Dianmondz Corp report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Dianmondz Corp report - Essay Example To Anoop and Meli, cash flow is very important as it translates the earnings reported in the company’s income statement which is subject to accounting decisions and reporting regulations- into a simple summary of how much cash has been generated by the company during the stated financial period (Porter and Norton 674). Cash flow statement also plays a huge role in facilitation of decision making by the provision of judgments on the financial condition, profitability and company’s financial management. The cash flow statement for Diamondz has a net decrease in cash of 25,000 which indicates that the financing and investing activities were more than the cash inflow during the year which may be an indication of a poor financial performance on the company. b. Issuing equity and issuing debt to finance the construction and purchase of equipment is both advantageous and disadvantageous. The advantages of issuing debt are it is better when the financing is a short term one, it provides a tax shield, and it acts as a signal of the strength of a company (Porter and Norton 674). The disadvantages of issuing debt are that it increases the risk level of the company, the assets of the company may be used as collateral, and the debt has to be paid and hence the need to have positive and stable cash flow. The advantages of issuing equity to purchase equipment include the fact that equity does not have any maturity date and the company does not have any obligation to redeem, equity also enhances creditworthiness of the company as it cushions the lenders and dividends from equity are exempted from tax (Porter and Norton 674). The cost of issuing equity is very high, and the sale of equity shares to outsiders usually dilutes the control enjoyed by the existing owners-this is some of the disadvantages of issuing equity. For Diamondz, there are other viable options available to them for example; a loan from the bank would be a viable option to help them in financing the construction and purchase of the equipment. Based on the 2012 financial statement, the company can acquire a bank loan to perform its operations. c. The debt to equity ratio for Diamondz Corp was 1.264 in 2011 and 1.863 in 2012. This indicates that there was an increase in the proportion of debts used by the company in financing its assets. The ratio for 2011 and 2012 also shows that the company was somehow aggressive in using debt to finance its growth. If the company issues debt, debt to equity ratio will increase since there will be an increase the total liabilities of the company which is more than the shareholders equity (Porter and Norton 674). Issuing equity by Diamondz Corp would lead to an increase in the shareholders equity more than the total liabilities which would then result into a reduction in debt to equity ratio. d. The fact that Anoop’

How women of the Middle East integrate fashion trends with their Outline

How women of the Middle East integrate fashion trends with their culture and Muslim religion - Outline Example In Islamic fundamentalism, women are required to cover their bodies with a veil. (McCullar, pp. 57)The only exposed body parts allowed are the face and the hand. For a long time, this norm has dominated many Islamic societies since the practice is believed to be based on the teachings of the Quran. Today, however, another Islamic school emerged called as Islamic modernism. It promotes women’s rights and cultivated the Islamic version of feminism, wherein restrictions were questioned and unjust attitudes and behavior towards women were criticized. According to Moaddel (1998, pp. 109), this transition marks the changes in Islamic ideas, which are brought about by new sociological perspectives. In this context, the use of veil as a fashion accessory than as a religious restrictive tool became easily understood. The veil came to represent an aspect of the Muslim woman’s identity and it was celebrated. For example, in Turkey, the veil became a staple in fashion runways as th e country positioned itself as an Islamic fashion capital. (Navaro-Yashin, 2002, pp. 218) The cases of Islamic fundamentalism and Islamic modernism depict how the veil came to represent the ideologies and values of different periods in the Islamic world. As a piece of clothing it is used to conceal identity. More recent and secular rules and regulations enabled the veil to become a tool to express an identity. Both the fundamentalist and modernist perspectives support Bennett’s (2005, pp. 96) argument that fashion â€Å"play a considerable part in informing notions of commonality† typified by shared patterns of cultural consumption and tastes. This variable is an excellent example of social construction. It does not only demonstrate the alliance of individuals to establish and perpetuate norms but also offer a channel by which meanings can be attached in order to define

Patients Education Of Psoriasis Patient Nursing Essay

Patients Education Of Psoriasis Patient Nursing Essay The society requires attaining, maintaining and recovering from disease, ailments accidents. This calls for specialized care from a trained professional. In most case, care givers at home may lack this expertise. This calls for people who are trained, specialized and understand the medical aspect of the patients condition, such as nurse. The best suited group of people that can deal appropriately with these problems are nurses. Nursing is a health care profession and hence, their services are oriented to this direction. In their duty, they give care to all members of the societies; both individual and families (Braverman, 1998). Nursing care is understood as being particularly crucial during patients recovery from serious illness or injury. Classically, it was thought that people requiring these services were probably people who were bed ridden. The objective of health services delivery is not only to care for bed ridden people but also anybody else that have a condition that is reducing their quality of life. It is known that some diseases significantly reduce the quality of life led by individuals and not by necessarily sending them to bed. The aim of healthcare today is to assist any person with any disease, ailment or any form of suffering to recover and have a joyous and creative life. Another factor that makes a nurse to be specifically suited to their job is because they are trained about community care. They deliver care in the context of the whole community. They are able to reach the society or community and teach or assist them on the best way to care for various people needing care in a society. Psoriasis is a non-contagious disease that affects a peoples skin. It is found in a class of diseases that are described as immune mediated. It occurs when a persons body starts sensing the skin cells that are foreign cells of disease causing microorganisms hence reacting against them. For this reason, the body responds to this faulty signal by producing more skin cells. The patients skin cells in the affected places divide up to 10 times faster and lead to accumulation of dead cells on the surface. The skin of the patient appears to have a red plaque that is covered with white rashes. This disease is particularly acutely irritating and is probably the most frustrating and unpredictable skin disorder. This disorder is also the most inexplicable and continual skin illnesses. Some parts of the body are more affected by this disease than others. These include the scalp, elbows, and knees. Some other parts are affected but on rare instances. They include the soles, the palms, and the fee t (Roenigk Maibach, 1998). Commons symptoms of psoriasis include reddening of the skin with white or silvery scales occurring at the top. These areas can be exceedingly sore and may crack and bleed occasionally. In most cases, the affected patches expand and coalesce forming large and continuous patches. In other instances, this disease may affect the nails where nails become rough, crumbled or even detached from their bed. Another symptom that health care providers look for in diagnosing psoriasis is crusts, scales or plaques on a persons scalp. There are various aspects of care that a nurse considers during care delivery. These are sometimes utilized by professional nurses as a checklist to ensure that the care is all inclusive, and the process of recovery is holistic. The main aim of this assignment is to address the nursing care of a patient with psoriasis based on two aspects of care which include patient education and discharge planning and process. Patients Education of Psoriasis Patient It is essential in the nursing care process of a patient with psoriasis to be educated and advised on how to live with the society, to avoid psychological torture and lastly to meet the prescribed medical instruction. The Patients are reported to face stigma and antagonism by such other people in the society. They become less indispensable resource to the society and hence said to experience negative attitude for the firsthand. They have seen how a single look on them initiates talks among people among other forms of stigmatization. Nurses teach patients to become ambassadors of truth. The society mistreats its members through stigmatization because of ignorance. The nurses also educate patients on how to protect friends, relatives and other members of the community (Smith et al, 2002). Moreover in Medical care, the nurse give educational care techniques including assistance on the application of the medicine, monitoring the progress of the patient and advising the patients on the fa ctors that aggravate psoriasis. Secondly, the nurses have noticed that the patients due to stress are currently suffering from psychological disorders such as post traumatic stress disorders and anxiety. They feel neglected and thus they need psychological education. Some of the nurses collaborate with psychologists to educate both the society and the psoriasis patients. In most case, nurses find themselves in a situation where the psychological health of the patient is crucial. Some patient feel like their image has been dented after they suffer from a psoriasis attack. The nurse has to respond to this by educating the patient on how to deal with these psychological problems. Sometimes, the patient is so psychologically affected that the nurse has to refer the patient for specialized counseling among other interventions. Bearing in mind the wide spread nature of psoriasis nurses come up with a way of assisting the society. The challenge that nurses face is lack of an elaborate system of reaching the society in order to educate them. The patients are advised on how to live healthy and boost their self-esteem. Nurses take this opportunity to educate parents and guardians how to handle the case and enhance the recovery of the patient. These educational programs are currently found to improve the health of the patient and to reduce stigmatization directed to the skin infections victims. Also in some cases, nurses organize members of the public into groups which have initiated some sports or even meditation. Other benefits of these sports are they help to deal with behaviors such as scratching. Furthermore other patients educational campaigns carried out by the nurse are to educate the patients and the society on the symptoms and origin of the disease thus clearing misconceptions in peoples mind. For example, some people believe that psoriasis is a sign of a curse, due to this they fail to take the medication and the advice seriously (Mitchel Panzer, 2005). It jeopardizes the process of treatment exceedingly and seriously. It may even increase stigma; people do not want to get close or in contact with a cursed person. Even when such people should be giving care, they stay away due to unreasonable fear. It becomes the responsibilities of nurses to shed more light on psoriasis. Friends, family, and people living with the affected individuals are educated to provide the necessary support for the patient. Lastly, the nurses are currently educating the patients who ignorantly fear to access the medical services due to been noticed that medical services will save them a lot from the disease. In some cases, it may disappear, in others it does not; thus, medical help is required. Additionally, it may leave an individual with extraordinarily large psychological problems that require specialized assistance. In most cases, nurses know specialists who can counsel and help the patient to fully recover. Nurses offer their advice regarding medical care and refer the patient for further counseling and peer support. In home care, the nurses are also educating the patients on how to handle stress. Medically, it is known that the careless and irresponsible behaviors that people develop during the stress cause psoriasis. Such behavior may include rubbing of hands and face. Stressed people have destructive tendencies of holding into anything and bringing things in contact with their faces. During care of a patient or other members of the community, the nurses shed more light on these issues so that people can lead a more informed life. They are also advised to protect themselves against excessive exposure to sunshine that can aggravate psoriasis especially during the summer periods. It is a method of illnesses prevention in a community, as observation of such basic rules can keep psoriasis at bay, at least for some people for some time (Walji et al, 1994). Thus in summary, the nurse has been carrying out the patients education across the medical services, stigmatizations and stress from other people, misconceptions and myths about the origin of the disease, treatment methods, society approach to psoriasis victims and lastly on how to handle psychological perception found to affect them adversely. Discharge Planning and Processing of Nursing Care Acute based care hospital discharge planning and process starts immediately upon admission in the hospitals. In most cases it is found to ensure that the nurses follow the right psoriasis disease medical guidelines and system (Fabian et al, 2011). It is defined as a multi-disciplinary nursing approach by the nurses and other medical practitioners to the patients signs, treatment process and discharging means. It involves several planning process, as described below. Immediately after admission of the patient, the first step in the nursing care designing planning and process is to examine the skin in general circumstances. The nurse should contact this within three hours. At the same time the patient is prepared for discharging through contacting the Medicare organizations such as insurance. At the same time the nurse should interview the patients about the problems linked to the disease, when did it start, what are some of the medications the patient accessed before and lastly, whether they have any hereditary problem of the disease across their family lineage. The next planning process is the nurse to describe the information given in line to the prevailing psoriasis diagnosis where the patient is taken for laboratory medical examination. At this process, the patients are instructed not to scratch themselves even if they are itching and home cares prepared for discharging process .This help to reduce more infections and complications. Moreover, in this stage, the patients are instructed to isolate themselves from other people in the society, utilize their own clothing and even take bath using bath oils. Moreover, the patient should avoid any skin injury that is going to complicate the medical process (Walji .Kingston, 1994) Third step in the discharge of nursing care planning method include keeping the skin moist. The nurses are trained to apply epidemiological prescription to ensure the patient skin is moist and thus not to itch. This involves reducing the scales by applying the necessary medical bath oils and staying in a cool place free from any dust and high temperature. The patients are also provided with some injections and clothing necessary to reduce itching, smell and pain. In the next stage, the patients are nursed in a manner as to keep the wounds clean and to apply the necessary antibiotics carefully and skillfully. This ensures that the patients do not have pain and itching is reduced. The nurses take this opportunity to educate the family members on how to prescribe the medical drugs to the psoriasis patients and thus improved services. At this moment, the nurses must monitor the risk of infections, outcomes of the disease and lastly the implication of the bath oil to the skin (Papadopoulo s Walker, 2003). Lastly, some of the patients found to be stressed, stigmatized and psychologically affected are provided with advices or even referred to psychologists for guidance and counseling. The nurses have a goal to improve the mind perceptions of the patients and to positively impact on their health. The nurses consider some numerous patients factors in the process of discharging the duties. They have to make necessary recommendations in line to the Medicare guideline so as to ensure that psoriasis patients enjoy the best Medicare services (Braverman, 1998). In the process, they must have insurance and Medicare eligibility so as to ensure that the psoriasis patient has in-patient services and hospitalized for at least three consecutive calendar years for observation purposes. Secondly, they must observe the cognitive status and especially their safety awareness while in the discharging process. This helps in reducing unnecessary infections to both the nurses and other patients. The clothing and bed sheets of the psoriasis infections must be handled with a lot of care (Camisa, 1994). Lastly, the nurses should observe the illness history and the future falls of the patient. Moreover, other factors that should be observed in the planning and discharge of psoriasis patients includes; age, living situation and lastly the daily nutrition and activities of the patients. Conclusion The nursing process of any psoriasis patient does not just require observation of the two aspects discussed above. Rather than that, it require all the nurses and medical practitioners to maintain people medical services to the patients, educate them and plan for the discharge process well. This will help to improve the health of this skin condition victim and reduce society misconception about the disease.

Comparing Maupassants Necklace and Chekovs Vanka Essay -- Comparison

Narrators and Sympathy in Maupassant's Necklace and Chekov's Vanka  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   In Guy de "The Necklace" and Anton Chekov's "Vanka," the narrators' attitudes are unsympathetic toward the protagonists Mathilde and Vanka. However, where the narrator of "The Necklace" feels outright hostility toward Mathilde, the narrator of "Vanka" voices his opinion more passively by pointing out the flaws in Vanka's wishful thinking. In "The Necklace," the narrator's unsympathetic feelings toward Mathilde are made evident in the first paragraph when he states, "she had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved, wedded by an rich and distinguished man; and she let herself be married to a little clerk at the Ministry of Public Instruction" (66). The narrator portrays Mathilde as a selfish and haughty shrew whose only desire is to be admired and praised by everyone else. Mathilde defines her status by her good looks and thinks it degrading that she is the daughter of a lowly clerk. Also, the phrase "let herself be married" shows that she consider herself above the common person, and by marrying a clerk she lowered her standards (66). Conversely, in "Vanka", the narrator points out the flaws of Vanka's wishful thinking by showing the reality of his situation. Vanka writes to his grandfather as if to Santa Clause, but instead of asking for toys, he asks for freedom from his cruel life by as king his grandfather to "take [him] away from here, home to the village" (48). The narrator, though, shows how Vanka's grandfather drinks profusely although Vanka never truly realizes it except when he pictures him as a "lively little old man of sixty-five with an everlastingly laughing face and drunken eyes" (47). The narrator further p... ... (47) and in Vanka's dream he appears to laugh, as if reveling in the fact that he has been able to cause more mischief, this time in Vanka's life (49). Both "The Necklace" and "Vanka" portray characters that are treated unsympathetically by their narrators. At the end of both stories, too, the narrators appear to laugh at the characters because all of their hard work and troubles were for nothing; Mathilde lost her youth and beauty for a fake necklace; Vanka wasted his hopes on a letter that will never arrive at its destination.    Works Cited Chekov, Anton. "Vanka." Understanding Fiction. 3rd ed. Eds. Clanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hill, 1979. 46-49 de Maupassant, Guy. "The Necklace." Understanding Fiction. 3rd ed. Eds. Clanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hill, 1979. 66-72   

Boston Beer Analysis

Matthew Schreck Management 511: Financial Decision Making Boston Beer Company April 18, 2013 Amelia Drobile Boston Beer Company History and Financial Position Boston Beer Company (SAM) is a brewery in Massachusetts most commonly known for its Samuel Adams line of â€Å"craft† beers. The Samuel Adams line of beer was introduced in 1985. Since then the company has grown to do over 580 million dollars in revenue each year. 580 million is a very small piece of the food and beverage industry but the amount of shareholder wealth they are providing is impressive.Boston Beer Company has been named one of the top publically traded businesses to watch in 2013 by Forbes. Boston Beer Company is actually part of two markets. In the overall U. S. Beer market they have a mere one percent of the market. However, they own 22% of the craft beer market. In their industry, 66% of those competing in the craft brew market are brewpubs, which generally do not do mass distribution giving Boston Beer Company an edge. (Smith, 2011) Boston Beer Company has one major difference from its competitors. The company has no debt.The entire company runs on cash even though they have a 50 million dollar line of credit available to them, which they have never used. The company purchased Diageo’s Pennsylvania Brewery in June of 2008 for 55 million dollars cash so that they could produce 100% of their product without having to subcontract larger orders out. Boston Beer Company is capitalized with no bonds or preferred stock, only 13. 6 million shares of common stock. (Smith, 2011) Boston Beer Company’s cost of capital is 6. 60% since their weighted cost of equity is 6. 60% and their weighted cost of debt is 0. 00%. Market Grader Inc. , 2013) Price to Revenue Ratio (Price to Sales) Boston Beer Company’s price to revenue ratio (TTM) is 3. 54 The price to revenue ratio is usually applied in place of the price to earnings ratio. This ratio is usually applied to companies with in the same industry, however it excludes debt and expenses so the information the ratio provides is limited. Price to Cash Flow Ratio The current price to cash flow ratio for Boston Beer Company is 25. 76. The price to cash flow ratio is used to evaluate the price of a company’s stock as compared to the amount of cash flow it generates.The price to cash flow ratio is important for one main reason, it allows the comparison of companies from different jurisdictions because it removes depreciation (which may vary by country) and other non-cash factors. Therefore, it would allow an investor to compare Boston Beer Company’s stock to that of AB InBev along similar financial values. Price to Book Ratio (MRQ) The price to book ratio for Boston Beer Company is 8. 34. The price to book ratio measures a company’s market value in comparison to its book value.The price to book ratio indicates whether or not a company’s asset value is comparable to the market price of it’s stock. Because the price to book ratio for Boston Beer Company is well over one it may be an indicator that the stock is overvalued. An over valued stock for Boston Beer Company could imply the rapid decline in stock value in the near future, especially since the stock has climbed almost 25% in the last quarter alone. With the book value ratio as high as it is, a drop in stock price seems likely in the near future. Current Ratio (MRQ) Boston Beer Company’s current ratio is 1. 83.Current ratio is defined by a company’s current assets divided by is current liabilities. A company’s current ratio is a liquidity ratio that measures a company’s ability to pay short-term obligations. This ratio also takes into account inventory as current assets, although it may easily be converted into cash quickly. Because Boston Beer Company’s ratio is well over one, it means they have the assets and cash flows available to pay off any immediate debt shoul d it be made due. The company’s amount of inventory provides a great deal of assets that makes the company much more liquid when this formula is used.Quick Ratio (MRQ) The quick ratio for Boston Beer Company is 1. 33. A company’s quick ratio is an indicator of a company’s short-term liquidity. This ratio is a more conservative form of the current ratio because it does not take into account inventory of the company when determining its current assets. Boston Beer Company still has a favorable ratio well above 1. 0. While their current ratio is much better with all the inventory, Boston Beer Company is still a reliable company that can pay off its short term debts if need be. Measuring ReturnsPrimary Stakeholders Boston Beer Company has five primary stakeholders within company, Martin F. Roper (President and CEO), C. James Koch (Founder and Chairman), William F. Urich (CFO and Treasurer), John C. Geist (Vice President of Sales), and Thomas W. Lance (Vice President of Operations). Of the five of them C. James Koch holds more than 34% of the shares and is the sole holder of the class B common stock that gives him the right to appoint five of the eight members that are chosen to be on the board as seen in the following quote from the 2013 Proxy Statement. At the Annual Meeting you will be asked to elect three Class A Directors and cast an advisory vote on executive compensation. As the sole holder of Class B Common Stock, I will elect five Class B Directors and cast a vote to ratify the selection of our independent registered public accounting firm. † (Boston Beer Company, Inc. , 2013) While Koch may have stepped down from CEO in 2001 he has maintained a great interest in his company and has positioned himself to have great control over the Company with his position as Chairman of the Board.His actions and goals are seen laid out in all of the company’s press releases and the company is continuing to be grown and maintained the sam e as it always has been with the exception of Boston Beer Company running its own breweries instead of subcontracting out their orders. Capital Budgeting Boston Beer Company runs just like any cash business. They have no money tied up in debt and any investment they make is paid for in cash. There is an upside and downside to this method of running a company.On the upside, the company is very liquid, meaning they can pay for most investments on the spot without accruing any debt. However, no debt might deter some investors from buying into the company. Having no debt throws off a company’s ratios in comparison with other companies within the industry and can make it difficult for investors to trust in the company. A typical investment for Boston Beer Company would be opening a new brewery or purchasing an existing one to help the company keep up with the demands for their products.The acquisition of the Diageo brewery 60 miles outside of Philadelphia in 2008 was the companyâ €™s most recent investment. Since the purchase, Boston Beer Company has been pouring tens of millions of dollars into the facility that used to employ 220 people to make Smirnoff and now employs 260 people to brew Sam Adams. â€Å"Boston Beer's Breinigsville facility employs 260, up from 220 workers when the plant was purchased from Diageo. † (Richardson, 2012) Boston Beer Company now has three breweries.They are located in Cincinnati, Ohio, Breinigsville, Pennsylvania, and Boston, Massachusetts. Boston Beer Company has been weary to invest in the western half of the U. S. because they believe the craft beer market is oversaturated and they will not have much success, however, some market specialists believe they should do a trial batch with a brewery in the western market and measure real results. The only real measure of value for Boston Beer is the volume being sold. Boston Beer used to lease brewery locations in order to brew according to their demand.Within the last five years the demands for craft beers have grown significantly especially among the younger alcohol consuming demographic that is looking for something more the generic beer taste of the three big beer companies, Anheuser Busch InBev, MillerCoors, and Pabst. Boston Beer Company no longer has the need to lease other breweries after the purchase of the Diageo brewery. Now that they have the capacity to brew their own beer and staff accordingly Boston Beer Company has not only added value to the company, but have positioned them self to expand as the demands for their products continue to increase.The only place that Boston Beer Company seems to be struggling with is the money that they are leaving sit idle. While the company is very profitable and is run as a cash business, some of their cash flows could be invested to generate a better return than they are currently getting. Strategy and Governance The Boston Beer Company is currently governed by a board consisting of eight members. The board consists of C. James Koch, David A. Burwick, Pearson C. Cummin III, Cynthia A. Fisher, Jay Margolis, Martin F. Roper, Gregg A. Tanner, and Jean-Michael Valette.The board has a committee that reviews the current members of the board at least annually and determines what characteristics and skills should be sought in new board members to be elected. Board members for the Boston Beer Company board members are asked to limit the number of boards they are on in order to keep them focused. â€Å"The Chairman of the Board and the Chairman of the Nominating/Governance Committee should be advised in advance of a director’s intention to accept an invitation to serve on another board† (Boston Beer Company, Inc. , 2013) ManagementBoston Beer Company’s executives have deep roots within the company. C. James Koch founded the company in 1984 and was Chief Executive Officer up until 2001 when he stepped down and became Chairman of the Board. Martin F. Roper the Presi dent and Chief Executive Officer replaced C. James Koch as CEO in 2001. Martin F. Roper has been with the company since 1994 when he was hired as Vice President of Operations. In 1997 he became Chief Operating Officer and in 1999 he became the President of Boston Beer Company. William F. Urich is the CFO and Treasurer since 2003. Before joining Boston Beer Company Mr.Urich served as Vice President of Finance and Business Development for United Distilleries & Vinters from 1998 to 2000. From 2001 to 2003 Mr. Urich was Chief Financial Officer for Acirca, Inc. John C. Geist, the Vice President of Sales has been with the company since 1998 when he was first brought on as the National Sales Manager. He was made Vice President of Sales in February of 2007. David L. Grinell has been the Vice President of Brewing since 2008. Prior to that he started working as the Manager of Brewing Operations in 1988 before being promoted to Director of Brewing and Quality in 2001.The Vice president of Oper ations, Thomas W. Lance, joined the company in 2007 after leaving the Executive Vice President of Operations position at Ken’s Foods. A position which he held for five years. Ai-Li Lim is the Vice President of Human Resources. She joined the company in February of 2012 after leaving Vistaprint USA, Inc. as Senior Director of Human Resources. Robert P. Pagano, the Vice President of Brand Development joined the company in 2011. Prior to joining Boston Beer Company Mr. Pagano was the Managing Director at the brand strategy firm, Red Sky Insights, LLC, for five years. Kathleen H.Wade is the Vice President-Legal and Corporate Secretary. She joined the company in 1999 as Corporate Legal Director and Corporate Secretary. She became Secretary of the company in 2010 and was appointed to the vice president position in 2012. Average Ceo Compensation In This Industry Industry Range Salary686. 8K Bonus871. 2K Total Short Term Compensation1. 0M Total Value of Options4. 9M Key Executive Com pensation Boston Beer Company, Inc. SAM Name/Title 20082009201020112012 Key Executive Compensation10,037,7063,868,6674,181,5019,897,5693,718,707 Martin F. Roper/President and Chief Executive Officer ,415,9181,049,3031,094,238933,8181,052,493 William F. Urich/Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer 834,313766,768938,3183,437,998599,363 C. James Koch/Chairman of the Board 589,496546,005836,895754,163817,949 Thomas W. Lance/Vice President, Operations 449,636858,643479,857693,401721,454 John C. Geist/Vice President, Sales 748,343647,948832,1934,078,189527,448 *A publicly-traded company is only required to disclose information concerning the amount and type of compensation paid to its CEO, CFO, and the three other most highly compensated executive officers in a given year.Information about compensation for these individuals may be unavailable in prior years if they were not in their current roles or did not qualify as among the most highly compensated officers at the time. (MorningStar, 20 13) For the most part Boston Beer Company pays below the industry average with the exception of the executive bonuses that certain members of upper management received for reaching certain sales goals. Boston Beer Company is not nearly as large as the other beer conglomerates so it is expected that their executive compensation would be to scale.Corporate Social Responsibility Boston Beer Company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) is heavily mandated by the government. Because they deal in the alcoholic beverage industry there are numerous amounts of taxes and laws restricting their advertising and sales. â€Å"The alcoholic beverage industry is regulated by federal, state and local governments. These regulations govern the production and distribution of alcoholic beverages, including permitting, licensing, marketing and advertising, distributor relationships, sales, environmental, and occupational health and safety issues.To operate its breweries, the Company must obtai n and maintain numerous permits, licenses and approvals from various governmental agencies, including the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the Food and Drug Administration, state alcohol regulatory agencies and state and federal environmental agencies. † (Boston Beer Company, Inc. , 2013) Growth and Opportunity Boston Beer Company has grown significantly in the last decade. It has grown organically through increasing sales and demand from their marketing campaigns.It has also grown a great deal through acquiring two more breweries, one in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania in addition to the original Massachusetts brewery. Boston Beer Company is known primarily for its Samuel Adams line of â€Å"craft† beers however they also compete in other segments of the alcoholic beverage industry for those that don’t prefer beer. Boston Beer Company also makes Twisted Tea and Angry Orchard Cider. The concept of making several types of beverages allows Boston Beer Company to be more diversified and attract more sales by appealing to a larger demographic by providing a wider selection of products.Boston Beer Company has what most market analysts would call a â€Å"niche market†, meaning they will never produce a large scale generic beer like the big three beer companies (Anheuser Busch InBev, Miller, and Coors). So the need to diversify is not a necessity for survival or growth for the Boston Beer Company. Of the three major lines of alcoholic beverages the company produces, there are 56 varieties of them combined. Boston Beer Company essentially has it’s own market because 66% of their competitors are brewpubs that do not mass distribute. The only thing limiting Boston Beer Company other than its sales are it’s distribution network.Since the firm operates entirely on cash the value of the company has skyrocketed. Boston Beer Company has plenty of capital to reinvest in itself and increase shareholder wealth all while maintaining a balance sheet with minimal debt. Boston Beer has grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade, which is reflected by their total sales, volume of product produced (measured in barrels), and price per share, which is currently leveling out around $166. 00 per share. While companies like Anheuser Busch InBev have a much larger market cap (157. 93B) compared to Boston Beer Company (2. 1B), Anheuser Busch InBev’s price per share is only $98. 78. The overall value to the shareholders for Boston Beer Company is much greater because of the way the business operates and finances its investments. The company finances everything without debt controlling the company’s resources carefully and allowing rapid growth. Boston Beer Company will be one of the premiere firms to watch over the next decade to see how they will combat the much larger competitors within the industry as they try to compete in the craft beer market. References Smith, B. (2011, August 30). Buffett-Munger S creener Highlight – Boston Beer Company (Sam).Retrieved from Guru Focus website: http://www. gurufocus. com/news/144123/buffettmunger-screener-highlight–boston-beer-company-sam Market Grader Inc. (2013, March 30). Boston Beer Co. , Inc.. Retrieved from Market Grader Inc website: http://www. marketgrader. com/MG. Services/servlet/pdf. PDFServer? ticker=SAM Boston Beer Company, Inc. (2013). Proxy Statement 2013. Retrieved from Boston Beer Company website: http://www. bostonbeer. com/phoenix. zhtml? c=69432&p=irol-overview Richardson, T. (2012, January 27). Boston Beer pouring millions into Lehigh Valley. Retrieved from The Morning Call Website: http://articles. mcall. om/2012-01-27/business/mc-allentown-boston-beer-20120127_1_craft-beers-samuel-adams-beer-yuengling Boston Beer Company, Inc. (2013) Corporate Governance Guidelines. Retrieved from Boston Beer Company website: http://www. bostonbeer. com/phoenix. zhtml? c=69432&p=irol-governance MorningStar. (2013, April 18) . Boston Beer Company, Inc. Class A (SAM). Retrieved from MorningStar website: http://insiders. morningstar. com/trading/executive-compensation. action? t=SAM Boston Beer Company, Inc. (2012) 10-K Annual Report 2012. Retrieved from Boston Beer Company website: http://www. bostonbeer. com/phoenix. zhtml? c=69432&p=irol-overview

My Father, the Person I Admire the Most Essay

I admire a lot of people people but the person i admire the most is my mother .She is the most important person in my life.There is no reason for me to live without her by my side. My mom is a doctor. She loved to help other because she says it was her dream when she was a child. She works hard every day and she likes to learn something new every day. She leads a wonderful family life, she is always cheerful and happy. She has been married for 40 years. Read more: Essay someone I admire I admire her because she is very intelligent, ambitious and she has many goals in her life. She takes care of us because she loves us. She is also wonderful mother, very patient, sensitive and warm-hearted. She knows answers to every question, even those very silly. Being so patient and sensible, she even helps others to solve their problems. She is great fun to be with because she has a great sense of humor. My mother has many talents. She is a great runner,a good singer. Generally, Mum is a warm and friendly person. She is very patient and careful with everything that she does. She never lets social life get in the way of relationship with our. She says that family is the most important things in her life. She is very important to me, because she teaches me to be a better person every day. She is a good example to me and I love her for many more reasons. I admire my mom so much and I love her. She can always advise me. She wants the best things for our family .I want to be like her when i grow up and even if we were were a thousand miles away our hearts will always be together and forever.

Poetry Analysis of Common Grounds Essay Example

Poetry Analysis of Common Grounds Essay Example Poetry Analysis of Common Grounds Paper Poetry Analysis of Common Grounds Paper It was clear that It wasnt a poem about Ewing created equal, but about how people do share that common ground with people they may not have wanted to grow up like. The title Common Ground clearly Indicates that there Is a common bond between people. The deeper meaning would be that people are all connected by their blood and their family ties, and the purpose of this poem Is to express that for the reader. Theres a saying that we all end up Like our parents, and that Its unavoidable, and I think this poem goes along with that saying. The first stanza gives out a general Idea that all of our blood keeps us mumping: its the reason why we live and why we have a story to tell or parents to grow up after. We all have bones that speak in the language of death because we are all eventually going to decay. All of our flesh thins with age and becomes wrinkled. Then Coffer does something strange and mentions, through your pores rises the stuff of your origin. Our origins are whats inside of us, and eventually it is all going to come back out, and its going to be the same with everybody. The second stanza narrows down the authors meaning to her own experiences. She now has her grandmothers mouth, that speaks of pain and deprivation that she has never herself known. While both stanzas have a calmer and more serious tone, I think the second one is what really makes the reader think and creates a darker atmosphere, because it ends with the lines, like arrows pointing downward to our common ground, which indicates that we are all going to eventually die, and we will all go through that, no matter what. This poem definitely makes me feel connected, especially in the first stanza, with the common ground that I already see in myself tit my grandparents. The tone, as I already said, is more serious and almost dark I get the mental image of an aging woman in front of the mirror, pulling and poking at her face and wondering who gave her what gene, and whether or not she approves of It.

Nation and Nation States

Nation and Nation States Characteristics of the Modern Nations of Nation-States include Albania, Bangladesh, Iceland and Hungary among others. In these Nation-States, over 90% of the inhabitants have common cultural attributes (White White, 2007). Modern Nation-State The concept of modern State is different from the traditional Nation-State in that it is a bit liberalized in terms of its cultural elements. As opposed to the traditional Nation-States like the ones mentioned above, the modern Nation-State is composed of people from diverse cultural backgrounds, but who share a territory and a central governs(s). A modern Nation-State is formulated in a manner which allows it to deliver a wide range of services to the citizens, either at one level or two levels. The modern Nation-State may however have a certain culture, which is typical of all the various people who live in the modern Nation-State. A good example of a modern Nation-State is the United States of America (White White, 2007).Advertising Looking for essay on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More How the United States Fits the Criteria Of and Functions as a Modern Nation-State The Criteria of Sovereignty The United States governance system is known as Federalism, which means that the National government and State governments share power in governing the country. The United States is composed of 52 States, which are partly autonomous and partly linked to the National (Federal) government. Each State has got its own government which is composed of the Judiciary, Legislature and Executive branches. The National government, also known as the Federal government is headed by the president of the United States and is composed of the Congress (Senate and House of Representatives), the Executive and the Judiciary. All these three arms are independent of each other, meaning there is a clear separation of powers between them (Anagnoson, Bonetto, DeLeon, Emrey, Ke lleher, Koch, 2011). The Criteria of Fixed Territory The United States as a country is composed of 52 states, which together form the entity (country) known as the United States of America. Each of the 52 states has got a fixed territorial boundary, but the Federal government has the power to create or merge states and draw the boundaries afresh, with the overall US territorial boundaries with its neighbors remaining fixed. The Criteria of Common Culture In terms of culture, the United States culture can be explained using the Hofstedes cultural dimensions for various countries in the world. According to Hofstede, a typical American is highly individualistic as well as less likely to form strong family relationships or ties. This is based on the ranking of the United States at 91% in individualism, which is the leading in the world in terms of the criterion of individualism (International business center, 2008). US Foreign Policy In terms of foreign policy, two US foreign policy ob jectives can be identified. They include the support of Israel in its debacle with Palestine and the creation and maintenance of a new world order. Support for Israel US foreign policy has always been influenced by its national interests, moral purpose (maintaining democracy and human rights), and security, economic and hegemonic interests (Saad 2011). Throughout and during the cold war, the United States national and strategic security interests were high in Middle East. Particularly, Israeli has been United States’ major interest in Middle East as well as a close ally. The United States benefits from close cooperation between its intelligence communities and those of Israel. However, many conflicts have ensued in Middle East with United States being overly criticized for its foreign policy inclination to Israel.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Nation and Nation States specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Creati on and maintenance of a new world order Another US foreign policy objective is to have what is popularly known as a new world order. The main idea of new world order is to come up with full-fledged global institutions which are responsible for the control and regulation of world’s affairs including politics, culture, economy, technology transfer, environment, security and to some extent religion. These regulations, according to the US would help the world to achieve universal culture of the world in which people of the world subscribe to universal rules, principles and regulations in almost all aspects of live (Slaughter, 2005). The European Union as a Transnational Entity The European Union is a union of 27 Nations mainly found in Europe. One of the historical events which led to the creation of the European Union is the world war one and two. After the world wars, the Nations in Europe saw the importance of coming together as a strategy of diffusing the extreme effects of N ationalism, which were largely seen to have contributed to the world wars (Archer, 2008). Another interest which contributed in to the creation of the European Union is the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). This was a sort of a Federal union which was aimed at bringing under one umbrella the countries in Europe, mainly to avert any tensions and rivalry between them. At its inception, the ECSE was composed of six member States. The ECSE gave birth to the European Economic Community (EEC) which was to later incorporate other States within Europe to form the European Union (Archer, 2008). The major institutions which comprise the EU include the European Council, the European Commission, and the Court of Justice of the European Union and Council of the European Union. The major Nations which comprise the EU include the United Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Germany, Slovenia, Portugal and Netherlands (Archer, 2008). The contemporary function of t he EU is to ensure that there is a common stand among member States on issues of security. The EU is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the member States participate in all ways to ensure that there is no threat of international terrorism. The EU is also concerned with the stabilization of the economies of the member States so as to put them in a good position to recover from the economic recession of 200-2009 (Archer, 2008). One example of foreign policy of the EU is to ensure that there are no restrictions in the movement of goods and people especially within the member States. This policy is aimed at boosting trade between the member States as well as opening the European markets to goods from other parts of the world. The other example of foreign policy for the EU is on defense, in which the EU has got its troops in the UN Security Council, which is charged with ensuring that the world is safe from terrorists (Archer, 2008).Advertising Looking for essay on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More How Nation-States and Transnational Entities Engage In Foreign Policy to Achieve Their Interests Nation-States like the United States and transnational entities like the EU engage in foreign policy to achieve their interests through coming up with policies which enhance their interests at the expense of the interests of the world in general. A good example is the new world order; whose main proponents are the United States and the EU. Through the new world order, the two (US and EU) aim to propagate their policies on security, economy, trade, environment and governance to the rest of the world. Those countries which do not comply are threatened with economic and trade sanctions (Slaughter, 2005). One of EUs foreign policy is the provision of humanitarian aid as well as the promotion of trade between it and countries in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific. One of EUs partner in Africa is Tanzania. As part of its foreign policy, the EU provides over â‚ ¬100 million as aid to Tanzania. Th is aid is used in funding various projects on good governance, prevention of HIV/AIDS, water supply, education and the environment. Tanzania also exports more than 50% of its goods to the EU duty free and imports over 20% of its goods from the EU. The consequences of this interaction for international politics The consequence of the interaction between the EU and the US is that world politics are greatly being shaped by their policies. For example, the recent revolutions in the Arab world (Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya) have been highly attributed to the involvement of the EU and the US in the politics of the Arab world, which is also a leading producer of oil. Many governments in the world have also been forced to embrace democracy instead of dictatorship. Those leaders who are dictatorial in their readership have been forced to quit office. Good examples include Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan. In these countries, the EU and the US were the major players. Their main interest is to have in place a leadership which can develop friendly policies on the exploitation of oil. References Archer, C.(2008). The European Union. Washington: Taylor Francis. Anagnoson, J.T., Bonetto, G., Buck, J.V., DeLeon, R.E., Emrey, J., Kelleher, J.J Koch, N. (2011).Governing California in the Twenty-First Century (3rd, ed.). New York, NY: W W Norton Co Inc. International business center, (2008)). Geert Hofstede Analysis. Retrieved from cyborlink.com/besite/india.htm Saad, A.(2011). A proposed Peace Strategy for the Arab-Israeli conflict. Web. Slaughter, A.M. (2005). A New World Order. Woodstock OX20 1TW: Princeton University Press. White, G.W., White, E.A.(2007). Nation, State, and Territory: Origins, Evolutions, and Relationships, Volume 1. Lanham, MD: Rowman Littlefield.

A Brief Timeline of Events in America from 1601-1625

A Brief Timeline of Events in America from 1601-1625 1601 Sir Walter Raleigh is imprisoned in the Tower of London for a plot against King James I. 1602 Captain Bartholomew Gosnold is the first Englishman to land on the New England coast. 1603 Roger Williams, the future founder of Rhode Island, is born. 1606 Virginia Company of London is granted a Royal Charter to settle in the New World. 1607 Jamestown is founded under the patent of the London Company.Captain John Smith meets Pocahontas. 1608 Captain John Smith writes A True Relation of Such Occurences and Accidents of Noate(sic) as Hath Hapned(sic) in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Collony(sic). 1609 English explorer Henry Hudson explores the Delaware Bay and Hudson River. 1610 Thomas West, Lord Delaware, was made Governor of Virginia.Henry Hudson discovers Hudson Bay. 1611 Henry Hudson dies after being put off his ship by mutineers. 1612 Captain John Smith writes A Map of Virginia.The Dutch use Manhattan as a fur trading center.Tobacco planted for the first time by English colonists in Virginia. 1613 English Colonists in Virginia destroy the French settlements at Port Royal, Nova Scotia. 1614 Sir Walter Raleigh writes The History of the World.Pocahontas marries John Rolfe. 1616 Sir Walter Raleigh released from the Tower of London.John Rolfe and Pocahontas travel to England. Pocahontas has been given the title Lady Rebecca.William Baffin discovers Baffin Bay while searching for a Northwest passage.Captain John Smith writes A Description of New England.A smallpox epidemic decimates the New England Native American population. 1617 Sir Walter Raleigh sets sail for Guiana.Pocahontas dies in Gravesend, United Kingdom. 1618 Sir Walter Raleigh returns to England and is executed. 1619 The first representative colonial assembly, the House of Burgesses, was formed in Virginia.First slaves in North America. 1620 Mayflower Compact was signed.Plymouth Colony founded in Plymouth, Massachusetts.John Carver was named the first governor of Plymouth Colony. 1621 Sir Francis Wyatt becomes the new governor of Virginia.English attempt to colonize Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.John Carver dies.The Dutch West Indies Company is chartered. 1622 William Bradford became the governor of Plymouth Colony. 1623 New Netherlands is organized in America.First English settlement in New Hampshire is founded by David Thomas. 1624 Virginia Companys charter is revoked.Virginia becomes a Crown Colony.Sir Francis Wyatt remains Governor of Virginia.George Fox is born who will become the founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers).Captain John Smith writes A General Historie(sic) of Virginia, the Summer Isles and New England.The Dutch settle in New Amsterdam. 1625 King James I dies and is succeeded by Charles I. Source Schlesinger, Jr., Arthur M., ed. The Almanac of American History. Barnes Nobles Books: Greenwich, CT, 1993.

Discursive and case based analysis of Internet of Things Literature review

Discursive and case based analysis of Internet of Things - Literature review Example Through the technology, smart environments have been created, through reduction of communication time taken in exchanging messages. The terminology of â€Å"Internet of Things† was first introduced at MIT and was used in describing a network of objects. This included the capability for objects to interact autonomously, and organise themselves, consequently converging the physical objects into the digital world of internet[1]. This concept is based upon the idea of the global network connecting computers, but enables everyday objects to become interconnected in a similar manner. The concept enables the application of state-of-the-art into different fields and performing common functions. At the heart of the concept of IoT lies the belief that objects can communicate among themselves and make decisions based on the communication. The communication is enhanced through enabling the objects to collect data, which they share and initiate action, just like a human being would do. The internet of things presents a technological internet-based approach for connecting objects to enable them become active elements of the internet. The function of activity will become enhanced the objects having the capacity to exchange information between themselves and their surroundings[2]. The IoT involves communication between different objects and enables the active involvement of objects in communication. The network through which these objects connect remains different from the commonly utilised layered networks. Though this could be utilised to a limited extent, the communication network remains different. The development and implementation of these smart technologies remains relatively limited within many aspects and the networks are still in the development stages. The internet of things presents a concept which has resulted in multidisciplinary developments in

Graffiti Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Graffiti - Research Paper Example T is from these motivations that graffiti is categorized into four. These are ideological, conventional, tagging and gangs. Ideological graffiti is where artist make discriminative, offensive and political symbols or slogans in public areas. This type of graffiti is normally motivated by politics, anger, defiance, hostility and hate. Conventional graffiti is where people put down simple messages on surfaces and paintings in public places. This type of graffiti is usually random and is normally done very quickly. It lacks an artistic touch since it is not mercenarily done by artist hence it has no theme or agenda in them. Conventional graffiti is often associated with adolescence who usually do it during their leisure time. A good example is where one writes a message such as â€Å"Daniel was here† on a public wall or surface. Gang graffiti is a category is the type of graffiti where different gangs mostly in cities spray or inscribe their name or symbol on a public surface or wall to illustrate that that area is their territory. Gang graffiti is usually a mode of communication to other gangs to avoid doing business both illegal and legal on another gang’s tuff. ... Cave drawings by natives are often regarded as the earliest form of graffiti irrespective of the fact that it did not have an artistic touch. However, the first form of modern graffiti is believed to have begun in ancient Greece specifically the city of Ephesus which is known as Turkey today. This graffiti is somewhat different from the graffiti practiced today in terms of content in that it was used to communicate messages. For example, in the ruins of the city of Ephesus there is a graffiti composed of a foot, a number and a heart which communicate that there was a brothel nearby. This graffiti is found on a stone and mosaic walk away in the city. There are also drawings of bald men on walls in the city which was used to refer to politicians at the time. Scholars have attributed the spread of graffiti from the United States of America specifically the hip hop culture. Graffiti intertwined with the hip hop culture in the United States of America where hip hop slogans were used to co mmunicate to the public through graffiti in the New York subways, bridges among others. For example, one of the notable graffiti done back in the early 20th century is the myriad graffiti which were in the New York subway. Since then, graffiti has spread all over the continent especially in Europe where artist have used this form of unauthorized art to convey different messages and emotions. The ideological graffiti is the most common type of this art which has been used to communicate and illustrates messages that related to the issues I questions. It has been used to convey messages about politics, race, and gender throughout Europe depending on the social or political issue that was going on in Europe during at the time. During the

Week 5 Hand-In Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Week 5 Hand-In - Assignment Example In this programming paradigm, there are function definitions and an expression whose value is outcome of the result of the program are necessary parts of a program. This expression in the program can be replaced by its value and by doing this there will be no effect on the overall output of the program. A functional language program consumes large amount of computer’s memory and are not time efficient but are they are well-designed. Some of the examples are SML, FP and LML (FOLDOC, 2003). In this programming paradigm the objective provided by the user is satisfied by the computer system by successive backward attempts. The objective is satisfied if it is equivalent to a fact. The process becomes recursive of the objective becomes equal to a rule and in this case the rule is only successful if it satisfies all the sub divisions of the objective (FOLDOC, 1997). In this type of programming paradigm some concepts such as objects and methods are used. An object is a data structure and a method is basically a set of routine. The object, which is actually an instance of a particular class, is encapsulated in a method and function of the method is to operate on data. There are five key conceptions object oriented programming language that are: Answer: Each mathematical or logical expression has operators in it. The order in which these operators must be evaluated is known as operator precedence. Figure 1(C operator precedence table, 2011) shows the operator precedence: If a programming language is strongly typed then it means that the variable type must be explicitly stated. The example of strongly typed programming language is C. here if the variable type is not defined then error will occur at the time of compilation (About.com,

How to use tactics of social influence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

How to use tactics of social influence - Essay Example These are usually outside factors that provide people with power - for instance, wealth, physical attractiveness, success in career. These factors place the person to a higher position compared to other people around. So even in case the person is not powerful as politician or military man, he may also possess the power that is not so evident but is also strong and intense. The singers and actors may serve as the example of the persons that possess this kind of power. They are not powerful in political sense, but they are attractive, recognized and successful, so they may influence other people. (Wikipedia) The researches observing social influence and social activity rapidly grow at present, as this problem is relevant in modern society. These researches may appear to be helpful in solving various social problems, as well as provide people with the measures that should be taken in case any kind of problem appears. Jan Bruins in his research observes the nature and effects of social influence and social power and their implementation in the relations of people, within the groups of people and among the groups of people. ... Various kinds of situations produce various kinds of effect that the influence may have: "For instance, in interpersonal situations, a faltering influence process can lead to the breakup of close personal relationships and to interpersonal aggression. At the intragroup level, it can lead to effects such as family violence and organizational burnout, and at the intergroup level it can result in discrimination and hostilities like gang wars and the Rodney King beating." (Bruins) The main subject for consideration is the way the social influence and power create the base for problems that individuals may face, both as individuals of as the representatives of a definite social group. The author also focuses on the problems that start on individual level, as they may produce effect that will touch upon higher levels of interpersonal communication. When the problems that appear on the individual level start to increase and spread its influence, this may lead to collective attempts to change the situation: "in combination, individual-level problems as directly addressed in this issue not only are interesting in their own right, but can also contribute to the occurrence of larger scale disruptions like the Los Angeles riots, student uprisings, and other forms of protest and civil unrest." (Bruins) In his investigation, author addresses historical context of the problems, observes earlier researches on this topic and describes conceptions and definitions that are related to the problems of social influence and power. The problems of power and social influences were observed by the social sciences within the centuries. Such famous philosophers and

Final two pages Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Final two pages - Assignment Example Composition entailed the application of the visual elements to produce a frame that is consistent with the entire continuity. The story is about a student who attends a school in which he has to sit for the entry examinations. He failed the first exam, which forced him to create a pill that shall assist in mutation and the development of a photographic memory. This would allow the student to memorize the contents of the entire book in order to correctly answer the examination questions. As a result, the student manages to attain an A grade in the examination, leading to his admission in the school. The film further expounds on the concept and applications of mutation in academics and other fields. This exposes the negative aspects of mutations in the real world that people use in their fields. The materials and methods I used to create the visuals and narrative involved lighting, characters, tables, pictures and figures. It was appropriate to use the images in order to make the audience become interactive with the topic. The sub-titles were used to guide the audience and emphasized on the illustration of plot development. It is apparent that the materials enable the audience to relate to the topic for easy understanding of the different terms. For instance, the pictures had to be accurate for the message to be easily conveyed without causing confusions. The mutation topic requires the real usage of concepts since it is a biological process that people experience. The message of the film is that mutation is the solution of evolution. This implies that if it can be controlled, then a better human race can be developed. Mutation has enabled the production of things that people use for various purposes and this needs control. This message of the film is significant in order to educate people on how mutation contributes to evolution. The process and viewing of the film informed my understanding of cell biology since it deepened my

Contemporary Issues in Strategic Management Assignment

Contemporary Issues in Strategic Management - Assignment Example There have also been many chief executives at the company but the latest expansion was under the stewardship of Mr. Sarin who was taken from the Coca-Cola Company. Its growth has been mostly of the acquisition type and this has seen it assume the level of operating on economies of scale. This case below, therefore, undertakes to analyze the value chain framework, unearth the key competencies and then lineate the strategic development of the company to the main goals and objectives.  Ã‚   Value Chain refers to the activities taking place in a business and related to the competitive strengths of the company. The value chain has two major branches; primary activities and support activities. Primary activities are the activities of a company that are concerned with the creation and delivery of a product. Support activities are all those activities that increase the efficiency of primary activities. One of the primary chain activities is the inbound logistics operations. These activities concern themselves with storage of materials that are sourced externally. Outbound logistics, on the other hand, are all the activities that are used to get the finished company products to the buyers. Marketing and sales services are activities that are concerned with giving the information to the consumers about the availability of the goods and services in a company.  Ã‚   Key competencies are the activities of strength that are used to create a positive advantage of the company above others by utilization of its key strengths. The core competencies may take the form of effective people management as well as investing in the strength of the brand of the company. Moreover, the company can decide to sell its wares at a lower price which would culminate into cost advantages.

Final two pages Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Final two pages - Assignment Example Composition entailed the application of the visual elements to produce a frame that is consistent with the entire continuity. The story is about a student who attends a school in which he has to sit for the entry examinations. He failed the first exam, which forced him to create a pill that shall assist in mutation and the development of a photographic memory. This would allow the student to memorize the contents of the entire book in order to correctly answer the examination questions. As a result, the student manages to attain an A grade in the examination, leading to his admission in the school. The film further expounds on the concept and applications of mutation in academics and other fields. This exposes the negative aspects of mutations in the real world that people use in their fields. The materials and methods I used to create the visuals and narrative involved lighting, characters, tables, pictures and figures. It was appropriate to use the images in order to make the audience become interactive with the topic. The sub-titles were used to guide the audience and emphasized on the illustration of plot development. It is apparent that the materials enable the audience to relate to the topic for easy understanding of the different terms. For instance, the pictures had to be accurate for the message to be easily conveyed without causing confusions. The mutation topic requires the real usage of concepts since it is a biological process that people experience. The message of the film is that mutation is the solution of evolution. This implies that if it can be controlled, then a better human race can be developed. Mutation has enabled the production of things that people use for various purposes and this needs control. This message of the film is significant in order to educate people on how mutation contributes to evolution. The process and viewing of the film informed my understanding of cell biology since it deepened my

Halliburton Essay Example for Free

Halliburton Essay One of the most important functions for any organization to succeed in any particular direction is planning. Planning is an activity that enables companies and their employees to understand the company’s purpose and its strategic direction so that they can align themselves to it. This paper will discuss the importance of planning at Halliburton Company and analyze the extent to which it impacts the legal, ethical and CSR issues in the organization. Furthermore, it will discuss three factors that have an influence on the company’s strategic, tactical, operational and contingency planning. Halliburton Company was established in 1919 in Houston, Texas with a second headquarter in Dubai, UAE. Currently employing over 50,000 people, it is a huge multinational and global leader in the energy services sector operating in more than 70 countries. Using its technological edge in its operations and assistance from its world-class human resource, Halliburton has demonstrated outstanding growth and development in the energy sector over the past several decades. Its focus on innovation dates back to its early years when its founder, Erle P. Halliburton initiated his oil well cementing business by building a wooden mixing box only by hiring a wagon, a team of mules and a pump in Oklahoma. Careful planning and effective strategies have enabled Halliburton to remain as the market leader in the energy sector for almost a century now. Its planning strategies are comprehensive, focused on global changes and follow the â€Å"Think globally, act locally† theme. Halliburton management realizes the fact that for global survival it is essential to adopt different methodologies in different countries. For this purpose, it operates from 2 headquarters – Texas, the oil hub of the West and Dubai, the trading hub of Asia and Europe. â€Å"The number one priority of Halliburton is to provide competitive, safe and superior quality products and services†. Halliburton management maintains that in order to ensure business continuity they must explore the unexplored parts of the world for newer energy reserves bringing in environmental concerns. Thus, there are several instances when Corporate Social Responsibility and other issues have an impact on the planning of Halliburton and its strategy planning. There are often differences in the legal framework of different countries, for example, the British and American laws pertaining to environmental exploration have different clauses. This results in differences in the local planning of future steps to be taken by Halliburton in maintaining its market position and extending its operations. Ethics also play a key role in shaping up its policies and plans for the future. Environmental concerns, consideration for animal and plant wildlife are some of the factors the Halliburton management takes into account when planning its activities. For example, if oil exploration in the Sahara will result in extinction of the sub-Saharan tigers living in the region, the company will develop an alternative plan. Global companies as large as Halliburton have to manage their activities and operations collaboratively; sometimes the ethical and legal frameworks of adjacent countries can render certain actions legal in one nation and illegal in another nation. Thus corporate planning is a very extensive process at Halliburton which involves considerable amount of consideration given to regional subsidies of the company. Though corporate social responsibility and legal issues dominate the effect on the planning activities of Halliburton, ethical considerations also sometimes require plans to be modified. For example, Halliburton’s operations in Saudi Arabia have to be controlled differently than its operations in the US. The ethics standards and beliefs in the two countries are different and regulate different practices. For instance, daytime operations during the fasting season where the temperature is very high is not restricted by law. Even the workers may be willing to work, but ethics and moral standards suggest that Halliburton operations should be continued at night during those days. There are several factors which affect the course of action of companies. Often we see changes in the stock market leading to important strategic planning changes in companies. However, most of these are short-term plans and do not affect the vision of the company by a significant degree. Some of the most important factors which have a contribution towards the company’s strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning are as follows: Potential Energy Reserves: Halliburton thrives on its energy reserves and constant exploration of newer energy sites. Its strategic and international planning is based upon the potential energy reserves of a region. A region where there are high energy reserves would naturally be an area for long-term planning for Halliburton management while a exit strategy may be prepared for a dried up site in Japan. Its strategy is the key to business continuity and profits and thus takes into account the future business that can be generated from a particular region. Taxation and Corporate Laws: The reason why Nevada is the registered as the corporate head office of thousands of companies is because of its tax-friendly laws. Halliburton’s expansion and acquisition strategies are dependent on the corporate taxation and regulations that are enforceable in a particular state or country. These laws influence to a great degree the company’s operational and contingency panning as well. Avoiding over-taxation requires careful hindsight in operational and acquisition activities. Companies like Halliburton need to have effective planning strategies in order to save huge amounts in taxation and legal fees. Culture: The culture of Texas may be very oil-friendly however, that may not be the case in Brazil. The differences in culture, customs and therefore the code of ethics is important for Halliburton to realize and respect. Companies not caring about these factors often face problems in the long-term. Nike could not stop the sweatshop crisis news from coming into the media which caused hundreds of thousands of dollars loss to the company and several protests were lodged against the company till it finally winded up its operations. Halliburton’s planning should take into account the resident cultural practices and base its plan according to them – violation of local culture is often taken very strongly by the people and is revoked at some point or the other.

Marks and Spencers Business Strategy and Model

Marks and Spencers Business Strategy and Model Introduction Through a strategic planning an organization defines its strategy, or direction, and decisions making on allocating its resources to practice this strategy such as its capital and people. There are various business analysis techniques that are used in strategic planning such as SWOT, PEST, STEER and EPISTEL. The strategic planning, which indicates the future course of an organization, is the formal consideration involves three key questions; these questions mainly refer to what an organization does, who it deals to and how it excel. Another integral question can be phrased as how to beat competition (Bradford Duncan, 2000). The development of this business strategy is of great importance for organization as the whole structure of organization depends on it. An authentic business strategy development needs an appropriate analysis of the organization and its environment. This analysis must be executed at an internal and external level in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses o f internal environment (organization) as well as threats, opportunities of the external environment. Different factors are assessed in this regard including the economy markets, competition, supplier markets, labor markets, regulatory environment and Technology. Marketing plans and strategies are the tools that are used as helpful in understanding the goals of the business and to develop the activities to achieve them. Strategic Models and tools are employed by marketing participants to analyze marketing decisions. The 3Cs, the corporation, the customer and the competitors, can be employed when beginning a strategic analysis to get a broad understanding of the strategic environment. Different organizations often use it to convey strategic positioning of their market mix. In order to form a market plan to practice a defined strategy, 4Ps, the product, the price, the place and the promotion, can be used. Marketing theories provides the solution for achieving the marketing goals throug h procedure. The basic theory of marketing revolves around Target Audience, Proposition and Implementation. Organizations sum up their objective and goals into mission and vision statement. They are used to formulate objectives and goals. Every organization follows particular organizational ethics, which meant to show how ethically internal or external stimuli are responded by them. Organizational ethics also expresses the values of an organization to its employees and other entities irrespective of governmental and regulatory laws. Organizational Ethics is interdependent with Organizational Culture. Organizational Culture deals with the beliefs and personal and cultural values of an organization, Psychology, attitudes and experiences. This culture is defined as a collection of norms and values shared by group of the people in the organization and the way they interact with each other and with the stakeholders outside organization (Hill and Jones, 2001). A core competency is definit e factor that is seen as being central to the way it by a business, or its works and employees. It carries out three key criteria, it provides consumer benefits, it is not easy for competitors to imitate and it can be leveraged many products and markets. Competitive advantage takes place when an organization acquires and develops an attribute and combination of attributes that allows it to outperform its competitors. A timetable for the implementation of a strategy shows the timing for the each steps of the plan that is pursued to implement the strategies accordingly. The effectiveness, efficiency and economy have to be evaluated so that the success of the timetable can be estimated throughout the implementation of planning and strategy. This paper examines and assesses the different business models, development of strategic planning, its implementation and evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of implementation of the timetable of strategic planning of an organization. The chosen organization is Marks Spencer (MS). Marks Spencer is chosen because it is an important and major British retailer, with over 895 stores in more than 40 territories worldwide, over 600 domestic and 295 international stores (MS International Stores MS website, February 2009). It is also the biggest clothing retailer in the United Kingdom, as well as being an up market food retailer, and the 43rd largest retailer in the world as of 2008. (Wal-Mart remains largest global retailer, according to Deloitte survey). Its domestic stores also sell both food and clothing; it has started the store expansion into other ranges including furniture, home ware and technology. In 1998 it was the first and only retailer to make a pre-tax profit of over  £1 billion (BUSINESS | Marks Spencer profits top expectations. BBC News, 1998). The business assessments of such organization of such a big range and with glorious history will definitely be a remarkable addition in the study of business management and business strategic planning. In general terms provide examples (4to 6) and briefly explain them of theories and principles that underlie strategic planning? Every organization comes into being with a strategy, which is called an organizational strategy and aims to provide a guideline to guiding member of the organization. Since the future survival of an organization depends on its strategy, therefore, every organization is commenced with their own strategy. This strategy involves business strategy mainly focusing on development and progress of the organization including internal and external factors as well. An organization needs to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities that the organization could face while developing strategy, political, economic, social, and technological environment other socio-cultural, ecological, and regulatory factors and environment, informatics, and legal matter are also as important to be analyzed as above factors. For this purpose, therefore, organizations summarize these strategies into their mission, vision and values, which illustrate their business strategy. Provide in outline form, using a diagram a framework which would enable your choice organization to develop its strategy in general terms? The preparatory phase of a business strategic plan relies on planning. At the first, business plan includes Analysis of the Current Situation and Marketing Plan Strategy and Objectives. Marks Spencer requires having analysis of the current situation including past year. This analysis includes analysis of Business Trends, Market Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Market Segmentation, Marketing-mix, SWOT analysis, Positioning analyzing perceptions and Sources of information. Marketing plan Strategy and objectives for next year should also be analyzed including Marketing strategy, Desired market segmentation, Desired marketing-mix, TOWS-based objectives as a result of the SWOT, Position perceptual gaps and Yearly sales forecast. Describe and critically evaluate a small range (3 to 5) of models tools and techniques that could be used to develop marketing for your chosen organization? There are many Marketing strategic models and tools employed to analyze marketing decisions. In order to find a broad understanding of the strategic environment the 3Cs can be used by Marks Spencer. This 3Cs model points out that focus should be on three key factors for success. Three main players must be considered when planning a strategy for business: Corporation, Customer and Competitors. These 3Cs can sustain a competitive advantage in a strategic triangle. From a corporation point of view, strategies are needed to maximize the strengths of a corporation relative to the competition in the area of function that are critical to achieve the success. The corporation does not have to exceed in every function in order to win. If it can achieve decisive edge in one key function, it will ultimately be able to progress its other functions which are now average. In case of swiftly rising wage costs, it is an important decision for company to contract out a major share of its assembly ope rations. If the competitors are not able to shift production so swiftly to vendors and subcontractors, the outcomes difference in cost structure and in the companys ability to cope with demand fluctuations can have integral strategic implications. The cost-effectiveness can be improved by adopting three ways. At first, reduction in the basic cost, exercise greater selectivity such as products offered, orders accepted and functions performed and share certain important functions with other business of corporation and other organization. Since clients and customers are the base of strategy therefore the basic goal is to be of customers interest rather than of the shareholders. This segmentation appears from a trade-off study of marketing costs versus market coverage. There always appears to be a point of reducing returns in the cost versus coverage relationship. The task of the organization is to optimize its range of market coverage, geographically and channel wise. Competitors are l ikely to be scrutinizing the market in similar ways in fierce competition. The effectiveness of a given first strategic segmentation will tend to decline over an extended period of time. It is useful to pick a small group of customers in such situations and reexamine what it is that they really want. A market segment change takes place where the market forces are changing the distribution of the user-mix over time by affecting demography, distribution channels, and customer size, etc. This kind of change is meant to be the allocation of corporate resources to be shifted and the ultimate level of resources committed in the business to be changed. The strategy based on competitor can be built by looking at possible sources of diversities in functions including purchasing, engineering, design, sales and servicing. The power of image and capitalizing on profit and cost structure differences are the ways to achieve the differentiation. I mage can be the merely source of positive differen tiation when performance of product and form of the distribution are difficult to differentiate. In capitalizing on profit- and cost structure differences, firstly, the difference in source of profit may be oppressed, from new products sales etc. Secondly, difference in the ratio of unchangeable costs and changeable costs may also be oppressed strategically. A company with lower unchangeable cost ratio can lower prices in a lazy market and hence gain market share. Another strategic tool that can be useful for Mark Spencer is Porters 5 Forces Model. Porters 5 Forces Model is structural analysis of the market. It rather focuses view of analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of a Market Segment through analyzing the different threats prevail in the market. It is a framework for the business strategy development and industry analysis. It draws upon industrial organization economics to develop five forces that determine the competitive intensity and in the result attractiveness of a market. Porters 5 Forces Model Structure Threat from potential new entrants Profitable markets that submit high returns attract the new firms. Its consequence is many new entrants, which ultimately decrease profitability for all firms in the industry. The profit rate will constantly fall unless the new entrants are not blocked. This is also known as perfect competition. New entrants can be blocked by the existence of barriers in the form of copyright etc. Attractive segment is the one in which barriers for entrance is high while barriers for exit are low. Thus only few new firm ca enter and only non-performing firm can exit easily. Economies of product difference also make an opportunity for small firms to enhance their businesses thus large firms who have their product out in the market in high price, products of low price can affect them. Marks Spencer has been going through the same situation. Brand equity, which refers to the effects of marketing or consequences that accumulate to a product with its brand name compared with those that would increase if the same product did not have the brand name (Leuthesser, Kohli and Harich, 1995). The threat of substitute products or services The existence of products outside of the sphere of the common product boundaries boost the inclination of customers to switch to substitute including relative price performance of substitute, buyer switching costs, perceived level of product differentiation, number of substitute products available in the market, ease of substitution. Information-based products are more flat to substitution, as online product can easily replace material product. There are many reason cause customers to switch to substitute of the product such as substandard product, and reduction in quality of the product. Increase in the features of the product develops the competitive market. Marks Spencer by increasing the features of its products can make the customers stick with their product. The Bargaining power of customers or buyers The customers bargaining power is also defined as the market of outputs such as the efficiency of the customers to put the firm under pressure; it also affects the sensitivity of customers to price changes. Customers concentration to firm concentration ratio, degree of dependency upon existing channels of distribution, bargaining leverage, specifically in industries with high fixed costs, customers volume, customers switching costs relative to firm switching costs, information availability for customers, ability to backward integrate, availability of existing substitute products, customers price sensitivity and differential advantage and uniqueness of industry products are the actors that increases the bargaining power of customers. Large number of supermarkets will provide better opportunity for the potential customers to reach thus it will decrease the bargaining power of the customers. The Bargaining power of suppliers The suppliers bargaining power is also defined as the market of inputs. Suppliers of materials, components, labor and services such as expertise to the firm are source of power over the firm, when there are a few substitutes. Suppliers may possibly refuse to work with the firm or charge excessively high prices for unique resources. Despite the fact that supplier switching costs is relative to firm switching costs, and degree of differentiation of inputs, impact of inputs on cost or differentiation, presence of substitute inputs, supplier concentration to firm concentration ratio, employee solidarity like labor unions and supplier competition and ability to forward vertically integrate and cut out the buyer and Competition among the existing suppliers mainly reinforce the factor. Number of suppliers across Britain will rather diminish this factor for Marks Spencer. The competitive rivalry within an industry For most organizations, the major determinant of the competitiveness of the industry is the intensity of competitive rivalry. Sustainable competitive advantage by innovation, competition between online and offline companies; click-and-mortar -v- slags on a bridge, Level of advertising expense, Powerful competitive strategy and the visibility of proprietary items on the Web all these factor define the competitive rivalry within an industry (Rainer and Turban, 2009). The situation of competitive rivalry is hhigh because there are majorly three rivals of Marks Spencer that provide it a competitive advantage and change its strategic planning. State a variety 7 to 10 of general and marketing strategic options which have been used or are available to the organization of your choice and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of four of these Product Branded product helps in capturing market as it creates an identity of the firm with that brand. Marks Spencer has been selling out branded product but there is no single of theirs, because owning the brand can exceed the sell of that product. The advantage of owning a product as a brand is that it allows the customers to identify the organization with a particular name. While mostly brand products are supposed to be accessible for everyone as a result of its price. Price Price is another factor that is integral for Marks Spencer. Determination of price that depends on the market situation very much affects the market situation for the firm. An affordable Price of the product can be more successful for the firm. Affordable price offer of the Marks Spencer will allow to everyone to access them easily thus it will generate demand of the products if it could not maintain the supply and demand of the products it will have to suffer in the market. Place The place of selling also makes a difference in the marketing strategy of a firm. Since e-commerce has been so much in practice Marks Spencer can start e-commerce through which it can sell out its products online. Besides this, variety of distribution outlets can also be an option for Marks Spencer as it is a good promotion tool of the product. Placing the products in every distributions outlet may lead the firm to the low market level due to its order of supply. Promotion Promotion of the products must be designed in the way Across the Line. Across the Line promotion of the product provide the opportunity to access the customers at any length. Promotion of the products Across the Line will cost the firm highly as promotion across the line requires in order to meet the promotion target. People Work force or staff must be well trained and professional because a well trained work force increase the productivity of an organization. Marks Spencer is the 43rd largest retailer if it hires professional and trained work force it will definitely hit its economy. Process The standard of the services offered must be of good and must be integrated with customer support. Physical Evidence Physical evidence of a firm especially like Marks Spencer does matter. The overall environment of the firm can provide a pleasant impression on others and results in good sell. Who are stakeholders in the organization of your choice and state the three major ones of these. What affect have or could the major stakeholders have on the strategy that the organization has or could introduce. What considerations should be taken into account to ensure that the three major stakeholders can contribute to the development of the organization strategy through some form of participation? There are number of group of stakeholders of Marks Spencer: employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, local communities, pressure groups and local and national government. All these above directly or indirectly influence the Marks Spencer in its strategy making. Employees, who are direct stakeholders of the organization, want secure jobs, well and good pay and fair treatment with all employees. Customers, also a direct stakeholder of the organization, want high quality, good service, and good choice of products. Shareholders look for growth and profit. These direct stakeholders can affect the strategies of the organization. If employees are not satisfied or if feel that they are not enough benefits from the offered strategy they can strongly resist it by so many act of barriers such as resignation or boycott from service. Organization understands that in order to keep the customers stick with product it is important to provide them quality products and services in affordable r ate. The customers who want quality product in affordable price with good services would also reject the strategy if found it not in their favor by rejecting the product or switching to another substitute. Shareholders, who are back bone in the economy of the Marks Spencer, possess the shares of the company; organization will want them to have profit so that the stay with them in the business. Thus there will not be any strategy which in any way annoys the shareholders. The contribution of employees, customers and shareholders is equally important for organizations interest. This contribution by them can part in the development of the organizations strategy through expressing their expectation from the organization. These expectations are not just to be of their favor but in the favor of the organization as well because their benefits and profits are interlinked with the success of the organization. In a laymans language define the term vision, mission statement, objective and value and go to provide professional definitions of these giving the source of these. Every organization comes into existence with a definite purpose which is called objective of the organization. This objective varies from organization to organization such as profitable organization and non-profitable organization. The organization expresses its objective through vision, mission statement. Vision: Vision is the intended or desired future statement of an organization or enterprise in terms of the fundamental objective and strategic direction. Vision refers to a long term view, describing how the organization would like the world in which it operates to be. A vision statement provides the organization with an inspiration that is the basis for all the organizations planning. It explains what an organization wants to do. Mission: Mission is the fundamental purpose of an organization or an enterprise, concise describing the reason of existence and path to achieve its Vision. It also draws a future picture of the organization. Values: Values can be defined as the beliefs of an organization shared among the stakeholders of an organization. Values are the means of driving the organizations culture, ethics and priorities. The vision statement is a realistic, credible, and attractive future for an organization (http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch18.html). Mission statement broadly describes the presence of an organization present capabilities, customer focus, activities, and business makeup (Glossary, Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases by Fred David). Provide the vision and mission statements and strategy of your chosen organization and explain how the effectiveness if these can be measured. Marks Spencer has defined its Vision, Mission statement and Values as follows: The Vision Statement The standard against which all others are measured. The Mission Statement Making aspirational quality accessible to all. The Values Quality, value, service, innovation and trust. Marks and Spencer has followed a value price strategy from its origin. Since Marks Spencer has focused on middle class customers, it has continued with the value pricing strategy. Although its most of suppliers have been Britain, which has higher textile manufacturing costs than other developing nations, Marks Spencer was able to maintain its value by developing strong economic bonds with its suppliers. Through its economies of scale in buying, MS has been able to require manufacturers to adhere to strict quality standards and to bargain lower prices for its customers (De Nardi-Cole, 1998). The standard against which all others are measured, as a vision statement thoroughly conveys the objective of the organization, as the organization has set up the standard as an objective of the organization to achieve. It is promoting inspirational standard of the organization in term of products, service, and quality and price. This vision has greatly affected the organization output as a consequence of achieving its objective through this vision. The mission statement of Mark Spencer revolves around its marketing strategy telling about the price of the products that are affordable enough to be accessed by everyone. Values of the organization describe the standard quality and value of products and services following innovation and trust of the customers. Define the term organizational g12 cultural and ethical values and explain the culture and ethical values of the organization of your choice. Organizational culture is an idea which illustrates personal attitudes, experiences, psychology, beliefs and values and cultural values of an organization. It is defined as the specific set of values and norms shared by people and groups in an organization. The organizational culture as well as ethical values is also known as beliefs and ideas about the kinds of goals of the organization and ideas about the appropriate kinds and standards of behavior members of the organization use to achieve these goals. From organizational ethical values develop organizational norms, guidelines, and expectations that prescribe appropriate kinds of behavior by employees in certain situations and control the behavior of organizational members towards one another (Hill, and Jones, 2001). Organizational Ethics refers the way an organization ethically responds to an internal or external stimulus. Organizational ethics and the organizational culture are interdependent. Although, it is similar to both org anizational culture and business ethics on the micro and macro levels, organizational ethics is neither Organizational culture, nor is it alone business ethics which includes corporate governance and corporate ethics. Organizational ethics express the values of the organization to its employees and to other entities irrespective of governmental and regulatory laws. The organizational culture of Marks Spencer is characterized as a reflection of taken for granted fashion the attitude that is shared by the all members of the organization. The basic assumptions and beliefs operate unconsciously among the members and also exist at the organizational level. The assumptions and taken for granted fashion have taken its roots from the basis of the success of organization. Marks Spencer strictly follow code of ethics, a detail document of the ethical codes, in order to get on with its internal matter. The document contains the responsibility of all belong to Marks Spencer and Behavior for customers, colleagues, shareholders and environment have been explained. Besides, there are policies about workplace and Business (MarksSpencer, Code of Ethics, 2010). Explain the term core competencies and critical success factor and state whether these are necessary to the success of the organization of your choice. Has the organization of your choice amended its strategy in response to changes in the current business and economic climate? A core competency is a particular factor that an organization looks as being integral to the way it, or its works, and employees. It performs three key criteria: provides consumer benefits, not easy for competitors to imitate and can be widely leveraged to many products and markets. A core competency can take many forms, such as technical or subject matter know-how, a dependable process and close associations with customers and suppliers. It also includes product development and culture, such as employee dedication. The core competencies are specific strengths relative to other organizations in the industry which supply the fundamental basis for the provision of added value. Core competencies are the organizations collective learning, and involve the way to coordinate different production skills and incorporate multiple flows of technologies. It is an involvement, a communication, and a strong commitment to working across organizational boundaries. Core Competencies of Marks Spencer The core competencies are vital for the existence of Marks Spencer; it is in its sourcing methods, gave it the power to deliver high value, reliable, consistent quality, investors and customers has trusted it, its quality of management was ranked very high, consequently feeling of what good for Marks Spencer was good for the Nation and epitomized the most honest face of commerce. Since the revolutionary change in the business world, Marks Spencer had to suffer a lot. After the crisis of 1999, Marks Spencer has remarkably amended its strategies in terms of products, customers, price and marketing strategy. As a result of e-commerce revolution Marks Spencer amended its strategy and started e-commerce which ultimately changed its marketing strategy. A large number of the same product in the market caused the Marks Spencer to adopt a differentiation way such as own brand products and Premium brand appearance. Since there are so many products out there in the market that is decreasing the sell of Marks Spencer, due to the threat of the substitute product Marks Spencer has reviewed its prices of the product in order to create competitive advantage. Explain how your organization has responded to change in its environment and consider whether this response has effective The change in the product price from Marks Spencer creates a competitive advantage fro it and it is much effective for the organization. The enhancement in the place of its firm can also be beneficial in the way that it is in the access of as many people as targeted. All these response to the environment from Marks Spencer could provide it some space to restore its position in the market. List what you would consider to be the major functional area in generally and discuss the three major functional areas of organization of choice and why this is so. Every business have work within certain functional areas, among them there are few general major functions performed in all businesses including finance and accounts, production and operations, administration and IT support, human resource, marketing and sales, customer services, and research and development. The major functional areas of Marks Spencer are sales and marketing, human resource and administration and IT support. They are the major functional areas of the organization because Marks Spencer is a retailer of goods, its business growth very much depends on the sales and marketing, human resource (the people and the staff serve the organization can make difference in the growth of the organization) and administration and IT support make the business process smooth and successful. Since the competition is so tough in the market, Marks Spencer must improve their major functional areas. How have the three major functional areas in organization been developed to provide it with a competitive advantage? Efficient and good sales and marketing strategy can play an important role to develop a competitive advantage for the organization. Decrease in the price by change in the marketing strategy increases the competitive advantage for the organization. Human resource is such a function that works as a back bone for an organization, skilled and trained human resource of the Marks Spencer can provide a competitive advantage through inputting the best to serve the organization. Administration and IT support has come out as one of the vital function of the organization since organization has initiated e-commerce, it can efficiently perform as support to e-commerce to give competitive advantage to the organization. Discuss how a timetable for the implementation of a strategy could be developed around key milestones. The implementation of a strategy roadmap needs a time table that defines milestones in weekly, one month, three month, and six month intervals. Implementation milestones should be established and communicated to all key business partners, the board of directors, stakeholders and investors, customers, and employees, from day one. The best timetable and milestones focus on at least the following dimensions: customers, competitors, finance, communications, and culture, intellectual property