Renting and Price

Corey Allen BA504 February 19,2013 Abstract In 1997, Netflix became the first online movie by mail Rental Company. Hastings and Randolph co-founded the company. By 1999, they had come up with a $19. 99 per month price plan for customer to rent as many movies that they wanted with no late fees. In 2011, Netflix shocked their customers with their new price plan by splitting the streamlining of movies to one price and DVD by mail with another price. With the change, Netflix lost one million customers. Pertinent facts in the caseThe pertinent facts in this case study are that in 1997, Reed Hastings and Marc Randalph co-founded Netflix. Hastings was upset due to late fee’s he received when he went to return movies that he had rented six weeks earlier. At first, when Hastings came up with the idea, VHS tapes were used for rental, so the cost to ship VHS tapes was too expensive. Then one of Hastings friends advised him of the new DVD technology. With the new DVD technology, Hastings packages the DVD’s in a single envelope and shipped it to himself to see if the DVD would be damaged.When he received the DVD and found that it was undamaged, he began to create mail-order movie rental business. When Netflix first started, the price to rent a movie was $4 with a $2 shipping fee. With this new service, customers were able to have movies mailed to them, but they had to be back by a certain date or they would be charged late fees. In 1999, Netflix launched a new subscription service, which gave their customers unlimited rentals for a monthly fee of $15. 95 per month. With the subscription, subscribers were able to rent four movies per month.Within a year, Netflix improved the unlimited movies subscription plan and changed the price to $19. 99 per month. With the new plan, customers were able to rent as many movies as they desire and they could keep them as long as they wanted, but they could only keep four movies at a time. By 2007, Netflix had him a major miles tone by hitting one billion movie rental deliveries. That same year, Netflix introduced streamlining of movies directly to either the customer’s home computer. By 2008, customers were able to stream movies through their game consoles.With customers now able to stream movies directly to their computer or game consoles, Netflix came out with a price plan of $9. 99 per month for streamlining and DVD rental by mail. What is the situation? In 2011, Netflix announced that they would be separating the streamlining of videos and DVD by mail into two subscription prices. The price for streamlining would be $7. 99 per month and DVD by mail would be $7. 99 per month, so if you wanted to both stream movies and rent movies by mail, you would have to pay two different subscription fees.Netflix also announced that the movie by mail service would be run through qwikster. com. With the price increase of 60% and the announcement of the new website, Netflix lost one million subscribers, taking there subscription total of 25 million, down to 24 million subscribers. Along with the loss of subscribers, Netflix’s stock price dropped from a value of $298 to $169, which is a 40% loss in value. Who is involved? Reed Hastings was who was involved with the price change and he released a statement on September 18, 2011 stating that he had messed up with the way the price change took place.He went on to try and explain why the price change took place. What are the pertinent issues? The pertinent issues are that when Netflix announced the price change, they made the change fast and did not give their subscriber a chance to decide what they wanted to do. Basically Netflix announced the price change and made the change. By not giving their subscribers a chance to think about the new price change, they just went with it. By doing this, Netflix lost one million subscribers. These price changes not only affected the subscribers, it also affected their stock price.If Netflix would h ave gave more of a notice and the reasoning behind the price change, maybe they would not have lost as many subscribers. Recommendations for Netflix The actions that I would recommend for Netflix to recover from a marketing misdirection are that they should have eased into the new price plan or offer a promotional price to their current subscriber. For example, Netflix could have announced the new price plan and at the same time with the new price plan, they could have given their current customer a free trial so that they had the option of either paying the $7. 99 for either the stream lining or the DVD by mail.By allowing their customers the free trial, Netflix would be showing their customers that they appreciate their business, but they needed to make the price change to fit all customers need. I believe the theory break from reality for Netflix hit hard when they lost so many subscribers. With the price change and loss in subscribers, it opened the doors for Amazon to retain so me of the Netflix subscribers. How the arrived to their decision? Netflix arrived to the decision to split the membership in two when they realized that even with the streamlining of movies; customers were still renting movies by mail.Netflix also realized that not all there subscriber were taking advantage of the streamlining and the subscribers were only renting movies by mail. So by splitting the subscription into two price plans, customers had the choice of streamlining, renting by mail, or both. Conclusion I think the price change was necessary for Netflix, but I think they approached it the wrong way. I was one of the million subscribers who canceled their subscription due to the price change. But even with that said, after about two year, I’m now back with Netflix and I’m subscribing to the streamlining of videos.

Leadership Style Essay

Effective leadership is contingent on matching a leader’s style to a setting that fits (Northouse, 2007). According to Fiedler’s Contingency Theory, leadership styles are operationalized primarily on two ends of a spectrum, they are characterized as task motivated, or relationship motivated (Northouse, 2007). I believe in the adage that practice makes perfect. In this paper, I will look into an alternative way for leaders to lead when they find themselves situated in an unfavorable situation. In the case of leadership; an administrator, manager, or supervisor should use a reflective mindful praxis to improve their ability to make decisions that will achieve optimal outcomes from the organizations they lead in all situations, especially unfavorable ones. Fiedler’s research demonstrates, in essence, if you don’t fit the team mold, you are unfit to lead the team. The contingency model asserts that leadership styles can be gauged by the Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) scale. This model posits leadership styles on a spectrum ranging from task motivated, low LPC, or relationship motivated, high LPC. The contingency aspect ties the leadership styles to situational variables of the organization. The situational variables include leader-member relations, task structure and positional power (Northouse, 2007). Leader-member relations are characterized as good or poor depending on feelings found in the group atmosphere, relationships and trust. Although there is no scale for the task structure, the situational variable in the model, there is a clear definition of the term. The variable is operationalized by high structure and low structure. Position power is characterized by the authority a leader has to deliver the proverbial carrot or the stick, i. e. rewards and punishments (Northouse, 2007). Fiedler has an understanding of why leaders in the wrong setting are ineffective (Northouse, 2007). The correlation between the leader’s LPC score and the group or organization’s performance depended (or was contingent) on the degree to which the leadership situation was â€Å"favorable†(Fiedler, 1995). A leader in an uncomfortable and unfitting situation experiences stress and anxiety (Northouse, 2007). A leader under stress is likely to exhibit inappropriate behaviors and revert to less mature ways of coping that were learned in early development (Northouse, 2007). The leader’s less appropriate behaviors and decisions result in negative work outcomes (Northouse, 2007). This may be true in most situations; however, with our proposed alternative model, the M Model (M2), leaders can be taught how to transform their leadership style so that it transforms poor situations into good situations with successful outcomes. Hackman and Wagemann (2007) believe it is essential that we understand how to help leaders learn. Leaders can become even more effective if they are able to learn from their experience, both successes and failures without assigning cause to something or someone out of their control (Hackman and Wagemann, 2007). The M2 posits a leader learning strategy grounded in metacognition and mindfulness. Cognitive psychologists use the term metacognition to describe our ability to assess our own skills, knowledge, or learning (Lang, 2012). Chew describes metacognition as a person’s awareness of his or her own level of knowledge and thought processes (Lang, 2012). As stated by Kruger and Dunning, â€Å"those with limited knowledge in a domain suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach mistaken conclusions and make regrettable errors, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it† (Krugger, Dunning, 1999). The M2 way is to practice metacognition as it relates to leadership skills and behaviors. M2 practitioners develop a practical understanding of their leadership abilities in various settings and they use their metacognitive awareness to improve their leadership skills in various situations. The other half of the M2 way is for the leader to be fully aware of their actions and the likely outcomes. This strategy is met by improving one’s mindfulness. Put simply, mindfulness practice is being aware of what is, what is happening now in the present moment (Bing, 2012). Goldman (2010) uses a definition of mindfulness from Rinchen in 2001. Rinchen’s definition of mindfulness situated in the leadership context is: â€Å"ridding ourselves of negative mental states and fostering and developing constructive ones† (Goldman, 2010). Mindfulness has shown to be effective in improving one’s performance in stressful situations (Kabat-Zinn, 1990). Therefore, the M2 strategy is to teach the leader to be aware of their actions in the moment and this is accomplished vis a vis a practice of mindfulness. We postulate this mindful awareness will allow the M2 leader to make better choices in whatever situation they find themselves in. The keystone of the M Model (M2) is reflective leadership praxis. Praxis is the practice of an art or craft, such as leading (Bing Dictionary, 2012). Through reflection leaders analyze various leadership concepts, evaluate their experiences, and develop their personal leadership theory (Astin, 2000). Reflection provides leaders with the opportunity to examine and question and develop beliefs and values. It involves observation, questioning, and putting facts, ideas, and experiences together to construct new meaning and wisdom (UNK). Yukl (2008) finds that effective leaders are flexible and adaptive. We expect the M2 method combining metacognition, mindfulness and reflective practice will develop effective leaders. The proper place to begin is often at the beginning. The M2 solution posits that the leader must not only know themselves, but also their organization. With that knowledge of themselves and their organization applied to the contingency theory we can propose a solution to Fiedler’s catch 22 that a leader in a poor situation is doomed. The M2 solution begins at the point when a leader finds herself in a poor situation. The M2 leader knows her strengths, LPC score and other relevant situational and organizational information. She is taught to assess the organization thoroughly based on the situational variables. The assessment leads to the realization she is in the wrong situation and with M2 skills this discovery is made sooner than later. Knowing she is in the wrong situation the leader can take action to alleviate the stress that, Fiedler suggested, leads to poor decision making. Upon realizing she is in the poor and stressed situation the M2 leader will apply her reflective leadership practices for optimal outcomes. This is a set of practices that include development of the weekly or daily habit of reflecting upon actions taken and the results of those actions. The reflection will include a commitment to ongoing and summative written reflection and regular discussion with their M2 coach (Mabry, 1998). This reflection will lead the M2 leader to be more aware of her actions in the moment. This awareness will allow for a clearer understanding of a predictable result. Awareness in the moment will allow the M2 leader to choose a more appropriate action for the situation. This fits with the situational approached developed by Hersey and Blanchard. The premise of situational leadership is that an effective leader will be flexible and adapt to the situation (Northouse, 2007). The M2 hypothesizes that reflective praxis and mindful action will lead to improved organizational outcomes. Although Fiedler’s contingency theory has not always been collaborated by other research, it works. Our preliminary analysis predicts that the reflective leadership praxis of M2 will enhance the skills of the leader that finds herself in a favorable or unfavorable situation. The M2 practitioner in an unfavorable situation will not suffer the consequences of stress related poor decision-making. The M2 practitioner will be able to make choices that result in optimal outcomes not only for the organization but also for the people she leads.

The Human Mind: Id .vs. Ego and Superego (Lord of the Flies

Isaac Lee 9Ak Essay Lord of the Flies The human mind: Id . vs. Ego and Superego Lord of the flies was written by William Golding. It is about a group of boys who crash-landed on the island. They are to survive and as the novel progresses, the boys’ imaginations takes them to hallucinating about a ‘beast’ being on the island. The ‘beast’ is a representation of fear and leads to the power struggle between Ralph and Jack with Simon standing by the side. William Golding uses the power struggle as a representation of the human mind, how the Id, the savage, basic instinct of our mind is always there and the reason for civilization (e. social interaction and rules and the consequences. ) The power struggle represents the human mind. The three main characters are the representation of the three parts of the mind, focusing on the Id, which is always there floating in the back of ones mind. The human mind is split into three different parts, the Id, the Ego and the Superego as thought by an austrian neurologist – Sigmund Freud. The Id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual trends, basically, the hunger for everything we desire.Freud thought that the Id was driven by the ‘libido’ – the energy from life’s instinct and the will to survive, it gives the feeling to desire. The ego is the organized realistic part of your mind, it satisfies the Id by controlling it through any means to divert, transform or converting the powerful force of Id to useful and realistic modes of satisfaction that can be done in reality and suppresses the need for everything. The superego is your conscience, it judges the right and wrong, it seeks perfection that is beyond the limits of reality, even beyond the ego.Overall, the ego is always negotiating with the id, trying to prevent it from over whelming itself while the superego watches over, jumps in when it thinks that it Lee, p. 2 can have a moral decision about the situation. I n the Lord of the Flies, Jack represents the id. He has an unquenchable thirst to kill and to thrive e. g. ‘He tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up. ’ (P70) The impulse in him to murder was eating him. In the story. As he progresses, he begins to show signs of savagery. In the eginning, they all had one opinion but that changed radically as the ‘beast’ showed up. When Jack heard about the beast, the first thing he wanted to do was to hunt the beast. As you could say, that the beast was a flame that sparked of Jack’s Id, after that, he left the tribe and formed his own, a manifestation for power. As Jack does in the book, the Id springs out, takes over control of our mind and takes advantage of our fear of the beast. Shortly after that, they began to worship and offering the head of what they kill to the beast.As the Id was driven by the ‘libido’, Jack was driven by hunting. Then, the beast†™s form was a motif, a repeatedly occurring idea, or thing, which upon repetition derives it’s meaning in relationship to the theme. The first time that the beast appeared, nobody really believed in the beast. In page 34, a child tells Ralph through Piggy ‘He wants to know what you are going to do about the beast thing. ’(P48). After that, they laughed it off, as if it wasn’t real. But after a while, in chapter , they begin to doubt whether the beast is real or not, when samneric saw a ‘shape’ on the hill.The result – They were absolutely terrified about the ‘beast’. Ralph represents the Ego in the Lord of the Flies since he has always been struggling with Jack in power and strength. A key moment in the book of the power struggle is when Jack leaves the tribe ‘â€Å"I’m going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Lee, p. 3 This shows that J ack is far apart from the other people and only cares about himself. This shows that Jack is power hungry and only cares about himself. This symbolizes that the Ego is trying to control the Id.As the ego, it is also trying to divert the power of the Id to realistic methods as stated before, when Jack raised that question of hunting for food everyday and so, Ralph decided that Jack could hunt, but not every hour so they can keep the fire going. Therefore, Ralph represents the Ego. Simon represents the superego in the Lord of the Flies. When Simon heard about the beast, he didn’t cower away, afraid of the beast, he did the opposite. The only person who does not believe that there is a beast is Simon. Simon later discovers that the physical ‘shape’ is actually a man in a parachute being dragged up the hill by the wind.He then goes to untangle the figure, even though it is foul and rotten away. We can see this in this quote: Simon knelt on all fours and was sick till his stomach was empty. Then he took the lines in his hands; he freed them from the rocks and the ? gure from the wind’s indignity. He saves the figure even though it is not obligatory, he saves it out of his own goodness and will, he does this not for the greater good, but only because just because it is unfair for a corpse that has to be strung up like that. Therefore, Simon represents the superego in the Lord of the Flies. The ‘beast’ in the book is a manifestation of fear.This paragraph will focus on how our fear or Id is always part of us, in the back of our minds, unconsciously. Mentioned in the previous paragraphs, it shows that the mind is split into three different parts, the id, the ego and the superego. The id eats away at us, when there is a trigger to set us off. The person who really became an ‘id’ was Jack, by the end of the book he was a dehumanized animal. The trigger for Jack was the the ‘beast’ itself. When they saw th e physical form of the beast, which was just a man on a parachute, they were Lee, p. 4 absolutely terrified, they ran away from it as fast as they could.Something interesting to point out was as Ralph was running down the mountain, it also said that: ‘Ralph found himself taking giant strides among the ashes, heard other creatures crying out and leaping and dared the impossible on the dark slope; presently the mountain was deserted, save for the tree abandoned sticks and the thing that bowed. (p135)’ Notice how here that it describes the other boys as ‘other creatures’ but not boys. They are descending into the darkness of primitive humans. At first, they were putting on face paint and just laughing it off, but then it gets very serious as shown through this quote: The face of red and white and black, swung through the air and jigged towards Bill. Bill started up laughing; then suddenly he fell silent and blundered away through the bushes. Jack rushed toward s the twins. â€Å"The rest are making a line. Come on! † â€Å"But-† â€Å"-We-† â€Å"Come on! I’ll creep up and stab-† The mask compelled them. ’ (P66 ) Notice that Jack said that they are making a line and they will creep up and stab them. This reflects on the final scene how the hunt for Ralph is just like this scene, it is providing foreshadowing for later. They stab to satisfy their own need to hunt.A great example for this is from Simon’s death to Piggy’s death and finally to the hunting of Jack. At the death of Simon, we can tell that it was an accident and it was ambiguous whether it was intentional or unintentional, they were all driven to fear with the surroundings. Then came Piggy’s death. Ralph and Piggy came to Jack’s fort for peaceful means to ask for Piggy’s glasses back. But then, they got into an argument and came teeth to teeth fighting. Roger observed from above and as it says: ‘H igh overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever. ’(p200 – 201) and then,Lee, p. 5 ‘The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, travelled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. The rock bounded twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across that square, red rock in the sea. ’(P200-201) This shows that Roger, under the influence of Jack, did this cruel act of violence on purpose, killing Piggy just like that. But the most inhumane act they did was to hunt and kill Ralph.The reason? Hunting is an act of mainly gaining something like meat and such while here, they are hunting Ralph just for pleasure and to add on to that, hunting is usually to hunt animals, but here they are hunting a human. In addition, here is a n extraction from the hunting of Ralph. ‘The ululation spread from shore to shore. The savage knelt down by the edge of the thicket, and there were lights flickering in the forest behind him. ’ (Page 221) The hunting of Ralph takes place throughout the island. The boys are no longer being described as boys in this quote, as stated that ‘The savage knelt’ (P221).The children have truly become uncivilized barbarians, hunting each other as if it was just a game of fun. An interesting point in the book is when Simon is talking to the imaginary ‘Lord of the flies’. It holds something very sinister. ‘You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are? ’ (P158) The Lord of the Flies is always part of us. This supports how it is fear itself that is haunting these boys, they descend into darkness with out civilization. The head speaks to Simon i n an ominous way, with ‘Why things are what they are? ’, suggesting that we created it ourselves.Lee, p. 6 The important of civilization and how, without it we would become savages is a wide topic. The main focus of civilization in this book is fire. Symbolically, the fire represent the will to be civilized; the absence of the fire represent the loss of civilization. The fire in this book is a symbol for civilization because they keep it going to signal a ship, in the end, they just give up on keeping the fire going for two reasons, one, Samneric saw the ‘beast’ on the hill, which made them terrified, second, there was not enough people once most of the people from Ralph’s tribe went over to join Jack’s tribe.Piggy states that ‘â€Å"That’s where they’ve gone. Jack’s party. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢(P188) They lose the will to live. Jack’s ideal of a good life on the island is to hunt and kill nothing else while Ralphà ¢â‚¬â„¢s ideal is to sustain the smoke from a fire so a ship will see it and come rescue them. A detail to point out is also that Piggy says on P37 ‘I bet it’s gone tea-time’ This brings back what they were doing back at home – a routine. Here in the jungle, they have just recently crashed and have no organization whatsoever, by saying this, Piggy is bringing back the children to what they would have done if they were back in civilization.Another reason for civilization and social interactions is that we would go insane if it were not that we had someone to talk to. For example, when Simon was traversing to the sow’s head that Jack’s tribe had killed and offered to the imaginary ‘beast', this character the ‘Lord of the flies’ pops up in Simon’s unconsciousness, he starts to hallucinate. ‘Simon shook. â€Å"There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I'm the Beast. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. When we are alone, th ings like this start to happen. ‘The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away’ (P98).Another example of the group descending into civilization is when Jack meant to kill Ralph: ‘Vicious, with full intention, he hurled his spar at Ralph. ’ (P201) We don’t kill a fellow human being that easily and when we do it is with reason, but here, Jack throws it at Ralph, with intention but without reason. The murderous hate has consumed Ralph. He is uncivilized and barbaric. In conclusion, Lord of the Flies is a book where the power struggle between Ralph and Jack, but with Simon as the overview figure, is a representation of the human personality, with Simon andLee, p. 7 Ralph trying to contain Jack just as in the mind how the Ego and Superego try to contain the Id, how the Id is always in the back of mind and without civilization we would descend into becoming savages. But the children, as previously mentioned, were only around ten to twe lve years old and children as the symbol of innocence but yet they consider and commit such inhumane acts, does it not mean that we are all savages at the bottom of our heart too?

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 14

History - Essay Example Fundamentally, in the 20th century Russia was an exceedingly subjugated country managed by the Czars. Ruled by feudal tenets of dictatorship, the citizens’ of Russia were terribly oppressed, cold, poor, and starving, in addition they had no authentic course or hope. In essence, Russia had never undergone any open-minded revolutions, which were occurring in other parts of the globe. This made Russia remain as one of the real last remnants of the medieval European-American society. The rebels through acts of rebellion, revolutionist, and terrorism overthrew the Czars government. To start with, the Bolsheviks and Lenin were outside Russia when the revolution took place. Some of them were Russians while others were not Russians. They were socialists and Marxists revolutionaries existing in Europe studying sociology, science, economics, history, and many more from a Marxist viewpoint. The Bolsheviks did not necessitate the removal from power of the Russian government, after the coup, they came in with the intention of putting Marxist hypothesis and ideology to practice. Their major plan was to develop Russia into a social state through social revolution and spread their ideologies to Europe, America and eventually the whole world (Wiesner-Hanks & Wheeler 2007, 67). This portrays a major difference between the French revolution and the Russian revolution. Foreigners played a major role in the Russian revolution while only the French participated in the French revolution. Eventually, the Bolsheviks managed to overthrow the residual powers of Czars authoritarianism in October revolution. They began reforms through establishing legislative assemblies called the Soviets. The same way the French came up with representative units called the constituencies. These soviets consisted of openly elected officials who were in charge of the affaires of the citizens including peasants, soldiers, and workers. To add to that, they

The Proposal Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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Creating Your Own Start-up Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Creating Your Own Start-up Business - Assignment Example In the very beginning the business would be limited to importing homemade ups namely bed covers, curtains, pillow covers, quilts, towels and the like. The market for such goods in the United States is not only large but rather diverse because consumers from all buying strata are present in the market. Moreover the market’s large size means that imported textile products have a low chance of getting stuck up in warehouses because there are not enough right kinds of buyers (Arthur and Sheffrin). Another advantage in starting such a business could be local contacts in the South East Asian region who could supervise the manufacturing and supply efforts. 2. Business Structure Preferably the business would have a centralized buying office in the United States close to a major port which would help in dealing with incoming supplies and custom clearance for imported goods. Moreover the business would possess overseas buying offices in the South East Asian region typically located in I ndia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan (Haider). Given the restriction of funds initially the business would have only one overseas office in India to supervise the manufacturing and supply efforts. Within the United States the business would have a CEO supervising local distribution along with a small staffing. The overseas offices would have no more than two employees to oversee the entire manufacturing to ensure quality and to report delays in a timely fashion. 3. Relevance of Skill Set and Background Being a business major background would help me to focus on business areas that matter most for example I would prefer to spend money initially on surveys and questionnaires to determine market demand rather than importing blindly. Also my credentials with finance would allow me to keep a close watch over the budget to see if the business might overrun its estimated targets. Such an effort is all the more critical initially because squandering money in the beginning would be easy and would leave the business high and dry. Similarly my background in business studies would allow me to market my products more effectively as I would try to hit target market segments only instead of trying to subdue the entire market. Another major advantage that would allow me to develop this business more effectively is a contact in India who is already involved in shipping textile goods to the United States. My contact in India would be able to help me with his expertise in supervising manufacturing one on one and would also be able to ensure quality at the very first step in the supply chain. 4. Offered Services As mentioned before the business would initially offer homemade up textiles only but later as the business expands it will include garments and apparel as well. For the initial homemade ups market the business would provide a large variety of designs and styles that have been manufactured and packaged outside the United States. When the goods have been imported to the United States they will be distributed throughout the nation by the business using a complete supply chain mechanism that ensures adequate stock levels at all times. Overall the business would be offering a comprehensive supply chain mechanism for textile goods (Joshi). 5. Target Markets In order to start the business the market segments that would be most desirable to deal with are the lower and middle spending tier segments. Though there is rampant competition in either market segment but the

Management Skills in Adult Nursing Essay (4000 word reflection is to

Management Skills in Adult Nursing (4000 word reflection is to enable to develop a deeper, critical understanding of the development of knowledge and skill in Management) - Essay Example In order to improve my practice, I will reflect on this incident, and address issues of effective discharge planning, communication, and handover. The themes I will consider for this topic would follow the various questions raised by Johns’ reflective model. This model is meant to be implemented by sharing with fellow practitioners or with a mentor, which then transforms the learning to a faster pace. Johns’ model emphasizes the value of experienced knowledge as well as the power of the practitioner to access and implement information which has been secured via empirical processes (Grech, 2004). More specific themes on discharge planning, communication, and handover shall be incorporated into the text. The critical and analytical aspects of this discussion shall flow from the reflective process, with an evaluation of the specific actions based on standards of the practice (Callara, 2008). The scenario under evaluation involves the discharge of Patient X, a 65 year old male patient who recently underwent hip hemiarthroplasty surgery. During the discharge planning process, there were several orders which I was not sure how to implement. One of the discharge orders indicated that I needed to refer the patient to the rehabilitation ward for physiotherapy and occupational therapy, and that I needed to refer the patient to a physiotherapist and an occupational therapist, and arrange future schedules for therapy. Discharge orders also indicated that I needed to recommend an appropriate health and diet plan for the patient. Health and diet plans for elderly patients, especially those who have recently suffered hip fractures must be established because these elderly patients are prone to possible re-injury (Beaupre, et.al., 2005). Beaupre, et.al., (2005) discussed that the hip fracture would likely limit the mobility or elderly

The Dynamics of Business Ethics Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Dynamics of Business Ethics - Article Example The fine was imposed by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and is considered as one of the largest fine imposed in accounting history (Rankin, 2013). RELEVANCE: How does this relate to the class materials? A large amount of fine was imposed on Deloitte because it failed to adhere to the accounting policies and breached ethical accounting standards when it had advised the above-mentioned companies for a merger, which led to the catastrophic outcome (Leake, 2013). REFLECTION: What are my thoughts and opinions regarding this article or report? As per my opinion, the management not only failed to identify potential conflicts but also failed to adhere to the ethical corporate standards. UNIT Article 2: ( Marta Steeman, 27 June 2013, 8000 painters under Ecan scrutiny, Source: Business Day). DESCRIPTION: In June 2013, the management of Environment Canterbury (ECan) imposed restrictions on the paintings of 8000 painters in Christchurch (Steeman, 2013). It was observed that the painters we re using illegal disposal paint that had the potentiality of polluting and harming the environment (Steeman, 2013). Ecan has requested the paint companies to use paints, which are relevant to the quality requirements of the Environmental Regulation Authority (Steeman, 2013). RELEVANCE: The paint companies have been requested to use environmentally friendly paints which can be discharged directly into the wastewater without hampering or blocking the city drainage system (Steeman, 2013). Ecan has also started a nationwide anti wash campaign to prevent the paint companies using illegal paints (Steeman, 2013). REFLECTION: As per the notice issued by Ecan, paint companies are requested to carry the trade license for purchase of containers of paints which are environment-friendly and come in between the range of $200- $ 4500. As per my opinion, there is a huge interrelationship between personal and organizational ethics. The alignment between the two goals is necessary for the productivit y of the organizations (Svensson and Wood, 2003). The employees failed to follow the ethical standards of the company. Article 3: ( Juliette Garside, 31 May 2013, Leaked: Europe probes Apple overexploitation of mobile networks, Source: The Guardian) DESCRIPTION: The European Commission is investigating whether Apple Inc has performed unfair means and methods to the mobile network companies that sell its phones. Although the management claims that it has complied with the local laws and regulations, the papers shown by the European commission reflect that the company has been using unfair means for yielding profitability. The European Commission is investigating the matter related to Apple Smartphones (Garside, 2013). RELEVANCE: Although the management of Apple claims that is has complied with the local laws and regulations to continue its business operations, European Commission has shown papers which depict the leaked allegations with the signature of the regulatory authorities. RE FLECTION: As per my opinion, Apple Inc tried to gain a competitive advantage or profitability through unfair means or methods, which is really offensive.  

Microsoft Access Database Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Microsoft Access Database - Assignment Example Each company is known to produce different products and at the same time it can produce the same products but different brands. For instance, Delmonte Company is known to produce soft drinks as its major product among other items. Incase this company fails to supply; other companies are there to take over the tender and supply the same products but different brands. Other outstanding Companies are Cocacola, Nuvita and Afia. Cocacola Company produces softdrinks that serve as energy drinks and therefore makes it to be unique with other competing companies; Nuvita produces soft drinks with different brand and is known for its high quality products at affordable prices; Afia Company produces softdrinks rich in vitamins as compared to others. These all vendors have the same thing in common as shown by their variety of products produced by each. Both Afia and Delmonte produce the same products and each supplies the restaurant with their soft drinks. The slight differences between these two companies are their products brands, therefore their drinks serve the same

Evaluation of Agency's Human Resources Management Research Paper

Evaluation of Agency's Human Resources Management - Research Paper Example Ray Consortium is an agency located in the US. I did a research that revealed that this agency has processes and systems that intersect between information technology and human resource management. One of the agency’s major components of human resource processes for hiring and retaining is the enterprise-resource-planning package (Department of Administration, 2004). In this package, the agency merges human resource management as a doctrine with its basic human resource processes and activities, within the field of information technology in particular (Lawler, 2004). With the emergency of enterprise resource planning software, this agency added its crucial components of planning to incorporate data processing systems programs that standardize routines and integrate information from and within various applications towards a single universal database. According to the human resource manager of Ray Consortium, integration of enterprise resource planning as a major component of th e agency’s human resource system facilitated faster and easier linkage of the agency’s human resource modules and financial modules.This procedure aims at motivating, mobilizing, and fostering their zeal towards their respective jobs.In identifying predecessors of different sections of the agency, this agency uses modules of human resource that link performance of an employee through a single database that provides the most important distinction among the proprietary and individually developed predecessors.... This procedure aims at motivating, mobilizing, and fostering their zeal towards their respective jobs (Lawler, 2004). In identifying predecessors of different sections of the agency, this agency uses modules of human resource that link performance of an employee through a single database that provides the most important distinction among the proprietary and individually developed predecessors. This procedure makes the enterprise resource planning and development application both flexible and rigid. In order to acquire and retain the best employees with excellent skills and knowledge, this agency devised a recruitment system called the Talent Management systems that typically encompasses things like identification of potential applicants, recruitment via company facing listings, and recruiting by the use of online means which market to both the applicant and recruiters (Berman, 2012). According to analysts, this process has the best means of acquiring the best employees, since it make s the overall acquiring and retaining process competitive. Implications of the Human Resource Workforce After analyzing the existing processes, systems, and components of the agency’s human resource, this paper established that there have been identical cases of success due to planned methodologies of facilitating work. For instance, presence of learning management systems within this agency contributes to concurrent increase in productivity, delivery, invention, and incorporation of diverse measures of ensuring competitive workforce (Lawler, 2004). Additionally, due to its well-trained and equipped workforce, the agency was able to establish a board that maintains a

Business Ethics Mid-Term Examination Assignment

Business Ethics Mid-Term Examination - Assignment Example The ethical philosophies of an individual are characterized by ethical principles and norms that they possess as their ethical frames for reference. Every individual faces to take moral decisions on daily basis. These decisions revolve around the questions related to correct or false. Therefore, the bases in accordance with which these decisions are produced are shown several researchers (Stead, Worrel, & Stead, 1994). Purtilo (2005) showed that the three steps in the Individual Ethical Decision-Making Process are recognizing and defining the issues that are ethical, reflecting upon and interpreting the information gathered in recognition of the issues, implementing and evaluating the decision taken. Define business ethics and explain the value of focusing on conduct rather than characteristics. Business ethics is the appliance of our perceptive of good and right to the collection of technologies, institutions, transactions, pursuits and activities. According to Rossouw et al. (2007) business ethics has been referred to those ethics that focuses on what is good and right especially in economical activities. Hence business ethics is more focused upon morally evaluating economic activities and practices. For the long term survival of any business and its profitability the ethics involved in the business are very essential to be followed. The failure of many companies is due to unethical behaviors. The companies with sound principles of business ethics are likely to benefit more and have a lesser risk of developing a bad reputation that can be harmful for the company in terms of future perspective. The board has the responsibility to actively manage the ethics performance of the company. Virtues have been defined as the main features that are valued by moral philosophers and religious thinkers. Identify and define the six high virtues presented by Peterson and Seligman. Select a virtue you believe is inherently important to the study of business ethics, identify i ts corresponding character strengths and explain why it is important. The six high virtues presented by, Peterson & Seligman (2004) are intelligence and awareness, bravery, humanity, fairness, self-control and transcendence. Wisdom and knowledge involves the cognitive strengths which engage the acquisition and use of knowledge the creativity thinking, curiosity, open-mindedness and things like love for mastering new skills etc. Courage involves the emotional strengths, the implementation of will to achieve goals, always speaking and supporting truth and being pure and genuine. Humanity relates to interpersonal strengths like kindness, doing good deeds for other, social intelligence and being aware of the feelings of others. Justice involves fairness in treating all people similarly and working well in teams. Temperance refers to the strengths that protect against excess, forgiveness, modesty, and prudence etc. Transcendence relates to appreciation of excellence and being aware of an d thankful for the good things happening. Although all the virtues are important but justice, honesty, fairness happen to be the most important of all as all the other virtues revolve around it. If a person is not capable of doing justice and being honest then none of the other virtues apply

Scientific Writing Essay Example for Free

Scientific Writing Essay Scientific writing -is a form of technical writing that reports scientific observations and results in a manner governed by specific conventions. Examples and Observations (Definition #1): Sustaining a dead body until its organs can be harvested is a tricky process requiring the latest in medical technology. But its also a distinct anachronism in an era when medicine is becoming less and less invasive. Fixing blocked coronary arteries, which not long ago required prying a patients chest open with a saw and spreader, can now be accomplished with a tiny stent delivered to the heart on a slender wire threaded up the leg. Exploratory surgery has given way to robot cameras and high-resolution imaging. Already, we are eyeing the tantalizing summit of gene therapy, where diseases are cured even before they do damage. Compared with such micro scale cures, transplantswhich consist of salvaging entire organs from a heart-beating cadaver and sewing them into a different bodyseem crudely mechanical, even medieval. (Jennifer Kahn Stripped for Parts. Wired, March 2003. Reprinted in the Best American Science Writing 2004, edited by Dava Sobel. HarperCollins, 2004) On Explaining Science 1. The question is not should you explain a concept or process, but how can you do so in a way that is clear and so readable that it is simply part of the story? 2. Use explanatory strategies such as . . . Active-voice verbs Use the Active Voice . . . Most of the Time When a verb is in the active voice, the subject of the sentence is also the doer of the action. Active Voice- John picked up the bag It is in the active voice because the subject, John, is also the thing or person doing the action of picking up. Passive Voice -The bag was picked up by John The subject of the sentence, bag, is the passive receiver of the action. . . . Analogies and metaphors Analogies- comparison between two things that are similar in some way, often used to explain something or make it easier to understand. Metaphors- the use to describe somebody or something of a word or phrase that is  not meant literally but by means of vivid comparison expresses something about him, her or it  ex. Saying that somebody is a snake. Backing into an explanation, that is, explaining before labeling Selecting critical features of a process and being willing to set aside the others, as too much explanatory detail will hurt rather than help. 3. People who study what makes an explanation successful have found that while giving examples is helpful, giving nonexamples is even better.  Nonexamples are examples of what something is not. Often, that kind of example will help clarify what the thing is. If you were trying to explain groundwater, for instance, you might say that, while the term seems to suggest an actual body of water, such as a lake or an underground river, that would be an inaccurate image. Groundwater is not a body of water in the traditional sense; rather, as Katherine Rowan, communications professor, points out, it is water moving slowly but relentlessly through cracks and crevices in the ground below us. . . . 4.Be acutely aware of your readers beliefs. You might write that chance is the best explanation of a disease cluster; but this could be counterproductive if your readers reject chance as an explanation for anything. If you are aware that readers beliefs may collide with an explanation you give, you may be able to write in a way that doesnt cause these readers to block their minds to the science you explain.

Overview of Japanese Festivals and Matsuri

Overview of Japanese Festivals and Matsuri Japanese Festivals are the traditional occasions. They gather people to celebrate shrines deity, four seasons or historical events. People sing and dance to express their hopes and appreciation. Matsuri is the name of Japanese Festivals. The festival can be held for several days. There are lots of Japanese Festivals, but they usually have the traditional ways to celebrate. Procession is one of the most important things during those matsuri that celebrates shrines kami(deity). People carry deity and go around the town. It is the only period that deity leaves the temple in the year. There are entertainments during the festival. People wear specific traditional costume. They play music with Taiko(Japanese drum). Fireworks light up the matsuri too; there are always fireworks during the festival. The Japanese festivals are energetic and powerful. The Japanese Festivals are held also for the four seasons. In Spring, people celebrate for the rebirth and awakening of the new life. In summer, people thought its a bad season that brings humid weather with epidemic, so they hold festival to scare the evil spirit away. In autumn, people celebrate for the mellow foods from the farmer. The festivals of thanksgiving are held. In winter, people celebrate for the new year. Major Japanese Festivals In Japan, there are hundreds of matsuri. Some of them are local and unknown, and some of them are famous, which even foreigners come to Japan to feel these matsuri. In the following, the report will introduce several major Japanese Festivals. Gion Matsuri A living symbol of Kyotos 1,200 years of rich, colorful history the description of Kyoto Visitors guide. The Gion Matsuri is a festival in Kyoto. Its one of the best festival of Kyoto. Its in the top three matsuri in Japan. Japanese also put this matsuri into the top three prettiest matsuri in Japan. It is the most famous and biggest Japanese Festival, which is held for one month. The Gion Matsuri is from July 1st to 29th every year in Tasaka-jinja Shrine, Gion-cho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto City. The Gion Matsuri Festival is above 1100 years old. In the year 869 A.D., Kyoto was suffering from epidemics, floods, fires and earthquakes. To pray for the end of plaque and placate the gods, procession of the Yasaka shrine began. That was the first festival, the men carried numbers of wooden floats to please the gods. The plague soon ended, so the festival became popular. People did the procession every year. Soon, it became the festival with music, dance, comic plays, and artistic treasures. People started to make giant floats with beautiful decoration. The elaborate floats are the highlight of the Gion Matsuri. There are 32 floats, which are divided into two types, yama and hoko. Yama floats are about 6 meter and weight about 1400kg. It shows the scenes from Japanese history and mythology with bear pine trees, shrines, and mannequins. The hoko are massive 2-storied, nearly 10-ton combinations of music hall and museum that are hauled by teams of up to 50 men. Hoko are giant floats, which are about 25 meter and 12,000kg on large wooden wheels and pulled by 50 men. People describe them as a mobile art museums. During the parade, there are people wearing tradition costume and playing drums and bells. The are seated on the floats. Some dolls are put on the floats. The floats are displayed form the 14th to the 16th , the main event of the Gion Matsuri. The displays are full of food stands and drink vendors. Traditional Japanese Festival Music is played. The climax of the Gion Matsuri is that the boy, standing on the top of the floats, uses sword to cut the rope that represents bad luck. This event is the most important, so the boy cant mess up. He needs to practice for 3 months before this event. With the Gion Matsuri, the city is flourish. Today, Japanese is still using their traditional way to pray for a auspicious year. Sapporo Snow Festival The Sapporo Snow Festival is one of Japans largest winter events. It holds for 7 days, starting in the second week of February. It takes place in Odori Site, Susukino Site,and Satorando Site in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. About 2 millions of visitors come to this festival every winter. Hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures that made by artists from around the world line up on the Odori Park, the community Dome Tsudome, and the main street in Suskino. The Snow Festival started in 1950 with six local high school students. They built six snow statues in Odori Park. In 1955, the Japan Self-Defense Forces built the first massive snow sculpture. This made the Snow Festival become famous. In 1974, there began to have the International Snow Statue Competition. Year by year, it became the Sapporo Snow Festival. Till today, It is the 62nd Sapporo Snow Festival. The main site of this festival is in Odori Park. It is 1.5 kilometer long. The snow statues and ice sculptures make this place a snow museum. There are about 400 statues in total every year. You can see many creative and realistic works. There are not just statues. Skating Rink, Snowboard Straight Jumping Platform,The Slide, and Bush-walking on Skis are also the events in Snow Festival. The snow festival light up Sapporo. The whole world can see Japaneses creativity. The art of snow and ice shows how Japanese appreciates this season. Tanabata Tanabata is known as the star festival. It is a nationwide festival in Japan. It takes place in the seventh day of the seventh month each year in Japan. It is originated from a Chinese legend in 2,000 years ago. There were two stars, Altair and Vega, the lovers. They were separated by the Milky Way and allowed to see each other in only the 7th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, so every region will have different date of this festival. This story spread to Japan in the 8th centery. Tanabata is celebrated on July 7th or August 7th in Japan,which is around the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. The most famous event in Japan for celebrating Tanabata is to write your wishes on a piece of paper, and hang that piece of paper on a bamboo tree. The reason Japanese does this is that they think the meeting of Altair and Vega will bring luck. In some place, people put lantern on the bamboo and let it float on the river. The Tanabata festival in Sendai is most famous in Japan, which is held from August 6th to 8th. People wear yukata(the Japanese garment) and watch the fireworks. They fireworks is about two hours non-stop. 12,000 of fireworks will be shot and light up Sendai. Aomori Nebuta Matsuri Aomori Nebuta Matsuri is known as one of the most famous matsuri in Japan. This is a summer festival held in Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture from August 2 to 7. The Aomori Nebuta Matsuri is one of the greatest three matsuri in the Tohoku region, which are the Sendai Tanabata Matsuri, the Akita Kanto Matsuri and the Aomori Nebuta matsuri. Every year, more than 3,000,000 people come to see this matsuti . Aomori Nebuta matsui is a parade of colorful float lanterns called Nebuta with Japanese drum and dancers called haneto from all over the world. Usually Nebutas are shape of samurai warriors, but is can be shape of any historical people and legend characters. Reasons that this msaturi is very popular are that rhyme of drums and sounds of bamboo flute make people to feel happy and this parade is free to join so anyone can go up there and join the parade and dance along with those music. No one knows the theory of the origin of this matsuri, but there are two possible theories about the origin of this festival. One of the theories is that in the 8th Century in Aomori, there was one Shogun called Sakanoue no Tamuramaro. He wanted to expand his territory so he ordered his army to create something large and that looks like human to scare his enemy. Those large creatures called Nebuta. Place where he used Nebuta to scare people is now called Aomori city and thats why some people believe this can be one of the theories. Next theory is that development from Tanabata festival of China. During the Tanabata festival people light up a candle inside of toro that made by wooden frame and paper and float it on the water. As time passed, this toro became bigger and bigger and it became the unique shape like today. Today, the Nebuta can be 9 meter wide, 5 meters high and more than four tons of weight. It is not easy to make because it needs more than three months to create it and some of the Nebuta cost even more than $200,000. Hakata Dontaku Festival Hakata Dontaku Festival is one of the most famous and well known festivals and also one of the largest festivals in Japan. Every year, more than 2,000,000 people came to see this festival from all over the world. This festival takes place only for two day on May 3 and 4 in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture. Hakata Dontaku Festival used to call as Matsubayashi Festival that started in Kyoto in the time of Muromachi period (1333-1568). During that time this festival is for only farmers and people in towns to greet their landowner and leader as a New Years greeting. Name of the festival changed to Dontaku from Matsubayashi during the Edo period (1603-1868). During Edo period Japan let people trade with all other countries because of this many people from other countries came to Japan and gave Japanese people to culture of other countries. Many culture from different counties mixed with former Japanese culture. Word Dontaku came from Dutch word zondag, which means holiday. Main event of this festival is Dontaku parade which is 1230 meter long. Any one can join to this parade and dance freely. This festival is very closely related with Japaneses three good fortune gods called Fukurokujyu, Ebisu and Daikokuten. During parade of time festival people need to wear custom as those gods. Conclusion Festivals and matsuri are very important things for Japanese and those are part of their culture that has been passed so many years. Japanese festivals affect Japanese life a lot because many people will back to their home to see their regions festivals even they are busy and thats time to see their parents. So festivals for Japanese are not only time to enjoy, but also backing to their home place and good time to spend time with their parents. For the worldwide, Japanese Festival is unique to every other countries festival. The Japanese Festivals usually have long history. And they are held every year. Form this part, we can see how Japanese organizes well in these things. Japanese concentrate on every little part on the festival, from music, clothes, decorations, to foods. Thats why they can attract that much foreigners to visit their country. Words: 2,369

Callaway Golf Company: Analysis

Callaway Golf Company: Analysis The driver of the Callaway Golf Company is a world-class institution designed to provide a clear advantage, and to please different golf products, including breakthrough technology the backup these products significantly superior customer service, and generate a return to shareholders the cost in excess of capital. CGC was led by Ely Callaway, a powerful motivator who defined the companys culture. Its a world famous golf brand of club and product. CGCs sales had increased from 1988 to 1998. However, CGCs sales have decreased after 1999. What are the problems to stop that eagle? In fall 1999, Callaway faced these questions; the answers would guide him in refocusing CGCs retail channels, new-product development, and marketing strategies. In my case study, I will focus on new-product development and described my plan. Logistic include products transport, warehouse, and information processing center. Callaway Golf Club is in expensive price, but popular amateurs and professionals alike. Through its website and golf sporting goods stores, sporting goods retailers, large shopping malls selling its products in over 100 countries and regions,.(Hoovers, Dec) External Environment CGC is in the Cash cow. It means high relative market share and low market growth rate. Thats because CGC is well known in the world and their products in a lots of retailer stores and the clubs are famous. When Callaway buy the company, his first initiative is to develop original products. Product of golf innovation and superior performance is very important, because the equipment is considered to have a significant impact the performance of the players. In addition, innovation is very important too, because the CGC technology leader in sales of its premium products continue to exceed our customers expectations. However, his competitors more focus on specific target market. The technical quality of the product, to enhance the CGC of high quality brands and keep customers to replace the brand. The impact of the external environment, customers are more likely to have special clubs and low cast. To pay the annual high. The CGC is located in Carlsbad, CA(CGC official website) which full of sunshine. It is usually a good place to travel and enjoy golf. People in there might feel more relax than other states. Also, in CA, the employees are enough to do the work. Analysis For the external analysis, the company has a lot of opportunities. Many sports good manufacturers are expanding in the golf market. The aging of the worlds population, many old people play golf, they have flexible income to buy golf equipment. Also, in New England state, Mid- Atlantic state and parts of south west, there are many golf players and the number is increasing. (New York Times. Feb) In Figure 3, CGC strengths are new-products development and well known in the world. The weaknesses are high prices and company relied more heavily on off-course shops. The opportunities are new-products on existing markets and marketing strategies. The threat is new-products sales decrease, low prices, cannot have good value. I will talk about products transport and warehouse in my first step, information processing center will be a follow page. The catastrophic storm affects not only the golf round in the storm, but a significant period of time. The external analysis will change, because face different economic and compare the situation in the global market. There are several reasons that will treats the external analysis. The high rate of unemployment rate and the increase in the level of consumer debt. Rejected consumer confidence and spending is increasing year by year. The most important reason is that the increase in the euro against the U.S. dollar, sales in euros had a negative impact. For internal analysis, small golf club manufacturers, new technologies and new production methods to become the worlds largest manufacturer of premium golf clubs and a dominant force in the industry. (ELY: NEW YORK) The CGC sell more units, the highest price of more equipment than any other company in the business of golf. This is a successful marketing decisions and strategies. , And provide high quality at a high price sales. People will be willing to buy products and interest rates high. Callaway consumers can trade allowances. From their club to the new Callaway clubs. This option is for consumers to upgrade their equipment. However, the internal analysis is also have weaknesses. Callaway marketing is focused on promotion, by professional players. The company tracks imitate, resulting in higher administrative costs and loss of income, this is very difficult. Global Manufactory and Warehouse CGC need to set up manufactory in different countries for new-products transporting and saving. In figure 1, I can clearly find that CGC is in the Product development square, the top right side. It means new-products for the existing markets. To achieve that, CGC had to consistently be on the leading edge of technology and to continually exceed customers expectations (CGCs case page 505). CGC need to make new-products to continually exceed customers expectations. But that CGCs biggest challenge, therefore, was to have products differentiated not only from competitors products but also from its own. If a product stayed in the pipeline too long, even if it was the best product, its sales would begin declining. This decline occurred because the people who really wanted the product would buy it within the first two years of its introduction (CGC. 4). The key word is pipeline. What is that? Its a conduit of pipe, especially one used for the conveyance of water, gas, or petroleum products( http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pipeline). Yes, products transport. CGCs wasted time in new-products transp ortation. For instant, main manufactory transports new-products to global market need a month. If CGC has global manufactory, they just need a week or least in the transportation. That is the reason why manufactory set in foreign countries is very important stratagem. For instant, Apple Co. set his manufactory in China, cheap labor and costing, and than area manager saved those products in their warehouse in location and reported main logistic manager how many products they reserved. Marketing research, area manager build profitable relationships and create customer delight and reported main company about their areas demand. And they made every months demand figure for data copy. Manufactories know how much product they need to make and warehouse will has enough room for new-product and old one. Aside from that, global warehouse good at fix that demand exceeds supply and supply exceeds demand problems. In CGCs case, manufactory made new-product and transport to off-cause retailers h ave at least two problems. One is transport slowly, wasting time and declining value of new. Another problem is retailer hasnt enough room for new-products. The second question CGC tried to use other way to fix. Closeouts generally occurred when existing equipment was discontinued to make room for new products or when CGC had too much inventory itself and wanted to get rid of it. At the time of a new-product introduction, for example, if a retailer had eight of the previous clubs left in inventory, CGC would supply the store with one more new club for free, which brought down the average cost of the remaining inventory. Once a new product was introduced, the retailer had the discretion to mark down the remaining inventory to a price at which it would sell (CGCs case page 514). Its helpful to make room for new-products and low price to sell closeout. In 1999, CGC held its own closeout and sold $40 million of excess inventory of Great Big Bertha, Biggest Big Bertha, and Great Big Bert ha irons to the market at a lower price (CGCs case page 514). If they have global warehouse, that would be saving resource and decreasing supply exceed demand risk rate. Information Processing Center Information processing center is the place that customers require report department. Their have information collect and transmit system to support manufactory, warehouse, and logistic manager or decision center. In case, CGCs customers are from True friends shift to Butterflies. Customers are no longer loyalty and they just need the products to play golf thats it. New-products are the way to continually exceed customers expectations, thats a reason why CGC need to know what customers needs and wants. Golf was a difficult game whose participants emotions ranged from frustration to addiction, with passion and fun mixed in. Even when played in teams, golfers were very competitive with themselves. Golfers often blamed their equipment for their poor play and thus often wanted to update their clubs (page 506). Those are all different levels golfers wants and needs, high-level golfers doesnt matter what type of club they used. Average golfers want to play golf and win the game in golf clubs, so they will keep the clubs. Although ones mental state and skill level had much to do with on-course achievement, in golf, unlike almost any other sport, the equipment also had a significant effect on a users performance. Even though highly skilled golfers would play well no m atter what type of club they used, average golfers were able to see noticeable improvements in their game when they used premium equipment. Beginning golfers also benefited because the more forgiving clubs allowed them to make ball contact sooner, frustrating them less so they would not quit the sport prematurely(case page 506). Beginning golfers would more advice of salespeople. For a beginning golfer, buying new clubs was a daunting task. Retail shops offered a wealth of options that forced beginners to rely on the advice of salespeople(page 507). CGC need to have those require from information processing center and make marketing strategies, refocusing on retailer. For example, focus on salespeople training for new-products promotion. For a beginner, salespeople can promote new-products or some old-model with 30%-50% discount. Old-model with discount would easier for people needs. It would not cast a lot of money and good for closeout from warehouse. And CGC gives those salespeop le who are selling master 10% of $500 units sold encourage and 20% maximum. Those encourages also be used to information processing center to collect information from customers demand. And transmit this information to decision center. Summarize CGC has a premium pricing strategy. It provides a high-quality product premium average players who want the performance benefits of the product. Callaways strategy is successful, mainly because of its innovative edge. In addition, the average golfer that their products provide performance advantages. The country has contributed to the success of the industry. During this time the public interest in golf increased a lot. In addition, the market is not over saturated, the Internet is not in selling products an important factor. Establish a global manufacturer and warehouse sales will add new products and maintain profitability. And information processing center is useful to study the market and customer feedback and requirements. This will help from the external environment and threat reduction rate. Cities Callaway Golf Company. New York Times, 8 Feb 2013. Web http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/business/companies/callaway-golf-company/index.html Callaway Golf Company Company Information. Hoovers, 31 Dec 2012. Web http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/company-profile.Callaway_Golf_Company.fd42e2e0f3140749.html Callaway Golf Company (ELY: NEW YORK). Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 2 Feb 2013. Web http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=ELY What is involved in an ethical business? What is involved in an ethical business? Nowadays in our global world, national and international competition forces businesses to act in certain ways to achieve particular goals. Every company environment is made up of different cultures, values and believes which makes ethical issues to a complex topic. What is involved in being an ethical business and what are the benefits and disadvantages of being socially responsible? The following assignment explains the need for and some aspects of ethics in companies. It also gives a definition and a brief description on problems arising throughout global businesses and reviews a number of ethical frameworks and their application in company policies and practices. The assessment summarizes different theories, styles, and advantages. It also compares disadvantages and addresses the importance of company profits. It will sketch ethical concerns supported by case studies. To complete the assignment adequate grounds for a conclusion will be assessed and own judgment will be added. Introduction In the early 1980s Britains estimated energy bill amounted to over twenty billion pounds per annum. Throughout the 1970s continually rising fuel prizes had a direct and damaging impact on business costs and profits. Energy use, graphs and tables (1995-2002) Available from: www.dti.gov.uk/graphs/521chart.gif [Accessed 1/12/2005] People and organizations are increasingly concerned that supplies of energy and materials are likely to become scarcer and more expensive. Fossil fuels have finite geological limits and are subject to political, environmental and social questions. Whatever alternative sources may be developed in the future, days of plentiful and cheap energy are not going to return. Debates on business ethics are concentrating on social and ecological responsibility of companies within society which is regarded to be crucial in the external self-presentation and public perception of (economic) organizations. In satisfying our needs, business must be aware of those diverse topics and should aim on achieving a sustainable development. Sustainable development meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Companies positive responses to such issues are rarely altruistic. It is often for their own public relations or enforced by legislation. Findings-main facts about business ethics What does the word ethics mean? The word ethics originates from the Greek word ethos, meaning custom or character. Definitions have included phrases like the science of the ideal human character or science of moral duty. What defines business ethics? Ethical business issues are identifiable problems, situations or opportunities requiring a choice between several actions. It is a set of values, beliefs, goals, norms and responsibilities that members of an organization recognize and share. Business ethics and morality refer to well based standards of right and wrong and prescribe what humans ought to do- usually in terms of rights, benefits to society, or specific virtues. It also relates to how a company conducts its business to make profit. What is an ethical business? An ethical business focuses on giving positive contributions (i.e. providing goods, services) to the community without causing damage to the environment, exploiting its workforce ( paying low wages), using child labor, or producing products which are dangerous content. A company will seek to balance financial and human needs of their stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders) and ensure that it is ecologically sustainable. Corporate businesses are undertaken to create an environment of strong held values, tradition and culture. What relevance do ethics have in business? Companies do not operate in a vacuum, they are part of society. People expect certain standards of behavior from businesses (i.e. addressing its environmental impacts; provide fair salary to employees that can increase motivation). According to MORI research in July 2002, 80 % of the UK public believes that: Large companies have a moral responsibility to society. The 2002 major national survey of public perceptions of energy use (2006) Available from: http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/index.shtml [Accessed 10/05/2006] Corporate ethics- A growing trend In a world of finite resources, wasteful use of energy/materials is increasingly regarded as anti-social behavior and subject to diverse geological and political constraints. Environmental groups and political parties campaign to stop the destruction of ecology and resources. Efficient use of energy provides benefits individual enterprises and a wider society. A socially responsible business will respond to public demand for improved efficiency and includes consumer wants for now and the future. Firms are increasingly aware that ethics are a unique selling preposition in todays business life. Companies are incorporating social responsibility programs into marketing decisions. Increasing evidence indicates that being ethical results in valuable benefits: It can enhance public reputation and therefore increase profits. A recent study discovered that 84 percent of U.S. respondents have incorporated business ethics. A study found that 71 percent of UK companies used codes of ethics in 1991. The 2002 major national survey of public perceptions of energy use (2006) Available from: http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/index.shtml [Accessed 11/05/2006] Introducing strict ethical/environmental considerations in financial markets (FTSE Good Index) shows outperforming conventional stock exchange indices. Figures for the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (ethical index) in the US show that it outperformed the Dow Jones Global Index by 46 %. Griffiths, A.; Wall, S. ;( 2005); Economics for business and management; 1st ed.; UK, Prentice Hall; pp. 149 The ethical code-Code of conduct Ethical codes formalize rules and standards and reflect values and missions of a company. Leaders and members must have an obligation to operate in a consistent way meeting core objectives and society needs. Contributing to local, national and international communities by adopting a code of conduct can ensure honesty, fairness and respect in the organization and its environment it operates in. Developing a code of conduct Developing ethical behavior in an organization can be achieved by enforcing rules and standards that describe what the company expects of its employees and managers. To ensure ethical conduct, open communication and coaching staff are essential. Other important development factors include: Training/ including employees in developing a code of ethics. Clear channels of communication, trust and good employee-manager relationships Improved motivation to achieve objectives and goals Adhering to the guidelines of an ethics code A code of conduct requires shared commitment to achieve and develop high standards of production for its success. Open communication and coaching staff are essential but can introduce high costs and conflicts between share-and other stakeholders. Does being an ethical policy bring advantages? Being socially responsible enhances/protects corporate reputation and motivates/encourages loyalty and trust in organizations relationships. For example an ethical policy can reassure investors and stakeholders about the companys approach to its non-financial risks by providing a license to operate. Where do Ethical issues arise from? Ethical issues generally arise when marketers fail to understand risks of function, value or use of a product. Pressures can arise from substituting inferior materials to minimize costs or failing to inform customers about existing conditions or changes in product quality. Many car, gas and tobacco companies have experienced negative publicity associated with design or safety issues (as well as global warming, water pollution, noise and congestion issues) that resulted in control of their behavior by laws, regulations and higher taxations. Developing and selling a product which does not harm the environment refers to green marketing and must focus on long-term as well as short-term results. Most organizations participating ethics are beginning to realize that they have traded short-term profit margins for long-term morale and productivity. No matter what laws or regulations are passed onto the business, ethics cannot be externally imposed. Buying a healthy product, without considering its prize or shopping for bargains-neither side is immoral or unethical. Ethical companies will focus on all types of consumer wants and try to ensure working within their social mission. Taking social responsibilities towards stakeholders and evaluating the effects of a companys activity in its microenvironment (social auditing) involves/includes: Social auditing Benefits for company No difference between employees(equal rights) Increased motivation, established social performance Identification of ethical values and social objectives Easier identification of criticisms and meeting company objectives Understanding and applying customers views+ providing information for pressure groups Easier to measure performance/ results to make informed decisions about impact of activities, gaining new customers Improving brand and image attracts employees and perhaps leads to higher sales Management setting example to incorporate ethics Employees convinced being ethical improves organization (including profits) Being unethical can lead to: less resources for future generations and environmental damage due to wasteful use of energy high level of unit cost in economy which leads to being uncompetitive in world markets and trading performance increased poverty due to unfair distribution of money (i.e. wasting money on luxuries) price increase of non-renewable fossil fuels, leading to high expenditure on overseas supplies increase of private costs (i.e. wages, rent) and social costs (i.e. noise, pollution) violation of laws or company policies unfair balance to parties concerned both in the short-term as well as the long-term increase of private benefits (i.e. profits) and social benefits (benefits to the rest of the society) Becoming a socially responsible company has many advantages. However, managers of companys hold different views of moral positions. And sometimes, organizations have to choose between being an ethical company or striving for increased or kept profit. Often, companies and customers find themselves in an ethical dilemma by choosing between local or global spending. When money is spent globally, cheaper products are bought, creating a short-term advantage. This can have a negative impact on undeveloped countries if the buyers exploit their monopoly power and pay unfair prices to poor countries. Businesses therefore have to weigh up long-and short term decisions. Suppliers can increase profits by raising prices or reducing the quality of a product (bargaining power of suppliers). Therefore, underdeveloped countries with no other substitute products available have to accept the competitors demands or choose inefficient but cheaper companies to do the job. An example is the case study from Stuart Wall and Bronwen Rees book. Both describe Bribery and corruption by the World Bank as the single greatest obstacle to economic and social development. Poor infrastructure and higher pay from poor countries are often the result of bribes. Rees; B.; Wall, B.; (2004); International Business; 2nd ed.; England; Prentice Hall, pp. 212 Disadvantages of becoming a socially responsible business can include: At first the costly, costly, takes time and effort to introduce changes change of business culture, expensive and time-consuming to promote new culture loosing established customers conflicts of aims between share-and stakeholders (paying increased wages can loose business profit) new recruitment and redundancies of employees (difficult to be ethical since there is the need to get rid of staff in order to keep profit up) time-consuming to adopt to new image turning down low costs of production (i.e. labor) costly to change working conditions for labor being ethical introduces motivation which is not desired in every company adapting to new policies may not be profitable management and employees need training ( costs extra money) organization may not be able to cope with extra pressure increased quality of product will lead to raising productioncosts In every company, profit is an important objective for success and decision making. Being ethical can benefit businesses, society and economy. But should trustees make bad investments for social responsibility? Being an ethical company includes pressure of balancing profits and ethics at the same time (I.e. profits vs. exploiting stakeholders). Organizations have to invest in training, research, and product development. Only a few companies are immune to economic fluctuations and can stay committed to investment in societal behavior. For a new firm entering business, being ethical can mean less profitable short-run incomes that are desired to stay in competition. Larger organizations often have profit to enhance its reputation, creating greater long-term benefits even though is difficult to guarantee a big companys ethical status due to its involvement in many business activities. Customers expect quality products for a fair prize. Often, share-and other stakeholder get in conflicts due to increased prizes on the production of products. Many regard the government as being slow on promoting ethical behavior. Old motorways and power stations are contributing factors to the collapse of many economies. Reconstructions are costly and businesses as well as customers are often the ones suffering higher prizes. For example there is a chance for the UK of loosing out on the new industry for wind farms. Green peace is backing up NPower, defusing local protests for wind power. Creating a new type of electricity shows economic responsibility but is the company socially responsible by defusing customers views about the massive turbines? It can be argued that companies can use a of cost- benefit analysis to determine forecasts, outcomes and consequences. Known to philosophers as utilitarianism, this principle is best known by the maxim: Do whatever produces the greatest good for the greatest number- Do what best is for the best for the greatest number of people. Rushworth, M., (1995), Good people make tough choices, NY, 1st ed., firesides books, pp.24 Some businesses, like Nestlà © and Esso are acting accordingly to fixed rules, never mind the outcomes (Rule-based thinking). Often associated the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, this principle is firmly based on duty- On the way we ought to do, rather than we think what might work- Follow only the principle that everyone else will follow. Rushworth, M., K., Good people make tough choices, firesides books, NY, 1995, 1st ed., pp.24 Some organizations believe that shifting the business to an undeveloped country will reduce prices for production and wages for employees, therefore increasing profits for the company. This behavior seems unethical even if it can lift people out of poverty and assists to international development and the finance for decommissioning for a cleaner environment. The website maketradefair.com shows that 68 % of people in the UK supporting Fair-Trade but green products still command less than 1 % of the market. Make trade fair (2006) Available from: http://www.maketradefair.com [Accessed 16/04/2006] Some companies have had very bad publicity on this and are now trying to rebalance their practice. It can be argued that supermarkets not promoting their (by putting products on bottom shelves) products enough. Another reason is the increased price on Fair-Trade products. To underline the pressure of being a socially responsible business, the example of organic farming is given from the book International Business, by Stuart Wall and Bronwen Rees. Going organic includes changes in transforming middle-class specialties to a mass market phenomena for retailers. Farmers have to switch to natural herbicides and fertilizers which are benefits to society but can include extra costs (for the farmer and the consumer) and are easier to achieve with funding from the government. Those who buy organic food have to except higher prices because they are paying for sustainable, agricultural techniques and healthier food- People have to realize you dont get something for nothing. Simon Brenman, of The Soil Association. Rees; B.; Wall, B.; (2004); International Business; 2nd ed.; England; Prentice Hall ,pp 223-224 To succeed with environmentally friendly products, the image of benefits must be clearly defined and a market segment consisting of consumer who are willing to pay for better quality must be found. Countries have different cultures, values, beliefs and expectations. Companies operating internationally cannot transfer all business standards unchanged, expecting the business partner to understand their core values. For example, ethical codes tend to be seen as legal documents in the US whereas it is viewed as a social compact between company and its workers in Europe. Financial institutions are more experienced in the channels of communication and are sensitive to indices of firm performance. Often, those institutions have profit maximizing objectives but also enough income to spend on promotion and technological innovations to reach their customers to be socially and economically responsible. Promotion can create false or misleading advertising and manipulative/deceptive sales tactics and publicity. A major issue pertains the marketing of video games that promotes violence and weapons to children. Not every company has the choice of being ethical or not. For example the tobacco industry is regarded as being irresponsible towards society but is reasonably safe during market collapses, as they tend to have a safe and predictable profit flow. Defense companies benefited from higher arms spending following September 11 attacks on the US. Nowadays, even ethical businesses agree to. An example is the retailer Body Shop, agreeing to the takeover by French cosmetics giant LOreal in a deal worth  £652m. Anita Roddick, consultant, said the companys values (like community trade) would not change. But the organization has yet to show its commitment to ethical issues. LOreal takes over Body shop 2006) Available from: http:// www.clarionledordger.com [Accessed 12/05/2006] Evaluation Ethics refers to what is acceptable in a certain society. Organizational ethics is an important element and a unique selling preposition in business as it can determine beliefs and responsibility of the company in the eyes of society. However, it should not be assumed that doing good is desirable or acceptable. People expect certain ethical behavior from companies but they do not operate in a vacuum. Every country has different business values and views. Being social and ecological responsible in one country doesnt mean its ethical in the other. It implies that there is no morality of being right or wrong in ethical businesses. Companies focusing on future-orientated thinking are working within their social mission which can enhance public reputation and increase profits to remain competitive in todays business world.

no paper :: essays research papers

i don't have a paper. While the Brothers Glazer have been hailed as everything from geniuses to gangsters for procuring Jon Gruden to be their head coach, it should be noted that they also have been incredibly fortuitous. Remember, they tried to get Gruden from the Raiders before, and Al Davis was not willing to negotiate then. For some reason, he was willing Sunday night. If Davis had not been willing, the Bucs would not have Gruden or Steve Mariucci. The Glazers, then, almost assuredly would not have been able to hire the kind of head coach they wanted, or repair the damage to their reputation. Remember, they had already whiffed at almost every pitch they had taken in the coaching process. So the Glazers should be very grateful indeed to Davis. He gave them more than a coach. He gave them respect from their employees, their fans and the rest of the NFL. There is no price you can put on that. There also is almost no price you can put on a great coach. So the Bucs did not overpay for Gruden in giving up two first round picks, two second round picks and $8 million. It's a lot, but if anyone is worth it, Gruden is. Gruden is a better choice for the Bucs than Bill Parcells. Gruden is a long-term answer. He should be the coach of this team for the next 10 years. Parcells, as great as he is, would have been a quick fix who might have left the organization in shambles in three or four years. Gruden is a better choice for the Bucs than Mariucci. In order to get Gruden, the Bucs didn't have to give him the general manager title. They would have had to give Mariucci the title to get him. The potential is there for a stronger organization with Gruden. One of the reasons the Bucs job initially was so attractive is the Bucs organization has been one of the league's best because of people like GM Rich McKay, personnel director Tim Ruskell and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffen. Hopefully, the process of hiring a head coach hasn't damaged the Bucs to the point where the strengths have become weaknesses. The Bucs need McKay and Ruskell to provide a strong complement to Gruden. Gruden is a better choice for the Bucs than Marvin Lewis. Gruden is a proven head coach, and a special one. no paper :: essays research papers i don't have a paper. While the Brothers Glazer have been hailed as everything from geniuses to gangsters for procuring Jon Gruden to be their head coach, it should be noted that they also have been incredibly fortuitous. Remember, they tried to get Gruden from the Raiders before, and Al Davis was not willing to negotiate then. For some reason, he was willing Sunday night. If Davis had not been willing, the Bucs would not have Gruden or Steve Mariucci. The Glazers, then, almost assuredly would not have been able to hire the kind of head coach they wanted, or repair the damage to their reputation. Remember, they had already whiffed at almost every pitch they had taken in the coaching process. So the Glazers should be very grateful indeed to Davis. He gave them more than a coach. He gave them respect from their employees, their fans and the rest of the NFL. There is no price you can put on that. There also is almost no price you can put on a great coach. So the Bucs did not overpay for Gruden in giving up two first round picks, two second round picks and $8 million. It's a lot, but if anyone is worth it, Gruden is. Gruden is a better choice for the Bucs than Bill Parcells. Gruden is a long-term answer. He should be the coach of this team for the next 10 years. Parcells, as great as he is, would have been a quick fix who might have left the organization in shambles in three or four years. Gruden is a better choice for the Bucs than Mariucci. In order to get Gruden, the Bucs didn't have to give him the general manager title. They would have had to give Mariucci the title to get him. The potential is there for a stronger organization with Gruden. One of the reasons the Bucs job initially was so attractive is the Bucs organization has been one of the league's best because of people like GM Rich McKay, personnel director Tim Ruskell and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffen. Hopefully, the process of hiring a head coach hasn't damaged the Bucs to the point where the strengths have become weaknesses. The Bucs need McKay and Ruskell to provide a strong complement to Gruden. Gruden is a better choice for the Bucs than Marvin Lewis. Gruden is a proven head coach, and a special one.

The Downfall and Destruction of a King in the Play, Oedipus the King :: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex

The Downfall of a King in the Play, Oedipus the King I found the tragedy of "Oedipus the King" to be quite interesting. It was not as hard to read as an epic. "The purpose of tragedy is to arouse the emotions of pity and fear and thus to produce in the audience a catharsis of these emotions." (p488, A Handbook of Literature) A tragedy has more drama and builds to the climax. Oedipus' fate was set into motion by the circumstances he created himself because of his own rashness and arrogance. This is called an inciting incident. "He is headstrong and foolish (in not questioning Polybus and Merope in more detail or pursuing his original question with the Delphic oracle)." (Duke) For instance, Oedipus could have asked these questions: (1) How was King Laius killed and where? (2) Who are my real parents? He would not have married his mother and had children with her. He would have become King of Corinth. Jocasta would not have hung herself. Oedipus would not have blinded himself. The city would not have been plagued because Laius killer had not been punished. In today's society Oedipus would not have gotten away with murder. That was very different in the Greek society; murder was viewed as making someone a hero and more powerful. Although, if one had too much pride that was a sin. How can someone get away with murder and not be affected by it? He killed Laius in cold blood and that is all there is to it. However, this is how the overall plot of the play evolved. "When the play opens, the city of Thebes is wasting away under a plague that leaves its fields and women barren. Oedipus, the king of Thebes, has sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to ask the house of Apollo to ask the oracle how to put an end to the plague. Creon returns, bearing good news: once the killer of the previous king, Laius, is found, Thebes will be cured of the plague (Laius was Jocasta's husband before she married Oedipus). Hearing this, Oedipus swears he will find the murderer and banish him. He asks Creon some questions: where was Laius murdered? did anyone see the crime? how many men killed him? Creon answers: Laius was killed outside the city by a group of robbers, and the only witness was a shepherd who still lives nearby.

Ups Essay

UPS Introduction Operations Management is a vital and fundamental key to any successful business. This form of management helps a company become more efficient, effective, and most importantly, customer satisfying. For our groups Business analysis, we studied the operational tools and ideas implemented by United Parcel Service (UPS). UPS is the world’s largest package delivery company and is always on the cutting edge of efficient delivery. Within our research of UPS, we studied aspects of facility layout, logistics, and demand management. Along the way we relate what we found with our classes’ operations book.History Now a billion dollar company, UPS had a very humble beginning. In 1907, a young man in Seattle, Washington named James E. Casey borrowed a $100 from a friend to create The American Messenger Company. James, along with his brother and friends, delivered packages, letters, and even food to restaurants locally. Since cars were still limited at this time, the deliveries were made by foot or bicycle. Even though the company was young, it thrived because, â€Å"Jim Casey? s strict policies of customer courtesy, reliability, round-the-clock service, and low rates† (United Parcel Service, 1994-2010).These are the very same principles that the company operated by today. In 1913 technology began to have its place in the company, when they purchased their first car, which was a Model T Ford. They also changed their name from The American Messenger Company to Merchants Parcel Delivery, resulting from a merge with a competing company. The simple name change foreshadowed what the company would be known for from then on. The new name â€Å"reflected a shift in the primary focus of the business from messages to packages† (United Parcel Service, 1994-2010). The company kept purchasing delivery vehicles and finally was able to expand out of Seattle.In 1919, the company once and for all adopted its present name, United Parcel Service, and expanded to Oakland, California. From then on, UPS has grown to be a leading provider of delivery service, and has been on the cutting edge of specialization of the required processes to carry out their services. Facility Layout UPS provides a critical link for many company supply chains. To get products from manufacturer/supplier to customers, companies all around the world use UPS as their â€Å"middle man† for deliveries. To handle such demand, UPS has to be extremely efficient and can’t afford unnecessary costs.One way to cut costs and remain efficient is to have an appropriate facility layout. Once a package has left a local UPS office, they get shipped off to one of the regional air hubs. The busiest and largest UPS air hub is in Louisville, KY. The layout of this extremely vast facility at 550 acres is essential to the flow of parcels and letters through the system. As we learned in class, there are 4 basic types of layout formats: workcenter, assembly line, ma nufacturing cell, and project layout. Out of these four formats, the UPS air hub mostly resembles an assembly line.An assembly line is defined as â€Å"equipment or work processes arranged according to the progressive steps† (Jacobs, Chase, & Aquilano, 2009, p. 221). Even though a product isn’t being assembled, a package flows in a progressive system through the facility getting sorted and filtered out as needed. This process is highly automated using bar codes and scanners to do the necessary sorting. Human hands are only needed for unloading and loading packages onto conveyer belts, and packing pods for the airplanes. Once unloaded from a plane, a package gets loaded on to conveyer belts that total 122 miles.The belt runs the package through scanners and weight scales. The scanner and scale tells the system the type, shape, and weight of the package. After it is scanned, packages get sorted to smalls, parcels, or irregulars. When the package has been sorted by type, machines continue to scan and group them by destination all the way down to zip codes. Because of the high automation of the system, the air hub avoids a key problem a lot of assembly lines run into, assembly line balancing. Assembly line balancing is â€Å"the problem of assigning all the tasks to a series of workstations so that each workstation has no more than can be done†¦. nd so that idle time across all workstations is minimized† (Jacobs, Chase, & Aquilano, 2009, p. 228). Since machines can be synced with one another, processes flow in a consistent, calculated manner. Having a facility laid out in this manner allows for high efficiency, because packages are continuously being processed through the system at high speeds and low costs. Demand Management Running such a large company can come with many obstacles and challenges. For a company like UPS, these challenges can come with the need to forecast the projected demand for shipping.UPS has gotten every process it does down to the smallest detail, and is practically a science. They can accurately predict the volume they will be shipping, whether it is daily, weekly, or yearly; sometimes so accurate, the forecast is within a few pieces. When forecasting volume, UPS takes many things into consideration. UPS looks at the previous year’s volume shipped on a certain day, and strangely is very accurate to the volume being shipped on the current day. The bigger companies that ship through UPS tend to ship very consistently, allowing for UPS to be more accurate in their forecast.Taking the past volumes into consideration, logistics and planning people look at how much the city has grown in the past year. They then take the growth percentage and apply it to the previous year’s volume. This method tends to give accurate projections of what the company has in store for them on any given day. Sales of major manufacturers are also taken into account when forecasting. When UPS’s leadin g shippers, such as Wal-Mart, have these huge sales, UPS can just about guarantee that the volume of packages from that company is going to increase. There is a time of year that everyone at UPS anticipates; that time of year is Peak Season.Let’s just say that every year around the holidays, Santa has been lazy and uses UPS as his major way to ship. The holidays, or peak season, is when UPS realizes its greatest volumes for the year. Demand for its service increases greatly, beginning right before what we call â€Å"Black Friday†. Every year before peak season, materials such as empty pods, are sent to the bigger air hubs because of the increased demand. Plane scheduling is also revised; bigger planes are sent to the bigger cities with busier routes, while smaller planes are sent to places that aren’t as big but with increased frequency of arrivals.Also, people are hired seasonally to help deal with the increased workload. After the Christmas season, things begi n returning to normal, but UPS always has a sure bet that they will always have great business around that time. Not always is the demand for shipping as high as peak season, it tends to decrease at certain times of the year. UPS has implemented many solutions to try to deal with this decreased demand. In one program, UPS encourages its employees to actively go out and â€Å"recruit† potential customers.Whether it is a family member who owns a business, or a store who currently uses FedEx, the employees are asked to go out and aggressively take business away from competition. When a sales lead is given to management, a professional sales person is sent out to the business interested, and goes over options and different pricing discounts UPS can offer. If the potential lead indeed becomes a new customer, the original employee who gave the lead is given a percentage of the sale from every package ship. This is an incentive UPS gives for their employees to actively go out there and create demand for the company.