French and Indian War DBQ Revise Essay

In the course of years through 1754-1763 the British were engaged in a war with their rival French. The conflict was known as the French and Indian War. It started when the colonies could not shift west, and the British trying to settle in the Ohio Valley and the French did not want them to expand. It was played entirely in North America with the colonials on the British side. The conflicts between French and the British would cause a drastic change in the colonial-British relationship. It would alter the political, economic, and philosophical relations. The political aspect would change when the British would start taxing the colonies to pay of debt accumulated by the war. Just like James Ottis said, â€Å"No taxation without representation,† The colonies agree with the statement and believed they had the right to be represented. If they had representation, it would have been virtual, instead of direct. With direct representation the colonies would be able to overpower the go vernment and vote for someone with their interests. The colonists though during this time were not use to the British paying so much attention, because Salutary Neglect happened before the war. This was when they loosely enforced the laws on the colonists. Other then the British now enforcing laws, the colonists also did not appreciate when they declared the Proclamation of 1763. Canassatego, chief said, â€Å"We must insist on your removing them†¦Ã¢â‚¬  They set the proclamation to keep the Indians happy. This helped prevent another uproar like Pontiacs Rebellion, and also did not allow colonists to move westward. Also, during the war to keep the Iroquois Indians pleased, Franklin called the Albany Congress into plan. The economical piece also differed during the war. In the war, the British collected a great amount of debt. They believed that the colonials should be taxed to help pay off this debt. The British order in council said, â€Å"Not only is revenue impaired, but the commerce of colonies diverted for its natural course† (Doc F). They also believed in mercantilism, were they exported more than imported. By doing this they lost money and supplies, while benefiting the mother country. To repair money situations, the Navigation Acts were enforced to start generating revenue. After the Navigation Acts were enforced, the first act declared to raise money came to power. It was known as the Stamp Act. In Document H, â€Å"The TIMES are Dreadful, Doleful, Dismal, Dolorous, and DOLLAR-LESS† (Newspaper Masthead). This was proof of the colonies hatred to the stamp tax. The stamp act was like sales tax, where all merchandise purchased must be stamped. In the letter to John Huges from Benjamin Franklin, â€Å"Undertaking to execute it may make you unpopular for a time† (Doc G). The act by the British was unpopular with the colonist, because they did not want to help by paying the debt. Along with economics, the philosophical stance of America toward the British changed as well. At the end of the war colonists were feeling powerful and more independent minded. The French were no longer a threat and they had the desire to expand westward. The British on the other hand thought of the colonies in a whole different way. They believed they were laze and backwards. George Washington, â€Å"I wish earnestly to attain some knowledge of the military profession† (Doc C). George Washington worked with Braddock with the British and even ending the war his views started to change. With the average age being sixteen and doubling every twenty-five years the British would not allow the colonies direct vote. They could not let, because with the French out of the way the colonies could now take over with their population growing rapidly. With the population growing they wanted to expand west, but the Proclamation of 1763 would not permit it. Also now much of the land had shifted to the Spanish, with the French gone, as displayed in document A. The colonies believed they were being treated unfairly. In Massachusetts Soldier’s diary, â€Å"Who are but little better than slaves to their officers† (Doc D). The British wee cruel to them and this put an enormous impact on their relations. The political, economic, and philosophical relations of the British-colonial ship would be differed for the future to come. The relationship was strained, because of taxes needed to repay war debt, and not being represented for it. To have the claim over the river valley, but try to keep the Indians within their trust. They were there to please themselves and In the end the French lost almost all of the North American land that went to the Spanish. These conflicts led to the North American war called the French and Indian War, and later a greater conflict around the world as the seven years war.

Affirmative Action Essay

What would the business world be like with no affirmative action? One can only imagine the discrimination that would be going on. This is why our company needs to take action towards taking the right steps to implementing this very important concept. Not only must we follow equal employment opportunity laws, but we must ensure the comfort, security, and safety of our employees. No person regardless of age, race, color, religion, disability, or sex be denied of employment based on those factors. With the implementation of the affirmative action policy taking affect within our company, we can expand our family of employees to a much more diverse workforce. We will gain a plethora of knowledge from those with all different types of prior work experiences. Our actions will lead to unity and harmony between those who are of different national origins, and will help eliminate discrimination on the job. It is incredibly important for those we employ to know we take pride in our company and care about their opinions, concerns, and well-being. Happy and well taken care of employees, make for enthusiastic and productive employees! The idea is to hire people based on their experience, knowledge of the occupation, education, and whatever skills they may encompass. It is important for employees to know some of the basic skills required for the job; however, on the job training is an excellent opportunity for growth and learning new techniques. Affirmative action allows for room for advancement to those with seniority within the company, as well as room to hire more new employees to fill their old positions. By enforcing affirmative action we are creating job security which encourages employees to strive to constantly improve and create goals within the company which benefits everyone involved. Affirmative Action3 As positive as affirmative action can be, there can also be negative results of this concept. In some cases, one protected class may be considered as favored by employers, while others feel they have been prejudged which has become known as reverse discrimination. Because of any one group being favored, the possibilities of conflict occurring in the work place could rise; for this reason, it is extremely important to apply and use the concept of affirmative action the way it was meant to be used. Each and every individual must be treated fairly, and situations will be dealt with according to the position they hold within the company. Equally as wrong as preferential treatment are those companies who sometimes are either forced or volunteer for affirmative action; they are only trying to fill their quota to meet requirements, which also eventually leads to more discrimination. As long as we take all of the appropriate steps to work this into our workforce and are doing it for all of the right reasons, we will have a successful multicultural corporation who can work together peacefully. The reason this policy would benefit our company is mainly because we are being given the opportunity to fix past instances of discrimination which have occurred within our establishments. We have the chance to start with a clean slate, and be known as an inviting and stable place to work. By implementing affirmative action we can ensure to our employees that they will enjoy working for us. By knowing what to expect every day they will be happier, loyal, enthusiastic, supportive, and eager to come back. They will gain an appreciation for the company which treats them with respect and equal to their coworkers. The positive possibilities are endless as long as everyone is compliant with the policy. There will be an individual to monitor and make sure all policy regulations are being followed and cooperated with, as well as an Affirmative Action  informative document which explains all details. We will encourage all to be involved in programs or groups which will lead to meeting goals related to the policy. And last but not least, there will be a mandatory meeting to ensure that everyone is fully aware of the changes to come and that any  further instances of discrimination in the workplace will not be tolerated. With that said, we look forward to the new cultural diversity we will have within our company and expect many good things to come from it! Affirmative Action5 Reference Page Bohlander, G. W., & Snell, S. A., (2007). Managing human resources (14th ed.). Florence, KY: Thomson Learning Higher Education.

Marketing Products Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Products - Essay Example The company will produce bags that will be different from other bags mostly sold in the market. It will add a fashion touch to it in order to give it a trendy look. The sponginess of the bag will add up to it and will strive to provide the consumer with a unique experience. And the fun element in this particular product would be its variance in colors. The consumers will get the opportunity to choose from a wide range of colors. Also, the product will be manufactured by the usage of the topnotch and high quality materials. All these combinations collectively will provide a low weight to the bag that can prove to be the USP (Unique Selling Point) of the product and will primarily meet the needs of the fast moving consumers (Baker, 2009). 2. Discussion of the Service Component of the Product and Its Role in Enhancing the Product The best part of the product would be its after-sales services. The company will provide 1 full year warranty to these bags. And the most important factors tha t could facilitate in maximum number of sales of this product would be: It will provide free repairs and maintenance of the bags for a full year. For adding up to the customization factor, the company is also planning to provide free repair services in the selected customer’s place. ... The company is hoping that it would get a positive leap as it is already recognized in the US and considered as a well known brand. The company is also planning to add more service features to the bags but for that the company will have to increase the price of the bags. So, in the initial stage, the company will provide the customers with the above mentioned service features and will sell the product at a nominal price for the sole purpose of attracting maximum number of customers (Baker, 2009). 3. The Product Expansion to a Product Line, and the Depth and Breadth of the Line For expanding the bags to a product line, the manufacturing and sales processes of these bags need to be expanded too. Also, the company will only be able to expand the product line of these bags when it will be liked by customers. The company can only expand its products when the sales volume and demand for the bags reveals the increasing trend. The expansion will be made depending upon the various processes t hat the company is going to follow. It can be clearly assumed that the product can become highly consumable as the company is well known and very fashionable. If the product introduced generates radical demand then the company can also introduce variance in the size and capacity of the bags. This way it will enable the company to cater to other sections of the society as well. The company will be able to gain the upper hand over its competitors as well. The depth and breadth of the product can also increase to a very large extent if the company can maintain the value and availability of its products. The company can also go for extending the features of the bags by way of collecting feedback from the customers. It can make necessary modifications

Modern Architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Modern Architecture - Essay Example The essay "Modern Architecture" explores the modernism impact on architecture. A better understanding of what can be understood by the term modern architecture can be found by studying how the form function follows it. A vivid example was the World Trade Center in New York. In terms of its physical structure, Berman describes the towers as "isolated" in that the center was difficult to get to and difficult to use, "it gave off hostility" compared to Chrysler and the Empire State Buildings, which everyone saw as being in the middle of life and Part of the whole system. "Their idea of security included repelling people. The molded form of the towers and their isolation grew out of the aesthetic sound, best expressed by Le Corbusier, who said that for modern planning we need to "kill the streets". For him, the street was a mess and chaos. " In contrast, Battery Park City Complex was also designed by the Port Authority in much the same way as the World Trade Center, but was much more use r-friendly because it had parks, museums, restaurants and other amenities that invited people to come in. And Stay some time. Berman notes that the city is perceived as a melting pot with different cultures, people, ideas, practices and many other concepts. He also represents "an endless series of completely sterile and empty giant spaces around the world." We can conclude that Berman assumes that this equanimity, inherent in the structures of the World Trade Center, led to the fact that in 2001 the terrorists chose them as targets.

National Curriculum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

National Curriculum - Essay Example This paper approves that the patterns they describe are very characteristic of language maintenance and attrition among immigrant minority language groups worldwide, in English-dominant settings, when factors such as the degree of community integration/isolation, the nature of links between language and religion and the degree of contact with the country of origin are well documented as affecting language maintenance and transmission. This report makes a conclusion that the pupils generally saw little connection between their learning of the home language and formal foreign language learning in school. Just one pupil saw some positive connections between her earlier formal study of English as a foreign language in Iran and her present formal study of a European language, as this meant that formal grammar was not new to her. But as an effective learning method, this pupil personally advocated immersion rather than formal classes. One pupil commented that knowing several languages was a disadvantage, because she mixed them up; the others generally had little to say on the process of language learning, at most contrasting 'picking up' the language of the home with formal study. In the final instance of reported teacher interest, one modern foreign language teacher in School 3 was said to encourage her bilingual pupils, telling them that they should be confident about foreign language learning because of their earlier success. This was doubted however: 'you can't really; it's just the same as an English student you know, like knowing English, but having trouble with French'.

Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Review - Essay Example According to the Basel system, IB’s profited from the low capital weight conferred to them. This acted as a reflection of relation safety therefore making it economical for banks to offer credit as counterparties to IB’s. The role of regulatory oversight for investment banks aided maintain the cost of capital low while at the same time allowing more control. Forth coming strategies need to guarantee that equity and credit principles are not mixed up , and that the capital rules that apply to these risky businesses are targeted efficiently to them and the cost of leverage is sufficiently high to ensure their size and risk taking activities are appropriately contained (Blundell-Wignall, Atkinson & Lee 2008, p 5-6). At the conference, some maintained that this arrangement might still not evade main systemic hitches in the future. This was because banks in the monitoring boundary would continue enjoying counter party relations with IB’s and other high-risk firms outs ide the fence thus dragging them back to where they were before. The considerable risk opportunities that should be taken are not particular and so is the independence of the cost of capital. If banks are to enter into counter party relationship with the high risk firms it should be done with very clear guidelines in some cases up to full cover in order to protect the banks’ creditworthiness. ... As a result, fewer transactions would be up to the internal rate of return requirements, and control and general risk will be proportionately smaller and so would the size and way of the monetary sector on the economy. However, it was observed that now it is too late to turn the hand of time and as such, the existing strategy in the crisis necessarily should pool the weaker and stronger institutions (Blundell-Wignall, Atkinson & Lee 2008, p 10-11). Another tactic is to work with non- operating holding company structures (NOHC’s). It will split a financial company into its integral parts in which there exists distinct panels and stout firewalls among the subordinate parts. Capital laws can be designed to the riskiness of the actions of the companies, and in an occurrence of a crisis, any subsidiary making losses can easily be handled by administrators while not jeopardizing the whole corporation. To liquidate or sell a challenging IB securities trader can be done with much more ease. For instance, the IB can be a subordinate of the non-operating holding company structure (NOHC) other than an entity at the top most of the structure. In addition, the NOHC configuration is also much more transparent and in its case, it is less taxing to reduce intra-group contacts. It also offers clear and adaptable arrangement for scarcely defined, deposit-taking banking that is superior to having the bank at the top of the group or having the bank as the group itself as in the case of the universal banking in Europe. In other words, NOHC’s would be much more stress-free to regulate. The key general point to note is that high-risk financial undertakings need to pay the accurate market charges of capital without biases caused by the rule and bank structure interface. For example,

Critique of the Play The Servant of Two masters Essay

Critique of the Play The Servant of Two masters - Essay Example I knew him a little bit. Three years I lived in Turin. Knew his sister too. Dressed like a man, rode like a man†. Rasponi was betrothed to Clarice, Clarice only doing so out of duty to her father. This scene literally establishes that Rasponi is dead, in a way that is hard to fake (which makes later events a little strange) and also establishes a common theme of the play: That Beatrice looks like a man, dresses like a man, and acts like a man. Since Beatrice did this even before pretending to be a man, this not only helps the audience believe she is capable of it, but also tells us something about Beatrice's character. Afterwards, Truffaldino introduces himself, establishing several puns and word-plays in the process. â€Å"Poor guy... deaf as cheddar. My master is Signor Federigo Rasponi†. Truffaldino, once being told that Rasponi is dead, makes a quick exit: â€Å"Dead's dead, he's not cheese, he won't improve with age. Still, I should take a look myself†. Truff aldino is first introducing who is master is, then making clear that he has no business with these people if his master is dead. This humorous sequence not only sets up the shock of Beatrice introducing herself as Rasponi and therefore causing Clarice to be in a position to have to marry her but also serves to show that Truffaldino seems unaware of the whole situation.

The McDonald's Global Human Resource Strategy Term Paper

The McDonald's Global Human Resource Strategy - Term Paper Example There is a vigorous awards system for such things as putting customers first, years of service, or jobs done particularly well. These awards may include money, trips, plaques, and certificates and they are commemorated with much celebration and delight. The managers at McDonald’s always seem to be very relaxed and are most of the time indistinguishable from the other employees because they do not simply give orders to those under them, but they also accept feedback from them and are ready to get alternatives to their decisions. This, according to Kincheloe (2002), helps to show that although they have managers, the employee teams at McDonald’s are obviously in their later stages of development and are very comfortable outside their predefined roles, displaying high levels of motivation. The managers do not attempt to put any verbal barriers between themselves and their employees and they, instead, show genuine concern in the emotional and physical well being of their employees, something that is very rare in this type of environment. The McDonald’s restaurants have a culture that is generally inviting to new employees and these are motivated to work in these restaurants. This is because of the laid-back environment found within them and the fact that the jobs are not very stressful for the employees. Another reason why employees are motivated to continue working at McDonald’s are the different shift schedules, which the management formulates so that they can accommodate every employee. Since most of the jobs found in these restaurants are low skilled and any other employee can take over the other’s shift if they are not able to make it work due to a need to attend to other more pressing obligations.  

Litigation, mediation, arbitration response Essay

Litigation, mediation, arbitration response - Essay Example major advantages of litigation is that it empowers people to come forward to take legal actions against abusers even after several years of the real incident. When the term ‘abuse’ is taken in broader sense, it involves physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, verbal abuse, financial abuse, social abuse etc. In that context, many of these issues can be sensibly resolved through arbitration and mediation. Hoffman (2nd post) has logically pointed out the swiftness of arbitration in his post. Arbitration in many situations increases the scope of immediate conclusion and reasonable settlement as compared to other alternatives. Hoffman’s view on litigation seems right, for all that matter in litigation is ‘to win over the other’ rather than getting justice. Ferdinand (3rd post) has technical knowledge in all forms of dispute resolutions. Although people consider litigation as the final alternative of resolution, it does not mean that a party cannot later return to an arbitrator or mediator for settlement. 1. The major function of the agency in which I work is to help people resolve issues associated with rent arrears. Admittedly, the dispute resolution service is operational, and it often replaces the formal courts and tribunal hearings with mediation and arbitration. How efficiently and swiftly an issue is settled depends on numerous factors including but not limited to the complexity of the issue, its nature, time required for documentation, position of the parties concerned etc. However, the average time taken for arbitration is three or four months whereas cases that deemed to be more serious are often given priority. since ‘seeking possession’ (The legal way of getting a person evicted) involves several procedures like getting a court order, notice of possession, notice of eviction etc landlords tend to choose third party arbitration. Hence, with regard to rent arrears issues, arbitration has been found more effective way when compared

EGT1 †Economics and Global Business Applications Essay Example for Free

EGT1 – Economics and Global Business Applications Essay Elasticity of demand is a measure of responsiveness to a price change of a good or service. When demand is elastic, the percentage of a price change of a product will result in a larger percentage of quantity demanded (McConnell, p 77). It basically means reducing the price of a good service will result in a greater quantity demanded and an increase in revenue for the seller. When demand is inelastic, a change in price will result in a reduction of quantity demanded, which will then lead to a revenue decrease (McConnell, p 77). To demonstrate elastic and inelastic demand results, Company A sells 100 pens at $1.00 a piece each day, making their revenue $100.00. Company A then decides to sell their pens at $.50, which results in a total of 250 pens being sold. The total revenue from the price drop is $125, resulting in an additional $25.00; therefore the demand in this scenario is elastic. If selling the pens at the decreased price of $.50 would result in more pens being sold, but less total revenue, the demand is said to inelastic. According to McConnell, when demand in unit elastic, the percentage change in price and the resulting percentage changes in demand are the same. The change in price will not increase or decrease revenue. Cross price elasticity measures the response of demand to a change in price of another substitute or complimentary good (McConnell, p. 87). Substitute goods are goods that can be purchased in place of another good. Examples of substitute goods are soda (buying Coke vs. Pepsi), computers, and potato chips. A positive cross elasticity of demand means the increase of price in one good, for example Coca-Cola, will increase the demand of a substitute good, for example Pepsi. As the price for Coke increases, consumers are more likely to purchase Pepsi at a lower price, thereby increasing its demand. Complementary goods are items that are typically purchased in conjunction within one another. Examples are ringed binders and notebook paper, pencils and erasers, and potato chips and dip. A negative cross elasticity of demand in complementary goods means that the increase in price of one good, an example being potato chips, will decrease the demand for the complementary product that goes with it, the dip. Income elasticity measures the responsiveness of consumers to changes in their incomes (McConnell, p 88). Demand for normal goods tends to increase as consumers’ incomes increase and conversely, demand for inferior goods tends to decrease as consumers’ income increases. Demand is elastic where there is a large availability of substitutes. The reason for this as the price of a good increases, if there is a large amount of substitutes for this particular good, the consumer will choose the substitute. As discussed earlier, soda is an excellent example of this elasticity. Airline tickets are another example. As one airline raises its cost of a ticket or to even pay for a bag to be checked, a consumer will more likely choose a cheaper ticket or an airline that doesn’t charge for baggage over the original. If there is no (or a very limited) amount of substitutes for a good, elasticity is said to be negative. A price change in medication will not likely change the behavior of a consumer relative to demand since there isn’t a substitute to taking the medication. Household utilities are another example of a limited amount of substitutes. In discussing the proportion if one’s income devoted to a good concept, the household budget comes into play. In a given month, households pay for many different good and services. A change in price may or may not affect the households demand for those goods and services. Often, it is dependant on how much of the household budget is devoted to that good or service. Mobile phone service is an excellent example of a service that will most likely have a large amount of a household budget dedicated to it. A change in price in the cell phone service will most likely result in that family making a decision to change to a cheaper service, since that will have a large impact on their budget. On the other hand, that same household may purchase light bulbs each month. The amount of money dedicated to the purchase of light bulbs is so small, that a price increase will not likely affect the budget, therefore the family will not likely make a decision to change to a cheaper bulb. The concept of time when discussing demand is important. When a consumer has a large amount of time to decide on the purchase of a good or service, the elasticity is positive. Conversely, if there is little time, the elasticity is said to be negative. According to McConnell, and excellent example of this is gasoline for automobiles. Gasoline prices change daily and more often than not, prices rise. A family, who owns a car and is dependent on that car for work, etc, will not likely stop buying gas in the sort-term, because it is crucial to their everyday living. However, that family over a long period of time may decide to find alternate means of travel, decreasing their demand for gas. Using the graphs for elasticity of demand and total revenue, areas of elasticity, inelasticity and unit elasticity have been identified. Demand is elastic between the prices of $80.00 and $50.00, meaning the demand increases as the price decreases, resulting in an increase of total revenue. Between the prices of $50.00 and $40.00, the demand in unit elastic, meaning the percentage of drop in price resulted in the same percentage of increase in demand. Revenue remained unchanged in this price range. Between the prices of $40.00 and $0, the demand is inelastic, meaning the price drop has resulted in an increase in demand, but not enough to over come the decrease. Total revenue has been negatively impacted.

Enterprise Resource Planning System In The Hotel Industry

Enterprise Resource Planning System In The Hotel Industry With the increasing sophistication of hotel guests and patrons, the continual improvement of hospitality services towards the attainment of unparalleled excellence in the business remains the only edge the hotel has to sustain its position if not attain the leadership in the industry. By adopting the ISO 9001:2008 framework, the acculturation of a learning organization into the consciousness of each employee of the hotel shall provide the impetus to strive and be better in providing service to hotel guests and patrons. A Quality Management System or QMS will govern the conduct of each of the hotels front liners. The QMS shall also provide the parameters for quality service while performance monitoring of each of the processes shall be through the process key performance indicators. Any flaw or parameter that fails to satisfy the accepted threshold of the performance indicator shall be subject to a root cause analysis to determine a corrective or preventive solution. The QMS requires regular review to ensure that the organization remains focus and faithful to its objective. The hotel employees performance shall be subject to evaluation by using the key performance indicators root cause analysis. For QMS, the hotel guests or patrons feedback, comment or opinion is accorded greater weight as it will not only change how the hotel will conduct its business but it will equally show how the hotel value their guests and patrons point of view with regard to the hotels operation. Contents Executive Summary 2 Contents 3 Introduction 4 METHODOLOGY 5 THE HOTEL 5 Design 6 Supply 7 Planning 7 Shop-floor control 8 The environment 8 Technology 8 The Hotels CUSTOMER SERVICE 9 CUSTOMER SERVICE Challenges 11 Summary 12 Bibliography 13 Introduction Revenue in a Hotel business shall anchor on two factors, namely: (1.) level of occupancy or guest traffic that includes patrons to its facilities, and (2.) Efficiency and Quality of its services (Cornell University, 2010). Thus, among other industries in the world, the Hospitality industry remains dependent on the market pulse and good business sense. Good business sense refers to the operation strategy and business strategy that would result to operation efficiency and quality service. The marriage of technology and human ingenuity are very much apparent in the hotel industry by deploying an Enterprise Resource Planning system. As applied to the hotel industry, it would ensure excellent customer experience from their reservation up to their next visit. The deployment of a Customer Relationship Management System would ensure that all issues are addressed and monitored and shall similarly ensure that the business is properly guided on how to become customer centric. However, technology will not work on its own as its success will be dependent on the employees who use the system and those who will execute the work instructions recommended by the system. A framework that will capitalize on the strength of the employee enabled by technology shall be the onus of this paper. The sole purpose of which is to ensure the customer focused operation of the hotel while practicing processes that feed on continual improvements to manage the bottom line. Using these strategies, Leadership in the industry and profitability should not be far behind. METHODOLOGY The valuable discussions in Operation Management have been the inspiration by this writer to seek out more knowledge in pursuit of excellence. Thus, it led to the discovery that the concepts presented herein have been in existence for some time, and various authors not only wrote extensively on the subjects but they have exhaustively been part of its continual improvement so to speak. Capitalizing from the experiences of these management gurus and the erudite deliberation in Operations Management this author therefore recommend a more comprehensive examination of the Hotels Customer Service. Using the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System framework, this author shall discuss the merits and wisdom of its implementation in this paper in support of the Hotels operation and primordial goal. It is ideal to implement the quality management system in all the processes of the Hotel to ensure that there will be no gap that can dissuade if not prevent the Hotel from being the center for customer service excellence. The ISO 9000 Quality Management System have previously been regarded as applicable only to the manufacturing industry since it normally refers to the quality in the creation of a product. However, in ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System the word product can alternately refer to as service  [1]  . The hospitality industry has long been recognized a service-oriented industry (Ramaswamy). Its main product is unlike any other industry since its product is the service provided by the hotel employees. The quality metrics of hospitality service is equal to the amount of satisfaction of each customer multiplied by the number of customer over a period of time. THE HOTEL The hotel is a five star hotel that is highly profitable and popular privately owned located in the center of an international city with a high level of tourist traffic, particularly international tourists. It boasts of a two hundred fifty suites, two dining rooms, one of which offers a standard menu and seats three hundred people while the other seats only a hundred but it offers discriminating a la carte choices for an upscale market. The hotel also has two cocktail bars; one that is publicly accessible from the streets while the other is for hotel guests only however both are open to guests and non-guests alike. The hotel is home to three kitchens, with the two serving the two dining rooms while the third serves the three function rooms rented for parties, weddings, conferences and other similar events. The function rooms seat fifty, two hundred and one thousand, respectively while each function room can have their own bars if required. The hotel similarly provides other facilities that would include a swimming pool, gym, sauna and a car park with one hundred and fifty private bays. The hotel employs both permanent full-time and part-time contract workers. Each area has its own supervisor, with qualified and experienced managers overseeing the supervisors for the respective departments. As indicated, not only does the hotel enjoy a modest profit from its operation, it boasts of a decent amount of guest and patron traffic from its hotel and facilities operation. Design Designing a particular type of service impacts the hotels customers to enrich their stay or their hospitality experience is a practical application of this concept as described by Slacks and Johnston in 2004. To illustrate: the design process in the formulation of a process that will provide returning guests with discounted rates if they return during the off-peak or lean days will ensure occupancy during the lean months and expand marketing exposure. Supply Raw materials used as ingredients to hotel food are sensitive to spoilage and contamination thus it is important to manage its handling from delivery, storage and inventory. The release of the goods from storage should be strictly enforced and implemented through proper tagging and warehousing strategy. To illustrate; Meat products can last for a certain period through refrigeration but must also consider volatility and seasonality to its supply. The system predicting the usage of the hotel base on its routine consumption and the scheduled events shall either place an order or forego an order automatically and later implement First-in-first-out in the warehouse with the use of the inventory tag. Planning Planning within the context of the hospitality industry often relates to Business Planning. Case in point, the hospitality business is sensitive to the time of the year particularly its occupancy. From July to August is normally the time when air travel is at its busiest due to the summer vacation in the United States and some countries. Hotels outside the United States that are vacation destinations of Americans are at its busiest. However, during the lean months, when occupancy is at its lowest, hotel managers and administrators creativity are normally put to test. To illustrate a viable business strategy during the lean months is to pre-sell the room through discount cards. The concept is to sell discount cards at a price of one or two nights stay that will be availed only during the lean months. Modest discounts may be availed by cardholders including the facilities or services offered by the Hotel. The card shall expire within one year from its issuance to give the hotel the opportunity to sell continuously the unoccupied hotel rooms during the lean months. Shop-floor control Shop floor strategies include Job and shift Scheduling, housekeeping, Process improvement and increasing process efficiency in the context of providing quality service. ISO 9001:2008 has closed the gap between a tangible product and service that both demand quality. According to the system, the best way to ensure quality service is to identify focus areas, then to provide measurable targets that are congruent with the focus areas goals. The environment Some hotels realize their impact to the environment of the local community and as part of their strict adherence to their corporate conscience social responsibility often adopts a sound environmental management system. Not only would this comply with the international initiatives regarding environmental concerns but in practice, this will also respond well to its corporate social responsibility initiatives. Technology The use of technology to lower the cost of operation through the automation of processes and increase the security at the hotel is a strategy that does not normally provide a tangible and visible result overnight. To illustrate: Supply Chain Management as envisioned is a technology driven strategy that will ensure that raw materials used as ingredients for food do not spoil or do not get contaminated. The strategy requires inventory immediate tagging in each delivery. By providing secure keys to every guest, a hotel management system would be able to adjust the room temperature and the Air Handling Unit load depending on the rooms that have activated keys. Using the secure keys inserted in its slot will enable the system to determine the additional load needed for the air conditioning requirement instead of the Air Handling Unit continuously operating even without any guest inside is a waste of energy. The Hotels CUSTOMER SERVICE The hotels customer does not start becoming a customer when he finally pays the initial down payment for a room or service, he does not start becoming a customer at the instant he shows up at the hotels premises or orders his first drink from the bar. A guest or patron starts becoming a customer as soon as he says the first word to any of the hotels staff, telemarketer or even parking attendant or valet (Borsenik Stutts, 1997). Ergo, all aspects of the hotels operation almost concern itself with customer service. Customer service is not merely providing the hotels service to the guests or patron, it is making sure that the customer is satisfied and fulfilled in the usage of the facilities including their encounter with the hotels staff (Michelli, 2008). Therefore, all processes that will affect the customer directly or indirectly are customer service providing processes. To illustrate the reservation clerk represents the hotel as its first liner when the customer called in to reserve a room or book the one of the services of the hotel. A pleasant conversation would result to immediate booking and a not so pleasant conversation is the loss of a potential client. The interaction with the valets or the parking attendants may be the second encounter of the hotel with its customer. The next would be the door person, the front desk, the concierge, the room boy, the hotel cleaners and then floor security for hotel guests. While for those partaking and enjoying the services of the Hotel would be entertained from the door person by the receptionist and then the floor manager or the facilities attendant. The guests would then be interfacing next with the waiters if they were at the bar or restaurant, the lifeguard for the swimming pool and fitness instructor for the gym and sauna. To illustrate the indirect service providers in the Hotel that ensures not only the satisfaction of the guests or patron they themselves are responsible for the behind the scene hospitality experience. These would include the kitchen staff that would include the chef and those responsible for preparing the food. The engineer that ensures the temperature of the pool and the gym is optimal or the safety engineer monitoring the safety levels at the sauna, the hallway and lobby temperature. The indirect service providers also include the cashiers that provide the correct change and charges, the security guards that ensures the safety of the guests and the surrounding. This also includes the janitorial staff that ensures the health of the guests by making the immediate surrounding garbage or dirt free. The processes that govern the operation and performance of the customer interaction of the services provided as described shall be the focus of the Quality Management System framework of ISO 9001:2008 (International Organization for Standardization, 2008). Aligning with the Vision, Mission, Values and Strategy of the Hotel the Quality Management System framework will allow the Hotel to define its own Quality Mission Statement that states the personality of the hotel. Each of the processes followed or implemented by the process owners as described above that interacts with the Hotels guests, patrons or customers, in general, shall be covered by the Quality Mission Statement. Juxtapose with the Quality Missions Statement aligned processes, Key Result Areas will be developed will remain the targets of the processes. The Key Result Areas should be customer centric and should work towards the attainment of the best hospitality experience of the guests or patrons as provisioned by the Hotel. In order to measure the success of the process owners in achieving their key result areas, metrics in the form of key performance indicators for each process are to be developed. To illustrate: The valet service is often neglected by most Hotels but its importance and the opportunity it presents to save the Hotels image from the customers bad experience from the services of the hotel is precious being the last process the customer has to go through before leaving the hotel. The possible key result area for the valet services could be the immediate return of the guests vehicle to him. The key performance indicators could be the amount of time it will take the valet to retrieve the car and return it to the owner. The idea would be the shorter the amount of time it takes to retrieve the car the more satisfied the customer would be. CUSTOMER SERVICE Challenges Cultural Sensitivities The primary challenge in any customer service is the differences in the personality or origins of the guests. Cultural sensitivities often create friction between the service provider and the customer. To illustrate: in the west shaking the head from side to side often means no, however in some culture particularly the Indian culture it means yes. Gender and Other Sensitivities At times, being chivalrous is being sexist while being helpful to people with disabilities is being offensive. A balance and clear criteria are should be studied depending on the area where the Hotel is located so as not to compromise quality service with sensitivities. Summary The hospitality industry has evolved from an industry that only provided board and lodging to transient travelers in the previous century to an actual destination that offers a myriad of services to weary travelers and to vacation and relaxation seekers. The Quality Management System as enabled by technology should provide the edge to the hotel in terms of managing its bottom line from the business perspective while also providing the framework in determining the best way to service its guests and patrons. The Quality Management System therefore will equally define the customer centric culture of the hotel geared towards providing the best, if not one of the best hotel experience to its guests. The continual improvement concept of the Quality Management System will engender excellence in the very fiber of the hotels staff. The key performance indicators shall provide the metrics to gauge the efficacy of the process including the performance of its employees. The root cause analysis as well as the development of the corrective and preventive solution is essential to the concept. One of the virtues of ISO 9001-2008 Quality Management System is that it would let the hotel develop its own Quality Management framework as derived from the hotels unique culture. The hotel shall not only reflect its personality but it shall be the driving force towards excellence in customer service. The commitment to customer service as driven by the Quality Management System shall therefore be personal not only for the organization, but also for the individual employees.

Canadian Businesses and Technology Essay -- Economy

Canadian Businesses and Technology Technological changes today, and in the near future, will be the greatest influence on Business as we know it. With the development of computers and robots, the requirements for many industries will fill up extremely quickly. By having machines to perform complex and monotonous operations by humans, industries will seek out their aid and most likely affect the emplyoment rate both ways. There is no question that many individuals will lose their jobs but at the same time new options will arise. An example would be the development of the Telstat Telecommunications satellite which opened the door for many unemployed citizens who possessed the key ingredient to hold down such a job. This ingredient would be based upon Toffler's thesis that information is the most valuable aspect our lives and that wealth is insignificant compared to the rewards of knowledge. There is an abudance of positions available to Canadians that cannot be completed by computers (at least, for the time being) and therefore, our standard of living and qualit...

NSync Essay -- essays research papers

The pop-R&B group, *NSYNC is taking the world by storm. Males and females alike appreciate *NSYNC’s great talent. With their individuality, music and dancing, and good looks, they seem to captivate and impress not only the teenage generation but older generations as well. The group was named *NSYNC after group member, Justin Timberlake’s mother, Lynn, realized that the last letter of each of the members’ names made up the word *NSYNC. It is easy to distinguish one member of *NSYNC from another. Group member Justin Timberlake is nineteen years old and is from Memphis, Tennessee. People recognize him by his good looks, and curly (and sometimes frizzy) blond-brown hair. Chris Kirkpatrick is the oldest member (also the shortest and has the highest voice) at age twenty-eight. He comes from Clarion, Pennsylvania. Joseph Anthony Fatone (Joey) is twenty-three and from Brooklyn, New York. He is easily recognized by his striking red hair and Brooklyn accent. James Lance (Lansten) Bass is twenty and from Mississippi. He has the lowest voice. Last but not least is Joshua Scott Chasez (JC) from Washington D.C, age twenty-three. JC has been dubbed, "Mr. Serious† by his group-mates. Formed in 1995, *NSYNC prides themselves on their â€Å"five-part-harmony† style singing, a cappella singing, performing, and precision dancing. A â€Å"five-part harmony† is a vocal arrangement made up of five parts. In *NSYNC’s case, soprano (Chr...

A lesson Before Dying :: essays research papers

Sentenced to death for a crime he may or may not have committed, a young black man named Jefferson now struggles to find the meaning of life. With the help of Grant Wiggins, a man who is unsure of his own worth, perhaps he can succeed in doing so in the story A Lesson Before Dying. It is the exciting tale of two men’s quest to find peace in life as well as in death. It is during this journey, however, that an underlying question arises on how man-kind has faith in religion and a god they can not see. It is believed that, because there are so many uncertainties in life, man had to conceive something greater than himself to believe in. It is likely that religion may be this something. These theological ideas were simply a way to suppress the fears that man has in his insignificance in the universe. It seems that society has been inventing explanations for the mysteries of life since the beginning of time. Survival often requires that an individual be able to react to change. Ideally, the subject should be able to reason and then logically react to change. It seems simple enough, but thinking things out often has its drawbacks. These drawbacks are usually from a lack of time and information available from which to base a conclusion from. Thus, Man developed emotions to provide a mechanism to work around the limitations of reasoning. These reactions are simply a reflection of man’s inner emotions. Emotions help living things to adapt to its environment. The better suited a creature is to adapt, the longer it will live. Hence there is definitely an advantage for survival that emotions offer. Human emotion, however, is the downfall of man. Although it allows him to have feelings, it defeats the rational thought process. When rational thinking has ceased to exist, society gets thrown into disarray. It is as if man fails to see the truth simply because he does not want to see it. Thi s could be where the need for a higher presence first began. Man may have created religion only as an adaptation for survival. The existence of religion may be due to man’s psychological need to understand the world around him. When man seeks out answers to questions but is incapable of finding them, he gets frightened. This fear weakens human qualities and causes distortion between the individual and reality.

Red Bull Marketing/Segementation/Pricing Essay

You are asked to address the following questions: 1. Who are the principal target segments for Red Bull and how are they positioned towards these target segments? 2. Analyse the Red Bull brand using any frameworks you judge appropriate. 3. Comment upon Red Bull’s pricing approach 4. Evaluate Red Bull’s distribution channel strategy 5. Would you describe Red Bull as a national, a European or a global brand – give reasons? 6, What marketing strategy would you recommend that Red Bull should adopt over the next 5 years? Who are the principal target segments for Red Bull and how are they positioned towards these target segments? Red Bull has an aggressive international marketing campaign that targets young males. These customers are often similar in their tastes for extreme sports, either as spectators or participators. Its numerous sponsored activities range from extreme sports like mountain biking, BMX, motocross, windsurfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, kayaking, wakeboarding, cliff-diving, surfing, skating, freestyle motocross, rally, Formula 1 racing, and breakdancing to art shows, music, and video games. It is this range of activities that enable the brand to be relevant to a huge collective of audiences across the globe. These target consumers use Red Bull to replenish energy levels. The high caffeine content of the energy drink is the key influence behind the target segments for Red Bull. The ‘Anti-establishment, premium end, positioning is aimed at capturing brand loyalty from young, Generation Y males, or students aged 16+ who feel the need to re-energise. The need for caffeine is associated with being active, whether physically: nightclubbing, playing sports or mentally: working long hours, driving or studying. Positioning Red Bull is positioned towards two major market segments at present: The Primary Market Red Bull is marketed at students, via student ‘Brand Managers’ in on-campus buzz marketing promotions, at drivers in petrol stations, as a premium priced mixer in nightclubs and at gyms. Red Bull’s demographic is moving from the Generation Y population to include a more mature market demographic. The Secondary Market More recently, people up to the age of 44 are feeling a ‘maintained sense of time pressure’ (Mintel 2011) and are drinking Red Bull to navigate the challenges of modern living. Red Bull has aligned its marketing approach to appeal to a wider consumer base than the primary ‘Gen Y’ market segment, with alignment to more traditional, mainstream sports such as Formula One motor racing, motorcross and World Rally Championship (WRC) car racing. Red Bull Media The Red Bull Media House operates an online â€Å"consumer platform†. The content of the platform, TV Station, global magazine and mobile operator service is all positioned at the ‘active lifestyle’ market. The exhilarating content: documentaries, films and even music, is a key cornerstone to the brand’s positioning to its target segments. Red Bull positions itself as an aspirational lifestyle brand: athletic, challenge-driven and, to the Gen Y market, youth culture, spirited and dangerous. Red Bull media programming also pursues potential business partners who may have similar target audiences. 2. Analyse the Red Bull brand using any frameworks you judge appropriate. Red Bull has managed to successfully position its brand as the leader in a market that did not exist before (Blue Ocean strategy – we need a value innovation curve). By establishing the brand itself as the â€Å"anti-brand† and building a strong relationship with an audience of consumers crowd that did not want to be told what to do, Red Bull has developed a relationship with its consumers by listened to this audience helping them to shape their  personality and fulfill their interests (Self concept attachment)., This gave the Red Bull brand giving the brand a high level of loyalty and helped it to and leveraging its brand equity. [Perhaps delete, covered later, here more disussion on Value Innovation] There are many reasons why Red Bull has become such a successful brand, consumed by many and known by all. Firstly, Red Bull has developed a very strong brand recognition, from its unique and memorable name, its instantly recognizable can, to the logo, which consists of bold graphics. Its slogan ‘Red Bull gives you wings’ has been reinforced with consumers by repetition, consistently making it instantly recognizable by all. Red Bull segmented the market and positioned the brand very effectively, with its controversial and anti-establishment status. Red bull is not viewed as being just a product, it is a â€Å"Way of Life† which is associated with energy, extreme sports and danger, very appealing to its core audience. Even though Red Bull has been followed and copied several times by similar products, due to its consistent and unique communications strategy Red Bull has managed to stay â€Å"fresh and relevant† (how?) and still maintain a leading position in a very crowded market. (how?) Red Bull’s unique and extremely well coordinated marketing repertoire is without a doubt one of the key factors for its success. Red Bull’s strategy to target its audience with non-traditional ads, made the brand more believable for its â€Å"No brands† followers. For a brand such as Red Bull, marketing communications are deemed to be so important that 35% of its turnover goes to communications and events. Through this manner of communication, Red Bull avoids traditional media channels by making the product readily available – through this strategy, consumers are attracted to the brand, giving them a sense of freedom and choice which further adds to the credibility of the brand. People talk, and if the topic is hot and controversial, even more. Red Bull is aware of this and heavily relies on â€Å"the word of mouth†. Since the very  beginning the brand has had bad press mentioning the danger of consuming this product and the fact that Taurine (a component in Red Bull) was extracted from the genitals of bulls, giving the product â€Å"aphrodisiac† attributes (this was also posted on Red Bull’s website). The buzz this created, and the fact that the product was not easy to find, gave the Red Bull brand its original mystique that still remains today. Strategy (work in to this question) 3. Comment upon Red Bull’s pricing approach Red Bull’s pricing approach is to set the price at a high level. The pricing given in the article ranges from â‚ ¬2-â‚ ¬6 depending on the point of purchase (either retail or in a bar/night club). Red Bull are not alone in charging a higher price for their product, the majority of producers in the energy drinks sector also charge a premium. This is shown in the in the table below where the price of energy drinks is compared to a close substitute, carbonated soft drinks: (Mintel, 2011) Since 2004 the consumers have paid an average premium (per litre) for energy drinks of 66.29%. They are willing to pay this premium as they perceive that energy drinks provide unique benefits (i.e. an energy boost) when compared to substitutes. â€Å"While energy/sports drinks charge a premium compared to non-functional fizzy drinks (ie Coca-Cola) this has not harmed sales, even though the majority of UK consumers do think they are expensive for what they are. Nevertheless, consumers have shown that they are prepared to pay a premium for a product which provides such a tangible benefit†.(Forsyth, 2011) Setting the pricing at a high level also leads the consumer to make price quality inferences about Red Bull. The consumer associates the high price with a high level of quality. In doing this Red Bull are making their product a â€Å"premium product†. In defining a premium product Penny Coase refers to the use of this pricing strategy: â€Å"A premium brand will always command a higher price, often significantly more than that charged by mainstream brands within the product category. However, there are typically ‘tiers’ of price and of premium;† (Coase, 2010) The benefit that premiumization (through pricing) provides to Red Bull is that it leads them to higher margins and away from competing through providing discounts. Whilst the price of Red Bull is high in comparison to substitutes it is still affordable as the cost makes up a small portion of an individual’s disposable income. This approach to pricing means that Red Bull falls in to the â€Å"masstige† (Silverstein & Fiske, 2003) category, where they can access the mass market whilst still retaining an image of quality: â€Å"These goods occupy a sweet spot between Mass and class. While commanding a premium over conventional products, they are priced well below super premium or old- luxury goods† (Silverstein & Fiske, 2003) Red Bull sold 4.631 billion cans of drink in 2011 (Red Bull, 2012) which shows that even at a higher price than it’s substitutes their pricing strategy generates significant volume of sales. Following the theory that: Profit =Price Ãâ€"Volume –Costs Red Bull will be able to generate a high level of profit as they charge a high price whilst achieving significant sales whilst producing a product at relatively low costs. Finally Red Bull were one of the first entrants into the caffeinated energy drinks market (prior to this energy drinks were based on Glucose content) and this has allowed them to set the level of pricing that they want within the market. As the product life cycle approaches maturity and Red Bull’s competitive advantage decreases they will be able to partake in â€Å" Price Skimming†, whereby they reduce the price of the good to a lower level and attract a new group of consumers who were more price sensitive to the original pricing: (witiger.com) Red Bull Q4: Evaluate Red Bull’s distribution channel strategy Red Bull was an ‘anti-brand’ that was targeting the young ‘in-crowd’. Young at this time meant Generation Y who had no brand loyalty and were suspicious of being ‘marketed to’. This called for a fresh distribution strategy to support the brand positioning. One of the hardest business strategies to effect is to break into a profitable industry dominated by established brands. Virgin Cola struggled to make an impact in the US when it was launched in the late 1990’s due to the stranglehold that Coke held over shelf space. However around the same time Red Bull launched using a radically different distribution strategy. Channel Implementation In order to both promote Red Bull as an anti-brand whilst by-passing the lock that established soft drinks manufacturers held on the distribution and retail network in most markets, the company adopted a novel two-pronged approach. Firstly it developed a ‘street marketing strategy’ in which the â€Å"Wings Team† (generally comprising attractive female students in a customised Mini with a giant Red Bull can on the back) would distribute free samples to those thought in need of energy. This would typically be in public spaces where the young and cool hang out; this might include public squares, beaches, parks, ski resorts, or skating parks. This would be an opportunity to introduce the product, talk about its properties and convey consumer feedback. Secondly it would target a select number of venues – generally trendy bars or nightclubs that were again deemed to be the places where the cool people hang out. Here DJs, bar tenders and other opinion leaders would be approached. Empty cans would be left on tables and even in bins outside. In the early period other venues that asked to sell Red Bull would be turned away, re-enforcing its select image and supporting the price premium that was charged. The company moved on to establish â€Å"student brand managers† on university campuses. These would throw parties at which Red Bull would be distributed.  The brand would become better known amongst the target audience and very cheap market research would be reported back at very low cost. Through this unconventional ‘youth underground’ the viral message spread. As its popularity grew (aided by the ‘invention of the Vodka Red Bull’) it was able to dictate terms to bars that stocked its cans. This included minimum pricing to maintain exclusivity and the requirement that bar tenders fill a glass and present the customer with the rest of the can – thus creating high brand visibility in the bar. The same energy effects that made it popular with clubbers also drew a following amongst long distance truckers. Its availability in late night gas stations and even vending machines added to its edgy image whilst channelling sales to new markets. Outcomes Red Bull has succeeded in breaking into the soft drinks market by effectively establishing a niche through bypassing conventional distribution channels. Its positioning as an exclusive (and elusive) product meant it was well placed to be carried on a wave of buzz marketing into the mainstream. Red Bull has become a mass-market drink and is found across a wider range of supermarkets and licensed premises. This presented the risk that it would lose its exclusivity as the cool crowd grew up and moved on, leaving it as one of a number of similar commoditized products that would be vulnerable to price competition. However potential brand risks such as it being banned in Denmark and France and being restricted to medical use in Japan and Norway actually ensured the edgy image endured. Hence thus far its brand strategy has enabled it to maintain the power in its relationship with sellers, and is hence able to dictate terms in a way that has supported the brand positioning so far. 5. Would you describe Red Bull as a national, a European or a global brand – give reasons? Red Bull can be considered a global brand both in terms of its near-global customer base and its extensive marketing campaigns. Red Bull does this by carefully targeting a huge collective of niche audiences across the globe, which cumulatively comprise its total share of the energy drinks market. This managing of the brand globally allows Red Bull to achieve economies of scale, particularly for product and promotion, and give it greater communications control and consistency in how it reaches target audiences, often through a global brand message. There are, of course, exceptions and these will be addressed in the closing paragraphs. Red Bull has an aggressive international marketing campaign that targets young males. These customers are often similar in their tastes for extreme sports, either as spectators or participators. Its numerous sponsored activities range from extreme sports like mountain biking, BMX, motocross, windsurfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, kayaking, wakeboarding, cliff-diving, surfing, skating, freestyle motocross, rally, Formula 1 racing, and breakdancing to art shows, music, and video games. It is this range of activities that enable the brand to be relevant to a huge collective of audiences across the globe. At the end of 2011, Red Bull reported employment of 8,294 people in 164 countries. In the same year, Red Bull achieved worldwide sales of 4.631 billion cans. This scale has been achieved through its positioning as a global brand, notably on the basis of product and promotion. With few exceptions the company manages a highly focused brand effort. On a product level, the company maintains the ‘Red Bull’ brand name and ensures consistent product ingredients across its markets. Its beverage brand extensions are also consistent i.e. ‘Red Bull Sugarfree’ or ‘Red Bull Energy Shot’. This is further reinforced by universally recognised packaging and company merchandising, which are also consistent. On a promotional level, the company deploys steady messaging that is always on-brand in terms of look and feel. The bold contrast of its red lettering against a navy and silver background is recognisable across the globe. Its  advertising slogan, ‘Red Bull gives you wings’, is also adopted as is in most markets without the usual translation pitfalls. The exception to this is in Malaysia, where the company instead deploys a single one-word slogan, Bullleh!, a word play on the Malay word Boleh (lit: Can be done) and the word Bull. Furthermore, Red Bull is sold world over in a tall and slim blue-silver can, except in Thailand where it is sold in a wider gold can with the name of Krating Daeng. It is these examples of exception to Global promotion, that highlight the entry challenges to more challenging markets. A key example is China, where Red Bull may need to revise its global marketing strategy to break into this valuable market where there are significant differences in consumer culture, needs and usage patterns. As the previous example of Thailand illustrated, Red Bull may need to diversify its marketing strategy and seek alternative ways of reaching Chinese youth culture. This experience tallies with many Western brands who have tried unsuccessfully to break into Asian markets, particularly China. The challenge Red Bull must face in trying to enter China is whether to adapt or to continue to standardise its marketing strategy to date. And, if it choses to adapt its strategy, would this in turn impact its brand positioning in its domestic market? (A recent example of this is Google’s decision to temporarily suspend its worldwide operating values as it currently does in China.) Furthermore, despite the company’s employees being based across 161 countries, most of its major decisions are still made either at Red Bull’s headquarters in Fuschl, an Austrian village, or at Hangar-7, a few minutes outside Salzburg. This is true even of decisions relating to Red Bull Media House, its brand extension media company. This corporate structure could work to hamper local, or glocal marketing agility. However, as Apple has demonstrated in recent years, it is possible for a company to export its vision of the world to far flung markets across the world. 6. – What Marketing strategy would you recommend that Red Bull should adopt over the next five years? : In researching this paper, many sources expressed concern that Red Bull may  already be reaching its greatest success in a maturing engergy drinks market. However, research indicates the opposite. The energy drinks market is expected to grow organically by 33% until the year 2015 (Datamonitor, 2011). So, a more important challenge for Red Bull over the next five years is how it might grow its share of this market. Our research leads us to conclude that Red Bull has already begun positioning itself favourably in order to capitalise on a growing market opportunity in two ways. Firstly, its should continue to its successful founding practice of aggregating niche markets globally. The popularity and growing range of exptreme sports will continue to form a core part of Red Bulls’ progressive audience, which in turn helps convert into a broad customer base. Secondly, Red Bull is at the forefront of marketing practices that are overhaulling existing models of demand generation. In the case of Red Bull, the company is doing this via its recently launched Red Bull Media House. Above all, Red Bull Media House enables it to tap into its audiences increased media consumption at a global scale. This is a shrewd move by Red Bull as it also enables it to create further advertising and partnership revenues as a secondary source of profit. The move into media communications could help Red Bull deepen its penetration in hard to convert markets, such as Asia. From a brand perspective this is clearly desirable as it reduces the requirement to create alternative brands. Moreover, by controling media messaging it may also extend its reach to other chosen demographics. These two features of Red Bull’s marketing strategy should enable it to capture this growth in the Energy drinks sector. However, as the success of Red Bull Media House reveals, there are more radical ways in which Red Bull might pursue its next five years. Product Possibly the most radical area Red Bull could chose to innovate in would be a subtle but significant brand extention to its core product Red Bull energy drink. It could tap into another adjucent category, health drinks, by focussing its attension on additional healthy ingredients like guarana and vitamins. This brand extension, Red Bull Health, would extent its extreme sports image into one that is moreover health conscious. Further products like branded energy bars, decaffinated Red Bull for kids, and Red Bull water would fit into this new market extension. A subtle repositioning such as this would also enable Red Bull to consider entering the fitness services market, such as gyms. A Red Bull gym would deliver a wider customer base, while enabling it to be creative with the range of supported activities. Promotion Red Bull Media House is the communications platform that will enable its customers to be always on in communicating with the brand. If a wider market share strategy is adopted, via gyms for instance, Red Bull might do well to consider a new slogan for its brand. As challenging as this may be, brands like Coke have shown that this is possible and even necessary to stay relevant in changing times. Here, Red Bull might chose to review its ‘give you wings’ slogan by finding a tag that positions it as an active lifestyle brand. Place By capturing more mainstream market share through Red Bull gyms and its Media House, Red Bull may reach markets previously difficult to open, such as China. It could opt to launch Red Bull gyms first, thereby positioning it firmly as a lifestyle brand. A launch of its health drink variants could follow. Distribution of Red Bull could also be deepened by use of vending machines in places complemenatry to active lifestyles. Price As the market continues to grow, Red Bull can continue to maintain its price premium. In conclusion, the evolution of Red Bull as brand will most certainly come from brand extensions which are based upon broader product offerings. As the success of Red Bull to date indicates, its forward-thinking marketing has created an enormously valuable brand that is very likely set to continue its global success. There is no doubt that Red Bull created a new market, but with so many competitors using the same marketing approach and targeting the same consumers, there is a strong possibility for endless generic similar products to flood the market and effectively question the authority of Red Bull. Constant change in the market, consumers behavior and high volume of direct competitors continuously launching new products poses a significant risk to Red Bull. A primary threat is those with marketing strategies which  establish the brand as being ‘small, unique and rebellious’. Even though these brands are positioning themselves very well, capturing the attention of the â€Å"anti-brand† crowd, Red Bull remains the leader in this market. We believe that Red bull should be bold and confident and aim for a bigger marketing strategy, while still adopting a NON-traditional approach,(guerilla campaigns, experiential, etc). Red Bull cannot deny its size, it should embrace its position by leveraging its brand equity. It is possible to apply a mass marketing approach. without alienating consumers. For example, Virgin a big company doing mass communication has managed to build a mass marketing campaign without losing its individualist spirit, brand vision and rebellious soul. By adopting a mass marketing strategy, Red Bull may lose some of its original consumers however, it will gain a new set which appeal to a broader audience. If Red Bull does not advance its marketing campaign in the face of increased competition, other brands are likely to gain market share, if they bring something new to the table (e.g. new trends or more relevant image), and Red Bull faces the potential risk of appearing ‘dated’. Red Bull should be loyal to its original attitude and proposition, but be bold, in the face of a changing business context by going big, even bigger than the actual hangar!

Union and Intersection

Primary Task Response: Write at least 3 paragraphs that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas. Part I: Describe how the notion of union and intersection apply to retrieving records in databases. Give an example of 2 sets that might appear in a database to help in your description. A prominent couple is found murdered in their mansion located in an affluent neighborhood. The housekeeper found the bodies and called the police.The housekeeper tells the detectives that quite a few valuables are missing from the house: artwork, electronics, jewelry, cash etc. In the initial stages of the investigation the detectives cannot decide whether this was a robbery gone wrong or a murder the perpetrator tried to disguise into a robbery. Not wanting to miss any potential leads the police compiles a joint list of suspects: every suspect on this list is either a known robber or a known killer (or both). For the first set R={x| x has a robbery rap sheet} they access the Theft/Robbery Division database.For the second set M={y |y has a murder in his criminal record} they access the Homicide Division database. It is not uncommon that different divisions within the same police department maintain different databases. Although state and national databases do exist they are usually slow moving and most often than not they generate unmanageably long lists of suspects. The advantage of a local database consists in a much easier access and output which is oftentimes much more relevant to the investigation – in 99% of the cases the crime is perpetrated by a local suspect.Thus the initial set of suspects S is the union of R and M: S=R? M. Suppose however that S has too many suspects. Given the personnel shortage it is not feasible to investigate every name which appears in S. the police needs to find a way to narrow down this list. After re-interviewing the neighbors, it turns ou t that one of them witnessed a suspicious green Chevy van idling on a street corner close to the murdered couple’s house. The van was in a rough shape which made it unlikely to be owned by one of the local residents.The detectives have now a clue that helps them narrow down their list of suspects. They access the DMV database to extract the list of drivers who own an older model green Chevy van. In other words they retrieve the set C= { z | z owns a green Chevy van}. The investigators then compare their list of suspects S , to the names listed in C, looking for common entries. In other words they are interested in the set of prime suspects P, where P is the intersection between S and C: P=S? C. Part II :Discuss the notion of the logical â€Å"or† and the logical â€Å"and† in computer programming (coding) or flowcharts.Why is it important to know how to apply these correctly? The traditional scope of computer science was the automation of numerical operations. B ut since reasoning can be seen as a kind of computation, in principle it can be automated as well. Computers represent information using bits. A bit is a symbol with two possible values, zero and one. The word bit comes from binary digit, because zeros and ones are the digits used in binary representations of numbers Computer bit operations correspond to the logical connectives.Information is represented using bit strings, which are lists of zeros and ones. Operations on the bit strings can be used to manipulate this information. At a very basic level, the binary string approach accompanied by the operations that can be performed with these strings via the logical connectives constitute our way of translating the problem in a form the computer can â€Å"understand†. Eventually, the computer is the perfect executant so it will end up doing exactly what we told him to do – which is not always the same with what we intended to have him do.The difference between 0 and 1 ma y not seem large; however, in absolute terms is as large as the difference between true and false, or the difference between black and white. The use of 0’s and 1’s is a matter of convenience if anything else; alternatively we can work with â€Å"dinks† and â€Å"dunks† with exactly the same (logical) result. A quick example is most likely going to drive this point home. One of the places where logical connectives are used most frequently are the internet search engines. Suppose however that by a silly programming mistake a certain search engine XYZ. om reads â€Å"or† instead of â€Å"and† and vice-versa. Suppose your instructor recommended an article written by Jones and Smith on the topic of logical connectives. The instructor could not remember the authors’ first names nor the exact title of the paper but he suggested that a quick search on XYZ. com should help you locate the paper in no time. Needless to say if your search query â€Å"Jones† AND â€Å"Smith† AND â€Å"Logical† AND â€Å"connectives† is interpreted as â€Å"Jones† OR â€Å"Smith† OR â€Å"Logical† OR â€Å"connectives† the chances of locating the paper are just as great as the chances of finding thr needle in the haystack.

Adolph Hitler’s Leadership Ethics Essay

About 18 months ago, the Council of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa (ASSAf) appointed a Study Panel of eminent scientists to examine and collate the most relevant and reliable evidence on the influences of nutrition on human immunity, particularly in respect of HIV infection and active tuberculosis in South Africa. The decision to focus on this topic was sparked by the prevailing debates and public uncertainty in South Africa regarding the role of nutrition and nutritional supplements such as vitamins and minerals in the management of HIV infection. The Study Panel report released a few weeks ago under the title ‘HIV/AIDS, TB and Nutrition’ observes that South Africa is currently in the throes of three distinct epidemics – malnutrition, HIV infection and TB. The prevalence of each is sufficiently high that the same communities may be affected by all three epidemics in a purely mathematical overlap, but there is also prima facie evidence from observational studies that the three epidemics are in fact often linked in a synergistic relationship in which they mutually reinforce and facilitate one another. The report provides up-to-date and in-depth epidemiological summaries of each. This editorial will however largely concern itself with nutrition and HIV infection. Why nutrition is important for the immune system The body defends itself against microbial invasion by activating its quite complex immune system, and mobilising what the report dubs the ‘flamethrowers’ or respiratory burst whose central role is the intracellular killing of pathogenic organisms by oxidation or ‘burning’. This in turn relies on the availability of energy stored in energy-yielding fuels such as carbohydrates and fats to fuel the ‘respiratory burst’. Largely for this reason, the resting energy expenditure in HIV-infected individuals is increased by at least 10% compared with noninfected persons. This critical chain of complex defensive mechanisms (involving regulatory hormones, neuropeptides, cytokines and neurotransmitters) is obviously undermined if the infected person is not kept supplied with adequate energyladen macronutrients such as carbohydrates and fats. Micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) are equally important as part of the nutritional landscape for the optimal functioning of the immune system. For example, the vitamin B complex – thiamine, riboflavin and niacin – has a critical role in the Krebs cycle via which the required energy is generated. However, oxidants are indiscriminate warriors that will attack and destroy both invader and host cells alike. For this reason, there is a need for ‘fire extinguishers’, and micronutrients fulfil the parallel and important role of serving as antioxidants whose function is to limit and contain the destructive effects of oxidants on the host cells. HIV infection and nutrition HIV infection is associated with weight loss and wasting, both of which are independent contributors to poor clinical outcome. The reasons for the weight loss and wasting are multifactorial, and include the increased resting energy expenditure, food scarcity, and decreased absorption of ingested food due to gastrointestinal disease or viral disruption of the intestinal mucosa. Although a 10% or greater loss of body weight over a year is not uncommon in HIV, there is in fact a high degree of variability in the extent of weight loss and wasting which, not infrequently, is causally associated with secondary infection. Whole-body protein turnover may be as high as 25% in untreated HIV sufferers, leading to cachexia. Also, as already mentioned, resting energy expenditure is increased by 10% in HIV-infected people. It would therefore appear to stand to reason that nutritional intervention in people with HIV infection will improve survival and/or quality of life, but hard evidence to this effect is woefully lacking. Very few randomised, placebo-controlled trials have been conducted in this regard. There is preliminary evidence, however, that specific dietary supplements such as amino acid mixtures increase body weight and reduce HIV viral load. Supplementation with medium-chain triglycerides reduces HIV-associated intestinal dysfunction and fat malabsorption. And ready-to-use therapeutic food improves nutritional status in severely malnourished children. Micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) are essential to immune function, and deficiencies may therefore act as cofactors in HIV transmission and progression. Micronutrient deficiencies are common in HIV-infected people. Multivitamin supplementation has been shown in observational studies to result in a 40 – 48% slower progression to AIDS and a 40 – 60% reduction in the risk of death after 8 years of follow-up. But here again, there is an unhappy lack of sufficiently powered randomised controlled trials to confirm these benefits. The World Health Organization, the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society and the Department of Health have all published guidelines for nutrition in HIV/AIDS that have been collated in the ASSAf report. But the report also identifies gaps in our knowledge regarding HIV and nutrition, and recommends areas and topics that ought to be prioritised for research. Daniel J Ncayiyana Editor ‘HIV/AIDS, TB and Nutrition’ – ASSAf Report SOUTH AFRICAN MEDICAL JOURNAL – FIRST PUBLISHED JANUARY 1884 October 2007, Vol. 97, No. 10 SAMJ 893

Budgets in higher education Essay

In higher education institutions, best budgeting practices involves the use of proper and excellent coordination of master plan which establishes all the priorities which have to be undertaken in the institution. This ensures that all the higher education institutions attend to their respective economic and educational goals. The institutions need to have in place excellent and sufficient infrastructure. In depth periodic facilities audits should be done so as to ensure that the facilities are well and adequate. There should be creation of baseline data for the institution so as to enhance planning procedure. The institutions’ operation budget should have an allocation of repair and renewal. All the needs of the institution should be allocated with the funds available. There is use of rational decision making process which enhances the effective means of budgeting (Caruthers & Orwig, 1979). Question two A grand university must always have good connections with the outside world through a well thought out and effective public relations policy. These much regarded connections go along way, albeit directly and indirectly, in building and maintaining the university’s image as well as being a resource in terms of being an avenue where funds and grants can be applied for. Many are instances when a university requires finances, out of its budget allocations, to carry out research studies, seminars, fairs, cultural activities and many other intermittent activities. With these three avenues serving the same purpose, there is a possibility that in their course of operations, they might approach a similar source, knowingly or unknowingly, and end up putting the image of the university at stake. The following are alternatives can be useful in harmonizing their activities (Knapp & Siegel, 2009). Firstly, the three bodies can be streamlined such that their activities are well synchronized and effective without necessarily clashing. For example, the finance operation could be liaising with the university’s accounting department to source for funds and oversee their use. The alumni organization can be only handling the monies from the alma mater as well as working with them closely with the objective of raising money courtesy of them. While the foundation offices could be dealing with the corporate world with a view of seeking funds from them. Secondly, all the three bodies can be revamped and made into a single entity and even given a new name. With such an action, all the activities that are currently being carried out by the three bodies can be combined. This will eradicate the possibility of a clash of their mandates given the fact that they will all be under a single supervision. References Caruthers, J. K. & Orwig, M. D. (1979). Budgeting in higher education. American Association for Higher Education Knapp, J. & Siegel, D. J. (2009). The Business of Higher Education: Management of Fiscal Strategies. New York: ABC-CLIO

Electronic Medical Data Storage Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

Electronic Medical Data Storage - Research Paper Example A medical record is a comprehensive report that lists all the data that is created or acquired during a person’s course through a healthcare facility. It records details of any treatment plans of present or past, medical reports, tests, diseases, illnesses, medical checkups, etc. that a person has had in his life. Apart from the obvious purpose of documenting a person’s medical history or care record for emergency situations, a person’s medical record is also important for certain legal and financial information. It is also used in quality improvement and research processes. So, medical records are used for informing others, recalling observations, instructing students, gaining knowledge, monitoring performance, and for justifying interventions (Reiser, 1991). A person must possess his/her medical record at all times. Medical Records Schemes The medical records stored in healthcare organizations are either paper-based or computer-based (digital format). Since information in medical records has to be shared amongst the professionals forming the healthcare team, the researchers, legal or financial firms, medical records must be in a format that can easily be accessed, transferred, recorded, updated and consulted. Paper-based records have the obvious accessibility limitations and tend to be less organized as they are maintained in files and folders. They require storage spaces. The information in these records is usually incomplete. They may only comprise of the basic medical information, e.g. blood group type, current medicinal treatment or physical disease, etc. or data till a recent date. Carrying them everywhere is not feasible e.g. for military personnel or across borders. The terminologies used (abbreviations, etc.) may not be standardized and the handwriting may not be credible. Additionally, paper-based records have a constant threat of being ruined in case natural calamities like floods, fire, etc. Electronic medical records (EMR) help bridge this information storage, availability, access and retrieval gap in paper-based records by digitizing all the information. As EMR is computer based, information can reach the medical staff even before the patient reaches the healthcare center, re cords have backup copies in case of fire, flood, etc. A large acute care hospital was struck by a tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, in late May 2011. But as the hospital had fully incorporated an elec ­tronic records system, patients’ records were accessible without any delay (â€Å"Status of Electric†, 2011). Medical record constitutes the entire medical history of a person. Data is more organized as it consolidated from various points of cares. The record automatically updates in case of healthcare prescriptions and visits. Despite the technological advancements and advantages of EMR, majority of healthcare organizations around the world still maintain and operate on paper-based medical records. The quality of patient safety and care is without doubt compromised. One reason for this reluctance in transitioning is the substantial initial conversions costs (software, hardware, and technical staff) from paper-based medical records to EMR. However, due to the ever-inc reasing use of Internet and the electronic

Media Scan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Media Scan - Assignment Example Survival can improve if the patient receives early supportive care with symptomatic treatment and rehydration. Although the world lacks a licensed treatment for the virus, scientists are developing a range of immunological, blood and drug therapies to help combat the virus. Ebola- an Ongoing Crisis, is an article that explores the recent outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in Guinea in March 2014. Although the world thought that the virus outbreak would soon be over, it increased over the summer and spread widely to other countries around such as Nigeria, DRC, and Senegal. The outbreak led to more identified cases and deaths than all previous Ebola outbreaks combined. It adversely affected commerce, transport, and daily healthcare. The world was in fear due to the virus outbreak since it does not respect the social status and borders. Health organizations strived to collaborate in efforts of combating the disease, such as allowing vaccine trials to proceed. The reader will be aware that although it is difficult to eradicate Ebola virus outbreaks completely, tracing and isolation of contacts of patients with Ebola virus will enhance curbing of Ebola cases. NIH researchers report promising results in prevention and treatment of Ebola virus disease. (2015).  NIH MedlinePlus,  9(4), 28. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine/issues/winter15/articles/winter15pg28.html Sajdik, M. (2015, February 5). Prevent the Next Ebola Pandemic By Investing in Better Health Care Systems - US News [Web log post]. Retrieved from

Reflection paper on a movie Life is beautiful by Roberto Benigni Essay

Reflection paper on a movie Life is beautiful by Roberto Benigni - Essay Example The setting of the story means that the writing was undertaking a World War II tragicomedy to exemplify some of the very acts of society in those times that he found worth addressing through the medium of filmmaking. On the whole, the film may be seen as being written in what may be seen as roughness of composition because the writer devised a strategy to ensure that the rather horrific theme of war and national agony is presented in a much comic format. In this reflection, a person opinion on the value of the film is presented. There is also an attempt to critic the film with an aim of giving personal opinion as to whether or not I liked the movie. To make the reflection coherent and well organized, specific aspects of the movie shall be selected for analysis including style of writing, themes and value of the film. Critique of Style of Presentation The style of presentation used by Roberto Benigni can generally be regarded as juvenile, freestyle and down to earth. This is because t here were no uses of complex technicalities that require audience and viewers to crack a puzzle while watching the movie. In general tense, the movie was presented in a manner that was easy to understand. A number of strategies were used to achieve this simplicity in presentation. The first was the fact that the writer avoided the use of complex storyline but focused on a direct story revolving around the characters of Guido and Dora and the romantic love that brewed between them. Another strategy that was seen from the style of presentation that made it very simplistic was the fact that the story was clearly divided into two parts of plot sections. This is because in the first hour of the film, the viewer is given much on the romance relationship between Guido and Dora but in the second hour, there is a twist in the plot as much of the sad moments of the setting were introduced. The filmmaker could have easily interrelated these two parts of the film but it would clearly have made it difficult to understand. Reflection on Movie Theme The movie touches on a theme that is directly resounded in its title and that is the theme of life’s beauty. As much as possible, the filmmaker emphasized on the theme of human conviction and the power that the human being has to make life of great worth for himself regardless of undeserving situations and circumstances that they may be confronted with. This theme was empowered around the tragic aspect of the movie, which was the genocide that took place at the time of the Nazi reign in Germany. Not even going into the specifics of the genocide, it can be said that the filmmaker had a mentality of justifying the power of the human conviction above some of the events and situations that were are faced in life with, of which we describe as agonizing and horrifying. This is because as events in the World War II put the rather beautiful relationship revolving around Dora, Dora’s mother, Guildo, Eliseo and Joshua apart, Guido was perceived as having much power in his personal motivation towards life, not to be depressed by events of the war. There is also a theme on human survival in the very moments of times that only the fittest can survive. This is because at the camp, Guildo saw the wisdom in keeping the true situation of the situation between himself and Dora from his son so as to protect their safety. Value of the Film The movie gives a value of hope for the future and the need for mankind to see

Organization of IT and information systems (Amazon company) Essay

Organization of IT and information systems (Amazon company) - Essay Example Computers, servers, and data management systems are some of the key components of an IT department. These components perform various complex functions related to management of information. IT department of a company plays a critical role in the success of the company in the 21st century. Today, there is hardly any company or organization, which does not make use of information technology for managing data and information in an organized way. Amazon is one of the leading global internet companies of the world. It is a platform for the sale of different kinds of products such as books, toys, furniture, and music CDs. Amazon holds the pride of being the largest retailer of America. Amazon Company was launched online by Jeff Bezos in 1995. Amazon S3 and Amazon EC2 are those products, which have contributed significantly to the success of the company. Farmer (2008) asserts, â€Å"Their core competency is their ability to develop and leverage their technology stack, including SimpleDB, EC2, and S3, towards making retail ultra-efficient†. Amazon Company has many competitors who are trying to snatch the market domination from Amazon but none of the competing companies has been successful in the purpose yet. Some of the major competitors of Amazon include Elastra, eMusic, and Alice.com. It is due to the implementation of an effective and efficient management information system that the company has achieved market dominati on in a very short span of time leaving behind all of its competitors. At present, Amazon is recognized as one of the largest online shopping companies of the world. In the later part of this report, we will discuss those factors that are driving use of the information system in the company. We will also analyze the impact of information system on the company in terms of benefits and limitations. Let us first get to know what management information system actually is in order to get a