2009) [6] has showed that one of the reasons why Google suffer from a failure in China in 2007 is the Chinese most powerful media CCTV made it public that Google can link to some porn websites. It would be a common thing in some countries, but in China, this let Google at the disadvantage. â€Å"Abstract, Characteristics of national cultures have frequently been claimed to influence the selection of entry modes† (Bruce Kogut) [7]. After these years of developing, Chinese market has formed its own potential market culture. It means the sales models which are successful in other countries may not work in China. To take Best Buy for an example, as the world chain electronics giant, the Best Buy didn’t have a satisfactory performance in Chinese market. An report on Netease website (2010) [8] shows that after Best Buy opened the first shop in China in 2006, it only opened 7 shops in the following 4 years. And in the 2009, while the Best Buy had done a good job in global market, which has about 45 billion dollars sales, it didn’t make a profit in Chinese market. One important factor is Best Buy insisted on its traditional model, decorated the shop and hired the sales promotion person by themselves. But in China, these things are always hand to the suppliers. This cause high cost for Best Buy and also caused for discontent of the suppliers. The suppliers in China were not like the ways which Best Buy play down the publicity of product brands, while enhance the publicity of its own brand. If Best Buy can not get the support of Chinese suppliers, its failure is an understandable result. This kind of potential market rules are critical but easily to be ignored. How to overcome cultural differences After discussed the significance of cultural difference, and the bad effects they will make, we should try to find ways to overcome them. To deal with this, I will from 4 parts to analysis. First is the foreign companies should find a suitable management mode. The reason of some foreign companies failed in Chinese market was their management mode didn’t adapt to Chinese market to a large extend. Like Best Buy I had mentioned above, even though its management mode had been proved successful in North America. It didn’t work well in China. In my personal view, the main advantage of foreign companies is their tremendous capital and their foreign background. So when the foreign companies enter Chinese market, they can learn the management mode which Chinese native companies have. Then they can use their advantages to have a foothold in the Chinese market, and continuing complete their management mode based on their improved understanding about Chinese market. Second is the companies should do clearly and comprehensive market research before they come into Chinese market. The researches which are just about the market prospect are not nearly enough. They should investigate other things like Chinese culture, government policies, the operating mode of market. These kinds of research can provide the companies much more clearly understanding about Chinese market. At least they will not make some silly mistakes when they enter Chinese market. Third is about the employ of staff. To employ staff, the companies can give priority to overseas students and the people who had the experience of working in other foreign companies. These kinds of people are more easily to adapt to the different kinds of culture in the companies. Meanwhile, they can deal with things based on Chinese practical situation, which means more efficient in sometimes. And in my opinion, the top level of the company’s Chinese branch should have at least one Chinese people, it is not only because he or she has a deeply understand about China, but his or her personal networking with others can bring some help for the company. It is also kind of Chinese specific culture, networking with others sometimes are as important as own strength. The last one is staff training and internal management [10]. The foreign company should pay attention on the training of staffs. For the Chinese staffs, the training should include the part of training them to adapt the company’s culture and ways to deal with things. For the staffs from the home country, the company should train them about the Chinese culture, at least the part in relation to their professional business. And the internal management should consider about Chinese people’s value view and norms, it should be more humanization and can provide the staffs a more stable life, that’s what most of Chinese people desirous. Conclusion: To summarise, the cultural different is a very important problem which troubles most of foreign companies. For these companies, the incomprehension of Chinese people’s and market’s view about value and norms is one of the factors which limit their development in China. Things like the potential market culture of China; the cultural conflicts inside and outside the company; the different taste and tendency for Chinese people had brought a lot of problems for the foreign companies. That’s why some foreign companies which are very strength didn’t perform well in China. To overcome those problems caused by the cultural difference, the companies should do clearly and comprehensive researches for different parts of China and Chinese culture, and they should not overconfidence about their management mode even they are successful in other countries. Meanwhile, the companies should try to employ the people who are familiar about China. It can help the companies blend in Chinese society and market. The companies should also enhance the training of both Chinese staff and staff from home country. It will reduce the conflict between two cultures in the company. A humanize internal management mode and treatment which can provide staffs more stable life will also be helpful to attract Chinese people and reduce the rate of job-hopping.

Business Environment of Reed Elsevier

Business Environment of Reed Elsevier The following report details the findings of our research carried out on the business environment of Reed Elsevier PLC. We have incorporated strategy analysis tools such as SWOT, Porters 5 Forces Framework and Financial Analysis to aid us in analyzing all the relevant internal and external factors that play important roles in shaping Reed Elsevier’s business environment. 1.1 Introduction Reed Elsevier is a leading provider of professional research information to organizations around the world. It publishes journals, books and databases and manages exhibitions and events. Its well-known titles such as New Scientist and The Lancet – appear both in print and online. Reed Elsevier has a worldwide customer base working in many fields, including science, research and the law, as well as in public and academic libraries and commercial organizations. This includes around 11 million scientists who access information direct from Reed Elsevier’s ScienceDirect database, whi ch is the world’s largest online library of full-text research papers. Reed Elsevier was formed in 1993 when the businesses of the British Publisher Reed International and the Dutch publisher Elsevier NV merged. The company now operates in more than 200 locations worldwide with annual revenues for 2010 being  £6 billon. To enable the business to focus on specific customer needs, the company has five divisions. They are Elsevier, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, LexisNexis Legal & Professional, Reed Exhibitions and Reed Business Information. 1.1.1 Elsevier Elsevier is the world’s leading provider of scientific and medical information and serves scientists, health professionals and students worldwide. It annually produces over 200,000 new research articles in over 1,100 journals every year, with ScienceDirect, its flagship electronic solution accessed by over 11 million users. Elsevier’s contribution to the total revenue of Reed Elsevier for the year 2010 amounts to 3 4% while it is accountable for 46% of the group’s total operating profit as shown in the pie charts below. 1.1.2 LexisNexis Risk Solutions LexisNexis Risk Solutions provides data and analytics to enable its customers to evaluate and manage risks associated with transactions and improve performance. It is also a leading provider of work flow solutions that combine proprietary, public and third party information, analytics and advanced technology. These solutions assist customers in evaluation, predicting and managing risk and improving operational effectiveness, predominantly in the US. Its contribution to total revenue is 15% while it accounts for 23% of the groups operating profit during the last financial year. 1.1.3 LexisNexis Legal & Professional This division is charged with providing content and information solutions for the legal and other corporate markets with a customer base in over 100 countries. LexisNexis Legal & Professional provides resources and services that inform decisions and increase productivity within organizations. For the year ended 31 December 2010, this division contributed 28% towards the group’s revenue while its contribution towards operating profit was 15%. 1.1.4 Reed Exhibitions Reed exhibitions contributed 11% and 10% towards group revenue and operating profit respectively during the year 2010 and was responsible for the staging of over 460 events in 36 countries which brought together over seven million active participants worldwide in 2010. 1.1.5 Reed Business Information Reed Business Information provides business information, online data and marketing solutions. Through industry critical data services, lead generation tools, over 200 community and job sites and more than 200 premier business magazines, Reed Business Information provides valued information to professionals and an effective channel for advertisers. It was responsible for 12% of group revenue in 2010 and 6% of the groups operating profit.

Higher Education and Long-Term Economic Growth Essay

Higher Education and Long-Term Economic Growth - Essay Example As the study highlights  the most vastly acknowledged gains from postsecondary learning are the economic advantages that individual graduates obtain in terms of better lifetime earnings. However, it is simply the individuals who have gone to college who benefit. The greater community also gains. Not only do graduates are increasingly taxed   on their characteristically greater earnings, but they in addition tend to have greater health, depend less upon the government social plans, are less probably to be confined, and are more possibly to engage in civic activities. In reality, each form of benefit amounts to others, creating a flow of privileges from postsecondary learning.   Many researches underestimate the privileges of higher education since they do not integrate the societal privileges, in realty, analyst’s project that the average rate of return projections utilized to calculate the privileges of rising education may capture just three fifths of the full value of learning.  This paper declares that  some of the extensive advantages created by college educated citizens are comparatively effortless to enumerate. Others are more slanted but uniformly or even more essential. Experimental communal privileges incorporate many that are connected to the economic benefits enjoyed by college graduates.  Even inside earning groups, persons with more learning details that they are in tremendous or very good health.  Projections assert that the government plans between $800 and $2, 000 annually less upon social plans.

Careers in Finance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Careers in Finance - Assignment Example Cooperate finance professionals must integrate perfect mastery of management structures to withstand global business challenges such as competition. Negotiation skills are equally necessary for corporate finance professionals. Some companies prefer centralized functions for corporate finance functions. Professionals should expect to work in an environment of shared services. Professionals should be team-oriented to work best in environments of decentralized services. Corporate finance professionals serve in a challenging work environment that demands high proficiency levels. Global nature of operations for most companies makes it disadvantageous to operate as a corporate finance professional. Investment banking job entails advising companies and governments issues regarding financial securities. It aids investment by performing the following functions to the investors; help the investors to purchase securities, manage their financial assets, trade securities, and provide financial advice to them. One must offer concrete explanations on matters concerning financial security to the companies, government, or potential investors (Careers in Business 1). A career in money management involves analyzing market trends in the sectors as the stock market. Success of money managers depends on the choice of technique employed. Some successful money managers employ use of simple intuition while other uses quantitative techniques. Besides the aforementioned techniques, success in money management requires unique skills, discipline, acceptance of defeat, and broad-mindedness. The main operational fields available for money managers involve corporate bonds, agency securities, mortgaged-backs, or market stocks. Choice of a starting point in investment management may be a difficult task and an individual needs to identify the best money managers. The best starting points are insurance companies, bank trust, and state and local pension

Chlamydia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Chlamydia - Research Paper Example In addition, it affects both men and women. Additionally, about 30 to 50 percent of the women in the United States have been exposed to the bacterium at one point in their life. Additionally, Chlamydia ascends to the upper genital tract if left untreated in about 40 percent of the cases. As a result, C. trachomatis is known to be one of the major causes of acquired infertility. Generally, due to the high prevalence and adverse complication of untreated infections Chlamydia remains a major public health problem in industrialized countries (Dean, et al., 2009). As aforementioned, Chlamydia is transmitted from one individual to another through oral and sexual contact. Penetrative sexual intercourse is the primary mode of transmission. Chlamydia is transmitted through the vagina, anus, and oral sexual intercourse with an disease-ridden partner (Malhotra, Sood, Mukherjee, Muralidhar, & Bala, 2013). Infected individuals are the reservoirs of the infection. According to Breguet (2006), Mother to Child Transmission (MCT) can occur during vaginal delivery. In addition, conjunctivitis can occur on the occasion that a person touches his or her eyes with infected hands. The infections occur in the urethra, cervix, throat, rectum, eyes, throat, penis, and cervix (Breguet, 2006). According to the CDC (2007), a quarter of the females infected and half of the males do not present with any symptoms. In this regard, it is referred to as the ‘silent’ disease. However, in the population that presents with symptoms, they usually occur within 1 to 3 weeks after infection. Additionally, the symptoms tend to present differently in both men and women. The urethra and the cervix are the major organs affected in women. After an infection, women present with symptoms such as abnormal vaginal discharge and pain when passing urine. An infection of the cervix and fallopian tubes is characterized by symptoms such as pain during copulation, abnormal vaginal bleeding, abdominal pain,

Europe in the Early Middle Ages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Europe in the Early Middle Ages - Essay Example It was very awful that during this period, a mysterious disease attacked many individuals killing around 20 million2. This disease spread very fast since it was transmittable from one individual to the other and hence was very difficult to prevent it from spreading. After the fall of the Roman empire, the Catholic Church united people and with time, Charlemagne’ empire became the Holy Romans’ Empire. Additionally, during this period, the Islamic religion became very great and powerful since the death of their prophet, Muhammad. There were also many books and articles written on Islamic Religion. Consequently, it became almost three times larger than before. Additionally, there were also mass crusades by the Christians, whose main intentions were to expel and fight the Muslims3. However, they did not succeed in the end. In the beginning of this period, Feudalism scholars governed Europe. The peasants performed most of the work and were promised protection by this system4. They also experienced a hard time since they could not leave without permission without approval by the

The Equality Act 2006 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Equality Act 2006 - Essay Example They are aimed at making the most of the talent in the workforce – rather than excluding or marginalizing sectors of the workforce, which was happening universally prior to government intervention in the 1970s and since: â€Å"The general duty places a proactive responsibility upon all public bodies to ensure that their services, practices and policies are developed with the different needs of women and men in mind. This will lead to a more inclusive society with high quality contemporary services - targeted to meet the specific needs of men and women.†2 Interestingly, this Act has already brought legal challenges. On 21 March 2007 the House of Lords refused to remove the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007, which came into force on 30 April. Catholic adoption agencies had routinely refused to place children with gay couples. The government gave the Catholic adoption agencies an additional 21 months to prepare, but as Baroness Andrews told the House: â₠¬Å"At present there are 116 separate pieces of equality legislation in force - 35 Acts, 52 statutory instruments, 13 codes of practice, and 16 European Commission directives and recommendations. They come with 2,500 pages of guidance.†3 It is expected that a forthcoming European Union Directive will require further legislation that will seek to provide redress for those discriminated against in the provision of goods and services on the grounds of gender reassignment. "Even the most well-intentioned businesses, and there are an awful lot of them, dont know when theyve complied [with the existing laws]. Its almost impossible unless you have vast armies of bureaucrats." 4 Mr Phillips alleged that many businesses resented the waste of time and money involved in being taken to an Employment Tribunal.

Medical law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Medical law - Essay Example Therefore a breach of duty has also occurred and what this means is that the expressed or implied contract between this doctor and patient has been violated (Brooten 1987, p. 1). For example when Dr. Evil failed to read any of the instructions about the medication that he prescribed to the patient he violated the contract of duty between himself and the patient. This shows extreme negligence on his part and the tort law that covers this area would define this as being valid and providing burden of proof. Due to the fact that negligence has become such a profound problem within the field of medicine in the UK in the past decade the tort laws have become very strict on the specific care of patients as well. Therefore, in today’s society, it is found that the GP’s duty is fundamentally suppose to provide reasonable and dignified care, skill and judgement in the basic practice of his or her profession and when negligence does appear then they are suppose to take full responsibility for the adverse outcomes placed onto the patient in their care. Dr. Evil will thereby have to answer for wrongfully not following the guidelines that were implied in the drug combination he gave to his patient. This case is somewhat similar to Adderly v. Bremner which defined the GP in this case as being negligent in not having changed syringes to vaccinate 38 patients. What occurred instead was the GP used one main needle for every two patients which promoted the idea of liability onto this GP. This is due to the fact that some of the patients were infected with septicaemia (blood poisoning) due to this judgemental error by the attending GP. It also defines the fact that the GP did not provide the required standard of care that was expected of him by the patients. In retrospect it would seem that any reasonable GP would have in fact changed the syringes after each patient to avoid the adverse consequences which

Memory Essay Example for Free

Memory Essay 1. What is primary memory? What are the characteristics of primary memory? It has long been noted that it is possible to hold some information in mind for a brief period of time. In the late 1950s, researchers began to think that such brief memories might be supported by the primary memory. The three characteristics of primary memory are: forgetting (caused by both interference and decay); the format in which the information is coded (in terms of sound, visual appearance, and meaning); and the amount of information that can be held, or capacity (which depends on the type of information). Much (but not all) of the forgetting from primary memory occurs due to interference. Proactive interference occurs when older learning interferes with new learning. In retroactive interference, later learning interferes with earlier learning.   It appears that material can be coded in primary memory in at least three ways: visuospatially, acoustically (in terms of sound), and semantically (in terms of meaning). There is also evidence for a primary memory component that can store tactile memories—that is, how things feel on the skin—but not much research has been directed toward that representation (Harris, Miniussi, Harris, Diamond, 2002; Romo Salinas, 2003). Around the turn of the 20th century, researchers began to use the digit span task to measure the capacity of primary memory. 2. What is the process of memory from perception to retrieval? What happens when the process is compromised? The perception of primary memory occurs in manifold ways. Much of it consists of our knowledge of what words mean, about the ways they are related to one another and the rules of communication and thinking. This kind of memory, which makes use of language possible, is semantic memory; while primary memory can also consist of episodic memory which is organized with respect to when certain events happened in our lives. It is a record of what happened to us and does not lend itself to drawing of inferences. The storing of primary memory occurs in various ways. One of them is organizing and arranging the input so that it fits into existing long-term memory categories, grouping in some logical memory, or arranging in some other way that makes â€Å"sense†. The organizational encoding may be inherent in the input itself or it may be supplied by individuals as they learn and remember new things. Imagery also plays an important role in storing of information into memory. One explanation for the importance of stimulus imagery in learning and storing information to memory, is that a concrete stimulus (one, for which, imagery is readily evoked in mind) provides a conceptual peg on which responses can be hung. During encoding, the to-be-remembered information, especially if it is a complex life event or something you have read, is modified. Certain details are accentuated, the material me be simplified; which is called constructive processes. One important constructive process is encoding only the gist or meaning of complex information such as what we have read in a newspaper, magazine, or book. 3. Is it possible for memory retrieval to be unreliable? Why or why not? What factors may affect the reliability of ones memory? Successful retrieval of a memory depends largely on the cues available at the time of retrieval. But sometimes, when cues will not help; the memory is simply lost. The idea that memories simply fade away with time corresponds to our everyday experience, but it is difficult to prove. It is more certain that new things you learn can interfere with things that you already know, thereby causing forgetting. The idea that memories simply fade away with time corresponds to our everyday experience, but it is difficult to prove. It is more certain that new things you learn can interfere with things that you already know, thereby causing forgetting. Forgetting can occur because (a) you don’t have the right cue for retrieval, (b) the association between the cue and the target memory is compromised in some way, or (c) the target memory itself is lost. There is some evidence supporting each mechanism. We briefly consider the possibility that some memories are never lost.

Swot Analysis Of The Home Depot

Swot Analysis Of The Home Depot Business model: Home Depots business model, the first of its kind in the home improvement industry has revolutionized the way customers shop for home improvement products. Their business model is focusing on selling home improvement products and services to DIY, BIY, and professional customers with wide variety of products and sales associates that are educated and knowledgeable about home improvement. Well known brand name: The Home Depot, as an established corporation, has much strength behind its name. One of the largest strengths would be that of its brand recognition The Home Depot name has become synonymous with home improvement. Brand recognition is of strong significance to the consumer that provides a sense of trust to its customers. Extensive product offerings: The Home Depot is one of the leading distributors in United States. It has wide variety of merchandise including different types of building materials, home improvement supplies, and lawn and garden products. Convenience: It is no secret that if you want anything having to do with home improvement the first place to go is Home Depot. Home Depot has distinguished itself as the home improvement warehouse that has what you are looking for when it comes to home improvement. Their extensive product lines have made The Home Depot the one stop shopping in home improvement. Training Employees in Safety: The Home Depot provides a strong focus during the training of their employees on safety. New hires complete a training curriculum that is designed for their specific job type. Television Network(HDTV): Money saving device that allowed HDs top executives to get instant feedback from local managers, and allowed training and communication programs to be viewed in the stores. Price: The Home Depot is committed to competitive pricing. It often prices its products substantially below major chains. Home Depot has low price advantage due to economies of Low price scale. Service: The company uses sophisticated selection criteria to select people with a customer-friendly orientation. They also value, but do not require, experience in the building trades. Weaknesses Counterbalancing the strengths of Home Depot, it also has a couple of key weaknesses that need to be addressed. Growth: Is both a blessing and a headache for Home Depot. As they have expanded aggressively into new markets, they have seen their operating expenses rise in direct proportion with their growth in revenue. While this is would be expected in most instances. This means that Home Depot is not capitalizing on economies of scale in logistics and distribution provided to them by their market saturation strategy. Decline in Customer Loyalty: One of Home Depots noticeable weaknesses would be the declining customer loyalty. The decrease is not solely based on their customer service or product offering but that there is a strong presence of strong competition in their industry. Lowes is Home Depots number one competitor in the industry. Over time Lowes has followed Home Depots way in product/service offerings and expansion. Consumers have more choices and Lowes is continuously building on their brand recognition, which spreads the consumers thin between the two rivalries. Focus of Consumers: Home Depot focuses on the male and professional segment of the market. They should consider catering to the women and families in the market segments. Environment: Competitor Lowes is generally regarded as having cleaner, smaller, brighter, more customer-friendly store. Financials: With a new CEO, making drastic changes at HD and having expanded sharp decline in stock price, the morale of managers is down. As HD enters its nature stage, share returns have declined and management has become less enthused. Lack of Local Market Focus: HD store managers were given great freedom in customizing their stores, from merchandising choices to employee relations. Organization structure: The Home Depot former CEOs militaristic leadership style and centralized organizational Leadership style structure are main weaknesses. These are affected the performance of employee resulting in excessive layoffs. Opportunities: Because of Home Depots size they have some interesting opportunities available to them. With a solid foothold in North America, Home Depot will set its sights on other world markets to further expand and spread its business risk across many diverse world markets. Expansion will be the primary focus for growth into the year 2000. Home Depot has an opportunity in the global sourcing of their products as their scope and reach becomes global. Sourcing from other countries may significantly grow their gross margin. Home Depots Service Performance Improvement (SPI) program is due to deliver huge paybacks in productivity of night team workers. Other IT projects pose great opportunities to increase efficiency, decrease costs and further increase margins. HD is staying within its core competencies by expanding their new landscaping division. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Through a strong marketing research program, HD should fully grasp what the consumer is wanting. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ HDs specialty in home improvement and strong name recognition, will allow them to capture a large portion of this market. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ HDs EXPO Design Centers are an opportunity to expand their market niche by providing potential customers with innovative remodeling suggestions. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ As the EXPO centers enter more markets, they will be taking sales directly from stores such as Pier One, Bed BathBeyond , Sears , Williams-Sonoma and SAKS 5th Avenue. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ By specializing in high and home improvement products such as small appliances and culinary ware, patio accessories, ceiling fans and Persian rugs, people should enjoy the trendy shopping experience. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ HD is taking the initiative to update the appearance of their older stores by investing $250 million in store remodeling in the upcoming year. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ They intend to transform their somewhat outdated stores into cleaner, more user friendly stores to enhance the overall shopping experience. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Tool rental services had a significant impact on HD` s Gross Profitability. As the number of centers increase, so will gross profit as a percentage of sales. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ HD recognized a strong market potential in smaller cities surrounding large cities. By initiating the new market penetration strategy of smaller cities, HD will benefit greatly. Serving primarily to do-it-yourselfers, which is a largely recession-proof market. So, even during a recession Home Depot can survive and even make money. Offering a broad line of products that can lead to an increase in the number of customers. Restructuring management and organization is opportunity for Home Depot to improve its market Globalization value: Globalization has always two sides like to sides of coin. The positive side of globalization is to get efficiency and economies of scale and expanding market by internationalization. Innovation has opportunities and threats both. Opportunities are it allows Home Depot to leverage the space it has and display a multitude of product in warehouse setting so customer can see the products available and buy it on same visit. Leveraging the power of brand leadership through inclusive marketing campaigns that target pros and active do-it-yourself customers among both men and women. At the same time, we market opportunities for store growth expect to shape our marketing plans to capitalize on our large scale and geographic advantages. Providing customer benefits from investments in new point-of-sale systems, self-checkout, and Threats: The biggest threats that I see for Home Depot are its competitors such as Lowes, which are trying to emulate or even take a step further every strategy used by Home Depot. Wholesale outlets can also affect Home Depot by offering lower prices to professional business customers. Serving to the DIY industry can also be a threat because it is a very competitive industry and the profit margin is very low. So, if the DIY industry is not managed properly, a company might end up selling it off, like Kmart with Builders Square. Intense competition fuels business to be efficient in almost every way. Intense competition is one of the biggest threats for Home Depot right now. Home Depot has more than 25 direct competitors including Lowes, Menards, True Value, Ace Hardware, Do It Best, Sears, Target and Wal-mart. Lowes and Menards has significant market share right now. High buyer power There are high buyer power and low switching cost due to many firms in market competing among each other. Innovation The major threat of innovation is that each store must have and extremely efficient and organized warehouse supply chain operation. Globalization The negative side of globalization is different economical, political and legal condition in different nations. Different culture, people attitude and local firm also threat for firm. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in and the Economical conditions overall condition of the U.S. economy, stability of costs and availability of sourcing Weather conditions and channels, conditions affecting new store development, the companys ability to attract, train Competiton. and retain highly-qualified associates, unanticipated weather conditions, and the impact of competition and regulatory and litigation matters. Because of the competitive nature of the retail industry, Home Depots success depends on price, store location, customer service, and wide product selections. In each market that Home Depot serves there is a plethora of specialty home improvement stores that have the potential to cutting into Home Depots market share (Datamonitor). Home Depots overlap with primary competitor, Lowes, poses a potential threat. In the minds of consumers, Home Depot may be seen as interchangeable with Lowes which would in turn decrease customer loyalty. Also when a Lowes enters a market that is only served by Home Depot, Home Depots sales have a tendency to decrease by up to 15% (Datamonitor). As Home Depot and Lowes continue to compete head to head in primary markets and both continue their strategy of market saturation, the awareness of US market saturation becomes a very real possibility. According to Datamonitor, The US home center potential is valued at approximately 3,500 stores. With Home Depot and Lowes opening a combined 300 stores a year, the industry could reach saturation in the next few years. Because of the competitive nature of the retail industry, Home Depots success depends on price, store location, customer service, and wide product selections. In each market that Home Depot serves there is a plethora of specialty home improvement stores that have the potential to cutting into Home Depots market share (Datamonitor). Home Depots overlap with primary competitor, Lowes, poses a potential threat. In the minds of consumers, Home Depot may be seen as interchangeable with Lowes which would in turn decrease customer loyalty. Also when a Lowes enters a market that is only served by Home Depot, Home Depots sales have a tendency to decrease by up to 15% (Datamonitor). As Home Depot and Lowes continue to compete head to head in primary markets and both continue their strategy of market saturation, the awareness of US market saturation becomes a very real possibility. According to Datamonitor, The US home center potential is valued at approximately 3,500 stores. With Home Depot and Lowes opening a combined 300 stores a year, the industry could reach saturation in the next few years Go to Page 1 View as single page à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ HD is competing head to head with Lowes. They have been stealing HDs market share with a positioning strategy of opening stores as close as possible to HD. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Looming poor economic conditions present challenges for this retailer. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Declines in GDP growth, employment, personal disposable income and customer sentiment are a threat to HDs sales revenues in the short term. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Decreases in the economic factors would signify a worsening economy. Consumer would start a larger portion of their disposable income Questions for Discussion 1. What is your assessment of Nardellis changes at Home Depot? Which had the greatest impact? In my opinion Nardelli, during the years he was The Home Depots CEO, did an overall great job. The changes he introduced to the business model were necessary to help The Home Depot to keep growing in the right direction. The Home Depot, at the time Nardelli was appointed CEO, was a company with an old style management and operations that could have compromised the future of the company. Nardelli focused on and achieved increasing sales and profitability, by 2006 sales had doubled from $45.7 in 2000 to $90.8, and profits had more than doubled from 2000 to 2005 to $5.8 billion. Among all the changes he made, the ones that had the biggest impact were: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Geographic expansion: Nardelli brought the company to Mexico were it went from zero to number one. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Diversification: he expanded the wholesale business with the creation of Home Depot Supply, which provided products and services to professional customers. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Cost cutting measures: he centralized Home Depots merchandising and purchasing which lead to an improvement of the buyer power with suppliers and better deals extending payment terms from 30 to 45 or 50 days. He also took the decision to switch full time store employees to part time employees and to reduce the number of employees in the stores. This had actually a negative impact as it certainly contributed to the erosion of the share price during the years and it actually cost Nardelli his job. Opening to different countries, having better communication system with stores and dealing with distributors in corporate level vs. locally deals. This had more potential on getting better deals. 2. How did Nardellis changes affect profitability, labor productivity, and customer service? What metrics would you use to assess these impacts? The main change that Nardelli introduced that affected profitability was the centralization of the merchandising and purchasing. It is true that before 2000 the store managers were able to be closer to customers and to decide what products stock in the stores, but at the same time that was highly inefficient from an operational point of view, leading to a mismanagement of stock levels. Thanks to Nardellis new centralized approach the company was able to eliminate almost 20,000 unprofitable items and to introduce other higher priced, higher-end products which contributed to increase sales and eventually profits. Nardelli improved labor productivity thanks to heavy investments in information technology as the company was lagging behind its competitors. He started the Front End Accuracy and Service Transformation (FAST) initiative, through which all stores were equipped with new point of sales terminals with touch screens. Other measures taken by Nardelli that contributed improved productivity were: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Introduction of self check out registers. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Standardizing of in-store logistic activities. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Introduction of cordless scan guns. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Six Sigma Approach. As mentioned above, Nardelli actually worsen the Customer service since he started his job, mainly switching the full time store employees to part time employees. The result was that customers were unhappy about the level of customer service since the part time employees were not enough prepared as the full time workers. This eventually led to the share price erosion during the years. Some of the metrics used by Nardelli to measure the productivity were pallets per hour for the monitoring of the freight flow process and inventory velocity to measure the length of time it took for products to flow through stores. He also used other sort of performance metrics such as financial, operational, customer and people skills metrics. He definitively should have monitored closer the customer satisfaction and people skills to avoid the problems he had at the end of his career with Home Depot. Profitability increased, productivity increased however there was a decline in customer service. 3. What caused the decline in customer service? Hiring more part time employees and having military backgrounder store managers. It is hard to carry a system when you have more part time employees than your full time employees. Each employee has to attend trainings and need to practice these with the customers. In this case it would be hard to monitor improvements in part-time employees and this also effects hiring and firing process. It would take more time to find out if an employee is valuable to the company. With this on mind, having more part time employees mean more job and safety training and spending more time in monitoring and hiring process. On the other hand military backgrounder store managers can be seen as a strength however, compared to the previous managers they wouldnt necessarily have knowledge on materials to help their customers. Imagine a customer comes and asks about an item or a DIY project, even store manager has no idea about that. The Home Depot`s main competitor Lowe`s has more customer oriented service and has a refreshing atmosphere with employees knowledgeable in their interested fields.

Chasing Zero Essay -- Health, Preventable Medical Error

Chasing Zero is a documentary which was meant to both educate the viewer on the prevalence of medical harm as well as to enlighten both the public and health care providers on the preventability of these events (Discovery, 2010). The documentary expounded on the fact each year more people die each year from a preventable medical error than die due to breast cancer, motor vehicle accidents or AIDS (Institute of Medicine, 1999). Medical harm can result from adverse drug events, surgical injuries, wrong-site surgery, suicides, restraint-related injuries, falls, burns, pressure ulcers and mistaken patient identities (Institute of Medicine, 1999). Incidences of medical error have been reported in the media for many years. The most startling revelation in the documentary is how common medical errors are and how preventable they are. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported in 1999 that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year in the United States due to a preventable medical error. A report written by the National Quality Forum (NQF) found that over a decade after the IOM report the prevalence of medical errors remains very high (2010). In fact a study done by the Hearst Corporation found that the number of deaths due to medical error and post surgical infections has increased since the IOM first highlighted the problem and recommended actions to reduce the number of events (Dyess, 2009). The premise of â€Å"Chasing Zero† is to reduce the number of deaths due to healthcare harm to zero. Leading authorities on healthcare quality, such as Charles Denham, believe that all of these deaths are preventable and can be eliminated (Discovery, 2010). Dr. Denham along with the Texas Medical Institute of Technology (TMIT) are dedicat... ...vers, clinical and non-clinical leaders of hospitals and international subject matter experts. The Texas Medical Institute of Technology, through programs such as Chasing Zero, is bringing a public voice to the issue of healthcare harm. The documentary is a stirring example of the quality issues facing the healthcare system. In 2003, the NQF first introduced the 30 Safe Practices for Better Healthcare, which it hoped all hospitals would adopt (National Quality Forum, 2010). Today the list has grown to 34, yet the number of preventable healthcare harm events continues to rise. The lack of standardization and mandates which require the reporting of events contributes to the absence of meaningful improvement. Perhaps through initiatives such as those developed by TMIT and the vivid and arresting patient stories such as Chasing Zero, change will soon be at hand.

Rites of Passage in Australia :: essays research papers

Rituals act as signposts to assist us in recognizing the importance of particular passages in our lives. In an Australian context, the passage from childhood to adulthood is less formal, however, it mirrors the common structures found in rites of passage and ceremonial initiations in most cultures. The transition from secondary to tertiary education, a progression from one liminal space to another, is a process which also has structuralized social conventions; the rituals of high school graduation, the transitory period of liminality, the assimilation into university society. Society’s formal rituals serve to signpost the individual through the transitory process and to recognize the possible stressors associated with this period; to provide a path through the liminal state. The final year of secondary education, a period of life with mutual experiences for all graduates, is accompanied by a level of comradeship and recognition of common ambiguity of social role. All ‘nonliminal distinctions disappear[ed]’ (Schultz & Lavenda, 2005, p.167) as we were unified by the common rite of passage we were undertaking. Arnold Van Gennep (1960) noted that any movement within the social structure involves a temporary separation from the individual’s role in that society (Schultz & Lavenda, 2005, p167). In !Kung culture, the formalized separation during the male initiation ceremony of Choma, demonstrates the structure found universally in most rituals of social movement, as well as the necessity for a period of separation from social role (Shostak 2002, p.215). Separation from the social position of boys under the authority of the academic institution, was a process principally marked by liberation from the restraints and regulations of high school life, and an introduction to the responsibilities of manhood. The ritual of the graduation ceremony symbolizes this comradeship through the celebration of the ‘essential and genetic human bond[s]’ (Turner 1969, p.97). This bond was the social transition common to all graduates, and provided personal comfort in the knowledge that this process was natural and therefore, nobody was alone on that path to adulthood. The period of time after graduation, and the rituals associated with that time result from the liminal state of social responsibility experienced by most after graduating; lack of social role, lack of structure and potential danger are all aspects of this phase. Australian culture has labeled this group high-school ‘Leavers’, as many behavioral traits are common to this entire group. As a ‘Leaver’, ritualized behaviors are associated with the individual using ritual and communitas to cope with a new paradox; freedom and liberation from previous social restraints brings greater social expectation and responsibility.

Cellular Reproduction :: science

Cellular Reproduction Cellular Reproduction is the process by which all living things produce new organisms similar or identical to themselves. This has to happen because if a species were not able to reproduce, that species would quickly become extinct. Reproduction consists of a basic pattern: the conversion by a parent organism of raw materials into offspring or cells that will later develop into offspring. The reproductive process, whether asexual or sexual always involves an exchange in hereditary material from the parents so that the new organism may also be able to reproduce. Reproductive processes can be categorized into either asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction. Asexual reproduction is any form of reproduction that does not require the union of male and female reproductive material (sperm or egg). Most single celled organisms reproduce by the asexual process known as fission, which is commonly called mitosis. Fission is The splitting of a nucleus into two roughly equal parts accompanied by the release of a pretty large amount of energy. Interphase, the first phase of the cell cycle and also the phase before mitosis, starts as soon as the cell is born. Interphase is broken up into three phases, G1, S, and G2. During the G1 phase, the cell increases in mass except for the chromosomes, which stay the same. Protein synthesis is also occurring during this phase. If a cell doesn't divide further, it remains in the G1 phase. Next is the S phase, in which the mass of the cell continues to increase, and DNA is duplicated, and then the chromosomes divide. During the G2 phase of Interphase, the cell becomes double its mass at birth, the chromosomes beg in to shorten and coil, and the centrioles appear, the cell is now ready to enter into mitosis. In the first phase of mitosis, prophase, the chromosomes become visible and the centrioles split in half and then move to opposite sides of the cell. At this point chromosomes have formed into two chromatids separated by a structure called a centromere. Spindle fibers are barely visible. During metaphase, the second phase of mitosis, the two chromatids line up along the equator of the cell. Each chromatid has its own spindle fiber. Next comes the third phase of mitosis, Anaphase, in which the centromeres break in half, causing each of the two chromatids to start to be pulled to different sides of the cell.

Intellectual Capitalism (Swot and Industry Analysis of General Motors)

Q2) : What information is provided and how can this be useful in understanding your chosen company’s strategic situation? The profile covers many different areas that pertain to the strategy of the General Motors ranging from history to a swot anaylsis. History- the history of the firm will allow us to study how General Motors has acted to fulfill its mission in the past and thus give us clues to their future decisions. The history section of the profile basically lists all of the investments and divestment of GM since its inception in 1909.The list is too long to put into this case, but the lists shows that GM is not by any means strictly a car company. The list also shows that General Motors has been an international company for over 90 years. So strategically speaking GM is mildly protected from some shocks, but as we saw in 2009, they are not protected from very large global shocks to the automobile industry. Products and Services- The report also lists the car types of ca rs (12) and brands (11) they produce.Along with the finished automobiles they are actively involved in the inputs that are necessary for the production of the automobiles. They also provide a financial service for the automobiles. Revenue analysis- The revenue analysis section states the revenue figures for the company from the last two years also showing the percent increase. The section also breaks down these figures into different business segments such as GM North American and GM Asia.These more detailed figures can be used in conjunction with market share and growth of entire market to form a strategy plan for the company. For example if South America’s market is largely made up of local brands and growing at a very fast rate, it would be more beneficial for GM to concentrate their production and capital there instead of a saturated market like that of the United States. SWOT- This section included the most information from a strategic stand point. It includes strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats.An example of the firms strengths would be â€Å"strong market position and brand portfolio†. A weakness would be â€Å"underfunded pension funds†. Strengths and weaknesses are characteristics of the firm as opposed to opportunities and threats which are characteristics of the firm’s environment. One of GM’s opportunities is â€Å"increased demand for cars in BRIC nations†, and one of their threats is â€Å"intense competition†. The SWOT framework is used ideally to strategically take advantage of a firms opportunity with their strengths.For example, GM should use their strong brand image and profits from strong market positions around the world to fund a stronger entrance into Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Also the converse of that strategy would be to avoid weaknesses and threats to the firm. Q3): Based on the information provided, what are the three most important things you can say about your company’s industry? 1) The effect of the financial crisis on the American Automobile market. Obviously the crisis had a major effect on the automotive market, but the effect is underestimated in the news.According to the industry report in the business source complete database the amount of passenger vehicle decreased by six million units from 2006 to 2009, so even if the saturation level of the market is at the 2006 level which is very unlikely since the population has grown since then, the U. S. market has not reached the pre-crisis levels saturation. These levels paired with renewed customer confidence and the ease of attaining credit will fuel an increase in the U. S. utomobile market. Although the increase may be gradual, it is still a realistic goal for an established brand such as GM. 2) The emergence of China as the largest automobile market in the world. As a result of increasing incomes paired with sales incentive and decreased tariffs caused by China joi ning the WTO has resulted in a booming automotive industry in China. Even though the year-to-year growth of car ownership in the nation is over 30% the market has very low saturation levels.Only 35 people per 1000 own cars in China which compared to the United States, 600 per 1000, shows there is ample room for growth in the market. Most major car manufacture has a presence in the market, but political forces limit the penetration of these companies. According to report in Business source complete, the Chinese government is even pressuring domestic companies to grow and force out foreign competition. But this goal of the Chinese government cannot be realized until the smaller local manufactures can somehow combine so they may compete with larger foreign firms. ) Environmental issues are also a main concern within the industry. This issues stems from two areas Gasoline and CO2 emissions. Gasoline a major factor pertaining not only to the consumption of cars but also the type of car t hat is demanded by consumers. While the United States gasoline prices are relatively lower than other nations, car producers world-wide are still producing different cars in the wake of high gas prices. The low emission car is the new fad in the industry and has jointly led to the production of the alternative resources cars.The combination of high gas prices and threat of damaging the environment from combustible engines has increased the consumer’s demands for automobiles to run off of alternative resources. This new development plays well into the strengths of GM because General Motors is already heavily devoted to R&D. Q4): Based on the information provided, how would you characterize the company’s competitive situation? Well I think the best way to answer this question will be to separate each answer due to the three questions. ) The financial crisis almost crippled the entire U. S. automobile industry with the both GM and Ford receiving bailout money for the Unit ed States government, but the crisis could have a created an opportunity for GM. As I stated earlier, car registration is down six million since 2006 but population has not decreased so there must be a portion of the car market that wants a car but did not have the means during the financial down turn. GM may use this period of time to gain the re-emergence of this demographic to gain market share in a semi-saturated market. ) Although China has become the largest automobile market in the world, I do not think that GM has a strategic position in the market. However, GM may be able to be very profitable in because the market is growing so fast, but the fasted growing segments are luxury cars and SUV which do not create a strategic advantage for General Motors. Also, the Chinese government will heavily regulate the growth of the market as well as give every possible advantage to the domestic manufactures. 3. ) The change in demand due to environmental pressure is an interesting factor in the automotive industry.Toyota has been the market leader in electric and alternative fuels but that doesn’t necessarily give them strategic leverage in the market. The environmental pressures will just create another segment of products for the industry much like SUV or Sedans so having experience with the technologies will not necessarily create a boost in Market Share. GM’s commitment to R&D will enable them to compete, and the use of their strong brand and supply chain management will help GM gain market share. Q5) :What useful information is provided to help you understand the competitive situation of your company?The market research report listed in Business source complete was written by Marketwatch which is also the same company that produced the company profile used in the second question. Instead of a stagnant overview of the companies past this report deals with recent moves within the industry by all of the major companies within the industry. The repor t starts off with an industry update which is the details of new investments and operations of major automotive manufactures around the world. General Motors announced to invest $450 mil in additions to one of its plants in Argentina. MarketWatch: Automotive) The investment seems like a good choice for the company since the region is growing so fast. However, the article also reports BMW’s $200 mil investment into the same region so competition will be fierce in the future especially in South America. (MarketWatch: Automotive) Along with the potentially bad news from BMW, the report also includes a recall from Toyota involving over 7 mil cars globally. The recall could signal to General Motors to act quickly, so they may be able to capture market share from Toyota’s unsatisfied customers.After the industry overview, the next section is a comment on movement within the industry away from Navigation systems. The introduction of free Google Maps paired with the popularity of the cell has severely decreased the demand from in dash and even after-market navigational systems. General Motors may be able to use this information and decrease the models in production with navigational systems, so sales are not affected by unwanted accessories. The next section is simply a report featuring some of the companies’ performances.General Motors’ metrics were not reported in this issue. The report mainly included foreign companies mostly in Europe. For example, Audi’s sales increase 14%, BMW sales increase 12%, and Renault sales decrease 29%. (MarketWatch: Automotive) These figures are very useful in understanding the competitive situation of General Motors because they allow the company to benchmark it’s success against it’s competitors. Q6) What three items did you find that are most interesting to you? Why? 1) Who may be responsible for the growth of the Chinese Automotive industry?Article from Manufacturing Engineer about Ch inese manufacturing was wrong, China’s growth in production and consumption has grown faster than estimates and this could be fueled by western investment. Companies all over the world including GM wanting to capture market share in what is now the largest market for automobile in the. According GM China’s president, GM’s plan to penetrate the market is to use Chinese researchers in China. (Nick Santhanam) I found this interesting because a side effect of the penetration into the market could be the training and development of domestic researchers within China.The two problems restricting China’s automotive manufacturing industry growth are lack of graduate level researchers and a highly fractioned industry. Both of these problems may be solved by foreign joint ventures with Chinese companies. 2) I also found it strange how the market leader in this industry is the slowest to change. The companies specialize themselves to the point where there products la ck demand in the market, and their brand and market share lose value. Ford Motor Co. was the first company to mass produce the automobile and through this innovation captured the majority of the U.S. ’s market share. However, the overemphasis on mass production sacrificed choices for the consumer which allowed General Motors to penetrate the market. General Motors then gained almost 50% of the U. S. market share by the 1960’s. But the entrance of the Asian manufactures decreased their market share slightly at first. General Motors first case was about the bankruptcy of general motors and the companies revival through a government buyout and an ipo which lead to a decrease in 40b in costs at the same levels of revenue.The case asks are these profit margins and growth figure robust or are they just because the market is recovering and the company is on a short leash. Another thing that is very interesting is how slow the companies respond to market changes especially whe n they are the market leader. The article was an interview with GM China’s president. He describes how GM will penetrate the market by taking advantage of the â€Å"talent† from local universities. He believes that the best way to innovate in China is to use younger local researcher to develop products for the Chinese market. General Motors: Leading US Car Maker Emerges From Bankruptcy. (Cover Story). †Ã‚  General Motors: Leading US Car Maker Emerges From Bankruptcy(2012): 1-16. Business Source Complete. Web. 9 Apr. 2013. â€Å"SPECIAL REPORT: Automotive Manufacturing. (Cover Story). â€Å"Manufacturing Engineer  84. 6 (2005): 26-27. Business Source Complete. Web. 9 Apr. 2013. Nick Santhanam, et al. â€Å"Automotive Innovation In China: The View From General Motors. †Ã‚  Mckinsey Quarterly  1 (2012): 85-92. Business Source Complete. Web. 9 Apr. 2013.

Poverty an Pollution

In the Article Poverty and Pollution, there are many things being discuss such as poverty, pollution, harmful gases, the percentage of infant mortality and how nearly 13,000 suffer from respiratory disease. Many residents are suffering from different/variety of health problem as an result. These problems are very serious and dangerous. The people over in Brazil’s â€Å"valley of death† are having difficulties breathing and could die if there’s nothing done about the situation. As it stated in the case a reporter for the National Geographic wasn’t there an hour and started having complication, his chest began aching, the air was so polluted that the sir inflamed his bronchial tubes and restricted his breathing. You also have kids can’t go out side like normal kids because the air is so polluted they can barely breathe. Due to financial issue resident can’t afford to move. Dr Oswaldo Compos say the poor is paying the price. If so other countries should find ways to solve or even help the situation. Maybe the poor do pay the price of pollution, but there are those who believe that they should have more of it. I feel the poor should not have to suffer because of the polluting in the air. It should be safe where ever live, you shouldn’t have to live inside your homes because of this. They have to change their lives completely because due to the circumstances. I’m quite sure these residents are tired of sitting in the house? Or not being able to shop like they want, or maybe the fact taking their kids to the park? It enough that they have to deal with this but the fact of being in the house all day everyday it just ridiculous. These residents have to be cautions of everything they come in contact with. Lawrence Summer the director of the National Economic Council and formerly President of Harvard University. Summers focused on things that should be done first, second and third. He makes really good points. As he stated pollution costs rise disproportionately as pollution increase, it make sense to shift pollution from already dirty places. But who really suffers? The poor? Or the rich? You have people who agree with Summer’s and you also have some that do disagree with him as well. Some feel his idea’s are a recipe for ruin, while others thinks his idea’s are basically on the right track. Here’s a little insight on poverty: First here’s a little insight on poverty. Poverty is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution refers to the deprivation of basic human needs, which commonly includes food, water, sanitation, clothing, shelter, healthcare and education. For much of history, poverty was considered largely unavoidable as traditional modes of production were insufficient to give an entire population a comfortable standard of living. After the industrial revolution, mass production in factories made wealth increasingly more inexpensive and accessible. Or more importance is the modernization of agriculture, such as fertilizers, in order to provide enough yield to feed the population. About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. This is one person every three and a half seconds, as you can see on this display. Unfortunately, it is children who die most often. And it sadden me to hear that children are the ones that is most often die. Yet there is plenty of food in the world for everyone. The problem is that hungry people are trapped in severe poverty. They lack the money to buy enough food to nourish themselves. Being constantly malnourished, they become weaker and often sick. This makes them increasingly less able to work, which then makes them even poorer and hungrier. This downward spiral often continues until death for them and their families. The â€Å"Americans† that so many of us have taken for granted for so many decades is literally disintegrating right in front of our eyes. Most Americans are still operating under the delusion that the United States will always be â€Å"the wealthiest nation† in the world and that our economy will always produce large numbers of high paying jobs and the U. S. will always have a very large middle class. But that is not what is happening. The very foundations of the U. S. economy have rotted away and we now find ourselves on the verge of an economic collapse. Already millions of Americans are slipping out the middle class and into the devastating grip of poverty. Statistic after statistic proves that the middle class in the United States is shrinking month after month. Meanwhile, millions of American starting to wake up and are beginning to realize that we have very serious problems in our hands, but they have no idea what is causing our economic distress and they are unaware that most of our politicians have absolutely no idea how to fix the economy disaster that we have created. Hunger and Poverty: †¢ Despite years of progress against hunger, in 2010, it is estimated that 925 million people suffer from hunger. This is due to a sudden spike in global food prices and the onset of world-wide economics crisis. †¢ In 2005, the latest year for which date is available, 1. billion people in developing countries lived in extreme poverty, or less than $1. 25 a day, down from 1. 9 billion in 1981. Regional Disparities: †¢ Poverty has declined dramatically in East Asia and in India since 1981 relative to population growth. Sub-Saharan Africa has been little change in the proportion of people who live in extreme poverty between 1981 and 2005, w ith 51% of the population living on less than $1. 25 per day, down from 53% in 1981. The absolute number of people in extreme poverty has almost doubled during the same period, from 200 million in 1981 to almost 400 million in 2005. About 75% of the world’s poor people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Malnutrition: †¢ In 2008, nearly 9 million children did before they reached their fifth birthday. One third of these deaths are due directly or indirectly to hunger and malnutrition. Malnutrition is not having enough nourishing food, with adequate amounts of protein, vitamins, minerals and calories to support physical and mental growth and development. Children who survive early childhood malnutrition poor physical growth, compromised immune function, and impaired cognitive ability. Around the world, 178 million children under 5 are stunted, low height for age of all stunted children, 90 percent live in just 36 countries, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South and Central Asia. †¢ In countries with high levels of childhood malnutrition, the economic loss can be as high as 2-3 percent of GDP. U. S. Development Assistance: †¢ U. S. development assistance accounts for about 0. 2% of gross national income. Since 2000, U. S. poverty-focused development assistance has tripled, and currently totals a little over $28 billion, but this amount still represents less than 1% of the federal budget. From 1985 to 2005, U. S. development assistance to support agriculture and rural development declined from 12 percent of all official development assistance to just 3. 1 percent. We are told that globalization calls for accountability and that accountability demands uniform universal standards. That sounds reasonable doesn’t it? But what about the standardized beliefs and values? Like it or not such standards are here. There is nothing inherently wrong with standards. I would propose a plan such as countries coming together and focusing on making different co unties a better place to live. Start by cleaning up and dealing with the main issues. Poverty and Pollution is very dangerous and no one should not have to indure such tragic things. While doing and focusing on the direst issue I would find funding in helping areas such sheltering, sanitation, clothing, food, water, health as well as education. These are so important in life, people can’t function properly without this. You have people having respiratory issues due so much bad pollution in the air. I would also focus on getting teams or starting a foundation on cleaning up our communities and having a safe place to live. Many families are suffering everyday due to pollution, they are not having normal live as they should. The majors steps I would take are : How to help stop Pollution: 1. I would surf the web for solution 2. Think small ( the little things adds up) 3. Speak out!!!! Put sign up saying Please Recycle ( Tell people what you know) I would do whatever it takes to get the word out. Express idea’s that would make it better. I would also start a group and we would meek at least once a week to discuss the issue at hand.

Decision Analysis Tasks Essay

I was asked to provide a distribution pattern that minimizes shipping costs and provides adequate availability and demand. I used transportation modeling to solve this problem. Transportation modeling is â€Å"an interactive procedure that finds the least costly means of moving products from a series of sources to a series of destinations† (Heizer & Render, 2011). This tool is used to determine the best distribution pattern for multiple locations. It is best for this problem because it allows for us to determine how many products can be held at each location to give Shuzworld the lowest shipping costs. The original setup had an optimal shipping cost of $13,600. It had 1300 pairs housed at the Shanghai warehouse. Shuzworld H had 300 pairs in Warehouse 1, 200 pairs in Warehouse 2, and 1800 pairs at Warehouse 3. Shuzworld F had 2200 pairs housed at 1 warehouse. The recommended plan lowered the optimal cost to $13,400. The Shanghai plant will house 1500 shoes in Warehouse 2, with an additional 1300 shoes held in case of increased demand. Shuzworld H will hold 300 shoes in Warehouse 1, 1800 shoes in Warehouse 3, and an additional 200 shoes will be held for increased demand. Shuzworld F will have 2200 shoes held in Warehouse 1. This will allow all of the warehouses to hold enough products to meet current demand, with additional products in short shipping distance. This cuts down on shipping costs as well as time waiting on the production of more shoes. As the market demand increases, additional shoes can be delivered from the holding warehouse. The next task is to find the most reliable machine set up for the computer-driven shoe machine process. â€Å"Reliability is the probability that a machine will function properly for a specified time† (Heizer & Render, 2011). In order to provide reliability, it is critical to provide backup systems for all computers. When operating computers fail, production can be slowed, or stopped altogether. The initial system had an overall reliability of 76%. There was no backups for any of the machines. Machine  1 had a reliability of 84%, Machine 2’s reliability was 91%, and Machine 3 had a reliability of 99%. The first possible setup, and ultimately the recommended setup, was to backup Machine 1. This led to an overall reliability of 84%. Backing up Machine 2 only gave a reliability of 82%. Backing up Machine 3 only gave a reliability of 76%. Therefore the recommendation is to backup Machine 1 and increase the reliability to 88%. The next task is to provide the optimum number of shoelaces to order, using appropriate cost balancing. The economic order quantity (EOQ) is the order amount that allows for an optimum level of materials at the lowest cost possible. There is a demand ofr 300,000 shoelaces per year. The setup cost is $125 per order. There is a $.10 holding cost per unit. The optimal order quantity recommended is 27,386.13 shoelaces per order, with a maximum inventory of 27,386.13. This means that we will order just the amount of shoelaces needed to fulfill current production orders. The average inventory is 13,693.06 shoelaces. There will be approximately 10.95 orders per year. The annual setup cost is $1,369.31, and the annual holding cost is $1,369.31. This makes the total cost per year $2, 738.61. This decision tool allows us to calculate the correct amount needed per order to ensure that we are lowering operating and holding costs, while keeping production properly stocked. The last task was to determine if Shuzworld would benefit from a one-cashier or two-cashier waiting line system. There is typically an average of 6 customers being serviced at any given time. There is typically a customer being services every 5 minutes, so the service rate is 12 customers per hour. One server is typically busy 0.5 of the time. There is usually 0.5 customers in the queue at any given time. There is 1 customer in the system at one time. This means that a customer spends 0.08 hours (5 minutes) in the store waiting to be serviced. A customer spends 0.17 hours (10 minutes) in the store making their complete purchase. This is too much time for a customer to wait and be serviced. This long wait time may dissuade sales, as customers do not want to wait to be helped or pay for their purchases. Using a two-cashier system is a more efficient option of Shuzworld. The average server utilization is 0.25, meaning that 75% of the  time, there is a server available to help customers. There is 0.03 customers in the queue at any given time, with 0.53 customers being served at one time. This means that the customer spends 0.01 hours (.33 minutes) waiting to be served, and 0.09 hours (5.33 minutes) in the store completing their purchase. This system allows the customers to get into the store, pick out their items, and pay in less than 6 minutes. This will definitely encourage future business with the company. Customers want to have the least amount of time spent in a store, and waiting for service may cause some to leave without making a purchase. This analysis tool allowed us to determine which system would provide the best times for the customers of Shuzworld. References Heizer, J., & Render, B. (2011). Operations Management (10 ed.). Prentice Hall.

An Overview of Representative Problems

Krarup & Pruzan [27] have reviewed research on traditional facility location models that aim to minimize the sum of the fixed facility location and transportation costs by choosing the optimal facility locations among given probable sites to serve a set of customers. The objective function and constraints of these models are linear, but the resulting problems are NP-complete. Melo, Nickel and Saldahna [25] have reviewed facility location models in supply Chain and they focused more on integration of location decision along with other decision variables in the supply chain design. They noted that the role of facility location is decisive in supply chain network planning and this role is becoming more important with the increasing need for more comprehensive models that capture the real life constraint scenarios in detail. Leyla, Mark & Collette [29] in their recent publication claimed first work in the logistics literature that analyzes the potential savings that can be achieved by allowing a retailer to be sourced by more than one warehouse. They have proposed to leverage information technology to maximize the potential benefits. Huang et al. [30] paid attention to the opportunity of getting lower supplier prices by locating the warehouse correctly. In that theory, the optimal locations gravitate towards locations of the suppliers offering lower prices. However, if the price variability is high, the optimal location moves towards the demand's center of gravity. In those cases, it is beneficial for the organization to keep the location near that center of gravity and pay less attention to the supplier prices and supplier locations. The Research Problem: Many business managers are intending to answer following questions in the Post GST Scenario: â€Å"Will GST implementation enable supply chain network redesigning and Warehouse consolidation? Is it possible to create economic value and competitive advantage by altering the existing network to the more efficient one?† This project aims to study possible benefits of restructuring the warehouse network for a Food product company for their North India region in post GST set up.

Gift Exchanging Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Gift Exchanging - Essay Example What actually this gift is It's a transfer or exchange of something voluntarily usually give to express one's love, solidarity, to express gratitude etc on any special occasion i.e. wedding, birthday, Christmas, anniversary, birth, father's day, mother's day etc The basic purpose behind this exchange of little things is to make your loved ones feel special and to make them feel that you care for them. But according to some people they are important in insecure relations. According to Caplow, Theodore. 1982. Christmas gifts and kin networks. Sociological Review, "What the ethnographic literature on gift giving does suggest is that ritual gift giving in any society is a method in dealing with relationships that are important bur insecure"1 Well now the culture has become advanced and as a result the gift exchange is no more a one way process but has taken the form of cycle which involves obligations to give, to receive, and to return. Endorse may exist to induce people to give, disapproval or loss of prestige resulting from a failure to do so. We can call it a moral norm but it varies from country to country for instance in Taiwan gifts like gold pen, imported liquor, gifts related to base ball, perfume, magazine subscription and anything high-tech is appreciated . In western world exchanging gifts in holiday seasons is a custom and if you become fed up of exchanging gifts people will suppose that you are a selfish person. Christmas gifts are other important features of American society. According to Caplow, Theodore, 1982 " Relationships with kin being more valued then other affiliations, it is not surprising that so much efforts goes into reinforcing them by ritual gift giving"2.. (Christmas gifts and kin networks. Sociological Review) In Japan you have to give a gift to a person in order to show respect, friendship or appreciation and in case you are meeting a person for the very first time it is necessary to exchange gifts. Moreover it is considered a rude behavior to give a gift to an individual in a group and ignore others. Another interesting fact about Japanese gift exchanging culture is that they avoid giving gifts in sets of four as the word "four" in Japanese is "shi," which is also associated with the word for death and pens are considered to be the very appropriate gift for your colleague. In Korea gifts between business associates are considered as the symbol of appreciation and the presenting expensive gift is a custom but don't present an expensive gift if the receiver is not financially strong enough to return the gift of same worth. 4 numbers is considered unlucky in Korea as well. Koreans Give and receive the gifts with both hands. Korean opens the gift in the presence of the one who presented them the gift. Chinese people often avoid exchanging expensive gifts. They avoid giving gifts in odd number as they relate it to loneliness and separation. Umbrellas and Clocks are also not considered as good gifts in Chinese civilization. Taiwan had even more interesting custom that is they avoid giving gifts with a label "made in Taiwan". They also avoid giving clocks, sweat cakes, umbrellas, scissors, mirrors, fans and hand towels as well. Business gifts are also very popular in Taiwan's culture. Moreover it is customary to reciprocate a gift with one of similar value. Numbers also play an important role in selecting gifts for example: in china 8 and

Foreign Currency Exposures of Medco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Foreign Currency Exposures of Medco - Essay Example This paper illustrates that money market hedging strategy is mainly based upon channelizing the interest rate exposures of the currencies involved i.e. the home currency and the foreign currency. Under the existing scenario, home currency is Pounds whereas the foreign currency is Euros. This strategy has the reciprocal way of dealing with the foreign currency risk in receipt and payment case. As the existing case is the receipt case, therefore, Borrow-then-invest strategy is followed. From the below-mentioned table, it can be viewed that at the first step an amount equivalent to the amount receivable in 6 months i.e. â‚ ¬500,000 are borrowed at an interest rate of 2% per annum equivalent to 1% semi-annually. The amount received from a bank is immediately converted into the amount in pounds at the spot rate of 1.2834 producing a sum of  £385,733. This amount is then invested at a rate of 4% per annum equivalent to 2% semi-annually thus producing a sum  £393,477. Forward exchang e rate hedging is mainly based upon the mechanism of locking in a pre-determined future rate at today’s rate. In another rate, when the invoice amount will be remitted, the exchange rate will not be the spot rate after 6 months rather the exchange rate will be the rate determined today i.e. forward rate. In the existing scenario, the fixed forward for 6 months is 1.2755. After 6 months, when the amount is remitted, â‚ ¬500,000 will be converted at 1.2755 which is the forward rate determined 6 months earlier and will generate a sum of  £392,003. In this way, whether the home currency is appreciated or depreciated against the foreign currency, Medco will take the forward rate as the fixed rate and either the loss or the gain will be the sole liability of the forward rate dealer. From the above two techniques, it is quite evident that the money market hedging strategy is going to yield in a higher amount i.e.  £393,447 as compared to the forward rate based hedging strateg y which will yield in  £392,003. In this way, it can be noted that money market hedging based seems more effective given the interest rates and other factors remains constant. The Board of Directors of Medco is advised to follow money market-based hedging strategy, as the same will earn a marginal benefit of  £1,444 to the company. However, the arrangement of money market hedging will require substantial efforts of management in fulfilling the requirements of the bank providing this money market hedging facility to Medco.

Hero's Journey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hero's Journey - Essay Example Pericles and Alexander the Great are two historical figures that are exemplary of the culture from which they came. Pericles was an influential statesman, speaker, and general during the Persian and Peloponnesian war. Much of the reputation of Athens for being a place of learning and culture came from Pericles’ promotion of the arts and literature. Though he did not record his speeches himself, the Greek historian Thucydides recreated many of them in his works. In Pericles’ funeral oration, he uses the occasion to not only praise those that died in the war, but to â€Å"celebrate Athens and its democratic ideas† (Western 865). He was such a prominent figure that this time period was referred to as the â€Å"Age of Pericles.† Being the prominent figure that he was, his main interest was in promoting the society of the Greeks: â€Å"Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called democracy† (867). As we can see, Pericles takes pride in his country and the ideals which he believes in and is trying to instill in other people. Alexander the Great was more ambitious than his fellow Greek Pericles. Indeed, he went undefeated in battle and conquered most of the world that was known to the Greeks by the age of thirty-two. Alexander also did not record his own life; once again the fellow Greek Plutarch took that task upon himself. As was often the case in the ancient world, if someone was to accomplish an amazing feat, then it was considered that the gods must be somehow involved and favoring the individual. This idea is present in Plutarch’s history: By this means, as it would seem, it was suggested to Dareius from Heaven that the exploits of the Macedonians would be conspicuous and brilliant,

Analysis of Plato's Allegory of the Cave Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analysis of Plato's Allegory of the Cave - Essay Example Allegory of the Cave was a work of Plato, which also means Analogy of the Cave. In this work Plato is describing the nature in education and in the wants of education. In the essay Plato is trying to bring an analogy between education and nature and how education has an impact on nature and it interpretation. It is a set of conversational dialogues between Plato’s brother Glaucon and Socrates. Plato has done a remarkable job in conceptualizing the essay from a point of view of conversation. He has gone a different path while exploring the limits of human understanding on a particular subject by progressing into a narrowed path of information. To put it down in a brief, Allegory of the Cave consists of people who have been caged to the wall of a cave where they are facing the wall and can only see shadows of people who are walking behind them with the reflection from the fire in front of them. The people never get to witness the true picture and interpret reality from the shado w view they have while facing the wall of the cave all their life. Plato then draws an analogy from this situation with respect to the life of a philosopher of his nature. He says that the life of the philosopher is very much inclined in this fashion, the only difference is that the philosopher is able to realise that what he is seeing is only shadows and not the true picture as to how it exists in reality. He finds out the truth and realises that all his life he was witness to a picture which did not exist in reality and that what he saw therefore was not true. Then he moves onto say that the philosopher is freed from this cage and then finally sees the true picture as how it stands out to be, and not the way he perceived it. Emphasis is laid on perception and Plato tries to explain from this analogy that what humans perceive is not always true and that they need to free themselves from this cage of perception which masks over the true picture in order to understand the true pictur e. The claim in this analogy is that people should be free from the State as well as any authority which is designed to lock up perceptions into the minds of the people. People should be free from such activities by any organization whatsoever, where they have the choice to look around and draw conclusions from reality rather than trading in flawed perceptions propagated by State into their minds. The author is using an emotional appeal to gather the support of his readers. He is using this tool as it looks to be the smoothest and the most subtle tool in convincing people of his idea as well as making them follow it in their own lives. In this way the people are able to connect at a very weak and high level and that is where the intensity is the maximum. Once the intensity is achieved at a very deep level which can only be propagated through an emotional understanding of the idea, the people would automatically by the work of their sub conscious would catch and implement the idea in to their minds. It is a connection of the sub conscious and that connection works only when applied at a very intense level, which includes the stretching of boundaries, therefore dealing at a weak point but at the same time strengthening it. The story revolves around an analogy which is romantic in nature. The