Customer Relationship Management For The Birmingham New Library Essay

Customer Relationship Management For The Birmingham New Library - Essay Example These strategies are vital for assessing both the internal and external environments, which are favourable or unfavourable to the successful business activities. The researcher incorporated varied marketing strategies vital for enabling the Birmingham Library to accomplish their goals successfully. The researcher provided varied recommendations which the company should take into considerations in order to achieve successful business performance. The action plan was formulated that attempted to reveal the way the objectives of the company will be achieved. Lastly, the conclusion was included that provided a concise summary of the market report. Customer Relationship Management for the Birmingham New Library Introduction The customer relationship management (CRM) has evolved as an effective approach for enabling companies to interact with their customers effectively in order to achieve their business goals successfully. CRM is a business strategy that enables the company to understand the needs of the clients, retain customers through customer experience, reduce management costs and increase profitability (Kangal, 201, p. 45). Senn, Thoma andYip (2013, p.28) defines CRM strategy as the management process accountable for predicting, identifying customers and satisfying their demanding needs for shared benefit. The CRM strategy integrates sales, services, technology solutions; thus it attempts to bring together every part of the business, which touches the client in order to achieve effective business organizational performance. The Birmingham Library is a new library, which is under construction in the Birmingham centre in England; thus employing effective strategy will enable the company to achieve their intended goals. Therefore, employing CRM strategy will be an effective means that will enable the company to assign, create and manage customer requests; thus contributing to effective business performance. The Birmingham Library will employ CRM strategy because this approach often integrates social media services in order to communicate, share customer opinions and experiences; thereby, building up successful customer relationship. Key Objectives The market report aims to examine the marketing strategies vital for increasing performance in the Birmingham Library. It analyses the internal and external factors that may

Entry barriers of Underground construction industry in Russia Essay

Entry barriers of Underground construction industry in Russia - Essay Example Market structures that are likely to be found within an industry include perfect competition, monopolistic competition, monopoly and oligopoly (Etro, 2009, p.273). While these are the most common, others like oligopsony, monopsony and price discrimination (Etro, 2009, p.275) also exist. The defining variables to each of the listed market structure acts as the source of barriers to entry in the markets. These barriers, however, vary across the markets, with some markets having substantial barriers than others. Barriers to entry are simply defined as hindrances or factors that prevent firms from entering specific markets (Edgerton, 2008, p.107). Barrier levels as already mentioned vary from one market to another, with some markets being characterized by easy access, while others remain hard to enter. For instance, pure competitive markets are characterized by free entry and exit, while monopoly markets are substantially hard to enter (Spulber, 2006, p.135-152). Sources of these barriers are diverse and dynamic over time. They are spread across cost of operation, brand loyalty by consumers, number of buyers and sellers, reaction of incumbent firms, government regulation and licencing (OECD, 2008, p.141-142). The Russian construction industry is one of the many industries in the economy that faces market entry barriers, prior to the different market structures evident in the industry. Amid the aforementioned sources of entry barriers, Porter’s five forces are critical to account for. They include rivalry, threat of substitutes, buyer power, supplier power and entry barriers (Etro, 2009, p.303). These forces account for the markets trends and business undertakings that make one market hard to enter compared to other markets. Markets that are hard to enter enjoy market powers that allow the firms operating in it set prices that are in most cases higher than competitive prices. The evaluation of entry barriers of Russian underground

Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology Today

Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology Today Chirag Patel The world has come very far with respect to technology. In reality, technology, social media, and smart phones have breached the mainstay in our everyday lives in a short period of time. Gone are the days of cassette and VHS tapes. Gone are the days of typewriters and cursive handwriting. Those outdated technologies have been replaced with tablets, smartphones, and social media websites like Facebook. The same types of technologies have found its way into healthcare. Lambert, K., Barry, P., Stokes, G. (2012) state that, â€Å"Social media has infiltrated all of our lives both personally and professionally.† For better or for worse these technologies have blended into our everyday lives with no end in sight therefore, knowing they aren’t going away and how we use them will say as much about ourselves and as society as a whole. Today’s technologies allow us to be more connected to one another. Both patients and healthcare providers have information available at their fingertips including a patient’s personal health information (PHI). On concern could be stated as such, â€Å"How safe are today’s technologies and will patient’s personal health information be compromised?† The U.S. Department of Health and Human services created HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). HIPPA is a federal law that protects medical information of patient’s and is enforced by the Office of Civil Rights. According to Lambert, K., Barry, P., Stokes, G. (2012), â€Å"The use of social media may expose professionals and healthcare entities to liability under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as well as individual state privacy laws. HIPAA, as modified by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), governs the permitted use and disclosure of PHI by covered entities, including hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers. The HITECH Act provides breach notification requirements and expands various requirements to business associates.† So why take the risks? Like anything in this world sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. A few advantages of today’s technologies and social media sites include accessibility. Patients can now play an active engagement in their health care. Social media and various apps allow an individual to do their own research on their conditions. It can give a patient a feeling of empowerment when otherwise they would feel helpless. Social media and varying apps allow for individuals to connect with support groups and message boards that can lend much needed empathy from people who are going through similar situations. We’ve heard the stories of bullying on Facebook but on the flip side there are stories of triumph and support when used in a way that garners sympathy and empathy. Facebook can be both an advantage and disadvantage depending on how it is used. Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers have advantages as well. They too can have the latest research and decision making support tools available to them at palm of their hands. Access to real time information such as the latest prescription recall or access to the most recent white paper of medical breakthroughs benefits both the healthcare provider and ultimately the patient. This collective online and mobile brain trust allow for healthcare providers to create robust medical strategies that can help in the decision making. Online and smart phone resources include mobile apps like Epocrates  ®, Medscape, and even AHRQ ePSS an app designed by the United States Department of Health Human Services (HHS). Online communities’ such as American Medical Association provide resources from varying topics including: managing your practice; medical ethics; legal issues; and career development. In general, most individuals prefer to keep their health status confidentiality hence, the patient-doctor confidentiality relationship. But with smartphones and use of social media the totality of a person’s health information could be vulnerable if safeguards are not in place. Solomon, P., et al. (2012) suggests that healthcare providers who have access to patient information made aware of strategies and facility policies in order to safeguard patient privacy. They should also be mindful and place themselves in a situation where access can be vulnerable i.e. leaving a computer on and unsecure. Solomon, P., et al. (2012) state emphatically that â€Å"Confidentiality is a legal right for clients as well as a professional ethical responsibility of providers.† A break in trust serves to weaken the relationship between the healthcare provider and the patient. Let’s go back to our original scenario. The nurse worked a night shift while her friend attended a concert. The lead singer of the concert the nurse missed is now her patient. At the end of her shift, what does she do? Our group chose the following conclusion: You go on Facebook, on your day off, and talk about the night you had at work and how you didn’t really feel as bad having to miss the concert, because you actually got to meet Jerod in person and even â€Å"Got his number!† You then post a picture of Jerod on Facebook and Instagram, figuring that most of your contacts would never recognize him anyway. It’s your day off and your personal time, so no harm, no foul, right? The scenario above is a plausible outcome in the world with which we live in. However, there are a lot of things wrong with the nurse’s line of thinking. It is not unreasonable for the nurse to think that her personal Facebook page is her private business. However, in the New York trial of Romano v. Steelcase (2010) the Supreme Court stated that, It is reasonable to infer from the limited postings on plaintiffs public Facebook ® and MySpace ® profile pages that her private pages may contain material and information that are relevant to her claims or that may lead to the disclosure of admissible evidence. To deny defendant an opportunity to access these sites not only would go against the liberal discovery policies of New York favoring pretrial disclosure, but would condone plaintiffs attempt to hide relevant information behind self-regulated privacy settings.† In other words, what the nurse posts on her Facebook could be used against her for several reasons 1). The p hoto was taken while she was working, 2). The photo violates a patient’s right to privacy and confidentiality and 3). By violating the patient’s right to privacy and confidentiality she could be setting herself for termination of employment and/or criminal or civil violations. Those are possible consequences that may prove costly in the long run. The nurse should stop and ask herself if the notoriety would be worth losing her reputation and career over. In summary, there are many advantages and disadvantages to smartphones and use of social media. Advantages include active engagement for patients in their health status; readily available resources in real-time; and ease of use and accessibility for all users both front-end and back-end. Some disadvantages include lack of privacy; accountability for posts on personal social media sites; and data integrity and vulnerability. Do the Pro’s outweigh the Con’s? One can only say that training, awareness, and professional and ethical responsibilities should dictate an individual’s actions. As the old saying goes, â€Å"Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.† A good warning that should be heeded by all. References Kosieradzki, J. (2011). Social media and privacy: when personal posts intersect with the business of litigation. Journal of Legal Studies in Business. (17), 51-64 Lambert, K., Barry, P., Stokes, G. (2012). Risk management and legal issues with the use of social media in the healthcare setting. American Society for Healthcare Risk Management. 31(4), 41–47. doi: 10.1002/jhrm.20103 Romano v. Steelcase, 907 N.Y.S.2d 650, 658 (N.Y. Sup. 2010) Solomon, P., Molinaro, M., Mannion, E., Cantwell, K. (2012). Confidentiality Policies and Practices in Regard to Family Involvement: Does Training Make a Difference?. American Journal Of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 15(1), 97-115. doi:10.1080/15487768.2012.655648

My Best Friend Died Essay -- Friendship Essay Personal Narrative

My Best Friend Died Dr. Munter's comments: The purpose of this assignment was to relate an event that changed the direction of your life. Not only does this student successfully accomplish this task, he does it with a certain amount of understatement. The instruction â€Å"to show, not tell† is beautifully and subtly completed. There is also a nice balance of long and short sentences, unusual similes, and the sense that the author allows the reader to view this event through the eyes of an eight-year-old. Overall, the writing is clean, simple in technique, yet powerful in its message. I remember the van. It was the gray of dry clay, and it had maroon stripes on the sides that were the same color as maple leaves during the fall, but it was winter now. It was my mom's van, and I was riding in the back seat. I was eight years old, and she had pulled over on the side of the road because she had â€Å"some sad news† to tell me. My legs didn’t touch the ground. They just dangled with my sorrels about to fall off. I was all bundled up in the puffy winter clothes that mothers dress their chi...

Pacific Theatre in World War II

On 1 September 1939 the country of Germany led by Adolf Hitler invaded Poland using blitzkrieg tactics or in other words â€Å"lightning war†. As Germany is capturing Europe one country at a time Japan is doing the same except with Asia and Japan is also preparing for the attack of the United States naval base on the island of Oahu called Pearl Harbor. The attack on Pearl Harbor caused the United States to declare war on Japan, break isolationism and get deeply involved in World War II.On 7 December 1941 at 7:30 am army privates George Elliot and Joseph Lockard were operating in a radar station when they noticed a large amounts of aircraft incoming but they did not sound the alarm because there was supposed to be a group of B-17 bombers due to Pearl Harbor (Michael 10). At 8:00 am the words â€Å"Tora Tora Tora† sounded over Japanese radios meaning that the Japanese have achieved complete surprise on the Americans and that the attack was a go and the dive bombers starte d to drop their deadly payloads on the American airfields, aiming specifically for United States war planes (Michael 11).As the Japanese attacked the airfields they also simultaneously attacked the harbor with more dive bombers and torpedo planes equipped with torpedoes specially made for the shallow waters of the harbor (Michael 12). During all of the chaos a dive bomber dropped its deadly payload on to the USS Arizona, with a single bomb hit to the magazine, the whole bow of the ship was severed from the rest and 1,000 men died instantly (Michael 12). At 8:45 am even more Japanese torpedo planes and dive bombers attacked the harbor targeting repair yards and any other ships that the pilots saw.The attack was planned months before 7 December, the Japanese built a model of the actual harbor to help prepare for the attack and they practiced on it until each and every pilot knew exactly which target to hit and how to hit it and until they could achieve an 80% hit rate on the American ships (Michael 47). The task force the Japanese used consisted of 6 aircraft carriers each equipped with hundreds of planes and 20 other ships including battleships, heavy cruisers, destroyers and a few submarines (Michael 49).The attack killed 2,388 Americans and injured another 2,000, the attack destroyed 21 ships out of 92 total in the harbor, nearly 300 American aircraft were destroyed and only 29 Japanese aircraft were destroyed (Reid 219). The Americans were infuriated with the attack, they felt as if they were vulnerable and they wanted the United States government to declare war on Japan. On 8 December 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt makes a speech to congress asking them to declare a state of war on Japan. Later that day with a vote of 388 to 1 the United States is at war with Japan.The industry skyrocketed as the United States prepares for war; everything from food to weapons is rationed and made in a method called mass production. On 9 December 1941 Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. The United States is now deeply involved in World War II, but the United States has a difficult decision to make whether or not they should concentrate their forces over in Europe to fight the Italians and Germans or concentrate their forces in the Pacific and get revenge on the Japanese and avenge Pearl Harbor.On 8 April 1942 Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle launched an air attack consisting of B-25 medium range bombers. The attack was designed to inflict damage on Tokyo and to destroy the Japanese morale and avenge Pearl Harbor. The plan was for 16 B-25s to be launched off the coast of Japan and their mission was to bomb the city of Tokyo and land on American air bases in China. Most of the 16 B-25s, each with a five-man crew, attacked the Tokyo area, with a few hitting Nagoya (â€Å"The Doolittle Raid†).However none of the planes made it to China and most of the crews were captured, but this attack was considered a success because it deeply embarrassed the Japanese High Command and it greatly boosted the morale of the Americans, this attack would lead to the desire of the Japanese to completely destroy the American aircraft carriers and would lead to the Japanese defeat in Midway a month later. The Battle of Midway was fought over and near the tiny United States’ mid-pacific base at the Midway island atoll.The objective of the Japanese was to draw out and destroy the Unites States aircraft carrier striking forces which had embarrassed the Japanese in the Doolittle Raid. The Japanese’s plan was to soften up the defenses on Midway, invade it, capture the island and hope that the United States would come out with their aircraft carriers in order to take back the island and the Japanese would the quickly destroy them and have a decisive victory.However, the United States had brilliant code breakers and knew exactly when, where and how the Japanese were going to strike so the Americans were waiting. On 7 June 1942, the Japanese with a force of 4 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 15 support ships and 248 carrier based aircraft started the attack. Starting with bombing the American base the Japanese weren’t able to soften up the American defenses well enough because the Americans had knew in advance that Japanese were coming so they built up their defenses and brought in additional reinforcements.As the Japanese were focusing their attacks on the island, the American aircraft carrier strike force consisting of 3 carriers, 7 heavy cruisers, 1 anti-aircraft cruiser, 15 destroyers, 233 carrier based aircraft and 16 submarines attacked the Japanese forces. After 4 days of bitter combat, the Americans had only lost 1 carrier, 1 destroyer, 150 aircraft, and 307 sailors and airmen, while on the Japanese side, they had lost 4 carriers, 1 cruiser, all of their aircraft, and 3,057 sailors and airmen (â€Å"Battle of Midway†).The Battle of Midway was a huge success in American c ode breaking and proving that the use of the aircraft carrier would definitely be a vital resource in the Pacific Theater (â€Å"Battle of Midway†). Three months later the Americans pressed forward setting their eyes on a near Australia called Guadalcanal. This battle would be the first allied offensive on the Empire of Japan. On 7 August 1942 American forces landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands with the objective of denying their use by the Japanese to threaten the supply and communication routes between the US, Australia, and New Zealand.The Allies also intended to use Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases to support a campaign to eventually capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabal on New Britain (â€Å"Battle of Guadalcanal†). Powerful United States naval forces had supported the landings. Surprised by the Allied offensive, the Japanese made several attempts between August and November 1942 to retake Hende rson Field. Three major land battles, seven large navalbattles, and continual, almost daily aerial battles culminated in the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November 1942, in which the last Japanese attempt to bombard Henderson Field from the sea and land with enough troops to retake it was defeated. In December 1942, the Japanese abandoned further efforts to retake Guadalcanal and evacuated their remaining forces by 7 February 1943 in the face of an offensive by the US Army's XIV Corps, securing the island to the Allies.The Americans originally started with a strength of 60,000 men and lost 7,100 while the Japanese forces were almost completely wiped out, starting out with only 36,200 they had lost 32,000 (â€Å"Battle of Guadalcanal†). The Guadalcanal campaign was a significant strategic combined arms victory by Allied forces over the Japanese in the Pacific theatre The Battle of the Philippines was the American campaign that lasted from 1944-1945 and the obje ctive was to completely expel the Imperial Japanese Forces occupying this long chain of islands that was captured by the Japanese during the first half of 1942.The Battle of the Philippines started on 20 October 1944 with the amphibious landings on the eastern Philippine island of Leyte. The operation would last through the end of the war in august of 1945. During this campaign the Japanese showed how desperate they were in not giving up when they started utilizing kamikaze attacks where they would purposely fly planes equipped with explosives into the American forces. This campaign was very successful however, because the Americans had driven out the Japanese and liberated the Philippines.The Battle of Iwo Jima fought on 19 February through 26 March 1945 was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire. The American invasion had the goal of capturing the entire island, including its three airfields, t o provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. This five-week battle comprised some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the War in the Pacific of World War II.After the heavy losses incurred in the battle, the strategic value of the island became controversial. It was useless to the Army as a staging base and useless to the Navy as a fleet base; however it was of limited use by the United States Army Air Force only for emergency landing of planes coming back from missions over Japan. The Japanese positions on the island were heavily fortified, with a large network of bunkers, hidden artillery positions in the mountains, and nearly 11 miles of underground tunnels.This invasion was the first American attack on Japanese home territory, and the Japanese soldiers and marines defended their positions tenaciously with no thought of surrender. The Americans had a force of 70,000 marines and had high losses of 6,821 killed and 19,217 wounded. The Japanese, however h ad a smaller force of 22,060 soldiers and lost 18,844, but they had nearly 3,000 in hiding until long past the end of the war and because of their extensive network or tunnels and bunkers they were able to inflict heavy damage on the Americans (â€Å"Battle of Iwo Jima).Later in the summer of 1944 the United States had set their eyes on the largest island in the Marianas, Guam. There was a major strategic advantage of Guam because of its very large size and its location to the Japanese mainland mad it ideal for the American forces to establish airfields for B-29 Superfortress long range bombers. Guam, ringed by reefs, cliffs, and heavy surf, presents a formidable challenge for an attacker. But despite the obstacles, on July 21, the Americans landed on both sides of the Orote peninsula on the western side of Guam, planning to cut off the airfield.By nightfall the Americans had established beachheads about 2,000 meters deep, Japanese counter-attacks were made throughout the first few days of the battle, mostly at night, using infiltration tactics. Several times they penetrated the American defenses and were driven back with heavy loss of men and equipment. Rain and thick jungle made conditions difficult for the Americans, but after an engagement at Mount Barrigada from August 2 to August 4, the Japanese line collapsed; the rest of the battle was a pursuit to the north.As in other battles of the Pacific War, the Japanese refused to surrender, and almost all were killed. On August 10, after 3 long weeks of bloody and ferocious fighting, organized Japanese resistance ended, and Guam was declared secure. The Battle of Okinawa was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theatre. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan,  and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Ja panese mainland.Okinawa provided a fleet anchorage, troop staging areas, and airfields in close proximity to Japan. The U. S. cleared the surrounding waters of mines in Operation Zebra, occupied Okinawa, and set up the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands, a form of military government, after the battle. The Americans started out with 183,000 men and by the end of the battle 12,000 were killed and 38,000 were wounded.The Japanese started out with 160,000 men and more than 110,000 were killed and 7,000 were captured (â€Å"The Battle of Okinawa†). While the Pacific war rages, the United States had conducted many air raids on Japan during World War II, causing extensive destruction to the country's cities and killing anywhere from 241,000 to 900,000 people. From June 1944 until January 1945, B-29s stationed in India staged through bases in China to make a series of raids on Japan, but this effort proved unsuccessful.The strategic bombing campaign was greatly expanded from November 1944 when bases in the Mariana Islands became available as a result of the Mariana Islands Campaign. The air raids concentrated mainly on industrial facilities but the fire bombings were concentrated on the civilian population since most of the homes were made from paper and wood (â€Å"Skies on fire†). With the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 the United States was ultimately forces to break isolationism and get very involve in World War II.From the Doolittle raid in 1942 to the massive bombing campaigns in 1945, from the battle of Midway to the invasion of Okinawa, the United States was very involved in the Pacific theatre and the loss of life was very high. Along with the Pacific Theatre the United States also had a very high death toll in the European Theatre but not as high of one as in the Pacific. Had the Japanese not have attacked Pearl Harbor, the turn out of the war could have been so much different and the United States probably would not have gotten involved until late in the war like they did in World War I

Edith Cavell Essay

In 1914, Edith Cavell had already finished her nurse training and was giving four lectures a week to doctors and nurses, taking care for her friend’s daughter who was a morphia addict, a runaway girl, and also her two dogs. She lived a fairly mundane and busy life as a nurse; however, that changed on August 3rd, 1914 when she was back in Brussels dispatching the Dutch and German nurse homes and also making sure everyone knew that his or her first duty as a nurse was to take care for the wounded irrespective of nationality. The place she worked in became a Red Cross Hospital and so she treated anyone – including the Germans and Belgians. With war going on – Brussels fell and so the Germans commanded for the wounded and sixty nurses to go back home. Edith Cavell was one of the two people who remained in Brussels. By autumn of 1914, two stranded British soldiers discovered Edith Cavell’s training school and stayed there for two weeks. Others followed suit and then came the birth of an ‘underground’ lifeline created by the Prince and Princess de Croy at a chateau at Mons. Within this ‘underground’ lifeline, about two hundred allied soldiers were helped to escape and this secret organization lasted for one year, despite all the risks. Many of those who took part in this dangerous covert ‘mission’ knew that once they were caught for harboring allied soldiers, they’d definitely die. And Edith Cavell was one of them. Although Edith Cavell knew better to not stay involves, as she was a ‘protected’ member of the Red Cross, she made the strong decision to sacrifice her own life for the sake of her fellow men – her country. She thought her action to protect and hide the allied soldiers to be the same as tending for the sick and wounded. Edith Cavell knew very well of the consequences and by august 1915, only just a year after all the events; someone from Belgian found out and uncovered the truth. Her nursing school was searched at the same time as the soldiers escaped out through the back garden. Edith Cavell was calm throughout the whole search and not a single bit of evidence was found of such actions. She had managed through the year of keeping her ‘underground’ activities well hidden. Nurse Cavell may have been successful of not getting caught; the group of soldiers that  had escaped was not. On July 31st, 1915, two members who were escaping were caught and arrested. Five days later, Edith Cavell was arrested and ready to be interrogated. After hearing that several people had already confessed, she too admitted to all the charges against her and confessed. Following the confession, she was going to be executed. United Stated and Spain heard the news about Edith Cavell and tried their hardest to commute her sentence, but failed to do so. And so on October 13th, 1915, Edith Cavell was sentenced to death for hiding and protecting allied soldiers. It was revealed that Edith Cavell was very willing to use anything in her power to save the soldiers. She has said she would have rather died and sacrificed herself than have the soldiers get shot. Her whole life, she had been trained to protect others and heal them and even risk her own life – and so she did. On the night before her execution, Edith Cavell had said to Reverend Horace Graham one of her now most famous quotes: â€Å"I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred of bitterness towards anyone.† Her execution led people in the United States and Great Britain to form an anti-German group. They used her as a heroic martyr to the war and honored with a statue. Works Cited: â€Å"British nurse Edith Cavell executed .† 2013. The History Channel website. Oct 31 2013, 7:00 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/british-nurse-edith-cavell-executed. â€Å"War Declared.† War Declared. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. http://www.revdc.net/cavell/page41.html

Archduke Franz Ferdinand Essays

Archduke Franz Ferdinand Essays Archduke Franz Ferdinand Essay Archduke Franz Ferdinand Essay There were many causes leading up to World War l, but it wasn’t until June 28, 1914 the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered World War l. His assassination took place in Sarajevo, leading Austria to declare war against Serbia. Austria declaring war to Serbia caused Serbia’s allies to declare war on each other, for example France, Russia, and United Kingdom. From all this chaos World War I began. Franz Ferdinand, eldest son of Carl Ludwig, the brother of Emperor Franz Josef, was born in 1863. He joined the Austro-Hungarian army in 1883. He was young when he entered the military. He didn’t receive any formal traning but he was considered eligible for command. He was frequently and quickly promoted. His great work in the army led to promotions: lieutenant around age 14, captain around age 22, colonel around age 27, major around age 33. In 1889, the son of Franz Josef committed suicide. Due to his death, throne was passed down to Ferdinand’s father, Carl Ludwig. When Carl Ludwig died in 1896, Ferdinand’s life would completely change. Ferdinand became the new heir to the throne after his father’s death. (Miller, P. Frederic. 58. ) A few years before Ferdinand’s father had passed away, he met a woman named Sophie von Chotkovato at a ball in 1888. They deeply fell in love but Sophie coming from a noble family caused a controversy, on how she shouldn’t be the one for Ferdinand. To be able to marry Ferdinand, she had to come from one of the ruling dynasties of Europe. Franz Ferdinand refused to marry anyone else but Sophie Von Chotkovato. Emperors and Popes spoke if that marriage were to happen it would be a corruption towards the stability of the monarchy. In the year 1889, Emperor Franz Josef made a deal with Ferdinand. Ferdinand was allowed to marry Sophie but her descendants could never have power to the throne, she couldn’t share Ferdinand’s rank, title, or be seen much in public with him. The wedding took place in Bohemia, Chez Republic. Franz Josef did not attend Ferdinand’s wedding. His brothers nor family were nowhere to be seen either. Weeks after the wedding Ferdinand wrote his stepmother Maria Theresia a letter where he said, â€Å"Sophie is a treasure, I am indescribably happy. She looks after me so much, I am doing wonderfully. I am so healthy and much less nervous. I feel as though I had been born again. † He felt nervous that he wouldnt be able to be together with Sophie, since she wasnt in the ruling dynasties in Europe. Years after their marriage they had three children; Sophie, Maximilian, and Ernst. (Shepherd, Gordon. page 154. ) In 1913 he was appointed as Inspector General of the Austro-Hungarian Army. Ferdinand was popular with the armed forces and well experienced. In 1914 General Oskar Potiorek, Governor of the Austrian provinces of Bosnia, invited Ferdinand, to watch his troops on maneuvers. Potiorek let Ferdinand know that his wife would also be welcomed; Franz Ferdinand gave the yes to make the visit. With him still being heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand knew his visit to Bosnia would be dangerous. Despite it being dangerous to go, he still went. Plenty of people in Bosnia were unhappy with Ferdinand’s rule. Bosnia was in union with Serbia. In 1910 a Serb, Bogdan Zerajic, had attempted to assassinate General Varesanin, the Austrian governor of Bosnia-Herzegovina, when he was opening parliament in Sarajevo. Zerajic was a member of the Black Hand who wanted Bosnia to leave the Austro- Hungarian Empire. The Black Hand went by Unity or Death. The leader of the group was Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, the chief of the Intelligence Department of the Serbian General Staff. Dimitrijevic was worried that Ferdinand would become a threat. Worried that Ferdinand would make an independent Serbia state harder to reach. Gilfond, Henry. Page 240. ) When it became official that Ferdinand was going to visit Bosnia in June 1914, Dimitrijevic started to make plans to assassinate Ferdinand. Dimitrijevic send three people of the Black Hand group to Sarajevo. The prime minister of Sarajevo knew about the Black Hands plan. The prime minister didn’t want the assassination to take place in Sarajevo, as he was afraid of it leading to war w ith Austria-Hungary. The prime minister gave order for those three men to be arrested before they arrived to Bosnia. The arrest never took place. The three men were able to arrive to Bosnia. When the three men arrived they joined forces with the conspirators. They were determined to kill Ferdinand. Just before 10 oclock on Sunday, 28th June, 1914, Franz Ferdinand and Sophie von Chotkovato arrived in Sarajevo by train. General Oskar Potiorek, Governor of the Austrian provinces of Bosnia, was waiting to take the royal party to the City Hall for the official reception. In the front car were the Mayor of Sarajevo and the citys Commissioner of Police. Franz Ferdinand and his wife were in the second car with Oskar Potiorek and Count von Harrach. The cars top was rolled back in order to allow the crowds a good view of its occupants. When the cars passed by the central police station Nedjelko Cabrinovic threw a grenade at the car Ferdinand was in. The driver of the car saw the object flying and accelerated his car. The grenade exploded underneath the wheel of the car that was behind the car Ferdinand was in. The driver of the car drove on fast trying to avoid any other attempts by the Black Hands. Franz Ferdinand made a speech at the official reception at the Sarajevo City Hall. With â€Å"It gives me special pleasure to accept the assurances of your unshakable loyalty and affection for His Majesty, our Most Gracious Emperor and King. I thank you cordially for the resounding ovations with which the population received me and my wife, the more so since in them an expression of pleasure over the failure of the assassination attempt. †(Miller, P. Frederic. page 234. ) After the reception at city hall, Franz Ferdinand asked if any members of the party were hurt from the bomb. He was told they were in bad condition, so he insisted on going to see them. People there told him it would be dangerous if he went. Despite the dangerous he still wanted to go. Oskar Potiorek was sure that Bosnia wasn’t a place full of assassins. Even though he disagreed about it being dangerous he suggested Ferdinand’s wife should stay. Ferdinand’s wife refused to stay declaring; â€Å"As long as the Archduke shows himself in public today I will not leave him. † Sophie would not stay under any circumstance and went with Ferdinand. General Oskar Potiorek suggested they should take a different route to go to the Sarajevo hospital. Ferdinand was fine with taking a different route, but Potiorek forgot to tell the driver about the final decision. On their way to the hospital the driver took a wrong turn. Potiorek realized the driver took a wrong turn, he immediately told the driver to turn around. The driver quickly hit the brake and backed up. No one notice there was a Serbian conspirator, named Gavrilo Princip hiding at the corner. The conspirator didn’t hesitate to watch the car back up any longer and just fired plenty times. After the assassination he attempt to commit suicide but was stopped before he had the chance to take another shot. Due to him being young he only receives twenty five years of prison. He contracts tuberculosis and dies 28 April 1918. He dies at Terizin, where later on under Nazi power they make a concentration camp. (Fabijanic, Toby, page 28) It’s believed that Ferdinand was hit in the neck and that Sophie Von Chotkovato was hit in the abdomen. Ferdinand and Sophie were drove to Konak, the governor’s residence, after arriving there the couple died from the hits.

The Problem with Grammar Check

The Problem with Grammar Check The Problem with Grammar Check The Problem with Grammar Check By Mark Nichol A couple of years ago, a visitor to this site posted a comment asking for help. In a Word document, this person had written the sentence â€Å"The nouns and verbs are the main content words in this poem and without emphasis on them, this poem has little to no meaning.† Word’s grammar check admonished the writer to insert a semicolon in place of the comma following them. What? Errant nonsense, and puzzling advice, at that. One respondent erroneously agreed with Bill Gates, while two people associated with this site validated the original writer’s reluctance to follow Word’s word. But they didn’t explain why the grammar check had recommended this faulty course of action. I didn’t understand it, either, but then I looked a little closer. As another poster remarked, a human editor trumps a computer-generated one. Computers may be able to defeat humans at chess, but I doubt they’ll ever beat people at editing. Why? They can compute, but they can’t think. Here’s where Word went wrong: It assumed that the phrase â€Å"in this poem and without emphasis on them† was a compound phrase with the same structure as â€Å"on this page and on the next,† for example, and that this sentence could end with this phrase. If that were true, â€Å"this poem has little to no meaning† would be an independent clause that could stand on its own. But because the computer misread the context, it did not admonish the writer to correct a real error: A comma should follow the first instance of poem. The correct form of the sentence is â€Å"The nouns and verbs are the main content words in this poem, and without emphasis on them, this poem has little to no meaning.† (I also agree with the poster who pointed out that the phrase at the end of the sentence is more idiomatically correct rendered as â€Å"little or no meaning.†) In this sentence â€Å"this poem has little to no meaning† is not an independent clause, but it is part of one: â€Å"without emphasis on them, this poem has little to no meaning† could stand as a separate sentence, so it should be preceded by a comma and the conjunction and.† The moral of the story? Word’s grammar check, like its spell-check function, can be helpful, but it can also misinterpret your intent as a writer. As the sage says, â€Å"Trust, but verify.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Comparative Forms of Adjectives"Certified" and "Certificated"Ulterior and Alterior

Role of the White House Press Corps in American Democracy

Role of the White House Press Corps in American Democracy The White House press corps is a group of about 250 journalists whose job is to write about, broadcast and photograph the activities and policy decisions made by the  president of the United States and his administration. The White House press corps is comprised of  print and digital reporters, radio and television journalists, and photographers and videographers employed by competing  news organizations.   What makes the journalists  in the White House press corps unique among political beat reporters is their physical proximity to the president of the United States, the most powerful elected official in the free world, and his administration. Members of the White House press corps travel with the president and are hired to follow his every move.   The job of White House correspondent is considered to be among the most prestigious positions in political journalism because, as one writer put it, they work in a town where proximity to power is everything, where grown men and women would forsake a football field size suite of offices in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building for a shared cubicle in a bullpen in the West Wing. The First White House Correspondents The first journalist considered to be a White House correspondent was William â€Å"Fatty† Price, who was trying out for a job at the Washington Evening Star. Price, whose 300-pound frame earned him the nickname, was directed to go to the White House to find a story in President Grover Cleveland’s administration in 1896. Price made a habit of stationing himself outside the North Portico, where White House visitors couldn’t escape his questions. Price got the job and used the material he gathered to write a column called â€Å"At the White House.† Other newspapers took notice, according to W. Dale Nelson, a former Associated Press reporter and author of â€Å"Who Speaks For the President?: The White House Press Secretary from Cleveland to Clinton.† Wrote Nelson: â€Å"Competitors quickly caught on, and the White House became a news beat.† The first reporters in the White House press corps worked sources from the outside in, loitering on the White House grounds.  But they insinuated themselves into the presidents residence in the early 1900s, working over a single table in President Theodore Roosevelts White House. In a 1996 report,  The White House Beat at the Century Mark, Martha Joynt Kumar wrote for Towson State University and The Center for Political Leadership and Participation at the University of Maryland: The table was perched outside of the office of the Presidents secretary, who briefed reporters on a daily basis. With their own observed territory, reporters established a property claim in the White House. From that point forward, reporters had space they could call their own. The value of their space is found in its propinquity to the President and to his Private Secretary. They were outside the Private Secretarys office and a short walk down the hall from where the President had his office. Members of the White House press corps eventually won their own press room in the White House. They occupy a space in the West Wing to this day and are organized in the White House Correspondents Association.   Why Correspondents Get to Work in the White House There are three key developments that made journalists a permanent presence in the White House, according to Kumar. They are: The precedents set in coverage of specific events including the death of President James Garfield  and as the constant presence of reporters on presidential trips. Presidents and their White House staffs got used to having reporters hanging around and, finally, let them have some inside work space, she wrote.Developments in the news business. News organizations gradually came to view the President and his White House as subjects of continuing interest to their readers, Kumar wrote.Heightened public awareness of presidential power as a force in our national political system. The public developed an interest in presidents at a time when the chief executive was called upon to provide direction in domestic and foreign policy on a more routine basis than had previously been the case, Kumar wrote.   The journalists assigned to cover the president are stationed in a dedicated â€Å"press room† located in the West Wing of the president’s residence. The journalists meet almost daily with the president’s press secretary in the James S. Brady Briefing Room, which is named for the press secretary to President Ronald Reagan. Role in Democracy The journalists who made up the White House press corps in its early years had far more access to the president than the reporters of today. In the early 1900s, it was not uncommon for news reporters to gather around the desk of the president and ask questions in rapid-fire succession. The sessions were unscripted and unrehearsed, and therefore often yielded actual news. Those journalists provided an objective, unvarnished first draft of history and an up-close account of the presidents every move. Reporters working in the White House today have far less access to the president and his administration and are presented with little information by the presidents press secretary. Daily exchanges between the president and reporters - once a staple of the beat - have almost been eliminated, the Columbia Journalism Review reported in 2016. Veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh told the publication: â€Å"I’ve never seen the White House press corps so weak. It looks like they are all angling for invitations to a White House dinner.† Indeed, the prestige of the White House press corps has been diminished over the decades, its reporters seen as accepting spoonfed information. This is an unfair assessment; modern presidents have worked to obstruct journalists from gathering information. Relationship With the President The criticism that members of the White House press corps are too cozy with the president is not a new one; it most surfaces under Democratic administrations because members of the media are often seen as being liberal. That the White House Correspondents Association holds an annual dinner attended by U.S. presidents does not help matters.   Still, the relationship between almost every modern president and the White House press corps has been rocky. The stories of intimidation perpetrated by presidential administrations on journalists are legendary - from Richard Nixons ban on reporters who wrote unflattering stories about him, to Barack Obamas crackdown on leaks and threats on reporters who didnt cooperate, to George W. Bushs statement that the media claim they didnt represent America and his use of executive privilege to hide information from the press.   Even Donald Trump has threatened to kick reporters out of the press room, at the beginning of his term. His administration considered the media â€Å"the opposition party. To date, no president has tossed the press out of the White House, perhaps out of deference to the age-old strategy of keeping friends close - and perceived enemies closer. More Reading The Fascinating History of the White House Press Room: Town CountryThe President, the Press and Proximity: White House Historical AssociationThe Press Has Always Been a Guest in the President’s Home: LongreadsHistory of the White House Correspondents’ Association: White House Correspondents’ AssociationThe White House Beat at the Century Mark:  Martha Joynt KumarDo We Need a White House Press Corps?: Columbia Journalism Review

K-129 Submarine explosion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

K-129 Submarine explosion - Essay Example The intelligence and the senior executives of each country do not have trust on the military to settle the issue. For that reason, the issue of the Nuclear Missile Submarine is still shrouded in mystery and uncertainty on what transpired. Different theories to explain why the submarine sank no American or Russian fail to state that the explosion result from an attempted nuclear missile launch as the primary source of the submarine demise. For many years, there is a speculation that an exploding warhead leads to the catastrophe. In the 1960s, small groups of American and Russian military specialists secretly cooperate to prevent a likely nuclear war. Wagner believes that Americans drowned their submarine in 1968. The Soviets had a direct line into the United States Navy Atlantic Fleet submarine headquarters. In the early 50s, American navy began installing hydrophone cables on the ocean floor. The underwater microphones could pick up sounds transmitted back to shore and converted to visual display. The author finds that the low frequency sounds travel in great distances to pick up noise from underwater explosions. Military specialists identified the sounds and determined if the sub was a diesel or nuclear powered and where it likely belonged. The development of the technology helped the specialists to establish the territory of the K-129 as well as other subs. Sewell finds that an expert witness testifying on the occurrence cited that it was an explosion. United States knows the whereabouts of the submarine since they recorded the wreck and buried the military officers at sea. . United States classifies all the information concerning the wreck as secret. The court investigating the sinking proves that sounds picked from hydrophones compare to those of the sinking submarine. Several SOSUS arrays recorded sufficient triangulation to provide a locus on the possible wreck site. Soviets naval lack an equivalent of

Strategic Management and Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Strategic Management and Marketing - Essay Example e practices of competitors and the financial potentials of the customers; the wise use of resources also helped to the limitation of the firm’s expenses and the increase of its profits – a practice used especially for the period from 2008 onwards. The critical assessment of the firm’s policies led to the conclusion that in the near future the update of existing organizational strategies would be required in order for the firm to keep its competitiveness at high levels; innovation in all organizational activities and change of current firm’s culture would be necessarily included in such a project. The expansion of financial crisis during the last two years led to the limitation of activities of firms operating in various industrial sectors; cruise and vacations industry has been an industrial sector strongly affected by the world recession – under the continuous decrease of their income people at all levels of society had to review all their expenses – the limitation of funds spent on cruises and vacations has been an expected outcome of the current recession. However, it seems that the business environment has been traditionally hostile towards the firms that operate in the specific sector; this view is clearly stated by Morris (1990, p. 317); at a next level, the strategies of the firms that operate in this sector have been often characterized as ineffective, wrongly designed and developed or not appropriately supervised (Bloor & Sampson 2009, p. 711); under these terms, the use of ‘McKinneys seven S factors of Structure, Strategy, System, Staff, Skill, Style (leadership), and Shared Values’ (Lee et al. 2001, p. 49) is often proposed as a successful method in order to develop effective organizational plans; however, other issues, like a firm’s environment, its competitors and the use of its resources would be also thoroughly examined before focusing on the design and the establishment of strategic business policies. Carnival Corporation & Plc

MPH502-Introduction to Public Health (Module 3 CBT) Essay

MPH502-Introduction to Public Health (Module 3 CBT) - Essay Example Right from the early days of industrial revolution, substantial portions of rural population together with migrants coming in search of work from other countries flocked to cities and towns that resulted in overcrowding, slum conditions and squalor with the associated problems of garbage, sewage, pollution and unclean drinking water that had negative impact on public health. Citizens quite rightly veered round to the opinion that control of diseases and maintenance of public health should fall in the public domain of governmental responsibility and there should be relevant laws and regulations that would ensure each citizen gets the chance to lead a healthy life with government being responsible to provide all the necessary amenities and maintain decent standards of public health. Governments of both industrialized and developing countries have since then passed numerous legislations in this regard and public health is quite rightly now firmly entrenched in the domain of public autho rity and public administration. Neither the governments nor the citizens deny that the primary responsibility of public health rests with the government of the country. Public health professionals quite obviously desire that there should be progressively larger allocation of funds towards prevention of diseases rather than fighting them when they threaten to go out of hand and become a matter of serious concern. Prevention, as the saying goes, is always better than cure. But in the political climate prevailing in late and middle 1990s it was becoming increasingly difficult for public health professionals to emphasize the importance of prevention as some of the law makers were of the opinion that the threat to public health was made to look more sinister than it actually was. Though there might be some instances of such overdrive, one agrees wholeheartedly with the author’s concern about prevention of a disease before it snowballs into a public health crisis. (Gostin L. O.,

A Just War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

A Just War - Essay Example The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition. These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the "just war" doctrine. The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good. The first question the definition brings is who has "the responsibility for the common good" This is Catholic Doctrine so one would assume that the leadership of the Catholic Church is responsible for defining it for the Catholic community. The doctrine does put the responsibility on the leadership of the Catholic Church and that would be the Pope. But, the Catholic Church turns that responsibility back to the people when they ask the community to keep them informed (Catholic Answers). The Pope and the Church pass some of this responsibility to the members of the Church by educating the people of the church (using the Catechism). The idea of condoning a war would seem to be in direct conflict with many of the scriptures and teachings of the Catholic Church and the Bible. ... This gives the impression that when challenged one should not react in an aggressive manner (according to the Bible). This contradicts Catholic doctrine that allows for the evaluation of war as just or unjust. To condone war would mean acceptance, to some extent, of Catholic Doctrine over the writings of the Bible. In order to evaluate the Iraq war as just or unjust according to Catholic Doctrine (Catechism) the teachings of the Bible need to be set aside as not relevant. The Catholic Church is assumed to have evaluated it all for its congregation and given its rulings in its Catechism (like a judge interprets the law when making a ruling in a court case). Evaluating the Iraq War will be done assuming the Catholic Catechism is the law. 2. Just or Unjust War The first part of the Catechism to be examined is this: "the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain."(Catholic Catechism paragraph 2309). This question challenges whether the Iraqi leadership (or the country itself) is expected to cause lasting, grave, and certain damage to the community of nations. During the first Gulf War it was evident that Iraq (the country) intended to take over Kuwait and cause great harm to Israel and any other country that was part of the coalition forces that liberated Kuwait. When the World Trade Center was bombed it was clear that it was an attack on the United Statesbut initially unclear who was responsible. The men who carried out the attacks on 9-11 were from the Middle East and were apparently funded by Osama Bin Laden. "Osama bin Laden Promises More Attacks on United States" (ABC News,

Chipotle relation with Oganizational Structure Controls, and Corporate Essay

Chipotle relation with Oganizational Structure Controls, and Corporate Governance - Essay Example The firm also obtained part of its capital from McDonalds through share offering. From McDonalds, the firm acquired nearly $360 million that rose to almost $1.5 billion. The company managed to gain huge sales because of their unique top-level management system that was effective towards gaining a competitive advantage offer their rivals, which is important in raising the profit margin. The firm was also among the top companies to introduce a sales system in which customers could customize a healthy food of their preferences, at a considerably cheaper price below other restaurants and food vendors without necessarily compromising on the quality. The company has, therefore, become of one of the favorite food vending company among consumers. As a result the firm has realized a significance increase in size, and has subsequently maximized its shareholders, and stakeholders’ value. With the continued growth of Chipotle, a need for the separation between the ownerships, and managerial roles has emerged. Although this can raise serious problems, Chipotle can overcome the challenges by improving their approach to employees’ welfare, critical for gaining synergy, which in turn offers a competitive advantage within the industry. Their agency relationship is reflected by their standard hierarchy, in which restaurant managers’ report to regional manager, who subsequently report to the company’s director. After the company’s director gathers all of the regional managers’ reports, they present the report to the company president. This, therefore, shows the critical role of running the day to day affairs of the firm. On the other hand, the president of the company only makes critical decisions at the top level, but does not directly participate in the firm’s daily operations. To enhance the effectiveness of the board of directors, Chipotle applies executive

Intellectual property law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Intellectual property law - Essay Example The case was viewed as critical to the search engine’s business model that had been built around the system. The ECJ also added that the Cour de Cassation, France’s highest court would have finality on other cases, case-by-case. The court also contended that its decision on whether the search engine company was liable over stored client data should be left in the hands of the French courts (Hill, 2012: p19). Google, it said, could not be held liable if at all it possessed a neutral role that was passive, automatic, and technical, pointing to a lack of data control or knowledge (Smith, 2012: p72). Previously, Google used to stop advertisers from buying the brand names of others as keywords, although, this policy was altered in 2004 for the North American market before the extension into Ireland and Britain four years later. An interim legal opinion in September of 2009 delivered by the European Court of Justice contended that Google had not infringed on any trademark law s or rights, via allowing the buying of keywords by advertisers in correspondence to registered trademarks. Several trademark lawyers, such as Fiona McBride of Withers & Rogers, described the European Court of Justice’s ruling with regards to an ad’s origin as perplexing (Stim, 2010: p34). ... Consequently, very rarely will users of the internet be able to ascertain that his or her services or goods’ origin, as well as making it easier for advertisers to navigate the law and utilize trademarks from third parties as key words (Wherry, 2012: p77). This translates to advertisers being able to secure commercial advantages by taking a piggy ride on other trademark’s reputations. This paper seeks a critical evaluation of the development of the trademark infringement law in relation to ad-words, as well as the implications of the European Union Court of Justice’s ruling pertaining to the use of key words in advertising over the internet (Wild, 2011: p22). Development of the Law in Trade Mark Infringement relating to ‘Ad-words’ As the analysis of the Louis Vuitton vs. Google Inc. above has indicated, trademarks are valuable assets to top corporations. In cases where these trademarks are exploited correctly, they endow their proprietors with increa sed benefits, distinctiveness, and fame (Bainbridge, 1999: p45). Therefore, the respective proprietors of these trademark rights, via contemplation of their significance and value, as well as devotion of material efforts towards their evolution in the future, can invest vast sums in attempts to protect them. During the past decade, proprietors of various trademarks have begun to turn their attention to violation of their trademarks that are occurring over the internet. The internet has shown a tremendous rate of growth over the past decade, which has led to new economic models developing, as well as novel methods of advertising (Colston & Galloway, 2010: p45). The internet has made, within the context of a new economic

Chipotle relation with Oganizational Structure Controls, and Corporate Essay

Chipotle relation with Oganizational Structure Controls, and Corporate Governance - Essay Example The firm also obtained part of its capital from McDonalds through share offering. From McDonalds, the firm acquired nearly $360 million that rose to almost $1.5 billion. The company managed to gain huge sales because of their unique top-level management system that was effective towards gaining a competitive advantage offer their rivals, which is important in raising the profit margin. The firm was also among the top companies to introduce a sales system in which customers could customize a healthy food of their preferences, at a considerably cheaper price below other restaurants and food vendors without necessarily compromising on the quality. The company has, therefore, become of one of the favorite food vending company among consumers. As a result the firm has realized a significance increase in size, and has subsequently maximized its shareholders, and stakeholders’ value. With the continued growth of Chipotle, a need for the separation between the ownerships, and managerial roles has emerged. Although this can raise serious problems, Chipotle can overcome the challenges by improving their approach to employees’ welfare, critical for gaining synergy, which in turn offers a competitive advantage within the industry. Their agency relationship is reflected by their standard hierarchy, in which restaurant managers’ report to regional manager, who subsequently report to the company’s director. After the company’s director gathers all of the regional managers’ reports, they present the report to the company president. This, therefore, shows the critical role of running the day to day affairs of the firm. On the other hand, the president of the company only makes critical decisions at the top level, but does not directly participate in the firm’s daily operations. To enhance the effectiveness of the board of directors, Chipotle applies executive

Remember the Titans Essay Example for Free

Remember the Titans Essay Healthy relationships are made not born, and the movie â€Å"Remember the Titans† has proven that. A healthy relationship is a relationship which has respect, honesty, trust, communication, equality and acceptance for who the other person or people may be. On the other hand, an unhealthy relationship is a relationship which has selfish, abusive, irresponsible, aggressive and manipulative behavior. I will be discussing how the relationship of Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell transformed from an unhealthy relationship to a healthy relationship. As well as a theme from the movie that is equality. â€Å"Listen, I’m Gerry, you’re Julius. Let’s just get some particulars and get this over with,† Gerry said. â€Å"Particulars? Man, no matter what I tell you, you ain’t gonna know nothing about me. † Julius responded. Their relationship started off by not acknowledging one another, they were like enemies. They looked at each other with disgust and intimidation. They both lived their own separate lives with their own race and did not want to bond with the other race. If they did join with another race it was like a crime. But as the movie went on, the characters developed and learned to bond. They learned to appreciate the meaning of trusting a man’s soul rather than the color of their skin. They worked to overcome the racial issues and heal the conflict. I feel that the scene where, Julius had gone to visit Gerry in the hospital after his accident showed most development. Julius walked into the room, â€Å"Only kin’s allowed in here,† said the nurse. â€Å"Alice, are you blind? Don’t you see the family resemblance? That’s my brother. † Gerry indicated. This is where they fought the battle of Gettysburg. Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today. This green field right here, painted red, bubblin with the blood of young boys. Smoke and hot lead pouring right through their bodies. Listen to their souls, men. I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family. Yo u listen, and you take a lesson from the dead. If we dont come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I dont care if you like each other of not, but you will respect each other. And maybe I dont know, maybe well learn to play this game like men. † Coach Boone said to the team. This quote has the most significance to the theme. Coach Boone explained that coming together would be the only option and they had to learn to accept each other no matter what, that they are all equal. From my point of view, the themes are equality and acceptance. No matter what your race is, your gender is or the religion you follow you should not be treated different than any other human. Beneath the skin we are all the same, we all have a heart and that is what truly matters. â€Å"Everywhere we go -Everywhere we go-, people wanna know -people wanna know-, who we are -who we are-, so we tell them -so we tell them- We Are The Titans! -We Are The Titans! The Mighty Mighty Titans! -The Mighty Mighty Titans! † they sang as they came together as a team and brought the entire city of Alexandria together too. The movie taught me about unhealthy relationships and how they can become healthy ones. Also, the movie taught me about acceptance and equality.

Jean Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development

Jean Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development Jean Piaget, best known for his work in developmental psychology, was born in Neuchà ¢tel, Switzerland, on August 9, 1896. As a child, Piaget found his mother to be neurotic which led him to an interest in psychology. As the oldest child, Piaget was very independent and at the age of ten he published his first scientific paper on the albino sparrow allegedly to convince the librarian he was not a child. In Piagets adolescence his mother urged him to study religion which he found to be childish. Instead, he decided to devote his time to discovering the biological explanation of knowledgethrough the study of philosophy and the application of logic. This failed Piaget in his quest for answers, and he turned his focus to psychology. In 1918, Piaget graduated with his Doctorate in Science from the University of Neuchà ¢tel. While teaching at the Sorbonne in Paris, he met Alfred Binet and began working with him evaluating childrens intelligence tests. Piaget was not concerned with the ri ght or wrong answers of the child, but was instead fascinated that certain errors occurred at predictable ages and began focusing on how children reasoned. In 1923, he married Valentine Chà ¢tenay and had three children with her. Piagets children immediately became the focus of intense observation and research and resulted in three more books (http://www.nndb.com/people/359/000094077/, 2010). Jean Piaget designed a model explaining how humans make sense of the world around them through collecting and organizing information from experiences with people, objects, and ideas. This was called the Theory of Cognitive Development. Piaget identified four factors; maturation, action on your environment, learning from others or social transmission, and searching for a balance or equilibrium that influence the way thinking and knowledge are developed. He also theorized that all species inherit the tendencies to organize thoughts and behaviors while adapting to his/her environment. Organization of thoughts and actions that allow a person to mentally think about events or objects are called schemes. Adaption of knowledge and thinking processes involves assimilation or incorporating new information into existing schemes, as well as changing existing schemes to respond to a new situation or accommodating. Piaget also believed that as young people develop they pass through four stages. T he first stage of cognitive development, which occurs between the ages of birth to two years, is called the Sensorimotor stage. In this stage, the child uses his/her five senses and motor abilities to comprehend the world around them. The child also distinguishes his/her self from objects and begins to act intentionally towards a goal. Object permanence is also achieved at this stage. The second stage is called the Preoperational stage and occurs between the ages of two to seven years. In this stage, the child begins to develop the ability to form and use symbols as well as think operations through logically in one direction. Egocentrism also dominates the childs thinking and language during this time. The third stage of cognitive development is between the ages of seven to eleven years is called the Concrete-Operational stage. The characteristics of this stage are the ability to solve concrete tangible problems logically, the ability to demonstrate conservation, the mastery of grou ping objects into categories based on characteristics, reversible thinking, and sequentially arranging objects according to weight, size and volume. The final stage of cognitive development, called Formal Operations, occurs from eleven years through adulthood. In this final stage, the adolescent becomes extremely focused on analyzing their own attitudes and beliefs while not denying that others may have different perceptions. The ability of an adolescent to think hypothetically, considering all possible combinations and choices, while reasoning deductively are other characteristics of this stage as well (Woolfolk, 2008). In Piagets Four Stages of Cognitive Development, the Preoperational stage would be the most noteworthy to me since this is the age range I will be teaching in elementary school. It is necessary to teach children in an active discovery learning environment, encouraging them to question, explore, manipulate, and search out answers on their own. This theory teaches me that as an educator, I must also be an observer in my classroom. I must carefully assess my students current stage of development, cognitive level, as well as strength and weaknesses, while tailoring a set of tasks and curriculum that is specific to each childs needs. Piagets theory is also beneficial to me because it teaches me that I will need to focus on the learning process of my students, rather than the end product. This theory also tells me that intelligence grows through assimilation and accommodation; therefore, I must provide many opportunities for my student to experience both. This theory can help me better understand my kindergarten students because I will be knowledgeable to their skill acquisition at certain ages. It will also guide my teaching strategies as well as help me design lesson plans and activities based on my preoperational students ability levels, while not causing frustration. According to Piaget, the characteristic of egocentrism is often seen in preoperational children. To combat this, I would provide my students with opportunities to work in groups, so they can learn from each other, participate, and be productive at their own pace. A basic understanding of Piagets theory could tremendously benefit parents, by knowing when to introduce new skills to his/her child in order to maximize understanding and success. I would recommend that parents observe his/her child, to make sure that what they are teaching is appropriate for their childs present stage of learning. Avoid stressing standardized learning such as committing rules and facts to memory and instead choosing constructive hands-on experimentation. I would also advise parents to allow active learning through game playing, exploring, and drawing. When giving directions to their child, I would suggest keeping things short and simple. To help a child getting ready for school in the morning, I would recommend having a clock with hands in his/her room. The child does not have a sense of time at this age. The parent should tell the child that when this hand points to this number, have your clothes on and be ready. I would also suggest for parents to talk to his/her child about their experiences and constantly engage them with questions about what they are seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, or tasting. As a teacher with students in the preoperational stage, I must remember that my students may or may not reach each of Piagets stages at the predetermined age assigned since each child develops individually. It is essential to provide students with as many opportunities as possible to experience new things. This will help them continuously build on his/her foundation of language and learning. Learning at the preoperational stage, takes place by the student constructing new schemas through knowledge discovered in hands-on learning. Lesson plans should include hands-on activities, field trips, and learning games with props or visual aids. Hands-on environments should be set up in your classroom with different stations to learn math, science, social studies, etc. To teach math, I would use colored chips or even pennies for counting, adding and subtracting. To teach science, I could use a magnifying glass to see how objects such as pictures of snowflakes are the same or different from eac h other. When taking field trips to places such as science museums or the zoo, I would constantly ask questions about what my students are experiencing. To assess the skills that my students are acquiring, I could use portfolios, group presentations, and demonstrations that would let my students explain his/her learning process to me. REFERENCES: NNDB: Tracking the entire world. (2010, February 9). Retrieved February 10, 2010, from http://www.nndb.com/people/359/000094077/. Woolfolk, A. (2008) Educational psychology: Active learning edition. Personal, moral, and social development (pp. 36-45).

The Romantic Sonnet :: Sonnet essays

The Romantic Sonnet The Romantic sonnet holds in its topics the ideals of the time period, concentrating on emotion, nature, and the expression of "nothing." The Romantic era was one that focused on the commonality of humankind and, while using emotion and nature, the poets and their works shed light on people's universal natures. In Charlotte Smith's "Sonnet XII - Written on the Sea Shore," the speaker of the poem embodies two important aspects of Romantic work in relating his or her personal feelings and emotions and also in having a focused and detailed natural setting. The speaker takes his or her "solitary seat" near the shore of a stormy sea and reflects upon life and the "wild gloomy scene" that suits the "mournful temper" of his or her soul (ll.4, 7,8). While much Romantic writing dealt with love and the struggles endured due to love, there was also emphasis placed on isolation, as seen in the emotions of Smith's speaker and also in the setting on the work. Nature, in many Romantic sonnets, is in direct parallel with the emotions being conveyed. Smith, for example, uses the water to aid the reader's comprehension of the speaker's state of mind. Included in this traditional natural setting is the use of the sea as stormy, deep, extensive, and dark which ties the speaker in with the setting as the scene applies to the tone of the poem as well. Also characteristic of the Romantic sonnet is the retreat from the neo-classical age and its significant historical references into a new age where it becomes common to speak of "nothing." In William Wordsworth's "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge," there is no deeper meaning to be grasped other than the beauty of the day's dawning. The speaker's view of the morning and its "majesty" and the "calm" that comes over the speaker are central ideas in the poem (ll. 3, 11). In this sonnet, it is again apparent how influential and prevalent nature is. The reflection upon simplicity runs through many works and is seen quite evidently in William Blake's Songs of Innocence. In these poems, there is much mention of children, whose lives, ideally, should be the most simple. Also included in this simplicity are the innocence of the children and the simplicity of the tone, metaphors, and images in the works. In Blake's "The School Boy," the character of the poem is a young boy whose joy in life should be rising on a summer morning when the birds are singing and when he, in his happiness, can sing with them.

Study of William Blake’s Poems of Experience :: English Literature

Study of William Blake’s Poems of Experience Most of William Blake’s poetry that I have studied has had a major theme or themes such as religion or oppression and usually his poems also use symbolism to get across the point. I am going to study closer two poems: The Tiger and A Poison Tree. The Tiger is a very famous poem and is one of the more popular poems written by Blake. I feel that the poem is about religion, creation and the French Revolution, which took place in France around the time, that Blake was writing these poems. I think that the Tiger itself is a personification of evil, which you could say is the French Revolution as many Europeans thought that the revolution was an evil thing. The animal, the Tiger is also a very strong, ferocious animal that hunts its prey very well. Again there are connections with the revolution, which was very strong and ferocious and did not stop until it got what it wanted like a tiger doesn’t stop until it gets its prey. The poem starts of by saying that the Tiger is ‘burning’, which I thinks means that the revolution is alive and burning. The word burning gives a slow but steady feeling so that it makes the reader think that the revolution is alive but it has not yet hit full force and is just biding its time before it can make that crucial hit. The first verse ends by asking a question ‘What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry’. I think that this refers to how quickly the revolution got out of control and who could possibly control it after that. Many other countries joined in to help the king of France but were they enough to stop the revolution? Through the second, third and fourth verses Blake gives a very strong image of the ‘Tiger’ being created possibly by God himself. Blake uses phrases such as ‘sinews of thy heart’, which gives a feeling of a very strong and unforgiving thing being produced. Then he moves on to speak of what tools could have created the ‘Tiger’ and Blake mentions tools such as a hammer, a furnace and an anvil which are all tools used in forging metal and heavy industry such as that. This gives the reader a sense of the ‘Tiger’ being very strong and tough. Also the image of a furnace burning relates back to the revolution burning and it makes me think of things which you don’t touch or go near as they are very dangerous. This could be related to the dangerousness of the

Compare the Rights and Responsibilities of Employers and Employees

When I spoke to the employer of the local paper shop, he told me that he shares many different rights and responsibilities with his employee's and they are the Health and Safety act and the Conditions of Employment. The Health and Safety act sets out rules that both the employer and employee should obey to run the business effectively, the employer has a right to provide safe equipment that won't put the employees in danger, however, the employee also has to obey any rule to the employer puts forward.The employer also has to carry out regular tests on all of the equipment in the work place to ensure that it is a safe environment for both him and the employees. Employers are expected to give the employees a copy of the terms and conditions of their contract, for the local paper shop, this isn't a great deal, however if it was a larger business such as New Look, the employee has a right to a documentation of their contract.There are also rules against sexual, racial and disability disc rimination which the employer can't ever breach, however, employees also need to stick to this law too, for example, if a new person got employed and he was a different race, it is going against the discrimination and racial act if you take hate upon this person because of the way they look, what colour they are, etc. Both employers and employees should act in a controlled way around the workplace and not put any other employee in danger.

Operation Strategy

OPERATIONS STRATEGY Strategy: The Concept of Strategy The word strategy is derived from the Greek term â€Å"strategos† (plural strategoi; Greek: [ , ], literally meaning â€Å"army leader†) is used in Greek to mean â€Å"general†. However, the term is also used to describe a military governor which command, plan and conduct of a war.When strategy applied to business wars, the strategy refers to the establishment of objectives, the setting of direction, and the development and implementation of plans, with the goal (in place of military â€Å"victory†) of achieving ascendancy over one’s adversaries according to Andrews (1971), Ghemawat (2002) and Porter (1980). In order to have the desired competitive impact, a strategy has to operate over an extended time horizon and embrace a broad spectrum of activities, ranging from resource allocation processes to day-to-day operations.It must integrate decisions affecting these different sets of activities in to a coherent pattern, both over time and across groups that often compete for the same resources. An effective strategy also usually involves concentrating a company’s efforts and resources on a limited range of directions. Focusing resources on certain directions reduces available for others, nonetheless, so a coherent strategy usually required that a company make trade-offs among various â€Å"expected outcomes†.TYPE OF STRATEGY The word strategy is used in many contexts that is useful to identify and contrast three different types of management-related strategies. At the highest level, corporate strategy identifies the industries and markets in which a company will operate. Corporate strategists make decisions that implement these choices, including investment in and divestment of businesses together with allocation of resources among existing businesses.Business strategy, the second level of company strategy, is focused at the level of the individual business or b usiness unit within the company, and is concerned with where the business positions itself within a particular industry or market as well as with how and with what capabilities the business will win customers, cooperatively and in competition with other parties in its industries.In other word, the business strategy is also concerned with strategic business units (SBUs) as each SBU might have its own business strategy, which specifies (1) the scope of that business and its relation to the corporation as a whole, and (2) how it proposes to position itself within its particular industry to achieve competitive advantage in various ways according to Hayes et al (1988). To be effective, elaborated further from Porter (1980), this advantage must meet important customer needs, take into account competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and be sustainable given the SBU’s capabilities.Empirical evidence from a study over 100 companies by Sterman (2000) found that those companies th at engaged in system level thinking about their business strategies significantly outperformed those that focused at the product level. To be more specific, Hax and Wilde 2001 differentiated three views a company might consider in developing a strategy. For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. 1. Best Product- this view emerges from the classic competitive strategy.It focuses on competing by positioning the company’s products or services as low cost, having a unique set of features, or targeting a focused or niche segment in the market. 2. Total Customer Solution- the customer is at the center and the earliest to satisfy. It argues that very good understanding of customer and developing close relationships with those customers to support them in creating their own economic value.Company competing with this view will focus on supply chains to response to provide family of products or services that closely match customer requirement. 3. System Lock-In- this view com prehends the enterprise, the customers, the suppliers, and the most important those company whose product and services enhance the strategy-making company’s own product and service portfolio. The key to success in this view is to identify, attract and nurture those companies whose products and services are complementary, engaging them in a collective effort to please the customer.In this study, companies engaged in â€Å"system lock-in† far outperformed those employing â€Å"total customer solutions† or â€Å"best product† strategies on both Market Value Added (MVA) and Market-to-Book Value (MBV) as in Exhibit 1: Exhibit 1 Relative Performance of Three Positioning Strategies Strategy Best Product Total customer solutions System lock-in Number of companies in the study Relative Market Value Added Performance Relative Market-to-Book Value Performance 74 67 16 1. 0 1. 6 4. 0 1. 0 1. 2 2. 0 Source: Hax and Wilde, The Delta Project: Discovering New Sources of Profitability in a Network Economy, Pelgrave, 2001.Thus, to develop business strategy, the company must think about its positioning not only to its competitors but also its customers, suppliers and potential complementary product or service producers. Understanding the system-level view, the company will be able to provide better solutions from integration of value chain with attention to company produce the products or services that complement its products and services or any other solutions. However, the understanding customer is more critical to strategy development and execution.Hayes and Wheelwright (1984) and Fine and Hax (1985) had proposed five dimensions to use as the framework which are Cost, Quality, Availability, Features/ innovativeness and Environmental/ performance. Cost The cost has been defined as the cost of the product or service to the customer. Cost this includes not only purchase price of the product or service, but the cost of ownership as well. The aspects of cost to customer will be vary on the industry or category of the product such as the cost customer consumer product will be only on its selling price.While industrial product, like machine and equipment, will be more likely For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. to extend its concern on installation, maintain and others cost related not only to the equipment alone. Quality The quality defined by Garvin (1988) and King (1987) is broken down into two aspects, the tangible and intangible. The tangible aspects of quality include the aesthetics of the product, or output of the service, how reliable it is over period of time, whether or not it is safe, and how convenience to fix and etc.While the intangible aspects include the competence, courtesy, and credibility of the people involved in the process, as well as the degree to which those people understand the customer’s needs and communicate well with the customers. They also include assessments of the environment s urrounding the purchase process or service, including considerations such as accessibility and security. In addition, to examine the quality, it may be important to differentiate assessments of the actual quality delivered from the quality perceived by the customer.Availability The availability dimension is increasingly important and demanding by customers. Availability requirements clearly vary by business. Grocery store customers expect products to be available on the shelf when they go shopping. An out-of-stock item is a lost of sale for a particular brand or product and also may be lost of sale for the store itself. Airlines buying airplanes, on the other end of the spectrum, do not expect to buy their products off the shelf, but they do expect delivery when promised.Plans are made months ahead, or in some cases years ahead, of projected delivery to put the new aircraft into service immediately upon delivery, possibly retiring and replacing another aircraft. Late deliveries can cause great disruption to an airline’s entire schedule. Availability applies to new product introductions as well. Some industries such as consumer electronics focus on fast time-to-market for new products. Others have longer product development and introduction cycles but must delivery new products when promised. Moreover, availability refers to the variety of the products a company offers.There is a wide range of ways in which companies offer customized products or services to their customers. Hence, availability describes the firm’s ability to deliver the variety of products or services its customers want when they want them. Features and Innovativeness The inherent characteristics of the product or service is Features such as the featured services from the first or business class fares on full service airlines like Japan Airline, Thai Airways or less featured services, such as passage on Southwest Airlines’, and Airasia’s â€Å"no frills† fligh t.Innovativeness is closely related to features due to the fact that advanced technologies are developed to be new featured of the product. For instance, global positioning systems (GPS), as innovative technology, is equipped with hi-end car and represent as additional feature. Environmental Performance It may apply to the product (or tangible output of a service) itself, or to the process by which that product was made or service delivered. Environmental management systems, for example, focus on processes and aim to reduce For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. the environmental impact (e. . hazardous waste generation) of the processes used to make the products or deliver the services. ISO 14000 and the European Eco-Management & Audit Scheme (EMAS, www. quality. co. uk/emas. htm) are but two of several frameworks for companies to follow to improve environmental performance. The third level is composed of the functional strategies that support the type of competitive a dvantage to be pursued. A typical functional strategy is the sets of decisions made in each of the functional areas of an organization that determine how it will use in the overall business strategy of the company.Research and development managers make decisions about technology use, engineering resource allocation, product development process, research and development skills and organization, product prototyping and testing approaches, and involvement of customers in product development. Marketing managers make decisions about product and service positioning, advertising and promotion, and customer relationship management. Finance and Accounting managers make decisions about sources of funds, resource allocation, and currency hedging.The decisions make in these various functions make up the overall business strategy of the organization. Synergistic decision making among the functional support of an overall business strategy and leverage cross-functional capabilities to create and s upport business strategy direction is allowing the company to be successful. Beckman and Rosenfield (2008) have integrated these strategy into framework illustrated in Exhibit X. X. Each individual functional area may develop its own capabilities that in turn serve business strategy, or the functional areas may work in concert with another to create overarching capabilities.Business strategy is best supported, when the activities undertaken by the functional areas and/or the capabilities they develop complement one another and work together to achieve the goal of business (Fine and Hax 1985). They refer to this requirement as crossfunctional integration or fit. OPERATIONS STRATEGY An operations strategy is a set of goals, policies, and self-imposed restrictions that together describe how the organization proposes to direct and develop all the resources invested in operations so as to best fulfill (and possibly redefine) its mission (Hayes et al 1998).In the case of business organiza tion, the mission usually is expressed terms of survival, profitability, and growth, and is pursued by trying to differentiate itself from its competitors in some desirable way. A company’s operation strategy, then, has to begin by specifying how it proposes to support that chosen form of competitive differentiation. By integrating resources invested in the operations function into a cohesive, purposeful whole, such a strategy can enable operations to become a powerful source of competitive advantage. For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph.D. Operations Strategy Goal As described earlier, five dimensions of customer requirements which are cost, quality, availability, feature/innovativeness, and environmental performance has been mapped with operations performance measures by Fine and Hax (1985). In each case, operations can affect some, but not all, of the company’s performance along that dimension. Cost Operations directly affects the cost of the product or service and thus its purchase price (assuming that products are priced to achieve some profit) through its direct or indirect control of the supply chain.It can also affect the product’s cost of ownership through joint efforts with engineering (research and development) and/or marketing in the design of the product or service. Quality Operations also directly controls the quality of the product or service, again through its direct or indirect control of the supply chain. This is often thought of as a â€Å"conformance to specifications† task as operations strives to have all products and services delivered meet the specification set forth by the developers on behalf of the customers.Operations can also influence the design of a product or service so that it can be produced or delivered with higher quality. It does so, again, in joint efforts with research and development and marketing. Availability Operations is primarily responsible for the availability of products or services already in the market and often determines make-to-order versus make-to-stock strategies. Operations’ flexibility and process knowledge are critical in determining both the variety of features and the availability an organization can offer.The ability of operations to control the supply chain and the timeliness with which products or services can be delivered directly affects availability. The determination of how much flexibility operations can offer is a joint decision with marketing and research and development. Features/Innovativeness Generally, features are the purview of the marketing and research and development organizations, although the operations function is influential in determining the range of products, services, or features the firm will be able to provide based on its won ability to deliver them.Process knowledge and innovation are key to the organization’s ability to customize output to specific customer needs, to embed new innovations, and to allow research and development to create novel products and services. For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. Exhibit 2: Business and Operations Strategy Performance Dimensions Dimension Cost Customer Concerns Purchase price Cost of ownership Operations Influence Costs of: Materials Production Delivery Distribution Capital Productivity Inventory turnover Design for cost Cost Objectives are measured using labor, materials, and capacity productivity; inventory turnover; unit cost.Quality of: Materials Production Delivery Distribution Design for quality Quality measures include percent defective or rejected, frequency of failure in the field, cost of quality, and mean time between failures. Availability Timeliness of delivery of product or service Ability to respond to volume fluctuations Timeliness of new product introductions Delivery performance is measured by percentage of on-time shipments, average delay, expediting response time. Flexibility is measured by product mix range, volume, and lead time for new products.Process capability Capabilities for more featured and innovative products and services Process knowledge and ability to extend it Design and development capabilities Measures of process capability assess the types of products or services that can be delivered. Environmental performance Managing environmental performance of suppliers or other partners in the supply chain Managing the environmental performance of internal production or service delivery operations Environmental performance measures include both emissions measures (water, air, and solid waste) as well as measures of product reuse and recyclability.Quality Tangible characteristics Aesthetics Reliability, durability, and safety Serviceability Intangible characteristics Competence, courtesy, understanding, and communication Access and security For purchase: Off-the-shell or make-toorder Of new products: Rapid cycle or planned evolution Variety of range of products availabl e: Degree of customization Availability Features/ innovativeness Inherent characteristics of a product or service Degree of innovation Environmental performanceDegree to which process that produces and delivers the product or service is environmentally sound Degree to which the product or service itself is environmentally sound and reusable or recyclable For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. Source: Fine and Hax. (1985), â€Å"Manufacturing Strategy: A Methodology and an Illustration,† Interfaces 15, no. 6 (November-December) cited in Beckman, Sara L. , Rosenfield, Donald B. (2008). Operations Strategy: Competing in the 21st Century, U. S. : McGraw-Hill International Edition. Environmental Performance Finally, operations own the environmental erformance of both internal and external operations throughout the supply chain. It either works with suppliers to achieve adequate environmental performance in their facilities or works to achieve it in internal Operation s or both. Operations may also influence research and development to design products that are more environmentally sound (e. g. , easier to disassemble and recycle). Operations Goals in Practice Researchers have identified many alternative categorizations of these operations performance dimensions over the years (Dangayach and Deshmukh 2001).Some identify many categories such as the following 11: low cost, design flexibility, volume flexibility, quality conformance, product performance, speed of delivery, dependability of deliveries, after sales service, advertising, broad distributions, and broad product line (Miller and Roth 1994). Others summarize the characteristics in fewer categories defined as follows (Spring and Biadeb 1997): Cost: produce and distribute product (or service) at low cost. Quality: manufacture or deliver product or service with high quality or performance standards.Delivery dependability: meet delivery schedules. Flexibility: react to changes in product, chang es in product mix, modifications to design, fluctuations in materials, and changes in sequence. Yet others link clusters of operations performance characteristics into stylized business strategies such as those of caretaker, marketer, and innovator (miller and Roth 1994). Some researchers have examined similarities and differences in emphasis on these performance categories by industry, by geography, and over time.One study, for example, found that computer and electronics companies rate high product quality as their most important competitive factor, but computer companies rate innovative features and designs more highly than do electronics companies, while electronics companies place more emphasis on short lead times than do computer companies (Lau 2002). Others have found important differences among various countries or geographies in the emphasis they place on these characteristics. After achieving a high level of quality, for example, Japanese manufacturers turned their focus t o time-based competition and innovative products, while the U.S. and Europe continued to rank quality as a critical objective (Kenney and Florida 1993). The Manufacturing Futures Survey, which collected longitudinal data over many years, found that lasting improvements in manufacturing can only be achieved by first building quality, followed by delivery reliability, then flexibility and responsiveness, and then technological leadership. At each For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. step of the progression, cost efficiency is pursued for the given capability set, culminating with an overall focus on cost leadership (Roth et al. 989, Miller et al. 1989). Operations Decision Categories Creating an operations strategy essentially entails making a set of decisions about the structure and infrastructure of operations (Skinner 1969, Hayes and Wheelwright 1984). Structural decisions deal with the vertical integration of the operations, its facilities, capacity, and process te chnology, whereas infrastructure decisions focus on organizational and human resource policies, sourcing and supply chain management practices, quality management systems, planning and control systems, and information technology.Infrastructure is developed over time through persistent day-to-day practice, top management commitment, and cross-functional efforts to create capabilities that support and leverage the firm’s structure. Infrastructure decisions usually deal with less tangible outcomes than do structural decisions, but it is the effective integration and synthesis of structural and infrastructural decisions that create long-term operations excellence (Dangayach and Deshmukh 2001).In making decisions in each of these categories, operations managers strive to ensure that the decisions are mutually supportive and consistent with one another. Further, they aim to have the collection of decisions support or facilitate the overall business strategy. The decision categories are briefly discussed hereunder. Structural Decisions Vertical Integration. Vertical integration decisions answer questions about how much of the Value chain a firm should own. Should they own more or less of the value chain reaching back to their suppliers?Should they own more or less of the value chain reaching forward to their customers? Issues considered include cost of the business to be acquired or entered; degree of supplier reliability; the proprietary or nonproprietary nature of the product or process to be brought in house; transaction costs of contracting through market versus non-market mechanisms; and impact on risk, product quality, cost structure, and degree of focus. Process Technology. Process technology decisions relate to the firm’s investment in the technology it uses to transform materials and/or nformation into products and/or services. Evaluation of this investment requires a firm to address several questions: Should its process be more labor intensive or more automated? Should it purchase technology or develop it in house, or use some combination there of? Should it be a follower or a leader in process technology investment? How does its process technology investment fit with its product technology development strategy? Capacity Capacity decisions establish how much capacity the firm will carry in order to manage both short-term fluctuations in demand and longer-term growth opportunities.Capacity For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. may be added gradually or in large chunks. How should the firm deal with cyclical demand? Different types of capacity may be added at different times. How should the firm use capacity to influence its competitors’ decisions or actions? Facilities Facilities decisions are often closely related to capacity decisions, as firms may add or close facilities in response to a need for more or less capacity, but are often longer-term.In thinking through its facilities decisions, a firm will answer questions about how many facilities it should have, where they should be located, and what they should do. Facilities issues become even more crucial in a global environment as firms decide whether to locate facilities near the local market to increase share in that market, to access local technologies, to reduce costs, or to leverage local talent. Infrastructural Decisions Sourcing. Sourcing decisions follow closely from vertical integration decisions.Once a firm has decided not to own certain parts of its value chain, it must determine what types of relationships it should have with the entities outside the boundaries of the firm. Should the suppliers be managed with the five forces competitive-strategy framework suggested by Porter in this chapter, or with the more cooperative approach modeled by the Japanese keiretsu? Business processes, such as product and service Business Processes and Policies. generation, order fulfillment, and service and support, cut across fun ctional boundaries in an organization and are critical in serving the customer.Business process decisions include determining and defining critical processes, setting performance goals for each, and then choosing an appropriate organizational design to met those goals. Some of the organizational design questions include: How should the operations organization be structured? What are the roles of the line and staff organizations? What skills are required in operations? How should those skills be developed and retained? How should Those skills be developed and retained? How should operations personnel be rewarded? Supply Chain Coordination.While business process management focuses inside the organization, operations management today often requires management of multiple sources, markets, and flows outside the firm as well. Thus, operations managers face strategic decisions about the structure of the supply chains. Should they co-locate their own operations with those of their supplier s? How many layers should they have in their distribution networks? What modes of transportation are appropriate for which links in the supply chain? How should flows of goods among the various entities in the supply chain be monitored?Information Technology. Information technology and process technology decision are closely related, but process technology decisions relate to the physical equipment with which products and services are made and delivered, while information technology refers to the system that moves information around the operations function, between operations and the other functional areas in the firm, and among the players in the broader supply For IBM4710 Inter OM Chayakrit Asvathitanont, Ph. D. chain. There are a number of decisions operations managers make about their information technology.How automated should information processing be? Should information systems be purchased or developed internally? Should the firm be a follower or a leader in the development and/or use of state-of-the-art-technology? How does the information technology investment fit with other investments the firm is making? Operations Capabilities Development. There is some evidence that traditional operations improvement programs such as lean manufacturing, just-in-time, total quality management, focused factories, and the like are misused by managers.Often hastily adopted as an industry best practice or in emulation of a competitor, these programs can yield poor results, wasted effort, and missed opportunities for an organization. When thoughtfully and fully implemented, however, they can be enormously successful. In developing operations strategy, managers must examine such programs and consider the capabilities required to develop and implement them. REFERENCES Andrews, K. (1971). The Concept of Corporate Strategy, Dow Jones-Irwin: Homewood, IL. Beckman, S. L. , D. B. Rosenfield. (2008). Operations Strategy: Competing in the 21st Century, U.S. : McGraw-Hill Intern ational Edition. Dangayach, G. S. and S. G. Deshmukh. 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