Costco Company Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Costco Company - Term Paper Example One of the notable companies that have put in place effective marketing strategies is Costco Company. Being the second largest distributor and seller merchandise among other products in US, Costco Company operates in more than 8 countries. The company has more than 200 brands that are produced to meet the large customer base that the company is enjoying. Major products that are produced by the company include sea food, home electronics, solar panels, photo processors, baked goods, hot tubs, and meat among others. This paper discusses key marketing activities that are undertaken by Costco Company thus becoming a successful firm in the wholesale sector. Marketing strategies One of the major strategies that Costco Company uses to attract and retain its customers is by use of technology. For example, the company has initiated varieties of adverts that are undertaken though television channels as well as YouTube. As a result, the company has increased its number of customers in US as well as in foreign countries. Based on the increased need to maintain productive employees, Costco Company has undertaken various corporate social responsibilities. For example, the company provides quality health care to all its employees an aspect that has resulted to attainment of employees as well as corporate objectives. Costco Company also focuses at using hospitality industry to improve its image on the eyes of the public. For example, the company has established children hospitals that are operated using the company financial resources. In 2012, the company spent 1% of its pre-tax earning to finance the children hospitals. As compared to its competitors, Costco Company has a wide product portfolio (Gupta, 2006). In this way, the company is in a position to meet the needs of large number of customers. In the same way, the company brands target wide market including young people, old consumers, executives, sportsmen among others. Consequently, the company has created a strong posi tive customer product relationship. One of the notable marketing strategies that Costco emulates is to offer low prices and to sell large number of products (Fredrix, 2009). By providing variety of brands, the company focuses at big and small businesses as well as large families. Ethics and corporate social responsibility Many marketers today are faced with ethical conflicts in regard to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Costco Company corporate responsibility is regulated by a corporate reputation body which is a group of senior managers derived from the company. The CSR body strategizes methods of dealing with problems identified as risks and hindrances confronting the targeted community as well as its business advancement (Weeden, 1998). The company’s corporate governance guideline clearly outlines the approach to Corporate Social Responsibility and these approaches are systematically reviewed to ensure they meet international best practices. As mentioned earlier, Cos tco Company has embarked on is the sponsorship of humanitarian activities including children hospital, protection of animals as well as environmental conservation. Costco Company is a global company that is focused at initiating international brands in various marketing segments. Through its cutting edge online advertisement, Costco Company emulates global marketing that has not only made

Accounting Essay Example for Free

Accounting Essay Problem 1 The Commonwealth Company uses a job-order cost system and applies manufacturing overhead cost to jobs using a predetermined overhead rate basedon the cost of materials used in production. At the beginning of the year, the following estimates were made as a basis for computing the predetermined overhead rate: manufacturing overhead cost,$186,000; direct materials cost,$155,000. See more: Is the Importance of being earnest a satirical play essay The following transactions took place during the year (all purchases and services were acquired on account): a. b. c. d.  Raw materials purchased,$96,000. Raw materials requisitioned for use in production (all direct materials), $88,000. Utility bills incurred in the factory,$17,000. Costs for salaries and wages incurred as follows: Direct labor, $174,000 Indirect labor,$70,000 Selling and administrative salaries, $124,000 Maintenance costs incurred in the factory,$12,000. Advertising costs incurred,$98,000. Depreciation recorded for the year, $75,000 (75% relates to factory assets and the remainder relates to selling and administrativeassets). Rental cost incurred on buildings, $80,000 (80% of the space is occupied by the factory, and 20% is occupied by sales and administration). Miscellaneous selling and administrative costs incurred, $12,000. Manufacturing overhead cost was applied to jobs. Cost of goods manufactured for theyear, $480,000. Sales for the year (all on account) totaled $900,000. These goods cost $550,000 to manufacturee. f. g. h. i. j. k. l. Requirements: Prepare journal entries on the following page to record the information above.

Customer Relationship Management System

Customer Relationship Management System Executive summary The purpose of this research is to explore and examine the experience and perception of management and employees to know about the importance, implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) system in German organization. For better understanding of the topic, a literature review of the past and relevant research about CRM perspectives is going to be taken place, in addition the findings would be compared with the literature review to know about the similarities and differences between the two. This research is taken the account case study analysis of two German organizations. Mainly the data is taken from the seven days visit to Bremen City of Germany. Where the trend of being innovative seen in Beluga shipping and DB schenker logistics use information technology to support its huge network of frights transport. After the analysis of findings, the conclusions and recommendation are given on the bases of potential pitfall and success of CRM system help in increase the value for both customer and organization. 1. Introduction In todays business environment, it is very important to understand the consumers behaviour as it shapes the market trends. They are well aware, more educated, and more serious in demanding for product and services that they require and they are well aware of the technology and comparing the products. It is imperative for the organisation to understand and share their internal customer knowledge and then combine it with new information about their customers in order to compete in the market and to achieve the future success. The basic three steps in marketing process is to understand the market place, designing marketing strategy in order to customer driven and making up marketing program, which leads to the forth and most important step, is to build a profitable customer relationships, ( kotler Armstrong, 2006). In order to establish such relationship it is most important to understand Customer relationship management (CRM) which is concept of modern marketing reforms. Kotler 2006, customer relationship management is the overall process of building and maintaining profitable customer relationship by offering superior customer value and satisfaction which means deals with all the aspects of attaining, maintaining and growing customer needs (kotler Armstrong, 2006). Although customer care is always being given importance in the commercial activity, the new model of Customer relationship management known as CRM is very essential for organization in adapting a customer focused structure, which can maximises the potential value of customers expectations from the company and get the opportunity of making business strategy on the basis of information obtain from customer (Kenneth, 2002). The research describes the various aspects, like customer focus strategy, reforms needed to current customer business processes, change management and constant progress in developing and implementation of CRM system. The research further describes the present literature on CRM, benefits and possible barrier to CRM system in the context of German organization, analyzing the observation during the visits to companies in Bremen. AIM The aim of the research is to evaluate the importance, implementation of Customer relationship management system. Objectives To understand the key definition of CRM. To explore the importance of developing CRM in an organization To analyze the benefits of Information process on CRM framework. To examine the framework and literature of CRM and compare it to the companies visited in Bremen. 2. Literature review 2.1 CRM perspectives In the business environment customer plays important role and considered to be top priority. This statement is much more reliable, strong and applicable to todays world than it was before. The organization success is fairly depends on their ability to facilitate customer constantly, fulfil all their specific needs of product and service. This concept is understood by studying customer relationship management (CRM) where its all about to locating, obtaining and retaining customer. Gartner considered CRM as mostly recognized customer and sales oriented strategy which includes advance technology to manage, mechanize, and bring success in to business processes mainly sales activities, but also involve those of marketing, customer service and technical support. The overall objectives is to attract more customer from the market, look after them and looking after existing customers, attract former clients back into the fold, and minimize marketing and client service costs (Gartner 2009). While Buttle, F. (2009) considered CRM as nothing more than relationship marketing, but also by manipulate customer to continue possible communication to increase customer consistency, maintenance and ultimate goal is to develop long term relationships. There is a great need of CRM because of rapid development of marketing and technology which goal is to understand the customer and to achieve enduring success in the competitive business environment. As CRM is present in mostly busin ess operation, Peelen, E (2005) believes that CRM is very influential tool for both business to business and business to consumer environments, but it has been underestimated. Due to the great exploitation of information technology, seller community and expert community, has great interest in CRM. The two terms CRM and relationship marketing used interchangeably in academic area (Parvatiyar sheth, 2001). CRM is a comprehensive strategy and process of attaining, retaining, and create association with the selected customer help to build superior value to the company and the customer (Parvatiyar sheth, 2001). Many marketing efforts considered to be used for customer retention which helps in customer attachment which can be achieved by staying in touch with customer after the sale is made, Vavra (1992). CRM is going beyond existing of literature because it require a cross functional combination of processes, people, operations and marketing capabilities that is possible through information technology and applications (Payne and Frow, 2005). In fact CRM goes ahead of customer focus, CRM not include only to make relationships and a system usage for collection and analyzing data it also involves in the integration of all these activities throughout the firm, connecting these activities to both firm and customer value. This enhance the capability of firm to enlarge this integration along the value chain, and development for the integration of these activities across the network of firm, these pool resource customer value while building shareholder value of firm, (Boulding, Staelin , Ehret Johnston 2005). 2.2The importance of CRM In one of customer think corporation survey, 68% customer leave due to poor services provided by companies show in appendix 1. The key to success is to create strong and long term relationship with customer. CRM is an important tool to generate benefits for both customer and sellers. They treated every customer specially and try to get the appropriate information about the usage of their purchase which makes firms to increase their sales and also increase customer loyalty. Furthermore CRM also helps in making the sale processes very easy and simple which help sales staff to deal faster. There is great opportunity for the organization to cross selling and up selling to customers which are loyal to firms through CRM. This helps the organization to develop the quality and better relationship with customers which also improve customer satisfaction, hence gained customer loyalty. Research suggests that new customer cost organization 4 to 8 times more than existing customer, Cannie and Caplin (1991) also suggest that keep customer for life time is better than sale at one time. With the help of CRM organization is capable to predict customer behaviour during purchases of product and services; with the support of IT by using different ways of communication with customer and stored it in business database. As there is rapid change in the customer behaviour, the most sensible way is to keep track of customer change and persuade them properly is to build supportive and collaborative relationship with customer (Sheth Sisodia, 1995). CRM also creates very useful knowledgeable platform and processes between companies and their customer as past study proves that CRM is very powerful competitive tool in improving success of companies and their customer. 2.3 How CRM system works for organization CRM Framework The theoretical frameworks are based on the combination of previous literature, experience and common sense (Eisenhardt, 1989). There are many different inspirations which result in different development, but it is not possible that one successful CRM framework is suitable for every business sector (Duane, 2009). Many researchers suggested that integrated framework should be on the basis of conceptualization and should be process oriented (Payne, 2005, Dous2005, Parvatiyar, 2001 in Appendix 2). Payne et al, (2005) develop a framework for CRM on five generic processes, which are, (1 the information management process, (2The multichannel integration process, (3 the value creation process, (4 the strategy development process and (5 the performance assessment process. After this framework given by Payne, an effective CRM is now to support and give value to the wide number of customers and employees; CRM has to support wide range of roles, channels and devices. Mainly, CRM activity will involve in the collection of customers, suppliers, partners and relevant data thorough multiple channels of way like web, phone, email, fax etc, (the multichannel integration process) and using Knowledge management(KM) approaches to transform the collected data in to the useful information for making business decisions (the information management process). Vision and objectives of company must be identified clearly (the strategy development process) than to transform it in to the different business programs and processes that gives mutual benefits to customer and business (the value creation process). The next step of CRM process cycle is to create the interaction with customer in order to maximize commercial exposure and return (the integration process). Finally progress is needed to be checked to look for any failure and helps to keep track the configuration of goals, resources and results (performance assessment process). 2.3.1The information process The fundamental to the successful implementation of CRM strategy requires flawless customer centric process, which is supported by integrated technology throughout the enterprise and also its supply chain which give right information at right time (Radcliffe, 2001). In supporting the statement that technology solutions support CRM, CRM must be flexible, customizable, connivance, cost effective and speed of operation, it must match the requirement of business. However, CRM tool is just a addition to CRM strategy, proper strategy and outstanding implementation is essential for a success of CRM (Parvatiyar, et. Al. 2001) 2.3.2The strategy development and the value creation process The strategy development process shall include basic steps of strategy formation, decision making and implementation. Bell (2000) points out that understanding the present allows people to attain an orienting perspective to provide a basic for moving forward. Hence, the strategy formation for CRM shall be based on the company mission and objective with taking into consideration the value creation for customer, employees and investors. Then, decided on the long term plan and operating plan based on the objectives set. Finally, take necessary action to effect implementation. The value-creation process is built on the capabilities and motivation of the companys employees to develop product and process innovation according to customer needs; to identify existing and potential customer profitability for decision on customer acquisition and customer retention activities; and the organizations value to customers, and the basis of its valuation by shareholders. At this point, KM participate an important roles by putting the information processing power of technology to anticipating or predicting customer needs. 2.3.3The multichannel integration The multi-channel integration process plays important roles to transform business strategy and value creation into value-adding interactions with customers. Those include all pre-sales communications, sales interaction, post-sale service and support with customer. At the present, there are many means of communications available in the market such as internet, direct mail, ground sales force and telephony; or a hybrid channel model which involves multiple channels. Therefore, for the company it is important to work on individual channel roles and tailoring them according the targeted customers segments needs instead of trying to capture all customer needs like provide Everything to Everyone Everywhere. 2.3.4 Performance Assessment process The performance assessment process covers the very important task of monitoring, CRM indicators is connected to the set objectives; which helps managers in making of plans ,taking decisions and guide ongoing daily activites. Kaplan Norton (2001) pointed out that since the traditional financial measurement tools such as balance sheets, profit and loss statement and cash flow statement are introduce to measure the activities like strong versus poor indicators, companies started implementation of very different method of measurement based on their internal decision making style.Kellen (2002) recommended a comprehensive CRM measurement frameworks which includes point of view from a verity of different business unit. The CRM measurement framework includes brand building, customer equity building, customer-facing operations and leading indicator measurement. 2.3.5 CRM global management There are many large internationally oriented companies which are today trying to become global by integrating their worldwide operations. To accomplish this they are seeking helpful and concerted solutions for global operations from their sellers instead of just engage in transactional activities with them (Parvatiyar Sheth, 2001).such customers make it very essential for marketers interested in many global business to adopt CRM programs, mainly global account management program (Yip Madsen 1996).Global account management (GAM) is theoretically similar to national account management programs a part from (GAM) have to be global in scope and thus more complex. To mange customer relationship management around the world there is essential need of external and internal partnering activities, this also includes the partnering across a firms worldwide organization. 2.4 Barrier to CRM CRM is considering being helpful tool for achieving organization goals, but when applying CRM concept and technologies to business operation needs through commitment. Depends on business to business type and how far they want to expand their application ,management has to find out the possible problem come across in the process of before ,during and after implementing these application. Here are some problems cited by Ramsay (2003) which are followings. 2.4.1 Lack of definition The rapid change in business environment, CRM is enclosed with new ideas, concepts, new technology, new methodologies, and constantly developing. As a result many companies are having difficulties in acquiring new technology, and also unsure about where to start. Management is not sure about how to approach CRM and how that affect the different phases of companys operation. 2.4.2 Poor leadership The team which are in leaders of CRM efforts are mostly functional heads who often do not have enough strategic plan or perspective experience of CRM. They are strictly being measured according to their specific activities within their functions. While the main focus should be on the companys overall strategies. One other factor is that most of CRM program are implemented projected base on general technical-requirements focus instead of business need focus. As mention earlier that CRM is strategic process that helps companies in understanding customer needs. So, companies can improve their processes to provide these needs to their customer (Oracle, 2006). 2.4.3 Insufficient help from CRM vendors CRM vendors are the ones who provide the new tools for organizations. Most of the time they only pointed out those CRM aspect which are involved in the product rather than focus on main important factors of CRM in lot of business areas. There are some vendors who would convince the customer by implementing CRM system, than the customer can solve all the problems which are facing by them currently. 3. Germany Germany is the world most famous second populous nation and Europes largest economy .Germany country itself is very strong position in its region in terms of economical, political and in defence organization. German economy is the fifth largest economy in the world in PPP terms is a leading exporter of machinery, vehicles, chemicals, and household equipment and benefits from highly skilled labour force(www.cia.gov).germany is among worlds largest and technologically advanced producers of iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, food, beverages, metal fabrication, shipbuilding, machine building, textiles and petroleum refining. In all above services and manufacturing account is the dominant share of German economic activities, raw materials and semi manufactured goods make a large portion of imports. Germany is democratic federal parliamentary nation, made up of 16 federal states in which Bremen is main port and tenth largest state of Ger many. 4. Bremen Bremen city population 551,600, capital of the state of Bremen, located North West of Germany along with Weser River .the state or Bremen was formed in 1947 by combining the two main parts Bremen and Bremerhaven both are the main port of state as well, where Bremen covers 325 square kilometres and Bremerhaven covers 80 square kilometres. Bremen is Germanys largest port after Hamburg and its commercial and industrial center trading in cotton, wool, tobacco and copper. The city of Bremen products include ships, aircraft, steel, machinery, electrical equipment, textiles, beer and foodstuff, specifically roasted coffee. Bremen has employed about half of workforce working in commerce, transportation and service sector. The shipyard was one of the largest employers closed in 1996. It is the oldest port city of German. Bremen strongly depended on industry sector of 83% in the economy. 5. Methodology This research mainly focuses on the importance implementation of CRM system in context to German organization.acoording to this, case study approach is adopted which enables the researcher in understanding and to pose question related to what happen, how thing work in CRM system and why (yin, 2003).the above literature review helps researcher in the different aspects of CRM system, potential pitfall and where to go during the implementation of CRM system in organization. The data for case study analysis was collected very short period of time which includes the 7 days visit to two main city of German state which is Bremen and Bremerhaven .there are some presentation arrange by the individuals representing their companies and there is interview session as well. The main two companies are chosen for findings is beluga and DB schenker. Mainly the data is collected from the company websites and during the interview session, informal communication with staff members and managers of organization the notes are made which helps researcher in relate the practical experience and observation with the literature review. The structure of CRM System is studied by using different articles ,books, academic journals .research papers and internet web pages which is relate back to data .Silverman (1998) stated that researcher should focus on what people do and what they say they do. These combined approaches give researcher a useful help in generating that data which i s rich in detail and high in rigidity (Miles and Huberman, 1994). 6. CRM in terms of German context The customer is main focus of every business and it is also been noticed in over visit to organization in Bremen is how their overall objectives of the companies fulfilling the needs of their customer. The presenter of Beluga, DB schenker and hansaflex also give evidence of complete satisfaction for their customer. Mostly of these organizations providing best services benefits to their clients. The beluga shipping was founded by presented and CEO Niels Stolberg in 1995, they working as a simple cargo operator during that time. From the very start off beluga shipping focus to create solid and fast rising niche market project and working on controlled heavy-lift cargo. The beluga group, consisting of main business, beluga shipping GmbH, beluga chartering GmbH and beluga fleet management GmbH co .offering to their customer a complete expert service worldwide, beluga is always in coordination with customer in every step of project planning and successful understanding .the beluga chartering involves the expertise of every cargo which closely work with transport engineering and operation department. They know exactly which ship is suitable for which cargo and also ensuring of continues employment of fleet. The beluga core service fleet management is responsible for fleet support, quality management, ship management, technical management with crewing and recruitment and planning of beluga cadets (management of sea academy) and supervision of new building projects is also in list of fleet management expertise. Beluga shipping managed strategic focus of how, flexibility and expansion, which make them the leading international specialist of heavy shipment of sensitive, bulky cargo which is difficult to handle. Due to the experienced experts at beluga shipping Gmbh that helps in achieving the demands of customer worldwide on the basis of modern fleet and advance technology, which involve the use for more than 70 multipurpose heavy lift cargos carries. These also ensure there is one ideally suited vessel is available for the respective specific challenge. Deutsche Bahn AG was founded in 1994; today it is worlds leading operators of passenger and logistics companies in 150 countries. The company rail activities in Germany are its core business. DB schenker is combination of transport and logistics activities of (Deutsche Bahn) employing more than 91,000 staff spread across around 2,000 locations. DB schenker is one of the leading global integrated logistics service providers and has a leading goods transport rail network at its disposal. Having its dense network DB schenker is operating in one of the world most important economic region, in air and ocean transport, in European land transport, in contact logistics as well as in supply chain management. With the help of this very special goods transport rail network company claim to provide quick and efficient solutions for the most varying of client requirements both with regards to trade and industry. 7. Main findings The presenter of beluga is much inspire from the company CEO work and the current setup business they have .Beckhusen explained how they managing the relation with customer while operating in the niche market of project and heavy lift cargo. As CRM makes itself necessary tool for business because it differentiate an organization among the competitor with the useful knowledge resource about product and also the ability to quick identifying and find solutions to customers problems (Nguyen, sheriff, and Newby,2007). Beluga presenter explained the knowledge about the product like, specialized in heavy lifting cargo and continues innovation for example, the continued expansion of the fleet capacity, to make vessel which can fulfil the demand of super heavy cargo uplifting possible.currenty the vessels in their fleet 69 units with the capacity of 800 tons and more ,than strategic target for the end of 2012 is 75 units, these new vessels will be equipped with cargo handing gear which can li ft a combinable load of up to 1400 tons on the most powerful units (its called Beluga P-class ). Db scheker presenter claimed that the huge network of rail service help in supporting the main dominant area of their business operation. Europeanization provides enormous opportunities for the railways. DB Schenker Rail getting advantage and has already made tremendous effort not only on the production but also on service side, customer focus is good example for better processes. Having no1 position in rail freight to maintain strong relationship with customer the CEO of DB Schenker rail Hedderich, explains that the expansion of rail fright helps to sustain that relationship and to attract new customer, which requires integrated planning across all the companies and across national border, in those countries where we find partner with strong performance, we work together with them. Putting customer in mind and work continually fulfilling the needs of customer Hedderich, also answer to the question about is customer will go along u current strategy? That restructuring is something th at many of our customers wanted because the quality of cross-border transport in many cases leaves something to be desired. Like Phelon (2004) define CRM by saying that customer leverage is an art. The rapid increase in the demand for heavy cargo and there is need of technological advancement for best compete in the market, Beluga use the up to date advance technology and also work along with partners to get growth in other potential markets .t( Nguyen, sheriff, and Newby,2007 ) stated that CRM helps in reducing the gap between customer and organization ,contributing to organizational success through customer loyalty, better service , superior information gathering and learning organizational. Beluga follow customer orientation approach, like we are, where the customer needs us any time offering 24/7 direct customer approach. Furthermore entrant of new markets like in March 2009 in the oil and gas sectors, Norway offers attractive opportunities for the Beluga fleet. So in order to understand and close view of the local market establish strong personal contacts with customer and also keenly to get involved in regional development in the maritime sector ,Beluga shipping GmbH esta blished a wholly owned subsidiary ,the beluga project (Norway) ,the board of director is constituted by Niels Stolberg (president and CEO of beluga shipping GmbH).the strategy to get closer to potential market helps in attracting new customer ,its increases customer satisfaction and reliability. Like in Asia region, the advantage of local presence, especially in Beijing, is being close the shippers and decision-making centres as well as to the freight forwarding companies and, in particular, being able to offer an extra service to industry through our cargo superintendents in Shanghai,says Jaap den Hartog, director of Beluga Chartering Department for Asia,(blue line beluga magazine .2008,page 35) The company can access easily to potential customer information and give possible solutions for customer problems. After successfully settle down and dealing with customer in Norway, Beluga CEO Niels Stolberg says, thanks to our local presence in Norway, we are able to position beluga fro coming project well ahead of time, we want to integrated our modern hardware and our innovative corporate philosophy into projects as early as possible, giving our customer a reliable transport solution, Confirmed by sales manager Robert instinsky. One important feature of CRM customer selectivity as research studies reveals that ,all customer are not equally profitable for an individual company (Storbacka,2000).the company therefore must be selective and tailoring its programs and marketing efforts by segmenting appropriate customer for individual marketing programs .in one news service (Oliver Schumacher issued by DB mobility logistics AG potsdamer platz 2, 10785 Berlin,Germany,2009) DB schenker is now leader in innovative air freight concepts. There is service operating by DB Schenker called skybridge service, example offering the unique intermodal solution to the combination of air and ocean freight from Asia to Europe Via Dubai, getting advantage from the low price of ocean fright with the speed of air fright. This combination of air and ocean frights Company get significantly lower cost compared to pure air freight, the offer is very attractive for companies that do not want to sacrifice the time advantage of air fright. DB Schenker is able to successful allocate its resources to those customer to serve its best to create mutual value. In global ocean freight, to giving importance to their customer the local presence of DB Schenker logistics combines the local market knowledge, global expertise, and the strength (2,000 locations in 130 countries) they have in their operating businesses helps to achieving organization goals. They can give useful solution to their local customer problems having in the operation of logistics services. As we look the above findings both companies working continuously on improving the quality of its products and services. To achieve successfully this, the ability of its customer service departments to response quickly and accurately to enquiries about the customer shipments is essential. As Beluga is working in niche market but the satisfaction of the customer is main priority of business. there is successful implementation of empowerment in organization .as Beckhausen describe her achievement from assistant to director in 5 years is the proof of company has the policy encouraging employees .the main decision is taken by the top management but they also encouraging lower management new ideas to work on it, than the ideas are successfully implemented in organization, this give employees as sense of freedom and encouragement which also helps to improve employee performance. while in DB schenker the case is different , Janina explained that most of the decision is taken by the top level management, there is no empowerment in organization, like the employees are working on day to day routine job no new ideas are encourage and implemented from the lower management. This will leads to inefficiency in work which will put adverse effect on customer relations with organization. Because employees plays basic role in the delivery of CRM activities, the firm need to give attention to organizational matter related to CRM it is important area of consideration, Data and technology processes and system are essential for CRM activities, in these processes and system without appropriate human interaction the returns on investments in these area is at risk (Boulding, Staelin, Ehret Johnston 2005).customer can loss trust on companys ability to deliverer quick and efficient work. For beluga and db Schenker, logistics is a key competitive quality factor. The factors behind the market success of beluga shipping are following. Quality and on schedule performance Precision and reliability Flexibility Expertise. While factors of market success for Db schenker logistics are; Linking component to the flow of goods. True sustainable footprint.

Growth of Internet Business :: essays research papers

Introduction The history of the Internet traces its roots to the United States government. The original use of the information system was to maintain communication during the cold war, with the Soviet Union in 1969, by the Department of Defense, incase of a nuclear attack or a major catastrophe. The National Science foundation created the Internet based on the ARPAnet. The first mass connection was between the University of California Santa Barbara, Stanford Research Institute, the University of Utah and the University of California Los Angeles.Ray Tomlinson develops E-mail in 1972.The ARPAnet became obsolete in 1982, but the basis for the program is still used at the present time. The Web began in 1989;it wasn’t released to the world till the early 90’s that’s when it became the World Wide Web. In 1993 Marc Andressen created software for the Internet to publish text, images and sound. Andressen also introduced the first graphical Web browser, called Mosaic, sti ll in use today. The United States runs most of the access to the Internet with 62% of all the routers, next closest is the United Kingdom with 5.2%. That is just an example of what America controls much on the Internet. 70% of the writing on the Internet is in English, next is Japanese. Statistics say 1 in 3 people use the Internet for E- Mail, 1 in 6 use it because they want to find out how it works, 1 in 8 want business information and 1 in 2 go to the Internet for education, hobbies, job listings, and entertainment. In 1993 less than 1% of users paid for use of the Internet. By 1995, it rose to over 200% due to the profits companies made from the providing this service. This became a common change that businesses have made since the beginning of the information highway. It was then clear that the Internet wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. This stared a trend, which is still being felt today and into the near future. Because of the demand for the Internet around the Worl d, and the amount of capital a business could make that provides this service, is astounding, a good example of this is Cisco, a once Silicon Valley based business, which is now a Internet technology provider, reaped in $10 billion in 1986 without an IPO (initial public offering), and this is 14 years before the Internet became what it is today.

Assessing strategies to combat neighbourhood disputes (Anti-social behaviour)

Assessing strategies to combat neighbourhood disputes (Anti-social behaviour) in deprived council estate areas: A case study on the Isle of Dogs, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Project Issue: The Crime and Disorder Act, 1998, defines anti-social behaviour as behaving: â€Å"In a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as (the defendant).† (Home Office (a) 2003) As this definition covers a wide range of crimes from prostitution, to having excessively high hedges1, I have decided to specifically focus on neighbour disputes such as noise pollution, violent occurrences, and inconsiderate rubbish dumping and similar neighbour to neighbour disputes. The central issue of the dissertation will be firstly, the evaluation of how well four researched strategies used to combat anti-social behaviour, all used in four case studies, actually combat and prevent anti-social neighbour disputes. Secondly, how well those strategies would be placed to deal with neighbour disputes in the Isle of Dogs. Each strategy that has been researched has a relevant case study that illustrates precisely how that strategy works when deployed in practice. Each strategy will be assessed in light of the relevant case study. Case studies have been used concerning anti-social neighbour disputes from the Isle of Dogs (East London), Blackburn, Manchester, and Scotland. The questions that this dissertation will be seeking to find out are: * What are the most prominent and researched strategies that have been analysed, evaluated, and used by academics and practitioners? * How useful are each of these strategies, and what are their strength's and what are their weaknesses? * To what extent, can each of these strategies be successfully applied to neighbour disputes within the Isle of Dogs, with its own unique situation e.g. diverse ethnic population, and extreme poverty on the doorstep to a wealthy area (Canary Wharf)? * How high is the level of anti social behaviour within the borough, relative to other London boroughs? * What is so different or peculiar about the Isle of Dogs? I will locate this central issue within the wider context of the causes of anti-social behaviour, and take into consideration the various dimensions of neighbour disputes. For example I will also consider the age and racial dimensions (Lucey & Reay 1999), and the gender dimensions (Nixon & Hunter, 1999), of anti social behaviour and in particular, neighbour disputes. METHOD Summary of the academic research required: The aim of this project is to research, analyse, and evaluate the various arguments and strategies concerning the best method to combat anti-social behaviour with regards to neighbour disputes. There are three main strategies or approaches to combat (anti-social) neighbour disputes that my research has discovered: 1. Improving exclusion from certain areas (as advocated by the government). This would include laws making it easier for social landlords to exclude or kick out tenants from social housing at little notice. It could also include restriction orders whereby the accused is not allowed to come within a certain distance of the property or use certain language in the presence, or audio range, of their neighbours as shown in one of the case studies I have researched (Home Office, 2003)2. It could also come in the form of issuing curfew orders3. 2. The second possible response is the ‘Dundee Families project model (Hunter, 2003). This is similar to the 1970's method of rehabilitation through intensive social work and constant nurturing of offenders, as well as the nurturing of community stakeholders. 3. The third approach is one of the Webster-Stratton programme as advocated by a senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry Stephen Scott4. This is a parent teaching programme, similar to the rehabilitation method above, but involves working strictly with young children (below 10 years of age) and is based in a secure environment talking kids through a video presentation, and group discussions on how they should diffuse problematic situations when encountered upon. 4. The fourth possible approach is the one advocated by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: The new deal for Communities (NDC) approach whereby large sums of money, à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½800 million, is given to various neighbourhoods throughout the country for the regeneration of their local community. This could involve building a new park, refurbishing the local community hall, or creating a voluntary organisation aimed at cleaning up graffiti. Through my preliminary research in the form my annotated bibliography, I have discovered that there are widely contrasting views as to the causes of anti-social behaviour, and what strategies work in combating neighbour disputes and those that are a lot more contentious. Each of these strategies will be examined in my dissertation and I plan to analyse and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each of these strategies. For each strategy that I have researched I have also researched a corresponding case study that illustrates precisely how that strategy works in practice. With this in mind, I plan to test each strategy by examining the relevant case study against benchmark factors such as: * How well would this strategy work in the Isle of Dogs? * Who are the main beneficiaries, and who are the main losers? * Is it practical? (e.g. cost effective and workable in today's political climate) * Does it pay attention to gender ethnic, or cultural, differences? * Does it build relations within the community as opposed to exclude sections of the community? Anti-social behaviour is commonly thought to occur in regions and areas where there is a high density of council houses, high levels of unemployment, and low levels of education opportunities (Home Office (b), 2003). However this assumption can be challenged, and the main aim of my research is to do precisely that, provide a balanced yet provoking argument providing both sides of the argument to this debate. It could be argued that only by spending money in the regeneration (e.g. building new community facilities, installing double glazing windows, giving grants for local businesses etc) will people take pride in their communities and their housing and stop the anti-social behaviour (Home Office (d), 2003). However it could be argued that only by including those that commit anti-social behaviour crimes into society, would there be a decrease in the amount of neighbour disputes [as opposed to excluding them from housing, facilities, benefits etc] (Scott, 2001) & (Hunter, 2003). Alternatively it could be argued that only by some form exclusion can there be a settlement to anti-social neighbour disputes (Home Office (a), 2001. Data collection: I plan to research and investigate: (a) Various academics think tanks, and the government's views on how to combat anti-social behaviour. (b) How these strategies are deployed on the ground by evaluating the case studies that I have selected. (c) Research previous government funded anti-social behaviour projects and organisations, and evaluate these claims against the previously mentioned benchmarks such as: * Practicalities such as cost, manpower, etc * How the people within the community viewed the project * Does it pay attention to gender ethnic, or cultural, differences? * Does it build relations within the community as opposed to exclude sections of the community? My data collection process will rely heavily upon case studies that I have obtained from various academic journals and government reports. Case studies will be taken from the Isle of Dogs in Tower Hamlets (Nixon & Hunter, 1999), from Scotland (Scott and Parkey, 1998), from nation-wide studies (Nixon & Hunter. 2001), and the British Medical Journal (Scott, 2001), amongst others. I have refined my research sources to be more dependent on case studies and journal articles as opposed to other forms of data collection. This is because this specific dissertation is looking for detailed analyses of projects that have combated anti-social behaviour disputes, as opposed to general information, or the views of certain people. I have also devised a questionnaire that I will put forward to a representative sample of 50 Isle of Dogs residents. The questionnaire will not form a significant part of my research, as I will be relying heavily on the case studies. However the results of the questionnaires will be used to back up, or refute, the arguments that I will be presenting in my dissertation. The questions that I will put forward to interviewees are as follows: Questionnaire. What type of incidents would you describe as anti-social neighbour disputes? How big an issue would you rate anti-social neighbour disputes within the Isle of Dogs on a scale of 1 – 10? (1 being not significant and 10 being an extremely big issue) Do you feel that the Isle of Dogs has an above national average level of anti-social neighbour disputes? What do you think is the best method to prevent neighbour disputes concerning adults? * Punish the parents after several warnings * Punish the parents immediately * Give the children extensive social worker attention * Put the child and parent through a psychologically designed training programme on how to behave. * Or other, or a combination of these. If so please explain†¦ Have you been involved in an anti-social neighbour dispute within the last five years? If yes, then ask? (b) Where you an offender or a ‘recipient' of the dispute? I will be asking these questions to the interviewee on a one to one basis and will arrange these interviews by visiting the local Bengali cultural community centre, the local high street, the local cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, and visiting the local benefits agency (dole office). In addition to these sources I will also collect data from reliable websites such as: Regeneration and anti-social behaviour organisations * http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk * http://www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk * http://www.odpm.gov.uk * http://www.london.gov.uk * http://www.lda.gov.uk * http://www.go-london.gov.uk (Government Office for London) * http://www.englishpartnerships.co.uk * http://www.bura.org.uk (British Urban Regeneration Association) * http://www.cabe.org.uk (Commission for Architecture and Built Environment) * http://www.civictrust.org.uk * http://www.coalfields-regen.org.uk (The Coalfields Regeneration Trust) * http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk * http://www.cprregeneration.co.uk * http://www.dta.org.uk/index2.html (Development Trusts Association) * http://www.europa.eu.int * http://www.idea.gov.uk (Improvement and Development Agency) * http://www.renewal.net * http://www.urcs-online.co.uk (Urban Regeneration Companies (URC's)) * http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/323/7306/194?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=1&author1=Stephen+Scott&andorexacttitle=and&andorexacttitleabs=and&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1071092635458_16583&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=1,2,3,4,10

The Tempest Film Essays

The Tempest Film Essays The Tempest Film Paper The Tempest Film Paper Essay Topic: The Tempest Julie Taymor releases what she must think, is a ‘hopeful’ adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. That’s all it is hopeful. Nothing more. The glimpses of creativity are outweighed by what seems at times, a laughable execution. Irrelevant of Prospero undergoing a sex change, Helen Mirren undeniably prospers as the female Prospera. Taymor’s change comes as an interesting twist, placing the character on a parallel with the evil witch Sycorax – something that, arguably, Shakespeare’s version fails to do. Moreover, it is arousing to see the conveying of the mother-daughter relationship between Prospera and Miranda unfold, in contrast to the original father-daughter relationship. However, for the larger part of the film it simply doesn’t do justice; ‘A noble stab at the Bard but ultimately an unsatisfactory film’ (A. HUNTER, Daily Express, March 4, 2011). Throughout the course of the film, I tried to remain optimistic. For every time Ben Whishaw pranced around butt-naked on my screen to my discomfort as Ariel, for every time the revolting, out-dated and overused CGI complemented by the irksome 70’s rock-like non diagetic score braced my senses, and for every time I sought to just wish a tempest upon Taymor, for tarnishing Djimon Honsou‘s dignity by casting him as an abominable Caliban – which dare I say John Gorrie’s 1980’s Caliban portrays more convincingly I remained patiently optimistic. But then it was too much to bear. The oddity that astounded completely was Russell Brand, appearing as, well himself. Brand isn’t suited for film. His overdramatic performance as Trinculo could prove effective in a potential stage adaptation, as Shakespeare’s comical characters are usually exaggerated. But never on film. It feels that Brand’s casting is associated purely, with the intent of attracting a younger audience – A form of trickery that even Prospera would be proud of. His very presence from the introduction seemed spoof-like. Even though I tried, I just could not him seriously, even as the drunkard that is Trinculo – a character that arguably is closer aligned to his real life personality! Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse Russell Brand, Djimon Honsou and Alfred Molina, all run across the frame, being chased by what seems like cartoon dog hounds – prancing and shrieking like melodramatic school girls. Simply atrocious. I was baffled as to whether the intended effect was to laugh with them or at them. I did neither – merely shook my head in disbelief. â€Å"You can easily go in a direction that makes Caliban a buffoon, but you’re missing when you do that†, quotes Taymor in an interview (when asked about the prospect of playing into stereotypes with the characterisation of Caliban). Maybe, just maybe, Taymor should acknowledge her own critiques, as in this case she is completely â€Å"missing† in her depiction (deja vu for Taymor need I mention her critically panned adaptation of Spider-Man). Taymor ‘’misses’’ out integral dynamics that Shakespeare strived so stoutly to establish; the love-hate relationship (prior to slave-master relationship) between Caliban and Prospero, and not to mention, the crucial epilogue, in which Prospero requests the audience to set him free – arguably the scene in which equilibrium is conclusively restored. If you happen to be in the cinema, wanting to see a compelling film adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s works, and are considering this one run. Run as far as you can and don’t look back. However, if you are in the company of precocious kids, and want a balance between Scooby-Doo type humour and a ‘tragicomedy narrative Julie Taymor’s ‘The Tempest’ is for you.

American Was in Vietnam essays

American Was in Vietnam essays In late 1973, the cease fire was broken by the sending of 18 divisions from North Vietnam into the south. This, in time, would become one of the worst blood baths of the war. This continued through 1975, when the enemy came to be in near Saigon, and elements of the underground political opposition came into the open and held meetings to voice their antigovernment feelings. The government moved in and on March 27 1975, arrested a number of poeple suspected of plotting a coup. On April 2 1975, the South Vietnamese Senate even adopted a resolution holding President Thieu personnally responseable for the detiorating situation and asking him to take immediate steps to form a broader cabinet. It was speculated that to save what they could, the government should send a plenipotentiary to Paris and ask the Fench governmentto act as official intermediary in negotiations to be conducted with the Communists. But President Thieu appeared only Demands that President Thieu should resign and transfer his powers at once to General Duong Van Minh were resurrected in earnest. A coalition government led by General Minh, it was said, stood a better chance of being accepted by the Communists; if so, more bloodshed could be averted. On Monday April 21, during a meeting at Independance Palace, President Thieu announced his decision to step down. He inferred that the United States wanted him to resign, and whether or not he consented, certain generals would press for a replacement. As required by the Constitution of South Vietnam, he was prepared to transfer the presidency to Vice President Tran Van Huong. Finally, he asked the armed forces and the national police to fully support the new president. In the evening of April 21, 1975, the televised transfer of power ceremony took place at Independance Palace. After President Huong took over, he immediatly wen...

Free Essays on Memoirs of a Geisha

By: Sakjan Memoirs of a Geisha (Book Report) 1) Plot: This exotic fable is about a young, innocent girl named Chiyo (9 years old in 1929) who lives in a poor fishing village in Yoroido with her older sister Satsu, her father and sick mother. Since Chiyo’s mother is going to die soon and her father can’t do much to support their family, he sells his two daughters into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Chiyo has unusual blue-gray eyes, which later helps her capture peoples’ attention, especially men’s. Unfortunately, her sister is taken to a different district and from this time on, little Chiyo lives her life in agony because she has no family left and she’s a maid serving a notorious geisha named Hatsumomo. Hatsumomo can also be referred to as a witch because she does anything like spreading false rumors to make Chiyo’s life miserable. One day while running an errand for the house that she lives in, Chiyo falls down on a stone near a river and starts to cry for she can no longer endure the pain and hardships she is going through at such a young age. Luckily, the Chairman of a wealthy electric company comes across her while he’s walking with his business associates. He takes notice of her and goes up to see what is the matter with her. As he lifts her chin up and looks into her eyes, he is marveled by the beauty her eyes posses. All he can do is stare. He gives her a handkerchief and a few compliments and tells her not to worry because everything will be fine. The Chairman then leaves but he never leaves Chiyo’s thoughts or dreams. He is the only person who has been kind to her all her life and for the past years, all she dreams about is meeting this wonderful man again and getting to know him. To make a long story short, the Chairman never forgets Chiyo and how beautiful she is, so he goes to a well-known geisha by the name of Mameha and asks her to adopt Chiyo as her younger sister so she can train her to become.. . Free Essays on Memoirs of a Geisha Free Essays on Memoirs of a Geisha By: Sakjan Memoirs of a Geisha (Book Report) 1) Plot: This exotic fable is about a young, innocent girl named Chiyo (9 years old in 1929) who lives in a poor fishing village in Yoroido with her older sister Satsu, her father and sick mother. Since Chiyo’s mother is going to die soon and her father can’t do much to support their family, he sells his two daughters into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Chiyo has unusual blue-gray eyes, which later helps her capture peoples’ attention, especially men’s. Unfortunately, her sister is taken to a different district and from this time on, little Chiyo lives her life in agony because she has no family left and she’s a maid serving a notorious geisha named Hatsumomo. Hatsumomo can also be referred to as a witch because she does anything like spreading false rumors to make Chiyo’s life miserable. One day while running an errand for the house that she lives in, Chiyo falls down on a stone near a river and starts to cry for she can no longer endure the pain and hardships she is going through at such a young age. Luckily, the Chairman of a wealthy electric company comes across her while he’s walking with his business associates. He takes notice of her and goes up to see what is the matter with her. As he lifts her chin up and looks into her eyes, he is marveled by the beauty her eyes posses. All he can do is stare. He gives her a handkerchief and a few compliments and tells her not to worry because everything will be fine. The Chairman then leaves but he never leaves Chiyo’s thoughts or dreams. He is the only person who has been kind to her all her life and for the past years, all she dreams about is meeting this wonderful man again and getting to know him. To make a long story short, the Chairman never forgets Chiyo and how beautiful she is, so he goes to a well-known geisha by the name of Mameha and asks her to adopt Chiyo as her younger sister so she can train her to become.. .

Critical Incident in Healthcare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Critical Incident in Healthcare - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that nurses were not always viewed strictly as providers of care with a minor comfort support position, essentially less-trained doctors. Rather, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, comfort provision was a key part of nurse care. Part of this may have been the domestication of nurse's roles and the association of nursing with femininity, but there was also a recognition of a holistic need for provision of comfort and care as well as treatment: â€Å"[T]here was nothing concerning the comfort of a patient that was small enough to ignore†. Nursing wasn't just concerned with mechanically providing food, cleaning, and other specific services, but with general well-being. In an era where cures were few and far between, providing comfort became the nurse's unique role. But since then, the improvement both of cures and of pain medication has made it so that nurses view their comfort role purely physically and mechanically. In the 19th and 2 0th centuries, nurses did not discuss treatment with patients because this was the role of the physician. While the change away from this norm is undoubtedly both more socially appropriate and just and more medically sensible, one good consequence of this norm was that nurses were de facto mental health care providers, giving patients emotional as well as physical comfort. That soup that day and this critical incident analysis teach me that the provision of comfort and attending to the needs of patients are vital. Hospitals are scary to many people: They feel deeply averred by sterile environments, other sick people, and an area where people often come to die. Provision of comfort is necessary to avoid deterring people from seeking medical care entirely. Resource management is vital to health care. Critical incident reports help guide those analyses. But most critical incident reports, while not looking solely at â€Å"death† and using a wide variety of indices and approaches , tend to focus purely on negative outcomes such as accidents. While critical incident reports should tend to take this approach, there is little point in focusing exclusively and perpetually on what was done wrong, what mistakes were made and what miscalculations were engaged in. Analysing success stories and proper provision in some vein, with the same techniques, is essential to resource management: One has to know where to put resources, not just where not to. Resource management in health care improves the provision and efficiency of health care through the following means: 1. Directly improving the efficiency and effectiveness of resources allocated to patients and therefore directly improving patient health.

Japan and China are clearly rivals for leadership in East Asia, Asia Essay

Japan and China are clearly rivals for leadership in East Asia, Asia and beyond. Briefly trace the relationship between the two - Essay Example The rivalry between these countries started since World War II and continues till today. The prime reason for this being one of the said nations always remained superior to the other.Before the 19th century china was the super power and with the restoration of Meji constitution Japan started gaining importance. However, China fought Japan by seeking economic assistance from Germany before World War II, but during World War II Japanese did many atrocities to Chinese population which strengthens the rivalry between the two. Internal and external politics of both countries The China being a republic nation possess its national military force known as People’s Liberation army which controls its sea, air and land territories in a unified manner.PLA was founded in 1927, and has more than 3 million members and is counted as the world’s powerful military force. Moreover, the Chinese republic is currently growing as the biggest manufacturer and exporter of goods and services in the current international market. The rapid growth of China in economical and social field has stunned the devolved as well as developing nations. The internal political scenario of China is very brittle and is struggling to survive the provocation of war as a communist regime. Evnthough, the economical status of the country is booming the republic is facing extreme provocation and threat to consider war with its competitor countries. About a decade ago the country called Japan was economically growing at such a rate that it out rated the growth of U.S.A and other advanced industrially civilized nations. However, its economic growth was also creating resentment abroad and this was resulting in economic disputes and demands to stop it’s free trade system. The country instead of focusing on military resources, concentrated highly on economic activates and grew largely as the world’s strong economic nation with living standards better than America. Unfortunately, currentl y Japan is suffering of recession and depicts a stagnant growth. As per,(Branigan,T,2010)â€Å"The most significant issue in recent domestic politics is the public’s growing dissatisfaction with LDP rule. The ruling LDP-Komeito coalition will probably remain in the minority in the Upper House at least through the next election in 2010†.Mean while the military system of the country is strong and is called the Japanese Self Defense Force and was formed after the occurrence of World War II. Relationship and power of both the countries The political and socio-economical scenario of both China and Japan has always been highly frictional. On many grounds, these countries constantly raised conflict and the relationship status of both the countries is at a very compromising and vulnerable state. The economical activities between the countries are at threat and Chinese government is accusing Japan of destroying the bilateral relationship among both countries. There is also wide spread notion that super power America also provoking these two countries to initialize a war. (Tadahi,Y.2008)writes that â€Å"The countries are locked in an increasingly tense row over Japan's detention of a Chinese captain after his trawler collided with a coastguard vessel near disputed islands. China's premier Wen Jiabao this week threatened further retaliation if the man was not release†

Building Effective Team Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 181

Building Effective Team - Essay Example While forming a team out of group members that have never worked with each other different team members have to play different roles. The leader needs to provide direction, assign responsibilities and communicate effectively and efficiently. The members need to develop healthy relationships and avoid power and political tactics. They need to trust each other and work closely with each other while spending some time in different entertaining activities with each other as this will further strengthen their relationships. In order to sort out conflicts that arise between team members, leaders have to play a major role. The leader first needs to realize and accept that a conflict is taking place. Then he/she should call a meeting between team members. In this team meeting he should give every members of the conflict to provide their side of the story. This will help parties in understanding the issues from each other’s point of view. Then the leader needs to allow the members to f ind solutions and identify a solution that is in the best interest of the entire team and implement th ­e solution to solve the conflict. ­Bruce Tuckman has provided a stage-wise plan for building effective teams and has outlined different activities that leaders and members need to perform to develop such teams (Schneider 17). Tuckman states that in order to develop effective teams leaders need to provide guidance, assign roles and responsibly and delegate authority. While the members need to build relationships with each others, develop hardworking attitudes and believe in the aims and objectives of the leader and the organization. In order to develop effective team’s leaders need to lead by example and delegate power and responsibility, while the members need to trust each other and work hard and refrain from political tactics. Ineffective teams are developed when leaders do not trust their members, and members try to overpower other members  and form groups within t he team.

Advise the Prime Minister and Home Secretary of any problems they are Essay

Advise the Prime Minister and Home Secretary of any problems they are likely to encounter with the Order in Council and its provisionsin Parliament - Essay Example This measure because necessary because the PM and Home Secretary deem the acts of Parliament as being insufficient in dealing with terrorism in the UK. Due to that, they seek to get the Privy Council to issue an Order in Council that states that: 1.Human Rights Act 1998 is not applicable to the exercise of the Order 2.The formulation of a special tribunal by the Order in Council for the trying of suspected terrorism and terrorist sympathisers 3.The tribunal could detain suspects for 90 days. The period is renewable. 4.The nomination of a state advocate to represent the suspect. They cannot choose their own representatives. 5.The state advocate of a suspect could not meet with suspects. 6.The tribunal would hear the case in the absence of the suspect and the state advocate would be appointed to represent the interest of the suspect. 7.Guilty persons will be detained indefinitely and not allowed to meet their visitors. 8.Suspects would be subjected to â€Å"harsh but realistic† regime of incarceration [possibly, torture] 9.There would be no right for appeal for the suspects when they are convicted. 10.There would be no press reports of any type related to the suspects and their hearings. The paper provides an advice for the Prime Minister and Home Secretary on the problems they are likely to encounter with the Order in Council and its provisions. This would be done in relation to Parliament and to the Courts. The courts in the UK are required to operate within the fundamental and primary framework of laws in the UK that are a valid part of the laws of the land. This include the traditional sources of UK law and other sources of the law in the country.

Critically assess the mV and digital policyain elements of the EU Essay

Critically assess the mV and digital policyain elements of the EU policy on HDT - Essay Example Through television, a lot of telecommunication companies has been put up which provides work for millions of people. It is where product commercials are aired. It is also where public concerns and responsibilities were discussed. While each and every national government has set up its own rules with regards to telecommunication, the European Union has also set its guidelines and policies to maintain and level the playing fields of the telecommunication competition. In this era where digital technologies were making its way to communication highways and prospectively play a much bigger role in the future, the European Union has identified the needs of introducing digital technologies harmoniously into the market. By means of a consensus process involving all the relevant economic agents, this aim can be easily achieved. There are 6 different areas of audiovisual activities which are covered by the commission. According to the Principles and guidelines for the Communitys audiovisual policy in the digital age (2005), On the basis of these principles, the Commission intends to take action in the following fields: the new "Media plus" programme, considered to be of crucial importance for the future of the European audiovisual industry. In all areas of action (training, development, distribution, promotion) this new programme will take account of the new digital environment. The external dimension of Community audiovisual policy will necessarily hinge around two central elements: the enlargement of the European Union and the new round of multilateral trade negotiations in the framework of the World Trade Organisation. This Directive which was adopted in 1989 and revised in 1997, based from Television broadcasting activities: "Television without Frontiers" (TVWF) Directive(2006) is the cornerstone of the European Unions audiovisual policy. Its two basic principles

Risk-Return Concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Risk-Return Concepts - Essay Example Thus, small investors concentrate on putting their money on government bonds, debt, and real estate. These decisions are somehow warranted due to the investor's aversion to risk. However, in addressing this situation, it is crucial to look at one of the core principles in finance-the risk-return concept. The risk-return principle stipulates that the potential return of an investment rises with its potential risk (Risk-Return Tradeoff 2003). In other words, low risk investments generate low rewards to the investor while high risk ones presents probable returns. The risk and return principle clearly asserts that investors are faced with the tradeoff between risk and return. In line with this, an investment risk pyramid is devised in order to fully understand the equation of risk and return. The base of the pyramid is occupied by low risk-low return investments such as cash, cash deposits, notes, bills, and government bonds. It should be noted that these financial instruments often have a fixed return for a certain duration making investors less prone to financial default. The middle of the pyramid is occupied by medium risk investment like real estate, mutual funds, large/small capital stocks, and high income bonds and debt.

Advise the Prime Minister and Home Secretary of any problems they are Essay

Advise the Prime Minister and Home Secretary of any problems they are likely to encounter with the Order in Council and its provisionsin Parliament - Essay Example This measure because necessary because the PM and Home Secretary deem the acts of Parliament as being insufficient in dealing with terrorism in the UK. Due to that, they seek to get the Privy Council to issue an Order in Council that states that: 1.Human Rights Act 1998 is not applicable to the exercise of the Order 2.The formulation of a special tribunal by the Order in Council for the trying of suspected terrorism and terrorist sympathisers 3.The tribunal could detain suspects for 90 days. The period is renewable. 4.The nomination of a state advocate to represent the suspect. They cannot choose their own representatives. 5.The state advocate of a suspect could not meet with suspects. 6.The tribunal would hear the case in the absence of the suspect and the state advocate would be appointed to represent the interest of the suspect. 7.Guilty persons will be detained indefinitely and not allowed to meet their visitors. 8.Suspects would be subjected to â€Å"harsh but realistic† regime of incarceration [possibly, torture] 9.There would be no right for appeal for the suspects when they are convicted. 10.There would be no press reports of any type related to the suspects and their hearings. The paper provides an advice for the Prime Minister and Home Secretary on the problems they are likely to encounter with the Order in Council and its provisions. This would be done in relation to Parliament and to the Courts. The courts in the UK are required to operate within the fundamental and primary framework of laws in the UK that are a valid part of the laws of the land. This include the traditional sources of UK law and other sources of the law in the country.

Risk-Return Concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Risk-Return Concepts - Essay Example Thus, small investors concentrate on putting their money on government bonds, debt, and real estate. These decisions are somehow warranted due to the investor's aversion to risk. However, in addressing this situation, it is crucial to look at one of the core principles in finance-the risk-return concept. The risk-return principle stipulates that the potential return of an investment rises with its potential risk (Risk-Return Tradeoff 2003). In other words, low risk investments generate low rewards to the investor while high risk ones presents probable returns. The risk and return principle clearly asserts that investors are faced with the tradeoff between risk and return. In line with this, an investment risk pyramid is devised in order to fully understand the equation of risk and return. The base of the pyramid is occupied by low risk-low return investments such as cash, cash deposits, notes, bills, and government bonds. It should be noted that these financial instruments often have a fixed return for a certain duration making investors less prone to financial default. The middle of the pyramid is occupied by medium risk investment like real estate, mutual funds, large/small capital stocks, and high income bonds and debt.

I.G. “International Grocer” Essay Example for Free

I.G. â€Å"International Grocer† Essay 1. Values and principles a. Respect; at I.G. we treat all of our employees with courtesy as human beings first and foremost, at the same time; we stand strongly against any actions of exploitation and taking advantage of others. We welcome, acknowledge and respect other opinion. We deal with our difference with open mindedness. b. Honesty; at I.G. We expect all employees to be honest about their work and how they feel about the management. While honesty is a difficult value to be accomplished by all employees, here at I. G. we encourage honesty by rewarding good honest actions and feed backs that lead to company improvement, and by setting a high level of forgiving threshold when mistakes are made and admitted. c. Tolerance; at I.G. is a tolerant work environment. Our employees are made of men and women of all ages and different back ground and cultures; we don’t tolerate any prejudice and biases towards any employees in any way shape or form. d. Caring; at I.G. we care about each employee and ask that you do the same to the company! We expect all employees to show compassionate and practice forgiveness when possible. 2. Accountability: a. Responsibility for own actions; every individual is responsible for their own actions whether they are positive or negative. Positive actions are recognized and acknowledged by management for rewards, and negative actions can lead to disciplinary actions. b. Appropriate use of information; the use of information on a need to know basis, information should only be conveyed to the appropriate employees. Company’s plans, pricing, pay scale, etc. are not to be disclosed without proper approvals. c. Avoiding conflict of interest; keeping the Company’s interest should every employee’s priority. 3. Standard of conduct and practice a. Complying with Job description; every employee is hired with a set of skills that should allow them to perform their jobs, and expected to comply with the task that is been assign to them. b. Commitment and loyalty;  employees are expected to be satisfied with their workload and resources at their disposal to do their jobs and fell proud of what they do. The Goal at I.G. is to make all employee feel a sense of ownership at the company. c. Proper technology use; Data is an important part of our everyday operations. The use of computers hardware, internet services, and emails should be used exclusively for work purposes. 4. Disciplinary actions a. Dealing with complains; proper investigation will be conducted to handle complaints. Every complaint will be handled very seriously by our HR, no matter how small and insignificant it might seem at that time. We have a zero tolerance for any sort of harassment, work violence, and any misconduct. We encourage support employees to step up and file a complaint when they feel uncomfortable in their surroundings to avoid bigger problems and to find workable resolutions in a timely manner. b. Penalties for violations; Employees will be written up for wrong doing for two times, Third time could lead to suspension or termination of job. Crimes (identified by local law enforcement) will be turned over to the police to handle. B. Training Program: 1.Training will be held quarterly y to insure that all employees are up to date with Ethical training. Training will be based on a simulated scenario from different departments. Training will include but limited to I.G’s standard and procedures guide. 2.Training will be Web based an interactive; this will include short quizzes to ensure that the information is understood and comprehended. There also will be suggestion box to listen to other alliterative training delivery methods. Employees who attend all 4 ethic trainings in the year, and pass the quizzes will get an appreciation bonus. 3.Training will take 2 hours; it will be in the conference room with maximum attendance of 10 employees at a time. Employees will be given an opportunity to block their preferred time to attend one of 5 conferences during the week. 4.Training will be presented by professional third party company, I.G. Managers will be trained and certified to help conduct all trainings. C. Explaining the process for the following: 1. Monitoring Employee Misconduct: a. All Misconducts will be immediately recorded in the employee record. I.G. will utilize all of its resources to educate all employees with the company policies. HR will write up, reprimand, and/or terminate base on the level of misconduct and the findings. b. I.G. will continually monitor any harassment actions, internet misuse and theft during work hours and breaks. c. Company resource such as video surveillance, internet logs, and review of anonymous complaints will be used to monitor misconduct. 2. Auditing employee Misconduct: a. Auditing will include a full review of recorded phone conversations, call logs, internet records and employee records of pervious misconduct. Auditing will take in consideration the possibility of being misunderstood before taking a corrective action. b. Audits will be conducted in infrequent patterns; they will be announced the day of the audits. c. Management will assign a combination of HR and Department Managers to conduct audits. 3. Reporting Misconduct I.G. has an open door policy to bring issues to the HR office without the fear for recourse; HR will handle all misconduct complaints with confidentiality. Also employees can write a letter with anonymous Complaint and drop it in the suggestion box.

Analysis Of British Petroleum And Its Competitive Environment Management Essay

Analysis Of British Petroleum And Its Competitive Environment Management Essay This report highlights three aspects of business development and market growth for British Petroleum considering the competitive environment of BP, the key business strategies of BP for five years and the resources and capabilities that are available to BP for the last five years. The competitive environment point towards new capabilities that BP has developed for years to maintain competitive advantage. Competitive advantage has been analyzed using Porters model and it is suggested that differentiation and focus could be a response to changing market conditions. The competitive environment is also affected by factors such as brand image and reputation as related to social responsibility and environmental awareness. BPs strategies have focused on IT outsourcing to energy efficiency, leadership building and stakeholder management, application of resources and technologies, safety as well as climate change concerns. BPs investments have led to sustained production and volume growth and this is expected beyond 2010. BPs capabilities and financial resources received a boost with the rise of oil prices and growing demands worldwide with BP main businesses being in petrochemicals, petroleum refining, and oil and gas exploration and production. 1. Competitive Environment of BP BP is a diversified energy products company engaged in oil and gas explorations and development or production and transportation of crude oil and natural gas. BP is responsible for refining, marketing, transportation, sale of gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and other petroleum products; and the production, marketing and sale of petrochemicals. The global oil and gas industry being high competitive show that with expanse and success of a company, capabilities are stronger and competitors could have problems understanding or imitating these. So developing new capabilities would be essential in maintaining competitive advantage. Competitive advantage is attained when capabilities are neither simple and highly imitable nor too complex that defies internal steering and control. Capabilities that grow through use are considered critical to success and BP and other similar companies will have to develop such capabilities (Kay, 1993). A resource based view suggests that sustainable competitive advantage could help in developing existing and new resources and capabilities in response to changing market conditions. Knowledge and knowledge management are related to value creating assets and helps in competitive advantage. As far as the competitive environment is concerned, there could be sufficient competition in the main markets of BP although world energy markets are unaffected by government policies and changes. The global economy and globalization could be some of the factors that have triggered competition in the world market and more so for the oil and gas industry (Bowman and Faulkner, 1997). The oil industry has been dominated by a few major international oil companies, including BP, Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron along with companies of the gulf states. Seven major oil companies produced, transported and refined as well as marketed two thirds of the oil supply around the world for several years. State owned oil companies as in Saudi Arabia, Gulf and OPEDC countries are the largest suppliers of crude oil even today. Aramco has produced more than four times as much oil as ExxonMobil which is the largest private sector oil company and ExxonMobil produces twice as much oil and gas. Gazprom is anot her such company which is majority-controlled by the Russian government but also privatized and is responsible for more than 20% of world production and of exports of natural gas. The oil industry and companies in the OPEC states have diversified into refining, marketing and petrochemicals, but these may be of secondary importance when considered on a global basis although the contributions of such companies are important in certain regional markets. There are also problems of environmental awareness and corporate responsibility and BPs strategies have been framed by these considerations. Sarkis and Tamarkin (2005) addressed the ways of reducing greenhouse gases and organizations involved in reducing emissions and with emergent markets. Investment in equipment could help reduce emissions and could boost sales. However there could be a faster price rise and projects may not be economically feasible leading to the need for more stringent regulations. Real options analysis is considered an important tool for the energy industry and the energy industry is still completely influenced by greenhouse gas policies drawing attention to emissions and the role of controlling greenhouse gas emissions within the industry. 2. Key business strategies of BP over the past five years. Analysis using Porters generic strategies to discuss why this strategy was pursued or changed. Some of the key directions towards strategy included energy efficiency with BP operations such as considering the price of carbon in investment decisions and promoting low cost energy pathways through gas or power generation. The company also plans to make continued investments in alternative energy with bio fuels, wind and solar or carbon sequestration and investments in research and technology. Companies focus on safe and reliable operations with continued journey in personal safety and implements operating management system with compliance. The people efforts are on building capabilities and leadership behaviors and performances help in restoring revenues or reducing complexity and costs. Apart from the culture of leadership and restructuring, building skills and capability and diversity or reward for performance are important elements of company strategy. BP already identified new regions of access for its operations including Iraq, Indonesia, Jordan, and new acreage in Gulf of Mexico and Egypt. The reserves and resource replacement are at 12%-250% and production growth was at 4% (Hayward et al, 2010). The success story of the company has been projected as governance and shareholder alignment, safer operations and volume growth as well as steady financial performance. 2010 expected performance has been projected at $4 billion investment, production growth of 1-2%, focus on cost efficiency and development of projects with an average 1-2% volume growth until 2015 with increased potential and sustained growth to 2020. Resource bases and sources of growth beyond 2015 has been marked through expanding deepwater, leveraging expertise in gas and managing the giant oil fields of the world and enabling application of technology. The focus of the company has been on cost and capital efficiency and profit growth and diversifying the portfolio with a growing resource base. A momentum on costs and strategies and operations and an average 1-2% volume growth was expected until 2015 (Hayward et al, 2010). BP is also shown as having increased potential to sustain growth to 2020 and changes in the process could drive capital and cost efficiency. Fuel value chains through quality and integration could mean right markets and right locations for logistics and refineries and quality products and brands through marketing and channel management. BP has also highlighted supply optimization and trading and common processes at the back office. Among its infrastructural changes, BP has undergone major rebuilds of CDU to process heavy crude and for the manufacture of crude oil and also new world scale sulphur removal and gas oil hydro treating units. Refinery infrastructure upgrade shows location advantage. The market share possibilities discussed showed 40% capital employed in growth markets with leading technologies and strong customer relationships with margin share growth and premium brands. The company also gives importance to safety and efficiency, quality and integration and application of resources and technology and the emphasis provided is on safe and reliable operations. In the next 2-3 years over $2billion of pre tax performance opportunity was also identified. Costs were at 2004 levels with their refinery modification in 2012 (Hayward et al, 2010). The strategy of the company was given as a focus on the growth of profits as well as cost and capital efficiency through upstream production and downstream strategies are higher turnaround and cost efficiency. Alternative energy is seen as focused and disciplined with higher corporate efficiency and strategic growth. The focus on strategy is based on profit growth and use of alternative energy, as also a focus on corporate performance and efficiency and on cost and capital efficiency. BP was among the first multinational companies that joined in the merging consensus to address climate change (Kolk and Levy, 2001). BP has focused on a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and along with solar energy, BPs other lines of business are seen as exploration, oil and chemicals. However as far as BPs position towards climate change is concerned, analysts have tried to examine Is BP reacting to inevitable environmental pressures, but conducting business as usual, or is BP seizing the moment and opportunity and using global climate change as a doorway to a new business model for the 21st century? This seems an important analysis as it marks whether BP is projecting a new business model through the climate change focus or simply responding to the global environmental pressures and challenges and whether the climate change focus within its strategy would be positive or negative for BP (Lowe et al, 1998). As far as the analysis of BPs strategies are concerned, Porter has argued that any firms strength would ultimately depend on cost advantages and differentiation. The generic strategies that should be followed by any firm for success have been given as cost leadership, differentiation and focus (Porter, 1998). Cost leadership is attained through low cost of materials and integration decisions and differentiation strategy offers unique products and attributes to clients giving a competitive edge, and focus provides a narrow market focus so that specific needs of segments are met. Porters general strategies could explain the key business strategies adopted by BP in the last five years and these were related to climate change as well as cost and capital efficiency and profits. Juris (1998) suggested that in the UK it is possible to move from a monopoly of one company dominating the market to a competitive environment with many players and this is true even in the natural oil and gas industry without significant structural reforms within the business environment, although this could be expensive. Structural reforms and innovation brings about differentiation and launch of products and services that the consumer perceives to be different, Any form of change or deregulation must be accompanied by regulatory and institutional frameworks and all entrants to the market should be given equal rights. With cooperation between the government and industry participants, there has to be mechanisms for appropriate balancing and operating. BP will also have to follow these regulations towards market balance despite being a major player. Industry participants have tried to reach a consensus on how to enhance the existing framework that could make markets more efficient. British oil and gas industry will have to effectively give more time and resources to developing a tariff structure for pipeline capacity and transportation services in tariff markets (Juris, 1998). BP has a role to play in stabilizing tariffs that could make the markets efficient. Cross (1995) highlighted outsourcing as a BP strategy and explained how the BP Exploration Operating Company, $13 billion division of British Petroleum Company explores and produces oil and gas and outsourcers all IT operations in efforts to cut costs and get more flexible higher quality IT resources to improve business. At BP exploration it was decided that the company no longer needed technologies that provided business information to employees and this could be outsourced. There were problems encountered with internal IT departments and the old and new machines as well as the need to focus on technological details rather than wider more important business issues led to the need for outsourcing these to technicians. As far as BPs technology strategy is concerned, BP diverted its IT support through outsourcing. Outsourcing helped in the reshaping of the IT department. At BP information technology was used as utility for operations to develop application and supply processing power as also to provide technology support. This is now given to outsourcing providers and the company buys generic applications or contracts the work. The IT department is expected to improve business rather than be an internal group that simply meets supply of the company. The company however has a different IT strategy and does not rely on a single supplier for all IT needs although this could make BP to escalate its fees and become more rigid in its services. At the same time selective outsourcing and division of IT operations led to strain on management resources. BPs IT strategy focused on buying IT services from multiple suppliers although these could be delivered in a way as if by single supplier. Contractors delivered services to 42 BP businesses worldwide. The subcontracts were also performed effectively and the cornerstone of the BP outsourcing strategy was to use services from multiple suppliers and yet project them as one. The IT department is kept separate from Operations so that the IT managers could independently work on the business rather than get involved in technicalities. Several IT services including large and small providers were used for outsourcing which was however a difficult task but had the benefits of reduced fixed costs, im proved service, and access to new ideas and technologies (Cross, 1995). However the downsides were the technical issues and the danger of operations and management getting loaded with IT problems. 3. Resources and capabilities of BP over the five years, and analysis of the extent to which the company has aligned its resources and capabilities to its business strategies The alignment or use of resources and capabilities to shape business strategies of the company shows that BP placed a great emphasis on infrastructure and profit growth by building its resources and through partnering and strategic alliances. BP has built its larger base by organizing around the smaller business units and the company has several smaller business units that work together and the resources are available easily and quickly. The company follows a decentralization strategy with its various units having independent operations although there are differing views on whether this has been particularly helpful or led to original thinking. New approaches to BP business showed how the BP business could successfully steer through crises although the recent focus has been on BPs strategy towards climate change (Kolk and Levy, 2001). Considering the changes in BP strategy, it has been noted that BP had a politicized bureaucracy managed matrix structure and with the complexity performance declined and the company faced financial crisis. In recent years however BP has reported highest profits $4 billion in the third quarter of 2004 alone. The high prices of crude oil added to the profits although the companys cost efficient operations were key to strong performance. The company also absorbed two oil companies Amoco and Arco and other companies and the acquisitions helped in the expanse and scope and several strategic and organizational changes added to the remarkable turnaround in the companys performance (Roberts, 2005). BPs transformation came as it divested unrelated lines of business and divided business into units with three basic businesses with upstream oil and gas exploration and production, downstream petroleum refining and marketing and petrochemicals. There were different functioning markets and the unit s were run independently adding to the strategic advantage of the company. The company presentations showed that the US refining portfolio was fully operational and US convenience retail helped in reducing marketing footprint with cash costs down by 15% in 2008. $4billion was invested by the company for alternative energy since 2006 and employee count was reduced to 7500 and cash costs were also reduced by billions in 2009, bringing down the overall expenses of the company (Hayward et al, 2010). Among other strategic directions of the company are using solar energy as alternative energy and fuel and BP has been successfully developing the solar energy potential as one of the greener sustainable sources of energy. BP corporate strategy has also been focused on issues of climate change (Kolk and Levy, 2001) and there are two directions to this strategy. One is the potential advantage in corporate reputation and image if BP is projected as green and clean company which controls its business units and functions according to global climate conditions, and the other is the possibility of a new business model within which BP could work and using of solar energy as green energy is already a step towards this motive. In the last five years BP resources and capabilities have changed drastically. Along with addition of BP solar energy, there has been increased investments and increased profits with higher oil prices. BP has also potentially expanded its reach and operations across many new regions and continued to add new resources and capabilities including material and financial to fulfil its strategic directions. The business strategies of BP have been primarily geared towards profitability and corporate responsibility so along with cost leadership, focus, innovation, differentiation and climate change, BP had diversified and categorized its business units along with mergers and acquisitions.