Discuss three of your achievements or accomplishments

Being employed while I was still in college was my first achievement. Although I still had a year to complete my college education, a company offered me a position as Information Technology technician after passing three stages of job interview. Initially, I tried to send my Curriculum Vitae to the company because I wanted to test my ability. Since I was still studying in the university, the company decided to give me a part job as Desktop Supporter. The job gave me a lot of hands-on experience and I was able to put all my knowledge into practice.Completing a program with a high grade and performing well in my job was my second achievement. After working for three years, I decided to upgrade my knowledge by attending the American Cooperation program. This program was conducted in the English language and it was a challenge for me since English is not my native language. However, while I was going through the program, I learned to use my time and effort wisely so I could complete all the required assignments of the program while maintaining a full time job as Business Analyst. In the end, I completed the Cooperation program with a 3. GPA and maintained a high job performance rating in the company. Getting my dream job was my third achievement.After five years of working in the software industry, I was given the System Analyst position at CSC Vietnam. Since I was a student, I wanted to become a System Analyst because this position will enable me to utilize all the knowledge that I have gained from my studies and work experience in the IT and business industry. CSC Vietnam is one of the biggest software companies in Vietnam and working in this company will provide a brighter future for my career path.

Gentleman’s Three Case Analysis

Report on – The Overhead Reduction Task Force Submitted by K. Ratna prashanth 2012H149213P Introduction: Counterdrop Appliances division is formed six month earlier by Central foods after acquiring a successful company named Kitchen Help’s; in the kitchen appliances range, it had established a good market in this category. Kitchen Help had good quality but financial constraints in order to expand whereas Food Corporation wanted to diversify. After acquisition the company poured in a lot of resources in Kitchen Help including the plant facilities and the employees.As a result the sales of the company grew to a large extent initially. After that there was a sudden fall in the revenue and profits. This lead to the replacement of General Manager(John Pero to Georgia Dixton). She has decided to tackle this issue by the reduction in overhead expenses by 20 % in order to revive future profits. To attain this she has delegated this responsibility to Controller Larry Williams. L arry William has studied the financial implications and the people in the organisation and come to a decision of reduction in the 20% departmental payrolls. Problem Definition:The Kitchen Help is undergoing a severe decline in profits and revenue. Human resources have been recruited (Good numbers) by the earlier General manager Pero to solve this. Although the company has taken action that these resources do not hinder the progress, it has nearly constant sales revenue and same sales level it maintained for past three years. There is no growth in the revenue. There is a problem of decline in profits in the most promising product lines of the Kitchen Help. The Coffee maker which gave a 30% of total revenue and 35% profits has a decline in demand due to competitor’s better product.Their price is less than $35 and it makes a coffee of same taste. Also there is steep decline in the demand of the microwave product range which used to give a profit of 18%. With decline in the Profi ts and the sales volume remaining the same the resources like recruited Human resource and the expanded pant capacity has not paid off its returns. The sales manager also finds it complicated to coordinate with the national, local and wholesale aspects of the sales force. There is a need for coordination among the mangers of various units so that there does not remain a gap in resource requirement and its consumption.Analysis: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Company poured in huge resources in the beginning of Kitchen help It purchased land and expanded plant facilities in order to meet the sales volume requirement. The number of employees in the division rose from 100 to 500. But the revenue volume remained the same and the profit level did not rise. On the contrary the company pays the sales force a 66% payroll of the Budget which is considerably high. ‘John pero freely added to their staff to meet delude in the orders of sale. This all is fine when there is a good volume and profits ar e being incurred. – This implies that there is currently no further need to recruit more people in sales force. Mort Burns, sales manager feels that sales force has a little impact on more independent appliance and hardware store owners who account for 15% of final demand. These are the entities not making profit. 20% of allocated budget to marketing is $1656000 whereas the number of employees is only 18. Investment in Prime time Advertisements and national campaigns has resulted in the huge budgeting. Payroll as percentage of budget is 10% which is $165600. There can be a 20% reduction in payrolls.Senior Staff where replaced by the new staff at Kitchen help, this has led to increase in sales volume temporarily but could not sustain the market condition and keep up the quality expectation. Introduction in the coffee maker section an innovative product was a competition to Kitchen Help’s existing product. It could make 10 cups coffee without change in taste. This was la cked by Product development team of Kitchen Help; who were working on it. 30% of division’s revenue and 35 % profit alone depended on this product earlier. The company should prioritise improvisation in this section.Williams’s analysis on financial trends says that discounts to large retailers rose from the year of acquisition. There is scope of making a 3% profit from the discounts given to retailers. Moreover the marketing and sales team has to make extra efforts to realise the revenue from the retail chains. Overhead expenses on sales force in this channel can be reduced which will facilitate reduction in marketing costs and increased administration overhead as well. Recommendation: ? Bob Ericson‘s team should come up with an improvised design to earliest which they were planning for the past 6 months.The Product and production team should decide and come up with a product better than competitors quality or ? ? should manufacture the same with a much better re duced price and design; i. e. less than $35. The company should concentrate on its wholesale and the national chains which are better sources of profit rather than the independent appliances and the hardware store owners. The cost to company should be cut down on non profit making entities and sales channel like independent products and hardware stores. The Overhead Cut off on these heads would result in profit and concentration on profit making channels.

The Different Sources of Law in England & Wales Essay

The Different Sources of Law in England & Wales - Essay Example According to the paper the source of Legislation through which English Legal system obtains its laws and regulations is further divided into two sections including acts that are passed by the parliament as well as legislature that is delegated. Body One of the main sources through which English Law is created as well as altered is through Legislations that are passed by the parliament and the parliamentarians and laws that are delegated. Previously only common law was recognized as the basis of English Law, but with the changes in situations and due to need for change law that is enacted through legislation was adopted and is now considered as the most significant source of English Law. Laws that are created through legislation are enforceable and the citizens of the region have to follow these laws. The source through which English Legislation has been created and is altered is recognized as the Act of Parliament is regarded as superior to all laws and is created while giving import ance to the theory of sovereignty of the parliament. From this paper it is clear that the authority to make laws is delegated to a certain body that can only create regulations that are created in conformity with the restrictions that are created through a parent act passed by the parliament. Such legislations are regarded as inter virus which means these laws are to be created with the powers that have been delegated. The legislation that is enacted by the parliament can only be subjected to interpretation that is statutory in nature, while those laws that are created under delegated legislation can be tested for being unreasonable and unfair and can even be regarded as ultea virus which denotes that certain law have been created outside the authority that has been delegated. These laws are further divided into three types including: orders in council that are created when the region is experiencing emergency situations, ministerial regulations which are created under those acts that are passed by the parliament and by laws that are c reated by the local level of authorities. The second main source of English law is common law which is even regarded as precedent in English Law and is rules and regulations that are decided as well as created by judges through the decisions they take within courts and other settings of dispute resolution such as tribunals. The main feature of common law is situated in the term itself as the term common law denotes that these laws are created through the common sense of the judges. In the region of England as well as Wales, laws are not only created within the parliament, they are even developed through previous decisions that have been held by the judicial system.  

Existentialism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Existentialism - Essay Example Tragic Sense of Life by Miguel de Unamuno is a philosophical work that borders on the doctrines of existentialism. The author believes the philosophy of life should be based on the experiences of a person. This suggests there is a need to cultivate one’s personality and character as espoused in the writings. On that account, the author considers himself a man of contradiction because while he values the sense of individuality, he also supports the existence of God. This is in support of the creation theory and the primitivism of man to rely on a nature and consciousness (Unamuno 159). Additionally, he views himself as a man of contradiction because he supports both aspects of individuality and religious fanaticism towards a deity called God. Therefore, the contradictory, opposing elements in this case entail indoctrination of man toward nature and alienation toward God. Furthermore, it is important to prove the existence of God if one has to understand the being of God. Those philosophical elements are contradictory in terms of disputing the existence of God and the use of faith and reason to evaluate matters. There are also many rational reasons why he feels the opposition is the source of his life’s unity. For example, the unity of man emanates for the deep belief in a god that is in control of both humanity and nature (Unamuno 158). Similarly, there are guiding principles of faith and the reason that influence the choice of an individual in terms domination over personality and character. That is why it is a paradox that Miguel de Unamuno has total belief in the intricacies of the universe. In the same context, the paradoxical contradiction is because the divinity of man and human consciousness is not in harmony with nature. Alternatively, the feelings of God and external consciousness conflicts with the moral logic of a common man in terms of sustenance. The statement ‘we think because we live’ has several meanings according to th e context it is used the book. First, he begins by castigating the primitive man for overreliance in the forces that surround him such as nature and other fellow men. This suggests that both animate and inanimate things appeals to man without any reason or faith in the choice. That is why according to Miguel, humanity structures their lives depending on the given existence (Unamuno 152). Alternatively, the possession of the consciousness of nature ensures man does not break away from the confines of nature. In other words, divinity is not associated with rationale because there are objective and subjective point of views. This suggests that the decisions of man in the universe are guided by a supernatural being with divine powers. In other words, the thoughts and existence of man are controlled by one God. That is why ‘we think because we live.’ There are various relationships between theory, and practice (the practice of living) and it relates to action. In terms of th eory, there is the inherent attachment of the primitive man to both nature and fellow human being. On the other hand, in practice, man still possesses the consciousnesses of faith rather reason in the belief of a deity who is in control of the universe. This means the acceptance of a divinity is paramount in order to accept the infinite powers of God. Another fundamental relationship involves the humanization of God in order to counter paganism (Unamuno 161). In other words, it helps in

Management Practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Management Practices - Essay Example At Grandma’s Treats, there is a need to have a business model based on the concept of e-marketing and e-commerce. The owner of Grandma’s Treats could attract more customers and operate his business more effectively if he creates a website, advertises, and sells his "treats" on the World Wide Web. Interesting terms like e-tail or e-tailer are used to define online retailers these days. Almost every bid retailer has a presence on the internet and even the websites comparing prices of same product that available online from different vendors are present for the ease and comfort of the consumer. There are two forms of electronic commerce, one that is conducted between different businesses referred to as business-to-business or B2B and the other that is conducted between business and a consumer also called Business-to-consumer or B2C. In a B2B, there can be predefined business parties or arbitrary parties involved over the internet whereas B2C is primarily practiced with arb itrary consumers over the internet with the help of platforms like Facebook, E-bay, Amazon etc. Internet marketing as of 2007 is growing faster than other types of media because exposure, response, and overall efficiency of Internet media are easier to track than traditional off-line media—through the use of web analytics for instance—Internet marketing can offer a greater sense of accountability for advertisers. The whole of Media Campaign could be covered. The nature of the internet means businesses now have a truly global reach. While traditional media costs limit this kind of reach to huge multinationals, e-Marketing opens up new avenues for smaller businesses, on a much smaller budget, to access potential consumers from all over the world. Internet marketing allows the marketer to reach consumers in a wide range of ways and enables them to offer a wide range of products and

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

Business Entrepreneurship - Essay Example Internet marketing in this phase after generating a feasible amount of donation request can again prove to be useful in many ways. For example, the website can also help to gain the support of professionals in this case without any extra cost. Precisely, the blogs creation can be useful to recognize the supportive donators and organize them ultimately. Another objective of the team was to establish a new gym in the local community. To attain this objective the team shall have to manage an adequate space within the building. The main supplies that the team should be focused on in this case are the equipments, one trainer at least, a changing and a resting room for the participants. In addition, the part of membership donations should also be considered. The advantages of website designing is quite remarkable in the case of New Wave Youth Club, therefore it demands a continuous development to sustain the position. To develop the website into a ‘Killer Website’ the team need to be focused on the attributes of speed, customer service and involvement of new up-graded technology as well. For instance, the team can organize awareness programs, or entertaining games which shall be effective to attract potential donators and other suppliers.

The Challenges Faced By Organizations When Managing Information Essay

The Challenges Faced By Organizations When Managing Information Technology in a Global Business Environment - Essay Example This paper illustrates that organizations often formulate business strategies to gain competitive benefits and information technology helps in gaining competitive edge and advantage in the long run. However, managing information technology is also considered as a challenge by a number of academicians and researchers. It is often believed that with a number of benefits; there are a series of challenges in the form of managing technologies, using them efficiently, and enhancing the acceptance rate. There is no doubt that with competition as the biggest challenge; forms often try to get more benefitted and ahead of others by making effective and efficient use of technologies. The impact of information technology is hard to analyze considering the fact that it requires the thorough analysis of the firms’ productivity and value creation in last few years. Thus, the discussion revolves around analyzing the views and opinions of other researchers in a critical manner to assess the ov erall impact in last few years. For this purpose, a number of academic papers, journals, and articles have been critically analyzed to form the general and later specific conclusion. Carr stated that information technology plays an important and decisive role in transforming business strategies through innovative applications and technologies. Carr further added that few companies attain advantages from specialized applications that may not offer the strong economic incentive for replication but there is no dearth of organizations using IT for business enhancing business processes and activities. Chen, et al stated that not many organizations are successful in delivering value from the IT investment and only handful of them become successful in terms of delivering value and business benefits.

Guns,germs and steel by justin diamond Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Guns,germs and steel by justin diamond - Essay Example The above inquiry is referred to as the Yali’s question (13). Yali seems so energetic and charismatic to get the answers on why New Guinea at that time was still governed by Australia and were still living in the Stone Age yet independence was in the air, the last passage (13).In the second paragraph (14), Diamond explains to Yali about the colonization of New Guinea over the course of a million years. The white man had arrived and imposed central government on the people and bought all their valuable material goods â€Å"cargo†, second passage (14).This made them look â€Å"primitive† as the Whites enjoyed a higher standard of living yet they worked so hard but achieved nothing in return. The last paragraph argues that some societies will still remain poor as evidenced by the huge disparities in the separate lifestyle of the two groups of people where one acquires wealth while the other struggles to provide to the already wealthy (14, 15).In the third paragraph, Diamond also adds that Yali’s question is not only concerned with the New Guineans but it extends and relates to the modern world (15). Secondly, technological and political differences as of A.D 1500 were the paramount cause of modern world inequalities. Empires with modern weapons were able to conquer or exterminate societies with weapons of stone and wood, passage two (16).Different levels of development in different continents from 11,000 B.C to A.D 1500 were what led to technological and political inequalities. While many Native Americans remained hunters and gatherers, most of Eurasia, America and Sub-Saharan Africa progressively developed agriculture, metallurgy and complex political systems. (16).In support to this argument, the day to day communication between overwhelmed people is what established the contemporary continents through invasions, scourges and mass killings .For instance case studying Africa and their history toward independence clearly

Sharon Construction Corporation - Case Analysis Essay

Sharon Construction Corporation - Case Analysis - Essay Example The project has been outlined to run for 48weeks with an allowance of 4weeks in case any problems arise. However the company is faced with some unusual problems. There is the prospect of a workers strike to begin on 30th November that will run for eight to twelve weeks on a probability estimate of 70:30 of the period the strike will last. The cold season starting in December presents another major challenge for this project. The concrete cannot be poured during this month therefore amounting to delays. To overcome these problems, suggestions have been put forth that are likely to add to the costs of the whole project or otherwise delay the process till January, when the weather is favorable. Any week delayed will amount to an overhead cost of $500 and any special heating required during concrete pouring will cost up to $500 depending on the temperature conditions. Possible problems An analysis of the project shows that delay issues will cost the company $15,000 per week. The workerâ €™s strike is one of the cited problems likely to set back the company on the time line given. The strike has a fifty: fifty chance of occurring hence cannot be ignored. Furthermore it is likely to last for eight to twelve weeks. ... The pouring of seats process is scheduled in December. The weather has been predicted to be cold and thus may amount to extra costs of $500 per week to bring in a heat system. However, this stage runs for two weeks therefore it can be delayed until the cold weather clears. The work can then be resumed since it is in the final stages of the project. The delay would amount to four weeks delay of $60,000 plus overhead costs of $2000 if the month of December is scrapped in this schedule. Major Problem The major problem posed by this project is the delay issue. The cost amounting from any delay have been analysed by each problem cited. Nonetheless it is important to note that the two problems are highly likely to occur at the same period of time. They are anticipated to begin in December. The weather issues can be resolved but the labourers strike issue has to be resolved. Processes like concrete pouring cannot be highly affected as it takes ample time to dry. The analysis of the project shows the process that require a great amount of labour hence the company can take advantage. It is important to shorten the period of work before December sets in. This can be achieved by adding the number of labourers for work that is labour intensive or expedite the process with highly equipped machinery. The project has to be cut back by at least six to eight weeks in order to sustain the goals of completion on time and/or earn projected profits. Analysis of proposals 1. The first proposal is to expedite pouring of seat galleries at an extra cost of $20,000 and reduce the duration of this activity by six weeks. This is worthwhile since it is in the goal of buying more time for the whole project. 2. Deploying a double shift for field filling will buy five weeks period at an

What did the ancient Hebrews(ancestors of modern Jewish people)believe Essay

What did the ancient Hebrews(ancestors of modern Jewish people)believe at the end the Babylonian Captivity, or around 500 BCE - Essay Example In this outline, we look at three major prongs the nature of God, Yahweh, the core value of the faith (Torah) and the organization of the faith at around 500 BC. As Hansen and Kenneth (53) note, in the ancient Hebrew, God was a supreme being. He posed a lot more than just one personality. To the Jewish tradition, God was and still is a lawgiver, a judge, a liberator, a creator and many more titles all of whom manifested depending on the specific situation or a specific point in time. To them Gods way of doing, things were marvellous in their own way. This definition almost cuts across to the view of the Christians, however in this case, the concept of Yahweh changed depending on a specific point in time. This is why the concept of God at around 500 BC saw him as a supreme being. The tradition recognised there might have been the existence of other gods. In the traditional context God was seen as limitless however as Jacobs Louis notes, there were three prongs all of which focused on giving the nature of God from different perspectives. These are the Maimonides, who did note that God had prior knowledge while man was seen as free; secondly Gersonides, noted that man is free, while god does not have the sole knowledge and lastly, Hasdai Crescas, noted that god has the sole knowledge of every knowledge. Although there may have been people who may have believed in the existence of God, There are times when these views obscure the true nature of God hence the rise of various groups all with their view about God. Examples of such groups were the atheist (Hansen and Kenneth 54). The study of Torah guided the core values of faith in the Hebrew religion. The Jewish has applied the same torah in the current period, and it is the basis that creates a direct linkage to what was done in the olden times to the current period. It is considered imperative (mitzvah) in the Jewish tradition to learn and uphold the values of the law that guides both the faith and creates

Decisions together to make our performance stronger Essay Example for Free

Decisions together to make our performance stronger Essay The development process in drama is where as an actor or director a person looks, in depth, at the meaning of the plot, the feelings created by this and the stage directions and uses or implements these in his or her own dictation of the scene to his or her own taste and liking. Development can also be achieved in groups where, as diplomacy, we can decide on which aspects of the script we wish to implement and which stage directions we also wish to implement or create so as to better perform a section, or whole, of a play in the surroundings and set provided. In this case I developed my section of the script (pages 70-71) in a group of two, where we made choices and decisions together to make our performance stronger and to make the performance work and flow more easily. Shortly after we began to rehearse, we decided that it would be better if the actor playing Mickey in the section, which was myself, began the scene sitting, so that we could add levels into the performance and so that the mood of Mickey and the entire scene came across as a contrast between the joy of Edward and the depression of Mickey. Another reason we chose to add levels to the performance (from the beginning) was so that we could show the difference in class between Mickey and Edward. We had no costumes so we were forced to show the upset and depression of Mickey purely with expressions and in posture and position. Where as, we had to show the happiness and excitement from Edward, which was far more easy to procure, in the way he moved around the stage quickly and also in happy expressions and in innocence (e. g. when Edward asked questions he needed to not understand Mickey, to not realise how he was feeling and so he needed to be very upbeat and confused). Another factor which came into our minds when rehearsing the section was the time of day we believed the section to have been set in and in this our opinions differed. My partner believed that the section happened in the day, with snow falling from the trees, creating a beautiful picture in the viewers mind which would have been spoiled by the upset of Mickey. However, I believed that the section would have taken place at night. The air would have been dark and smelt of gas and the area around Mickey would have been run-down and worn-out so to speak. This would have, in my opinion, made Mickeys story of unwork seem more plausible to the audience as they would have been able to feel the depression and coldness in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, being limited to the use of only lighting and minimal props we had to settle with the idea of dimmed lighting to show the depression, darkness and resentment in the atmosphere. As I mentioned before we decided to show the difference in moods between the characters in the section (Edward and Mickey) by their movements and actions and the speed of these. We chose to portray Mickey as a slow and upset figure, and this was because we saw that he was upset and depressed by not being in work and also, was jealous of Edwards life at university and the money he had. We hoped that, by making Mickey slow and angry we could show how he felt inside to the audience without having to describe what had happened to him beforehand. On the other hand, we needed to show the excitement and happiness of Edward so as to give a full portrayal of the section. We decided that large amounts of fast movement was the best way to show how happy Edward was, when entering the scene, to see Mickey. Movement on stage (from one side to the other), coupled with various hand motions was also the way we decided to portray the excitement of Edward in the section. This said we had to remember that Edward didnt need to move too much because this would make him look nervous or as if the actor playing him was his or herself nervous. Bearing this in mind we decided to make Edward move in his lines from one side of Mickey to the other, at the beginning of the section. As the section progressed we needed to show how the atmosphere and moods of the characters changed as they confronted one another and we decided to do this by slowing the movements of Edward and changing his actions and expressions to a more uneasy mood and also to change the mood of Mickey so that he was even more angry as Edward revealed the wonderful time he had been enjoying whilst he was away. For example, when Edward says the line: Mickey, its fantastic. I havent been to so many parties in my life. And theres just so many tremendous people, but youll meet them Mick, some of them, Baz, Ronnie and Clare and oh, lots of them. Theyre coming over to stay for the New Year, for the party. Ooh its just . . . its great, Mickey. we decided that he should become happier and more excited and move more as the line goes on but that Mickey shouldnt look at him but that he should become more and more angry in his expressions. Climaxing in perhaps hitting his leg or some other action to show frustration. Also, we decided that as Edward asks more and more questions Mickey should become more and more annoyed and that his speech should become more and more strained as if he is trying to withhold his anger but still remain seated. This is until the line: You. Youre a dick head! where we believe that Mickey should stand and shout the line to contrast from the rest of his speech and to show his anger at Edward in full, for the first time. We decided that, in Edwards next speech he should still sound innocent and speak as if he knows everything about being poor and face the audience, sounding proud and sure of himself. Whilst this happens Mickey would become more and more annoyed at him but now speak more calmly, as if he has regained control of his rage. As the section concludes I think that Mickey should perhaps mock Edward for still being a kid etc. And this would show how he has changed, to contrast from how he was Edwards best friend. Mickey should talk as if disgusted at Edward but remaining calm and envious of him. Oppositely, Edward, as the scene concludes, should turn from being innocent and confused to turn and be on the verge of anger. The line: Im exactly the same age as you, Mickey should be portrayed with a slight hint of anger towards Mickey from Edward. However, after this, Edward should become calm again and then change, as Mickey announces his last line, so that he seems upset and on the verge of tears. In the last line, Mickey should begin facing Edward but as the line moves on he should turn to face away from him, half to the audience, half to the other side of the stage and Edward should stare at his back so that we can see the expressions they expose. Both should be upset, Mickey should sound harsh but actually be upset about what he is saying and Edward should just be upset so the audience can see the brothers, separated and see them upset. In the pause, both of the characters should remain still, Edward staring at Mickey and Mickey staring at the audience. Then, as the pause ends, Mickey should turn to face Edward and shout the final line: Go on . . . beat it before I hit y and, at this point, there should be another pause. After this Edward would slowly back away and Mickey should turn again to face the audience. Both characters should have expressions of upset on their faces to show how the mood of the scene has changed. So that the audience can feel the upset and the separation of the brothers, the lights should fade so that a spot is left on each brother. This would not only portray the mood but would show how the brothers feel inside without each other.

Social And Technological Factors Also Affect The Company Marketing Essay

Social And Technological Factors Also Affect The Company Marketing Essay Political, Economical, Social and Technological factors also affect the company as a whole. If the Political or Economical condition of the country is not strong, this can affect the business as well. Political Factors Politics affects the business a lot; because a company must follow certain rules or regulations (laws) made by the government. Creation of different laws depends upon the ruling political party. For example, the end of Cold War has been a big change for weapon makers. Moreover Political factors include government regulations and legal issues and define both formal and informal rules under which the firm must operate. Some examples include: Tax policy Employment laws Environmental regulations Trade restrictions and tariffs Political stability Economic Factors The economic condition of the country and state has a great influence on the company progression. The different economic policies, which affect business, are Taxation Interest rates Currency rate Public economic condition (either people are poor or rich) Inflation rate Social Factors Social values, beliefs, religion and culture really affect the business. Business must be according to social aspects. For example, in Pakistan we cannot sale or purchase things like wine, because it is against Islamic faith. Another example is of wearing shorts by the women. Here it is unsocial, so we cannot start the business of selling shorts to women. Social factors include the demographic and cultural aspects of the external macro environment. These factors affect customer needs and the size of potential markets. Some social factors include: Health consciousness Population growth rate Age distribution Career attitudes Emphasis on safety Technological Factors The most challenging factor for marketing manager is technological factor, because growth of the company depends upon the innovation and for innovation, the use of new technology is very much important. In order to beat the competitors, an organization must have effective research, planning and marketing of new products and for this purpose new machinery, techniques and ideas are very much important Technological factors can lower barriers to entry, reduce minimum efficient production levels, and influence outsourcing decisions. Some technological factors include: RD activity Automation Technology incentives Rate of technological change Porters Five Forces The pure competition model does not present a viable tool to assess an industry. Porters Five Forces attempts to realistically assess potential levels of profitability, opportunity and risk based on five key factors within an industry. This model may be used as a tool to better develop a strategic advantage over competing firms within an industry in a competitive and healthy environment. It identifies five forces that determine the long-run profitability of a market or market segment Power of suppliers An industry that produces goods requires raw materials. This leads to buyer-supplier relationships between the industry and the firms that provide the raw materials. Depending on where the power lies, suppliers may be able to exert an influence on the producing industry. They may be able to dictate price and influence availability. A segment is unattractive when an organizations suppliers have the ability to: Increase prices without suffering from a decrease in volume Reduce the quantity supplied Organize in a formal or informal manner Compete in an environment with relatively few substitutes Provide a product/material that is a critical part of the end product or service Impose switching costs on their customers when they depart Integrate downstream by purchasing or controlling the distribution channels. Power of buyers The power of buyers describes the impact customers have on an industry. When buyer power is strong, the relationship to the producing industry becomes closer to what economists term a monopsony. A Monopsony is a market where there are many suppliers and one buyer. Under these market conditions, the buyer has the most influence in determining the price. The bargaining power of buyers increases when they have the ability to: Be organized in some form with others providing similar products and services Purchase a product that represents a significant fraction of the buyers costs Buy a product that is undifferentiated Incur low switching costs when they change vendors Be price sensitive, with other options available Integrate upstream, to purchase the providers of the goods. Barriers to entry/exit The possibility of new firms entering the industry impacts competition. A key is to assess how easy it is for a new player to enter an industry. The most attractive segment has high entry barriers and low exit barriers. The definable characteristics of each industry protect profitable areas for firms and inhibit additional rivals from entering the market. These inhibitive characteristics are referred to as barriers to entry. Barriers to entry are unique characteristics to each industry. They reduce the rate of entry of new firms and, therefore, maintain a level of profits for current industry competitors. Barriers to entry can be created or exploited to enhance a firms competitive advantage. Barriers to exit work similarly to barriers to entry, Exit barriers limit the ability of a firm to leave the market and can exacerbate rivalry unable to leave the industry, a firm must compete. Substitute products Porters Five Forces model refers to substitute products as those products that are available in other industries that meet an identical or similar need for the end user. As more substitutes become available and affordable, the demand becomes more elastic since customers have more alternatives. Substitute products may limit the ability of firms within an industry to raise prices and improve margins. Rivalry Firms strive to secure a competitive advantage over their rivals. The intensity of rivalry varies within each industry and these differences can be important in the development of strategy. For example, the intensity of rivalry is increased by the following industry characteristics: Numerous competitors that are particularly strong or aggressive that are competing for the same customers and resources Declining sales revenues and volumes resulting in slow market growth, creating the need to actively fight for market share High fixed costs result in an economy of scale effect High storage costs or highly perishable products Plant capacity is being added, over and above what is needed to meet demand Low switching costs for buyers Low levels of product differentiation Strategic stakes are high when a firm is losing market position or has potential for great gains High exit barriers place a significant cost on abandoning the product. Discuss and Propose Segmentation Criteria to be used for any of two products of the above company in different markets (Pass) Market Segmentation: -Market segmentation divides market into smaller units that can be reached more efficiently and effectively. Market segmentation is divided into four groups. Geographic Segmentation Geographic segmentation is dividing the market into different geographical groups e.g. countries, regions, cities, towns etc World region or country (Europe, Middle East, India, china, Pakistan) Demographic Segmentation Demographic segmentation is dividing the market into groups based on variables such as age, gender, family size, family life cycle, income occupation, education, religion and nationality. Age: -Consumer needs and wants change with age. Companies offer different products for different age groups e.g. Johnsons baby lotion for kids, play stations for teen ages etc Gender: -Gender segmentation is dividing the market into different groups based on gender e.g. clothes for males and females etc Income: -Income segmentation is dividing the market into different income groups. Marketers produce products and services for different income segmented groups such as automobile industry, boats, clothings etc Psychographic Segmentation Psychographic segmentation is dividing a market into different groups based on social class life style or personality characteristic. Behavioral Segmentation Behavioral segmentation is dividing a market into groups based on consumer knowledge, attitude, uses (potential users/non users) or their response to a product. Occasions Is dividing the market into groups according to occasion when buyers get the idea to buy, actually make their purchase or use the purchased item e.g. orange juice is most often consumed at break fast but orange juice manufacturers have promoted drinking orange juice as a cool and refreshing drink at other times of the day. DOMINOS PIZZA The bottom of the pizza, called the crust, may vary widely according to style thin as in a typical hand-tossed pizza , or thick as in a typical pan pizza or deep pan pizza It is traditionally plain, but may also be seasoned with garlic, or herbs, or stuffed with cheese. In Dominos, pizza can be baked in an oven above the heat source, an electric deck oven, a conveyor belt oven or, in the case of more expensive restaurants, a wood- or coal-fired oven. On deck ovens, the pizza can be slid into the oven on a long paddle, called a peel, and baked directly on the hot oven or baked on a screen (a round metal grate, typically aluminum). Another option is grilled pizza in which the crust is baked directly on a barbecue grill. Each ingredient used in the pizzas has a different value and a different need and all these ingredients are value added features. This differentiates dominos from other local pizza parlors in Pakistan. Demographic Segmentation: Age: Attracts children (6-15), teenagers and young adults (16-22), and general adults. Family aspect is the basis of dominos. It got strong aspects about families visiting it. Income: Income Level: This is also an important variable on which segmentation can be carried out. People belonging to the lower income groups can not afford to buy dominos pizza will target that segment whose income puts them in the upper middle and higher income groups. Social Class: dominos caters to the upper- upper middle to middle upper social class. Occasions: Birthday Parties, Get together. SERVICE Free delivery and take away counters have eased that service that dominos offers. This changes the outlook and satisfies customers demands on time. Overall if we see, the differentiation is all on quality and hygiene and this provides the best value for the customers money. A benefit of the hygienic factor and deliciousness is the quality that dominos has offered through out. Psychographic Segmentation: Life StyleSocial Class: Buyers are divided into different groups based on social class and life style. Many consumers live a simple life style and belong to lower and middle class; they dont spend on buying pizza. So dominos should target that segment living a high class life and can afford to buy pizza. Behavioral Segmentation: Occasion: The other segment can be of regular occasions, which includes parties and get together. Foreigners: This can be an important segment for dominos because those who come from abroad are very brand conscious. DOMINOS SANDWICHES Dominos Sandwiches are a widely popular type of lunch food, typically taken to work or school, or picnics to be eaten as part of a packed lunch. They generally contain a combination of salad vegetables meat, cheese, and a variety of sauces or savoury spreads. The bread can be used as it is, or it can be coated with any condiments to enhance flavor and texture. They are widely sold in dominos outlets. Geographic Segmentation: Regions: Commonly people prefer to eat sandwich. So dominos can segment the market on the basis of people taste. Cities: Consumption of sandwiches is more in the large cities as compared to the small cities or town due to various factors such as income and education level. dominos should focus more on making its sandwiches available in the cities where people are willing and able to buy. Demographic Segmentation: Age: dominos can easily target various age groups. The most important of these groups are children and young peoples. For children it can introduce club sandwiches with additional nutritional contents such as cheese and minerals. For older people it already has salad sandwiches . A smaller segment can be of the people who are aging. These people can be convinced that the sandwiches will help their diet remain healthy (especially women). Gender: It will be very beneficial to target working women and men. If they are convinced that the sandwiches will be good for their health during working hour specially in tight working schedule. Income and occupation: People will buy sandwiches when they have enough monetary resources. Dominos should target people in the higher income groups. People with blue collar jobs can be targeted by telling them that the sandwiches will help them in their daily routine. Life cycle stage can also be important because families with younger kids will want to buy sandwiches. Psychographic segmentation: Social class and life style: People belonging to the higher social classes tend to spend more on luxuries as compared to people in the lower classes. Such people can be easily targeted as they are very health conscious. dominos can urge these people (along with diet conscious) to buy their line of diet sandwiches. Discuss any two factors which influence the choice of targeting strategy (Pass) Target Market Selection Target marketing tailors a marketing mix for one or more segments identified by market segmentation. Target marketing contrasts with mass marketing, which offers a single product to the entire market. Two important factors to consider when selecting a target market segment are the attractiveness of the segment and the fit between the segment and the firms objectives, resources, and capabilities. Attractiveness of a Market Segment The following are some examples of aspects that should be considered when evaluating the attractiveness of a market segment: Size of the segment (number of customers and/or number of units) Growth rate of the segment Competition in the segment Brand loyalty of existing customers in the segment Attainable market share given promotional budget and competitors expenditures Required market share to break even Sales potential for the firm in the segment Expected profit margins in the segment Market research and analysis is instrumental in obtaining this information. For example, buyer intentions, sales force estimates, test marketing, and statistical demand analysis are useful for determining sales potential. The impact of applicable micro-environmental and macro-environmental variables on the market segment should be considered. Suitability of Market Segments to the Firm Market segments also should be evaluated according to how they fit the firms objectives, resources, and capabilities. Some aspects of fit include: Whether the firm can offer superior value to the customers in the segment The impact of serving the segment on the firms image Access to distribution channels required to serve the segment The firms resources vs. capital investment required to serve the segment The better the firms fit to a market segment and the more attractive the market segment, the greater the profit potential to the firm. Target Market Strategies There are several different target market strategies that may be followed. Targeting strategies usually can be categorized as one of the following: Single-segment strategy: -Is also known as a concentrated strategy. One market segment (not the entire market) is served with one marketing mix. A single-segment approach often is the strategy of choice for smaller companies with limited resources. Selective specialization: -This is a multiple-segment strategy which is also known as a differentiated strategy. Different marketing mixes are offered to different segments. The product itself may or may not be different in many cases only the promotional message or distribution channels vary. Product specialization: -The firm specializes in a particular product and tailors it to different market segments. Market specialization: -The firm specializes in serving a particular market segment and offers that segment an array of different products. Full market coverage: -The firm attempts to serve the entire market. This coverage can be achieved by means of either a mass market strategy in which a single undifferentiated marketing mix is offered to the entire market, or by a differentiated strategy in which a separate marketing mix is offered to each segment. Discuss how buyer behavior affects marketing activities in different situations in light of the assigned companies (Pass) Buyer Behavior In addition to understanding the needs of your customers, you also need to understand what motivates them to purchase, and how you can influence the buying process to ensure that your products or services are on the shopping list. Understanding your customers will help you to develop and distribute your product, as well as getting the right price point and developing successful promotional activities. The psychology of the buying process has been widely studied, and no matter what size your business, knowledge of this process can help you become more successful. Both businesses and consumers exhibit patterns of buying behavior. The business model is less open to debate as your business customers will almost certainly have some formalized process of buying in place. Your task is to understand the process and match your marketing activities to the different stages of the process. This means that the customer will receive the right kind of contact at the right time. Marketing in Dominos: Marketing is based on the principle of customer satisfaction. This is the foundation for the environmental marketing approach of dominos. Environmental product claims in advertising, promotional material and on packaging are in accordance with legal requirements, based on solid scientific evidence and used in a serious and reasonable manner. Their aim is to minimize wastage in communication, publicity and promotional material, in particular through more precise targeting of marketing activities. Consumer promotions and merchandising material such as consumer offers, in store promotions, display material, leaflets, printed matter, etc. take environmental aspects into account. This means due consideration of environmental impact in selecting both materials and printing methods. In distribution, energy efficient and pollution controlled methods are encouraged wherever possible. The attractiveness of ads may attract consumers Strong brand image also help in attracting customers that influence their buying behavior. Quality of product its price packaging also influence buyers behavior The distribution channels, the placement of products also influence the behavior. 3.1 Describe how products are developed to sustain competitive advantages . Now a days technology is improving so as baking and heating ovens will be of new and efficient technology and will provide efficient service. Due to new technology there are new ways of marketing like internet; telemarketing and the organization can advertise their products with much more faster pace. Computer based customer data that is MIS (managing information system) helps in collecting customer data, daily transactions, future forecasting and decision making. New vehicles will make their service more efficient. Dominoz pizza is the market leader in providing different products of pizzas as there are many competitors in this sector. There good image makes the organization more strong. Dominoz pizza is providing good taste, quality products with qualified staff, good atmosphere and hygienic environment. They are specialized in pizzas. Motivation level of staff is very high which make the organization more prosperous. They are ISO (International Standard Organization) certified. They have enough resources for operating different activities of the organization. They are providing free home delivery service. Another big Strength and even a Competitive Advantage is the fact that they have a full service restaurant as well as delivery services. Most of Dominoz pizzas competitors do not have restaurants. Because of the restaurant, Dominoz pizza can market too many different segments that other pizza chains cannot. However, the fact that Dominoz pizza does have a restaurant to run is also a weakness. Dominoz pizza has higher overhead costs, due to the restaurant that other competitors dont have to deal with. Another result of higher overhead costs is higher prices Dominoz pizza must charge. Obviously, Dominoz pizza is not the low cost producer. They rely on their quality pizza and good service to account for their higher prices. They are providing less range of products comparatively with high prices. They are more focused on Western taste instead of Eastern. New markets can be explored and new opportunities they can gain. Dominoz pizza can come up with the new products considering the Eastern taste of the people as like McDonalds . Diversification of new products can increase their market share. They can reduce their prices because of more resources. 3.2 Explain how distribution is arranged to provide customer convenience Distribution It refers to the best place to offer program. That is the place where it is located and through what channels are we distributing programs and the competitive advantage lies in distribution. The Dominoz pizza islamabad is situated in blue area.. Secondly the catchment area is of a specified minimum size and within a given drive time to the site. Distribution The type of distribution channel used by Dominoz pizza is the direct channel. The direct channel is successful when there is an extremely large market that is geographically dispersed. The direct channel is also useful when there are a large number of buyers, but a small amount purchased by each. Dominoz pizza uses three different methods of selling its products directly to the market. The first method of distribution used by Dominoz pizza is Home. Office delivery. Customers can call Dominoz pizza ahead of time, place an order, and the order is delivered to the customers home. Another method of distribution is for customers to dine-in. Customers can go to the nearest Dominoz pizza, place an order and either leave with the order or eat at the restaurant. One of Dominoz pizzas largest competitive advantages is its restaurant style facility. Dominoz pizza offers a clean place to sit down and enjoy the variety of pizzas, salads, and sandwiches in a fun, family atmosphere. The third method of distribution is to order Online. Selective County Customers can now go on the Internet and place an order for Pizza. This method is useful because it allows customers to view the entire menu, download any special coupons, and order without having to disclose any credit card numbers. 3.3 Explain how prices are set to reflect an organizations objective and market conditions. Pricing Strategy The level of competition a business faces determines its pricing strategy. Sometimes a business has the scope to set its price and sometimes a business cannot. When a business has the scope to set its price there is a number of pricing strategies or policies it might choose. As there are no such competitors of Dominoz pizza which could compete with the quality of pizza produced at Dominoz pizza, therefore, the pricing strategy adopted by Dominoz pizza is market skimming. Dominoz pizza has adopted this pricing strategy as they want to hold maximum share of the market by maximum profit. This is a golden era for Dominoz pizza, as there are no competitors and hence, Dominoz pizza is free to charge any price they want. They are charging higher prices due to the uniqueness of the product. They satisfy the target market as the food quality is worth the price paid. The pricing strategy is not just to get the worth of quality but also to gain maximum profits before any competitor enters becau se then Dominoz pizza will have to change its pricing strategy. Although the prices would be lowered with the new entrants in the market but not to a greater extent as the quality food products are not home-produced. They are imported from different countries keeping in view the best Quality. 3.4 Illustrate how promotional activity is integrated to achieve marketing objectives Promotional Activity This forced competitors to look for new methods of increasing their customer bases. Many pizza chains decided to diversify and offer new non-pizza items such as Buffalo wings, and Italian cheese bread. The current trend in pizza chains today is the same. They all try to come up with some newer, bigger, better, pizza for a low price. Offering special promotions and new pizza variations are popular today as well. For example, chicken is now a common topping found on pizzas. In the past, Dominoz pizza has always had the first mover advantage. Their marketing strategy in the past has always been to be first. One of their main strategies that they still follow today is the diversification of the products they offer. Dominoz pizza is always adding something new to their menu, trying to reach new markets. For example, in 1992 the famous buffet was launched in Dominoz pizza restaurants worldwide. They were trying to offer many different food items for customers who didnt necessarily want pizza. Another strategy they used in the past and are still using is the diversification of their pizzas. Dominoz pizza is always trying to come up with some innovative way to make a pizza into something slightly different different enough that customers will think its a whole new product. For example, lets look at some of the pizzas Dominoz pizza has marketed in the past. In 1989, Dominoz pizza introduced their Pan Pizza, which had a guarantee of being ready to eat in 5 minutes when dining at Dominoz pizza restaurants. In 1994, they introduced the Bigfoot, which was two square feet of pizza cut into 21 slices. In 1995, they introduced Stuffed Crust Pizza, where the crust would be filled with cheese. In 1997, they marketed The Edge, which had cheese and toppings all the way to the edge of the pizza. Currently, they are marketing The Big New Yorker, trying to bring the famous New York style pizza to the whole country. 3.5 Analyze the additional elements of the extended marketing mix People The employees in Dominoz pizza have a standard uniform and Dominoz pizza specially focuses on friendly and prompt service to its customers from their employees. The employees are part time workers and full time workers (not a policy). The aprons of the employees distinguish them as Dominoz pizza workers. Process The food manufacturing process at Dominoz pizza is transparent and hidden (the whole process is not visible to the customers). Physical Evidence Dominoz pizza focuses on clean and hygienic interiors of its outlets and at the same time the interiors are attractive and the Pizza maintains a proper etiquette at its joints. The design, furnishing, lighting, layout and decoration of the Pizza chain as well as the appearance and attitudes of its employees will influence customer perceptions of the service quality and experiences. Now another component of the service experience can be the Eviction Model which illustrates the various invisible and visible factors which influence the customers experience. 4.1 Recommend marketing mixes for two different segments in consumer markets Segmentation Main segments which Dominoz pizza has captured are the combination of higher incomes and dual career families , due to higher income consumer have more disposable income , allowing them to eat out more often . Dominoz pizza holds the most market share in the Pizza industry, the perceived quality and service of the company will help to ensure a better the average chance at a successful introduction of a new product. The introduction of a product that keeps with today trends is also important to reduce the risk of failure. Dominoz pizza maximum market segment is younger generations. These generation ranges from 12 to 30, the overall spending of these generations is mostly on non essential items, the higher amount of spending has been done on eating out.

Cross Cultural Issues in Performance Management

Cross Cultural Issues in Performance Management When planning to expand into the global marketplace, the expanding business should set forth a well-planned business process that considers the inherent cultural differences that considers the inherent cultural differences that may exist from country to country. Cultural differences can almost always be identified as one of the primary reasons for the gaps in global internet development. Cultural factors were considered the predictors of the level of acceptance of Internet in a society. Cultural factors also determine the section of a society most likely to use the Internet, the purpose of the use of the Internet, the site visited, purpose of use of the Internet, the site visited, purchase decisions, etc. Hence it is important to consider the cross cultural issues and differences when developing any type of global business strategy The problems that arise in joint ventures become even more salient in the new forms of multicultural organizations that have been called collaborations. When the group working together contains members from three or more cultures and may be operating in yet a fourth different culture, or may not be co-located at all, what kinds of cultural issues are likely to come ? Misunderstanding the rules and norms surrounding the issue of authority is probably the most common problem in newly formed multicultural groups. The high degree of formality that is associated with diplomacy can be understood as a defense against making mistakes in this cultural arena. But formality itself can lead to problems if there nonsufficient understanding In the work situation, if the leader is from a culture in which it is expected that subordinates will speak up if they have a relevant piece of information, but he or she is dealing with group members whose norms dictate that one does not speak up until the boss specially asks, and even then one suppress information that would embarrass the boss, one can foresee that this group will have difficulty being effective. Misunderstandings around authority then have a direct impact on the quality of communication that is possible Another example of going global is seen in personalized service firms such as law and accounting .These professions are focusing on cross-border activities like recruiting the local people who have their own culture, language, legal systems and accounting systems. The need for international expertise and capital is one reason for this trend. Companies of professionals are forming alliances with their foreign counterparts such as the Alliance of European Lawyers. In only 10% of 191 nations are the people ethnically or racially homogenous. Never before in history have so many inhabitants traveled beyond their homelands, either to travel or work abroad, or to flee as refugees. In host countries, the social fabric is being reconfigured and strained by massive waves of immigrants, whether legal or illegal. It is estimated that Chinese now constitute 3% of New York Citys population, with a quarter million of them concentrated in Manhattan Islands Chinatown, which overflows into older ethnic neighborhoods. This is the largest Chinese expatriate group outside Southeast Asia. The Industrial Age has given way to the Information Age, and we can only speculate on its replacement in the next one hundred years. Thus todays leaders are required to develop new models of management systems. They need to be more innovative and recognize the role of each and every employee in the organization in order to achieve the overall organizational goals. These dramatic changes in the workplace are producing some interesting challenges for everyone, from entry-level employees to top management. The management of the organizations should be ready to face these conflicts and challenges that may happen when the people from diverse cultures work together as a team to achieve organizational goals. But management can also enjoy the different opportunities like productivity, expansion, and new levels of growth due to the cross-cultural environment. Our research is about successfully handling these conflicts and takes advantage of these opportunities Globally, cross-cultural research has become increasingly essential. We can see people from diverse cultures in European countries. In this modern age , there is a need for cultural awareness and to understand people beliefs and practices. This, I argue, can be obtained by research, particularly the qualitative approach. I think cross-cultural research is very important that can help organizations to understand and create awareness about issues that may arise when people from different cultures work together as a unit 1.2 Research Questions What Is the Function of Culture? What Are Cultural Differences? Do Cultural Differences Really Have an Impact on Workplace? What are cross-cultural issues and how can we resolve them to improve organizational performance? What Are the Signs and effects of Cross-Cultural Management Issues in organizations and how can we resolve them? What Are the Signs and effects of Cross-Cultural Teamwork Issues in organizations and how can we resolve them? What Are the Signs and effects of Cross-Cultural Communication Issues in organizations and how can we resolve them? What Are the Signs and effects of Cross-Cultural Career Management Issues in organizations and how can we resolve them? 1.3 Research Objectives The purpose of our research is to understand the cross-cultural differences that exist in organizations and their impact on the performance of the organizations. We will also pinpoint how the rewards, leadership and communications get different perspectives in cross-cultural environment. We will also study the importance of training programs and their orientation in cross-cultural environment. The focus of our study will be on Cultural differences and similarities Behaviour in global perspective Cultural shock Managerial responses Decision making across cultures Motivation across cultures Reward across cultures Leadership across cultures Power and conflict across cultures Communications across cultures Environments across cultures Organization structure and technology across cultures Cross-culture training 1.4 Key Literature view Initial Knowledge Management (KM) strategies relied heavily on ICT-based solutions to store and retrieve explicit organizational knowledge. However, these ICT-based strategies often failed to deliver meaningful results (Ambrosio 2000). To date, much of the KM literature has focused on corporate and organizational culture, with relatively little attention paid to the implications of national culture. However KM, which is context embedded, is a particularly culturally dependent process (Glisby and Holden 2003; Nonaka and Toyama 2003). Effective KM practices developed by and for one culture may not necessarily be successfully used by other cultures (Pauleen and Murphy 2005). This is an important point as cross-cultural knowledge sharing has become more prevalent through the forces of globalization, advances in communications technology, and increasingly culturally diverse workforces (Cox 1991; Nemetz and Christensen 1996), as well as through international mergers and acquisitions, Internet based e-commerce, and an increasing trend to global outsourcing. Meanwhile, dominant Western cultural assumptions about knowledge and KM influence KM research and development. Given these factors, an understanding of the influence of national culture is now, arguably, a critical requirement in understanding and implementing successful KM in organizations. 1.5 Methodology We will focuses primarily on secondary cross-cultural comparisons (using other peoples data). Some measurement techniques lend themselves more readily to comparison than others. We will also use participant observations and un-structured interviewing that are usually a necessary first step in any field study. It goes without saying that any measure used across sites needs to be applicable to all the sites. Most comparative field studies deal with general domains of life that are found in all societies-for example, words and classification of colors, kin, animals, and plants, ideas about illness, raising children, and social behaviors. We will Compare Primary Data from Field Studies for Behavior Observations 1.6 Research ethical issues Distinct and conceivably unanticipated ethical issues emanate from the unpredictable nature of qualitative research. Ethical considerations relevant to quantitative research impact qualitative investigations in unique and more fragile ways. The ethical dilemmas Inherent in issues surrounding informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality, data generation, treatment, publications, and participant-researcher relationships are reviewed in light of the unique issues that emerge in the design and conduct of qualitative investigations. Ethical standards for qualitative investigations must evolve from sense that the research is dynamic and that the process, by its application may result in unanticipated ethical concerns. The researcher must remain open to the possibility of new, and, to date, unexamined ethical concerns related to qualitative research. Further, the evolving standards must be grounded in the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and justice Researcher must observe certain basic principles when conducting any form of research that involves human subjects. First, participants must not be harmed, thereby supporting the principle of beneficence. In any qualitative investigations, if researchers sense that the interview is causing issues to surface that may result in emotional trauma to participants, they must protect the welfare of the participants that confidentiality and anonymity will be upheld and that participants will be treated with dignity and respect. The principles of beneficence and justice are upheld in this regard. The three ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence and justice provide the organizing framework for meaningful dialogue regarding ethical issues that pertain to qualitative investigations

Biological Basis Of Behavior Essay -- Science Biology Biological Essay

Biological Basis Of Behavior Primary Behaviors of Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is defined as a "devastating psychotic disorder that may involve characteristic disturbances in thinking (delusions), perception (hallucinations), speech, emotions, and behavior (Durand and Barlow 443). This disorder affects nearly 2.5 million people. The symptoms of schizophrenia are usually divided into two categories, positive and negative. The positive symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech or thinking, grossly disorganized behavior, and catatonic behaviors, which means that you suffer from motor immobility (schizophrenia.com). Delusions are defined as a strong disorder of thought and false beliefs of reality. There are five categories of delusions. The first is persecutory in which a person believes they are being attacked, harassed or conspired against. For example, a person with persecutory delusions may think that the government is spying on them. The second category is grandiose delusions, which are defined as an exaggerated sense of importance, power, and identity. For example, a person may feel that they receive special powers from God which gives them the ability to control things. The third category is being controlled. This category of delusions involves thoughts and feelings imposed from the outside. This is sometimes referred to as "thought insertion." A person with this type of delusion may feel that they are being controlled by the devil or by a curse. The fourth category is somatic delusions. These are defined as having false beliefs about bodily functions such as having AIDS or being pregnant for three years. The last category is j... ... ended up in the psychiatric ward. He got on medicine but still felt like a "deer in the headlights." He had a hard time keeping up with school and then his medicine failed and he was hospitalized again. After the second hospitalization his life turned around. He ended up finishing school with a degree in Economics. He was also able to hold down several jobs. He has tried every atypical antipsychotic medicine and they seem to be working. People can overcome schizophrenia if they choose to and can succeed in their own way and beat the odds. References Barlow, David H. and Durand, V. Mark. Essentials of Abnormal Psychology. Thomson-Wadsworth, 2003. Clozaril (clozapine). www.nami.org. 2/23/2005 Dr. Jim Dupree's class notes for Abnormal Psychology Success Stories from People with Schizophrenia. www.schizophrenia.com. 2/23/2005.

Perl: A Popular Scripting Language :: Computers

Perl: A Popular Scripting Language Perl was created under strange circumstances, it was never intended to be a widely used public language but the features it provided caused many programmers to crave for more. Larry Wall initially created Perl to produce reports from a â€Å"Usenet- news-like hierarchy of files for a bug-reporting system.† 1 Apparently awk and sed could not handle the task. Larry decided to fix this problem with a C application now known as Perl, Practical Extraction and Report Language. Perl grew at the same rate as the UNIX operating system. It became portable as new features were added. Perl now has extensive documentation available in different man pages. Perl is growing now just as every widely used programming language. Perl is known for its management of data. It can manipulate files and directories and manage tasks. It can easily analyze results from other applications including sorting large files that would take a human a long time. Perl is generally used for its scripting abilities. String manipulation is much smoother using Perl than using imperative languages like Java and C. The data representation of numeric data in Perl is a little different than other languages. All numeric data is a double precision floating point value in Perl. For this reason it would not be a good idea to solve complex mathematical problems with Perl because it would be much slower than using a regular imperative language. String values are sequences of characters as in most other languages. The convention for scalar variable identifiers is a dollar sign followed by a character followed by a sequence of underscores and alphanumeric values. Scalar variables can contain a single value representing a number, string, or reference. For example â€Å"$a = â€Å"hello†Ã¢â‚¬  is just as valid as â€Å"$b1 = 3.4†. Perl has numerous built in functions and it allows for user defined subprograms. Subprograms are an example of data abstraction. To define a subprogram you use the convention if â€Å"sub subname { statements; }†. To pass parameters you call subname(arg1, arg2). To access the parameters is a little different, you must get the values from the temporary @_ array. The @_ array is private to the subprogram. Subprograms can return variables and can have their own private variables. Perl can have input from files and keyboards and can have output to files and screens.

Major Challenges of Organizational Management Essay example -- Busines

Major Challenges of Organizational Management   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are a number of differences between FMC’s Aberdeen and Green River, the two facilities of discussion. One may assume, therefore, that managerial styles, business practices, and other aspects of business and the employees involved, would be very different from one another. On the other hand, it is quite possible to use very similar styles of doing business and managing a company, despite differences in the company, as a good style of managing, and good practices would assist any business in succeeding. Management, employees and productivity being the main focuses at hand, one may first want to review these differences between the two facilities. To begin with, the facility in Aberdeen employs 100 people, while the Green River plant maintains 1150, and while Green River produces over 100 goods, and distributes world wide, the Aberdeen plant has only one product, and one customer. The two plants were very different in age and industry as well, with Green River as an older company in the chemical industry, and Aberdeen, a five year old â€Å"start up† company in the defense industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Considering that the Green River facility has been in operation as long as it has, major changes to the company’s methods of operation may prove to be difficult initially. The large number of employees may provide a need for some small changes in comparison to the way that the Aberdeen facility is able to manage successfully. The general idea of changing the values of â€Å"managing† employees, to incorporate the employees opinions, thoughts, feelings, to make the employee feel more a part of, and personally responsible for, the work produced, is an excellent idea, and despite the differences in the facilities, it should be something of an improvement for this, and any, company. This general idea starts the more involved process of improving an employee’s satisfaction with all of their job facets, and focuses on their abilities, desire to succeed, and other aspects of importance to a person in the workplace. An excessive amount of change, or r ushed change, is a possible concern for a facility like Green River that has been established for a considerable length of time, as employees have grown accustomed to a certain atmosphere, and may initially feel uncomfortable with change. Again, it is also likely that this is not... ...chain on the other hand, though still managed with upper and lower levels, reacts more as a team, giving those involved more recognition for their accomplishments. People who are recognized as such, and appreciated for their individual strengths, may be more likely to utilize these strengths and feel that they are a part of the company, rather than a pawn of the company. There is something very positive to be said for this type of thinking, if everyone on the Earth felt that a small positive contribution to it’s well being would be recognized, and make a difference, I can almost guarantee that we would be living in a very different world today. Works Cited: Organizational Behavior, Jennifer M George & Gareth R Jones, Copyright 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., Ch. 1-4 Prentice Hall, Custom Business Resources, FMC Aberdeen from Practice Problems in Organizations: Cases in Leadership, Organizational Behavior and Human Resources, by James G Clawson, A Custom Edit, Copyright 2003 Pearson Custom Publishing If the job could talk By Bill J. Bonnstetter Copyright 2000. TTI Performance Systems, Ltd. http://www.benchmarkingdna.com/showPDF.php?file=Articles_IfTheJobCouldTalk

A Beautiful Mind and Disability Essay

A Beautiful Mind is a good movie by Ron Howard, about a man that has lost his grip on what is real and what is fiction. This started when he was in graduate school and no one really noticed until his wife had him committed to the hospital. John Nash, the main character of the film portrayed by Russell Crowe, is a great mathematician that became a victim to paranoid schizophrenia. At first he does not notice the problems, and being that we are seeing everything from his prospective we do not notice them either. Only after he is admitted to the hospital by his wife do we see that some of the main people in his life are just products of his mind. As was said in the movie, â€Å"What must it be like to realize not that those you treasure and hold dear are not lost or dead but have never been? What kind of hell would that be? † This is a true tragedy that is common with paranoid schizophrenia. I guess that in reality John Nash is a man that truly exemplifies the statement that there is a fine line between genius and insanity. This is probably why his problems were not addressed for as long as they were, people overlooked them because they would lose the benefit of that genius if they were to try and fix the erratic behaviors that he showed. John Nash suffered from many of the classic symptoms of this illness. He was paranoid that people were after him, which was healthy in his classified work. He had different friends and co-workers who did not exist anywhere but in his own mind. See more: Unemployment – problems and solutions essay   He started showing progressive erratic behavior towards his friends and family. In the end, right before the hospital, the fantasy realm was what was real to him and the real world just the work of fiction. I agree with the movie that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. However, if he was forced to continue the treatments of the times I believe that he would have fallen even further. While on the medications you noticed that he was becoming depressed which ould have lead him to Manic Depression, and I can only imagine what continued insulin shock would have done to his mind and body. None of good I am sure. There were some major people in his life. The first was Charles Herman his Princeton roommate, William Parcher his boss with the Department of Defense, Alicia Nash his wife and Martin Hansen his main rival at school. He was close to Charles his best friend since college and worked well with William his boss at the Department of Defense, the only problem neither of them existed. Alicia became estranged from him because of his illness, but his brilliance was also what she loved about him as well. After his diagnoses his main true friend was the Dean at Princeton, his old rival Martin. When John stopped taking his medication and was looking to return to society he allowed him to use the library everyday to work on his problems and math in peace. Then once he thought he wanted to teach again he had the faith to talk the board into letting him teach. The two most helpful people to John Nash were his wife, Alicia and his old rival Martin. They believed in him when no one else would or thought they should. John was able to cope with his illness in the end because he had a break thru that his friend, Charles’ niece never aged; therefore she and they could not exist. This allowed him to start ignoring them and start functioning again in the real world without his medication. After dealing with my husband’s mother I believe that Russell Crowe should have won the Oscar, the SAG, and the Golden Globe for his realistic performance of a man that has lost his grip on the world around him. He not only showed you the ups and downs of this illness but he showed you that there is hope for everyone that has to deal with these problems daily. I also believed that this film helped bring to light how outdated some thoughts on mental illness can be and what is possible when you look beyond the surface and see the person underneath.

Why Global Warming Isn’t Real

Global climate change has been an issue for decades and so people are trying to stop it by going green and blaming carbon dioxide for the cause because there has been an increase of it. The truth is, it is not real. People get tricked into thinking global warming is real and the media makes a big deal about it and because people rely on the media for what is going on, and they believe what they say. That it is why they want them to get fuel efficient cars and energy star products along with solar and wind power to lessen the reliance on fossil fuels to help stop global warming. A lot of research has been done to show that carbon dioxide does not affect global warming. Scientists believe global warming is real based on the data that has been collected over the years. Tim Pawlenty had two claims on global warming, the first one is that evidence points toward climate change being natural and not a man made phenomenon. The U. N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that over the past 50 years, global warming was observed as human induced emissions such as the burning of fossil fuels like gasoline in our cars and clearing forests. The IPCC also claims that between 1995 and 2006, eleven of the twelve years were the warmest years on record. The second claim that Pawlenty made is that science about causes of climate change is dispute. The 2010 survey showed that of 1,372 scientists surveyed, 97-98% of them said that humans are to blame for on climate change. This was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which is the official publication of the US National Academy of Sciences. (Holan, Angie Drobnic, and David G. Taylor) There are a lot of facts and research as well to show why global warming is something that people are overreacting to. The Berkley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) showed that the worldwide temperatures have increased only by 1degree Celsius since 1950 while also showing that in the past decade, the temperature has been unchanged. Anthony Watts analyzed the US temperature data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climate Data Center and found some stunning results. He said that the Earth is cooling and not warming and broke down the data into winter, summer and annual temperatures in nine different regions. Every region has shown a drop in temperature for the winter, ranging from -1. 3 to -8. 4 degrees Fahrenheit in the west and east north central regions respectively. for the summer, five of the nine regions have negative temperature trends falling 1. 95 degrees in the northwest region. Only the northeast region has shown positive temperature trends for the annual temperatures. (Tennant, Michael) The IPCC has no creditable evidence that the Earth is warming like t hey claim. In fact, 17,000 scientists signed a petition saying that there is no convincing evidence that global warming exists. Satellite readings from the troposphere show that there is no warming since they started being used for the past 23 years. These are very accurate in taking temperature readings. The only data that shows there is global warming is the land base stations. With the heating and emissions from vehicles, The data collected shows that human error is factored in therefore would have scientists believe it is real. The efforts to reduce the greenhouse emissions s very costly and it would not stop the climate from changing. Reducing the carbon dioxide to the 1990’s levels within the next couple years requires higher energy taxes and regulations. This will cause 2. million jobs lost and $300 million in annual economic output. The household income nationwide will drop almost $3,000 therefore causing the state revenue taxes to fall almost $93 billion due to less taxable earned income and sales along with lower property values. Over 80% of the carbon dioxide increase in the 20th century was after 1940. Most of the temperature increase happened before 1940 and between the 40’s and mid 70’s, the car bon dioxide increased dramatically as the Earth was cooling. Water vapor is considered a major greenhouse gas and accounts for 95% of any greenhouse effect. According to the Journal Science in 1982, termites produce ten times more carbon dioxide than all the factories and vehicles alone. (Edmund Contoski) There are a lot of facts on why global warming is true, but the evidence does not confirm it. The data that was collected from the US government shows that the Earth is cooling and not warming. Carbon dioxide is not to blame for increasing global warming. All the research that was done on monitoring temperatures and carbon dioxide show that the Earth is not warming and humans are not to blame and it is only natural.

Outline How Material Things Essay

This essay will outline how material things on City Road favour the activities of some groups of people over others by looking at Ethnicity, Class and Gender. City Road is a big road filled with lots of different cultures, gender, class, age and history. When walking down the road it can be seen that the belonging and not belonging in the society. It opens your eyes as to what exactly goes on in different societies and City Road is a big street with a lot of demands and structures in it. Over the years society changed and so did the street. It goes by what is in demand, how society changes and by the vast majority of different cultures coming into the area. You see a lot of people trying to conform to the society and many trying to hold onto their own identities. First of all I’m going to talk about the Ethnicity on the street. We are going to the Xquisite Africa shop. Janet, the lady that owns the shop originates from Africa and moved to the UK over ten years ago. When she came to the UK she thought that she had to change her identity and conform to the society. She sells a lot of things from Africa and by doing this she gets to hold onto her identity of the African culture and also appeals to customers from the same ethnic background. She felt after being in the UK for ten years that she had lost her identity and so she decided to take a trip back home to Africa to re-charge her batteries as she puts it. She wanted to re-gain her culture that she so desperately lost. This aspect could help her re-gain her culture and identity and allows her to share this with the right clientele from a multi-racial background. She can share a state of belonging to a social group that has in common a national or cultural background, whilst negotiating with people on the complex of different identities. She contributes to the African social life and society as well as on City Road. Therefore promoting her African background and understanding there is no need to conform to the society and changing her identity. We then move onto class in the Municipal Club. A social stratum, whose members share a certain economic, social or cultural characteristics. For this instance the working class. It is aimed at the local residents and has over 100 years of history. A group containing members regarded as having certain attributes of traits in common has slowly disappeared and they long for the society to change back to what they believed it was. Whilst in the (DVD, Making social lives on City Road, 2009, scene 5) Lloyd Robson talks to couple of residents in the club and gets their insight of what is going on. He asked them if they thought the club had a future. They said no. no-one wants to know it anymore and even the members have started to lose interest. But because the society has changed it meant that they described city road as being dangerous and rough. They long for the past. They want it to go back to what they say it used to be or imagined it. The inequalities and differences that has changed and also the traditions has been lost. They lack the sense of belonging they used to have when City Road used to be theirs. Then we come across the Sanna Silk shop. This is where the female is favoured over the male. It’s a family business orientated around females as they sell and make dresses of different materials. They get to choose their type of material and their patterns. It is mainly focused at Asian women. In the (DVD, Making social lives on City Road, 2009, scene 6 by Raghuran) she says â€Å"it is a very different way of portraying Asian women than I often seen in the media. † They also have a section for jewellery. Most of their jewellery is 22 carat gold and is mainly aimed at the women. They also have a selection for their wedding day. So it has an Asian culture that is even though yes men go in to buy but is very female orientated. Conclusion Therefore in City Road, my examples favour female gender activities over male, is a very multi-racial area and favours specific class over others. Therefore explaining that society changes all of the time and conforms to whatever is more in demand in that specific time of era.

Philosophy of mind Essay

?The theory of Dualism refers to the idea that a substance is made up of two fundamental components; mind and matter. The mind component of Dualism refers to thinking and consciousness without an extension into space, whereas, the matter component of Dualism refers to a substance which pertains physical properties which extends into space. The essential essence of the mind is thought, while the essence of the body is extension, which is examined in Renee Descartes’ Six Meditation in which he explores the ontological distinction between mind and matter. Descartes argues that God only allows us to perceive that which exists, otherwise he would be known to be deceitful. Furthermore, one can perceive two separate entities as complete things whose principal attributes exclude one another, therefore, God can also separate these entities to allow them to exist without one another. This point goes on to demonstrate that if two entities can exist in separation, regardless of whether they do or they don’t, they really are distinct of one another. Ultimately, in relation to Cartesian Dualism, the mind cannot be perceived as a substance which pertains to an extension, and subsequently matter is clearly perceived as a substance to which the mind does not pertain. Descartes goes on to highlight that due to the aforementioned reasons, the mind and body can exist separate of each other, concluding that they are distinct. a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a aa In response to Descartes’ input on Dualism, Jaegwon Kim essentially puts forward the idea that objects that are intangible, such as the mind, cannot interact with tangible objects located in space, however, they’re also unable to react causally to any other object as well. In essence, Kim aims to demonstrate that intangible things have an inability to form causal relationships in any manner with any object. Ultimately Kim suggests that due to intangible things inability to form causal relationships with other objects, it makes the ideas Dualism puts forward in relation to intangible objects, useless and invalid. Kim’s causal pairing problem causes trouble for the idea of Dualism and it renders it as useless and somewhat invalid for the reason that it demonstrates that intangible things such as the mind essentially are unable to interact with tangible objects as there is no correlation between causes and effects. Bibliography.

Employee Training & Development and Organizational Benefits Dissertation

Employee Training & Development and Organizational Benefits - Dissertation Example The economy demonstrates immense uncertainties which has made knowledge one the most important and reliable source of sustaining competitive advantage. Today, knowledge has evolved as the basic capital which triggers the process of development. Initially competition was primarily built on the foundation of the possession of specific resources at low costs. However, the trend has now shifted to the possession of knowledge and knowledge management, which forms a basic component determinant of competition between organizations. Today, modern organizations use resources like time, energy, money and information for the permanent advancement and training of their human resources. Organizations extensively involved with the creation of new knowledge, extending it within the entire organization and also implementing it with the new technologies have evolved as producers of quality goods and services (Vemic, 2007, p.1). Training and Development is an important component in the field of human resource management as it is concerned with those organizational activities which are aimed at improving or bettering the performance of employees in the organizational settings. Training primarily encompasses three activities, namely training, education, and finally development. It involves the transfer of skills and knowledge from a working expert to learners in order to improve their current job performance. The concept of development is much wider. It involves a multi faceted frame of activities aimed at bringing someone from his present level to a different threshold of performance. The project aims to bring forth the effectiveness of employee training and development activities in organizations. Firstly, it begins with presenting the aims and objectives for the purpose. This is followed by a literature review of the topic which emphasizes on different aspects of the subject. A primary research is also conducted which brings out the extent to which training and development acti vities help in the benefit of the organization. The results of the research is briefly presented, interpreted and analyzed at the end of the report. The project concludes by presenting the required recommendations on the subject. Research Aims and Objectives The report primarily aims to bring forth the requirement of training and development in organizations in enhancing employee productivity and organization performance. The main objectives of the research are To bring forth the effects of training and development in organization, To analyze the impacts of training in the productivity of employees, To investigate the different training and development practices adopted in organizations To determine the interrelationship between training and development and organization performance, and To analyze the changing trends in the training and development patterns in organizations across industries. Literature Review Employee Training and Development in Organisations Organisations in the U nited Kingdom and their managers have constantly exhibited