How Yoga Can Help Relieve The Stress That College Students

One would be hard-pressed to find a college student who does not deal with high levels of stress. According to the American College Health Association’s annual assessment last year, approximately 53% of college students reported experiencing above average levels of stress (ACHA). What’s more, 30% of those students said stress had a significant negative impact on their academic performance (ACHA). Unfortunately, attending college requires students to take on unavoidably stressful situations, such as paying for tuition and living expenses, rigorous coursework, and other social and family related obligations. Since the sources of stress cannot be eliminated for the most part, the best way to students to successfully navigate their college education is to learn methods for stress management. One of these methods is to practice yoga. In this paper, I hope to demonstrate how yoga can help relieve the stress that college students experience by explaining the physical and menta l benefits of developing a yoga practice. In addition, I will address the limitations that college students in the United States may face when getting involved with yoga, and in turn offer solutions to these limitations. First, I will give a brief overview of the history of yoga and explain what it is. The word â€Å"yoga† means to unite or connect. It is a spiritual practice and system of discipline that originated in India approximately five thousand years ago. Although it is most commonly tied to the religionShow MoreRelatedStress Relief for College Students1233 Words   |  5 PagesEveryone experiences stress in their daily life as it is from trying to get to work or school on time, handing in a project/assignment on time, doing well on exams, having a happy relationship, family problems and many more. 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Johnson s Seagrass And Its Effects - 1370 Words

Johnson’s Seagrass is a small, fragile seagrass that reproduces asexually. As a consequence, it’s range is limited to 200 kilometers in length of river mouths and tidal rivers off the coast of Florida, making it the seagrass with the most limited distribution in the world. It’s leaves are about 2-5 cm in length. This seagrass is tolerant of variations in salinity but is not tolerant of damage caused by human boating activities and actions including anchoring and dredging. This species of seagrass is so easily moved that it is uprooted by the turbidity caused from boat propellers. Halophila Johnsonii is also threatened by poor water quality including runoff and low oxygen levels. Johnson’s seagrass was declared a threatened species under†¦show more content†¦More specifically, â€Å"Important ecological and economic functions of seagrass beds have been widely acknowledged, notably their importance to fisheries and their role in preventing coastal erosion and siltation of coral reefs† (Erftemeijer and Lewis. 2006). Coral reefs are already disappearing at astonishing rates and siltation is even more detrimental to their survival. Since the number of acres of seagrass off the coast of Florida has decreased significantly in the past 65 years, it is especially concerning that Johnson’s seagrass reproduces asexually because â€Å" The plant has a reduced capacity to repopulate an area if lost due to human or environmental perturbations† (Johnson’s Seagrass Recovery Team, 12). The objective of this research is to determine whether or not Johnson’s seagrass endangerment is correlated to the amount of detrimental pollutants that humans are putting in aquatic ecosystems such as excess nitrates and oil from dredging. The critical prediction in this experiment is that as the concentration of a pollutant in the water Johnson’s seagrass grows in increases, the amount of growth decreases over time. The dry weight of the plant over time would decrease when grown in polluted water when comparing the dry weight of the plant when grown in clean water. The Flint River located in western Georgia is quite unpolluted and will be fit to reproduce these clean water conditions in the laboratory.

Computech Company Case Mergers free essay sample

Company Profile of CompuTech Company Marco Garibaldi was a computer hacker and began to develop computer programs in the basement of his parents’ home. His first software program named as â€Å"WordPro† aroused great interest among the academic and the business communities. That was the story behind the establishment of â€Å"CompuTech Industries† in 1983. The company went to public in 1990 for the first time. By the end of 1995, CompuTech’s stock price was $25 per share and its outstanding shares were 10,000,000. CompuTech has developed a solid reputation especially for reliability and timely introduction of new products. Besides, it supplies a toll-free telephone service in order to identify and correct program bugs. Its products are perceived as innovative, easy to use and relatively free from errors. However, diversity of the products offered by the company is limited. CompuTech is expert on just one type of software: word processing and presentation programming. On the other hand, trends in the market are changing so fast, office packages that combine multiple programs and spreadsheets are so popular. Garibaldi thinks that CompuTech should combine its force with another software company, which specializes in accounting, finance and tax return software programs. Computer Concepts Inc. (CCI) is considered as a potential candidate for the acquisition. CCI went public in 1993 and now it has 2. 5 million shares sold with price of $1. 25 per share. Management owns 30% of the company. Garibaldi doesn’t know whether management will be willing for merger or not. Yet, he is quite sure that CCI’s managers didn’t have discussions with anyone else about a merger. That’s a good point for CompuTech. Whether CompuTech should make an offer and if so should it be friendly deal or hostile takeover will be analysed in this paper. Besides from these, there will be suggestions about the value of an offer and how they should make a payment. To sum up, MA from all dimensions is the main concern of this report. Rationale for Mergers and Acquisition In today’s competitive world, companies should seek different alternatives for maximizing firm value. One of them is Mergers Acquisitions (MA) and there are basically five rationales claimed by proponents of mergers. First of all, tax consideration is a motive. When acquirer has accounting profit whereas target firm has negative accounting profit, firms will enjoy tax advantages. Acquirer’s tax liability reduces depending upon the loss incurred by other firm. Thus, tax payment made by the firm with positive net income will be much more less in total. It is especially preferable when corporate tax rates are high. Second, diversification benefits should be considered. Diversification is absolutely beneficial to employees, customers and managers of firms. From external investors point of view this doesn’t be a concern since they can create a portfolio, indeed easily than firms do, which eliminates unsystematic risk by diversification. Thus companies don’t need to do that internally at all. But the point is that diversification (especially from different industries) will reduce the variability on EBIT. Firm can get advantage of low cost of capital and debt. Decreased risk associated with the company reduces discount rate used by the firm as well. Consequently, management will be more confident about future earnings, and this gives them flexibility in financial decisions. Third one is purchase assets below replacement cost. Purchasing assets is less costly than developing the necessary production capacity by itself as a single firm. Companies consider replacing systems or assets with the ones of acquired firm can purchase these assets below replacement cost. In order to determine whether the purchase of assets is reasonable or not, acquirer firm should implement a cost-benefit analysis for the assets of target firm. If benefits exceed the costs, we can say that merger will provide a cost reduction for acquirer. The next one is control of the firm. If a company attempts to take control over another firm, MA is a way for achieving it. MA is useful especially when the management of target firm is not so successful. After acquisition new management can increase value of the target firm by well managing, decreasing costs and increasing efficiency. The last one is about synergy. When two firms are combined, an extra value for occurs for the companies apart from the summation of their standalone entity. It refers to synergy. From society’s point of view synergy is the most justifiable motive. Shared know-how, intangible resources (generally human resources, corporate culture, business creation etc. ), more efficiently used physical resources, economies of scale, reduced costs lead more successful business. They are advantages for different stakeholder parties within the company as well. Also it increases competitiveness in the industry. It turns into offering best efforts for the wellbeing of customers. It can be seen as an equation, which gives more than its numerical total: one plus one is more than two for every one. Another socially justifiable motive is control. Changing the control of the firm will increase shareholders’ wealth (that is the ultimate goal in business) and thus it increases benefits of shareholders. After MA most of the companies are managed and controlled more successfully than the previous managers. On the other side, there are some motives, which can’t be justified socially. Tax consideration can’t be justifiable from the perspective of society. Firm can decrease their tax obligations by MA; thus , state can collect less money. It reduces the income of the government consequently limits the amount spending to projects and services for the welfare of the citizens. CompuTech Company can use the advantage of MA in terms of synergy, diversification and purchase assets below its replacement cost. Controls of the firm and tax concerns are not applicable in CompuTech’s case at all. CompuTech wants to increase its variety of products. Also it pursues a large market share. It has no tax concerns and no intention to take the control over the other firm because of the strategic reasons. Its purpose is much more in economic sense rather than strategic. Types of Mergers (Hostile vs. Friendly) A merger is joining of two firms in order to form a single firm and it can be distinguished as friendly and hostile. In friendly mergers, management of the target firm is willing -at least neutral- to merge. Friendly merger takes place if management of target company will agree on the issue with the acquirer. In that kind of mergers, management of both sides come together and discuss about the terms of contract (including the merger price, restrictive covenants and flexibilities). However in hostile mergers, target company doesn’t want to get into a merger or deal is not achieved by negotiation process or even the targeted company doesn’t know intention of the acquirer in advance. Acquirer firm prepares merger contracts in general. Determining the types of payment (by cash o by stock), amount of offer, price and other legal and technical issues underwent by that company. Then the offer is disseminated to the management of targeted firm and the negotiation process begins. However, in some cases, consensus may not be reached. Then there are different tactics implemented by acquirer firm. Acquirer can make a tender offer. It means that acquirer goes directly to the shareholders of targeted company and buys their shares in return for some premium over the current market price. Before tender offer, there is asymmetric information between parties. Shareholders require a premium because they are informed. Perception to the targeted company in the market changes as fast as possible. We conclude that it is likely to see an overbidding in a hostile merger rather than a friendly merger. The reason is that the acquiring firm may inevitably pay higher premiums in order to gain at least 51% of target firm’s shares and shareholders can be convinced to sell their shares if the target’s management notified them about not to sell. Valuation Analysis The discounted cash flow (DCF) method to valuing a business includes the applications of capital budgeting procedures to an entire firm rather than to a single project. However, differently from common capital budgeting procedures, interest expense is involved in the analysis and deducted in merger cash flow statements. The reason is that the debt related to merger is more complex than issue of new debt related to capital budgeting projects. Acquiring firms often assume that the debt of target is part of the deal. Moreover, the acquisition is often financed partially by debt. In order for the growth of target firm in the future, management will have to issue new debt. Therefore, the interest expense is typically deducted in the merger cash flow statements. Furthermore, earning retentions are deducted to obtain the free cash flows. The reason is that the subsidiary needs -like any other firm- to reinvest some of its earnings in order to maintain its growth.

Organizational and Capacity Building

Abstract Companies have tended to focus a lot on philanthropy as one way of marketing themselves. This has been equated to capacity building in myriad of ways.Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Organizational and Capacity Building specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, the term capacity building can be viewed from various perspectives. For instance, building cooperation and coordinated minds in an organization is one form of capacity building. The latter starts from within an organization before taking the shape of social responsibility. While capacity building has several definitions and various concepts, the most outstanding feature of this organizational feature is that it enhances unity. In an organization, capacity building means bringing together all players in the organization for purposes of driving the organization from one level of operation to another. Therefore, all organizational players must a gree to form one channel of development. There are various means of building capacity in the organization. One way is by developing a strong culture full of positive values, beliefs and norms to be followed by all employees. After coming up with one mind that is directed towards improving the performance of the organization, employees and other stakeholders can then focus on offering community assistance. This will then translate to community building or social responsibility. American Civil Liberty Union is a non-profit organization focused on enhancing human rights amongst the publics. However, the company may not succeed if it does not invest in capacity building in the organization. While the company has tried to its best to enhance this concept, it has not succeeded to levels that can make all proud. Therefore, there is need to change quite a number of issues for purposes of building from that front. This paper analyzes the concept of capacity building and how it has been appli cable in this organization. The paper also explores some of the approaches which can help build more of capacity in the organization.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Company: American Civil Liberties Union Capacity building is capable of bringing in some harmonization amongst key players of an organization. At American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the department tasked with maintaining capacity building has done significant work. As an employee in the department, I have experienced some ways of maintaining togetherness in the company, which has led to harmonization in the company. The company has faced off tumultuous times like the Financial Crisis of 2009. This company has used a number of skills in building strong capacity amongst the employees and utilization of technology. One way the company has done this is by training of organizational employees and enhancing co operation. The company has made it as a conceptual process to develop within the company by putting a major focus on the people in the organization. Employees in various departments are coordinated in a way that brings even development in the organization. Some of the directors in the company include the development director, the Staff Attorney, Paralegal person, the legal fellow, and the communication director, the Administrative Assistant, development associate, legislative director, executive assistant and the field director among others. The deputy director is the head of a department tasked with enhancing capacity building in the organization. Working under Mary Beijian; the deputy director in the company is fulfilling because it gives a chance to build the company from within. The policy in the company is to always be on the upward trend towards organizing strategies plus some public policy lobbying. The bottom line is to establish good links between various members of the sta ff in the company and another link with the publics. Prior to moving to the department of deputy director, she was tasked with improving affirmative actions. However, it is the Organizing Community Engagement Director who comes directly with issues touching on capacity building in the company. Some of the efforts that have been taken are the implementation of engagement with communities, instituting recruitment programs, general capacity-building efforts, effective planning for the human resource persons and coming up with strategies to enhance grassroots participation.Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Organizational and Capacity Building specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There are also some advocacy campaigns that are meant to bring together company membership, especially in the organizational employees and managers. The communication director is tasked with communicating important details that enhances cap acity building in the company. Laura Saponara is the Communication director and is tasked with coming up with crucial measures that would ensure all members of the organization are informed of major decisions. The biggest advantage that has been brought in the company as a result of enhancing organizational capacity building is the social impact. There is a common language in the company in terms of talking from one front. Due to effective distribution of important information, everybody in the organization becomes the image seller. That is, they understand all what the organization stands for and therefore act as the image sale agents. Capacity building has helped the company improve in productivity. Mostly, this has been brought about by effective training programs for the employees and improving the social fabric amongst the employees. When the company employees speak from one front, mistake is corrected in one accord and the employees are able to improve on productivity. Everybo dy in the organization acts like an owner, where, the spirit and determination to succeed or perform in the organization is evident in the eyes and faces of the employees. Concept of capacity building According to Maurrasse (2004), capacity building is a modified form of social responsibility. However, it focuses more on building energy and cooperation in the organization. It is this energy and cooperation that is then transmitted to social responsibility and community building. Maurrasse (2004) writes that it is agreed in any organization and mostly the non-profit organizations that there is insufficient attention paid towards building the organizational capacity. However, organizations are moving towards putting a strong partnership and cooperation before the energy could be reinvested in performance. There are some crucial parts of capacity building that should not be ignored. According to Judge (2011), these measures are extension programs of an organization, delivery capacity, adaptive capacity and improving of health amongst the workers. Mostly, the organization should first analyze its market environment and the dynamics that have come with modernity to know the kind of capacity building to initiate.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Judge (2011) puts it plainly that capacity building is making two forms of personality and minds become one. That is, bringing different lines of thinking to become one for the purposes of realizing benefits. The best outcome of capacity building is improved social fabric and impact in the organization. Strategic leaders in the world are under intense pressure to realize good results. However, it is the employees who must put their efforts towards harmonized improved of the organizational performance. This can be done through harmonized thoughts, enhanced positive culture and improving the social fabric in the organization. It is, however, the work of the strategic leaders to make sure that the employees think from a common front. When organizational inner capacity building is enhanced, the employees together with the management can extend to the community building through social responsibilities. The approach to have capacity building in the organization Before instituting a strong sense of responsibility in an organization, there must be some steps to be followed. These steps must be coordinated well to make sure that important parts are not missed. According to Joffres (2004), there are three common forms of capacity building. One, the capacity building at an individual level, where, a person in an organization develops within to build participative skills, enhance his or her existing knowledge and establish conditions that would improve adaptation to change. Second, the institutional capacity building, where, the organization works out some programs to improve on knowledge, cooperation, learning and performance. The third is the societal capacity building which advocates for participation amongst its members. Some of the ways of instituting or improving capacity building in an organization is by developing a strong culture full of positive norms and values to be followed by the organizational players (Jones, 2001). There are various factors and facilitator s that contribute to sustainable development through capacity building. According to Jones (2001), these factors vary from one organization to another. However, common to these are the established organizational culture and the multi-sectoral initiatives in the organization. Researches support participation as the best form of capacity building in the company. However, it can be recognized that before establishing participation and cooperation in the organization, there must be a positive culture. The culture in the organization must allow people to express themselves and put own initiatives freely. This way, organizational staff and other players would have organizational ownership which is essential in enhancing cooperation. More to this, the leadership of the organization must be ready and willing to bring various minds together. There must be technical supports, congruence, research activities, readiness and strong leadership to enhance capacity building. Enhancing capacity buil ding at American Civil Liberty Union As noted earlier, there are some bits of capacity building practiced at American Civil Liberty Union. Through a number of organizational leaders, employees and other shareholders of the company are brought together in terms of thinking for the organization. However, there are some grey areas that need to be addressed effectively. For example, this company has tended to equate high strategic management to capacity building. The company is a non-profit organization, and therefore, it depends fully on funding. The kind of capacity building that is practiced in the company is one which focuses on securing funding from interested parties. This needs to change and focus capacity building as a form of building strong cooperation among the organizational players. Even where the company gives out a strong message to potential funders in the world, a focus on improving participation amongst the employees is crucial. At long last, funders may opt to move ou t simply because the company may slowly disintegrate. Capacity building in this company is capable of strengthening the link between positive image and production. The positive image is meant for all stakeholders, while production is meant to benefit people from the program. This company is all about civil liberties, and therefore, with effective capacity building, it is possible to boost the impact. Social impact needs to be created first being creating the fabric in social responsibility. The various managers of this company recognize the growing need of capacity building but lack the means to do so. The first thing to do is for the top management to come up with a culture that can bring the minds and people together for a focused form of productivity. Another aspect of development in terms of capacity building at this company is to enhance affirmative action and upholding various human rights. References Joffres, C. 2004. â€Å"Facilitators and challenges to organizational capac ity building in heart health promotion.† Qualitative Health Research, 14(1), 39-60. Jones, M. L. 2001. â€Å"Sustainable organizational capacity building: Is organizational learning a key?† The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 12(1), 91-98. Judge, W. Q. 2011. Building Organizational Capacity for change: The leader’s New Mandate. New York: Business Expert Press, LLC. Maurrasse, D. 2004. A future for everyone: Innovative social responsibility and community partnerships. New York: Taylor Francis, Inc. Appendix: Possible scenarios of capacity building at ACLU This coursework on Organizational and Capacity Building was written and submitted by user Bridget Warren to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Service Quality Gap Oman Insurance Company

Service Quality Gap Oman Insurance Company Executive Summary The assessment of the quality of service delivery in an organisation is important as it allows consumers to make informed decisions. It also helps the organisation to respond appropriately to improve its services.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on Service Quality Gap: Oman Insurance Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the past, service quality has been defined as â€Å"the extent to which a service meets customers’ needs or expectations† (Asubonteng et al., 65). A common definition is, â€Å"Service quality is the difference between customers’ expectations of service and perceived service† (Fitzsimmons and Mona 25). In order for this to be achieved, an analysis of the organisation using the SERVQUAL methodology is necessary. SERVQUAL methodology evaluates five dimensions of quality service delivery. They include reliability, assurance, empathy, tangibles, and res ponsiveness (Fitzsimmons and Mona 26). A gap analysis in service delivery is also important as it allows the identification of â€Å"causes of service quality shortfalls in each or all of the dimensions† (Fitzsimmons and Mona 28). A service quality gap analysis for Oman Insurance Company was carried out with the aim of establishing the quality of services offered by the company. An analysis of the five gaps identified followed with calculation of the weighted and un-weighted values of SERVIQUAL scores for each using the recommended formulae (Fitzsimmons and Mona 26). The data used in the calculations was obtained from the analysis of the responses from questionnaires issued to both the customers of the insurance company as well as the employees. The results showed a small but significant gap in service delivery for which recommendations were made on how to reduce it. This essay therefore discusses the procedure of analysing the gaps in service delivery in the company, the res ults of the analysis, and the recommendations towards improving quality service delivery at Oman Insurance Company.Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Service Quality Gaps The service quality concept constitutes about seven major gaps with three (Gap 1, Gap 5, and Gap 6) being important â€Å"since they have a direct relationship with customers† (Luk and Layton 113). Gap 1, which deals with customers’ expectations against management perception (Luk and Layton 114), was partially evaluated in the study. Gap 2 deals with management perceptions versus service specifications while Gap 3 comprises service specifications against the delivery of those services (Luk and Layton 115). The fourth gap is the difference in service delivery and external communication (Luk and Layton 114). Gap 5 highlights the difference between the perception of the customers of th e services delivered against their expectations of the services (Luk and Layton 114). This gap formed the main approach in the survey. Gap 6 focuses on the discrepancy between the expectations of the customers and the perceptions of the employees while Gap 7 highlights the discrepancy between the management and employees’ perceptions (Luk and Layton 114). These were evaluated using the questionnaire issued to the respondents for the study. Methodology The analysis of the service delivery quality was made using data obtained using a questionnaire. The questionnaire prepared constituted two parts, which evaluated customers’ expectations and opinions about insurance companies against their perceptions of service delivery at Oman Insurance Company. Confidentiality was guaranteed in the questionnaire by ensuring that there was no place for the respondents to fill in their personal details. Thus, their answers were anonymous. A score of 1 to 7 was assigned to the responses w ith 1 representing those who strongly disagreed with the quality and 7 representing those who strongly agreed with it. The five dimensions of SERVQUAL methodology, which evaluated the quality of service delivery, were assessed. These included reliability, assurance, empathy, tangibles, and responsiveness. The questionnaire was pretested before the start of the analysis that involved the use of 20 individuals with knowledge of the insurance company.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on Service Quality Gap: Oman Insurance Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The recommendations from the pre-test were then incorporated into the questionnaire with printing of the final drafts being made for issuing to the respondents. The questionnaire was issued to clients who received services from the major branches of the Insurance Company. Selection was randomly made. This means that the sample of people selected was representati ve of the actual number of people receiving services from the insurance company. The number of respondents was 200 clients. The survey was carried out over a period of five days. The results were then analysed with presentations being made from them. Appropriate conclusions were also made. The making of recommendations on how to improve service delivery at the firm followed. The recommendations were mainly addressed to the management of the company. Results Out of the 200 questionnaires prepared, three were not answered. The respondents did not fill two of them appropriately. As for the demographics, 146 respondents were male while the rest (54 respondents) were of the opposite sex. The ages of the respondents were varied with the most common age being above 40 years, which constituted 59% of the respondents. Most of the respondents also had a level of education above college level with most being undergraduates. The results of the five dimensions of SERVQUAL methodology are as foll ows: Tangibles The assessment of this factor of the company involved the assessment of customers’ perception of equipment, personnel appearance, and physical facilities in the company. The customers strongly agreed with the idea that an excellent insurance company should have modern looking equipment.Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The average score was higher than the perception of the same in Oman Insurance Company. They agreed, though not strongly, that Oman Insurance Company had modern looking equipment though this was below their expectations. As for the physical facilities, the customers also strongly agreed that these should be visually appealing, but their perceptions of the same at Oman Insurance Company fell below their expectations. The appearance of employees in Oman Insurance Company was as per the customer expectations. They therefore agreed strongly that they were neat. The average scores were, however, negative for the above factors. For an excellent insurance company, the customers agreed strongly that their materials such as pamphlets or statements should be visually appealing. Their perception of this in the Oman Insurance company fell below their expectation. Thus, the average score was negative for the company. In general, the average score for the tangibles in the Oman Insurance Company w as negative. The score was at -1.40. This represented the best score of all the five factors assessed on service delivery in the company. Reliability On reliability, the questionnaire assessed the ability of the company to perform the promised service dependably and accurately (Wisniewski, and Donnelly 359). In the first question on reliability in the questionnaire, the expectations of the customers on an excellent insurance company was high, as they strongly agreed that it should fulfil promises by the scheduled time. A number of respondents held the same sentiment about Oman Insurance Company with most of them strongly agreeing that the company fulfilled most of its promises to them on time. However, the average score was lower compared to their expectations. The quality of problem solving for an excellent insurance company also featured on reliability with most of the respondents claiming and agreeing strongly that such a company should show strong interest in solving its problem s. Against this expectation, the Oman Insurance Company scored lower in the degree to which this characteristic was true for the company. The company was scored as being good at listening and solving problems in the services it offered though this was inadequate time for most of the respondents. The performance of services for the first time by the company was also below the expectations of the customers, and so was record keeping in the company. The overall expectations of the customers on reliability received a strong agreement with a score of 6.06 with the company scoring 4.26 on perceptions on the same by their clients. This means that a gap of -1.70 existed in the company in the area of responsibility. This was the largest of all the areas. Responsiveness The assessment of responsibility was done by using questions, which focused on the â€Å"willingness to help customers and or provide prompt service† (Dick 28). In the first one, customers strongly agreed that adequate information should be given to them in the case of an excellent insurance company regarding when the services would be performed. This was against a poor perception of the same in the Oman Insurance Company, which though above average, customers perceived that the services were not as good as their expectations of an excellent insurance company. The employees were also a little less willing to help them as compared to their expectations of an ideal insurance company. This situation elicited a negative score. The employees of the company also received a lower rating in their ability to attend to their clients compared to an ideal insurance company. Employees of an excellent insurance company were expected never to be too busy to respond to customers’ requests. The respondents agreed strongly to this opinion. Oman Insurance Company, on the other hand, received lower scores in this aspect of service delivery making the overall score negative. The responsiveness gap score for the company was at -1.69. Assurance The perception of assurance for the Oman Insurance company was weighed against the expectations for an excellent company in the same field. This involved evaluation of â€Å"Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence† (Valarie, Parasuraman, and Leonard 39). It included factors such as competence, credibility, security, and courtesy (Dick 28). In the evaluation of employee behaviour, customers strongly agreed that, for an excellent insurance company, this should instil confidence in customers. In comparison to this case, the company received lower scores on the same with a negative score being obtained. The customers also strongly agreed that employees of an excellent insurance company should be consistently courteous with customers. They felt that this was slightly poor in the Oman Insurance Company with a negative score being obtained. The knowledge of employees in the insurance company was assessed in this section of the questionnaire with customers being asked if it was adequate to answer their questions. They strongly agreed that, for an excellent insurance company, employees should have knowledge to answer their questions. Their perception of this in the Oman Insurance Company was lower thus earning it a negative gap score. The overall gap score in this category was -1.55. Empathy Empathy is the last dimension assessed in the SERVEQUAL instrument. It involves assessing the â€Å"Care and individualised attention that the firm provides to its customers† (Wisniewski and Donnelly 363). Constituents include communication, accessibility, and understanding of the customer (Wisniewski, and Donnelly 363). Oman Insurance company customers strongly agreed that the organisation offers them individualised attention. However, this perception of customers was not as good as what they expected from an excellent insurance company. They strongly agreed that an excellent company shoul d offer individualised attention to the clients’ needs. The resulting gap score was negative for the company. The operating hours for an excellent insurance company should be convenient to all customers. They strongly agreed with this opinion. The company also received a negative score in this suggestion since most of the customers perceived the company as not offering convenient hours compared to an ideal company. The employees were also described as giving special attention to each customer. Again, this was below their expectations of an ideal company. Upon evaluation, they had customers’ interest at heart since the score was the same both for the Oman Insurance Company and for an excellent insurance company. Customers responded that employees of Oman Insurance Company understood their specific needs though their score was below that of an excellent insurance company with the overall score being negative. This dimension of the SERVEQUAL instrument received a negative score, which was at -1.52. Discussion The results of the survey found an existing gap in service delivery at Oman Insurance Company. The Gap scores were -1.40 for tangibles, -1.70 for reliability, -1.69 for responsiveness, -1.55 for Assurance, and -1.52 for Empathy. The un-weighted and weighted averages for all the dimensions were later calculated and presented in the table below. Dimension Expectations Perceptions Gap scores Weightings Weighted average Tangibles 5.66 4.26 -1.40 19.8 -0.28 Reliability 6.06 4.36 -1.70 29.6 -0.5 Responsiveness 5.74 4.05 -1.69 19.9 -0.34 Assurance 6.13 4.58 -1.55 15.2 -0.24 Empathy 5.97 4.45 -1.52 15.7 -0.24 From the table, the average of the Weighted SERVQUAL score was -1.6 Conclusion Therefore, based on the above expositions, it suffices to declare the evaluation of service delivery in a company a crucial exercise that comes in handy to direct any changes that should be instituted in the company. The paper has used Oman Insurance Com pany as a case example to demonstrate the role of assessment of the quality of service delivery in the company. In the analysis of service delivery for Oman Insurance Company, various aspects of the company were compared against an ideal insurance company. A questionnaire was the tool of choice for this task with respondents being the clients of the company. The results highlighted an existent service delivery gap in the company. The company should use the results of this survey to alter its services in a bid to ensure that the gap is closed and the services delivered are up to the expectations of the customers. This outcome will go a long way in improving the performance of the company. Asubonteng, Patrick, Karl McCleary, and John Swan. SERVQUAL revisited: a critical review of service quality.Journal of Services Marketing 10. 6(2000): 62-81. Print. Dick, Schaaf. Keeping the Edge: Giving Customers the Service they demand. New York: Plume Penguin, 2006. Print. Fitzsimmons, James, an d Mona Fitzsimmons. Service management: operations, strategy, and information technology. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print. Luk, Sherriff, and Roger Layton. Perception Gaps in customer expectations: Managers versus service providers and customers. The Service Industries Journal 22.2(2002): 109-128. Print. Valarie, Zeithaml, Autor Parasuraman, and Berry Leonard. Delivering Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations. New York: Free Press, 2004. Print. Wisniewski, Michael, and Moris Donnelly. Measuring service quality in the public sector: the potential for SERVQUAL. Total Quality Management 7.4(2000): 357-365. Print.

History of Uganda Essay Essay Example

History of Uganda Essay Essay Example History of Uganda Essay Essay History of Uganda Essay Essay In the twelvemonth 1890 to 1926. the British authorities forged what is today the state called Uganda although they are non the initial integrity negotiants in the state. The derivation of the name Uganda was from the land of Buganda. This land encompasses the southern part which includes Kampala. its capital metropolis. Prior to the fusion of the state by the British. the state was under the control of the dynasty of the Bachwezi. These are the same people who had an influence upon Rwanda. the authorities of Tanzania every bit good as Congo in the period 1100 to 1600 AD ( Akallo A ; Alford 38-40 ) . Background Information about Uganda The state of Uganda is an East African landlocked state which takes its name from the land of the Buganda. This has the encompassing of the part in the southern portion of the state which incorporates Kampala. its capital metropolis. This East African state boundary lines Kenya. Sudan. DRC. Rwanda and Tanzania. It is land locked and its southern side is made up of Lake Victoria where the boundary lines to Kenya and Tanzania intersect ( White 1-6 ) . About the LRA The Lords Resistance Army is a guerilla ground forces of a sectarian type whose base is in the northern portion of Uganda. The LRA emerged out of the wreckage of the Uganda National Liberation Army in 1986. and settled down by Joseph Kony in early 1987. The activities of the group include armed rebellion directed to the Ugandan authorities doing it a major struggle in Africa as one of the longest-running struggles LRA was involved in perpetrating maltreatments every bit good as atrociousnesss of high magnitude runing from abduction. maiming. raping of the female. mass violent death of the civilians and largely the kids. The motion besides played a polar function in the destabilization of the northern part of Uganda runing from Sudan. which was their base. They besides congregated in an eastern part in Congo called Bunia. They made links with Army for Liberation of Rwanda. the ( ALIR ) among other Rebel groups ( White 1-6 ) . LRA came into being in 1987 for the intent of battle in the armed rebellion directed to the authorities of Uganda. This has been a major struggle in Africa. The leader of the group. Joseph Kony was in a place for self announcement as Gods spokesman every bit good as a Holy Spirit medium. Harmonizing to the belief of the Acholi. there is a possibility for diverse signifiers of manifestation by the Holy Spirit. This group holds to syncretic blend affecting the Christianity. the mysticism every bit good as Islam. the traditional faiths in Uganda every bit good as witchery. The claims of the group are the constitution of theocratic province whose footing is the Ten Commandments in line with the tradition of the Acholi. This group has been a focal point for accusals for the misdemeanor of human rights. This include actions of slaying. forcing of the kids to take portion in the violent belligerencies. their abduction and mutilation. sexual captivity of the kids every bit good as adult females The beginning and history of the LRA The ground forces is projected to incorporate two 1000 members working in northern parts of Uganda every bit good as southern portion of Sudan. The ground forces has been propped by the state of Sudan. Majority of its operations are based in the northern parts of Uganda although there is grounds of its operations in some parts in the DRC of Congo every bit good as Sudan ( Akallo A ; Alford 38-40 ) . Ideology of the LRA The LRA reportedly is responsible for the evocation of the patriotism of Acholi people on juncture. but bulk of the perceivers have a negative feeling with respect to the earnestness of their activities. The motivations behind the operations of the group are the overthrowing of the incumbent authorities of Uganda with the attendant replacing of the government that will follow with the execution of the Christianity trade name of the group. In frequent occasions. the group is involved in the snatch every bit good as the blackwash of the local civilians for the intent of the disheartenment of any foreign investing every bit good as the precipitation of the crisis in the authorities ( Akallo A ; Alford 38-40 ) . What the LRA have done The group terrorized the locals people. larceny from small towns. flaring huts. barbarous mutilation of the villagers. Slaughters and atrociousnesss took topographic point to people in many small towns. Majority of those people were displaced from their places and were forced by the fortunes to populate in the caps where life was suffering. The entree to nutrient every bit good as medical attention among other human necessities was hard to obtain. The group abducted vulnerable kids to do foot-soldiers this made them to give up their opportunities for schooling every bit good as the development of their societal lives. The kids were forced to kill people chiefly the villagers. their household members or even friends. LRA killed over 200 people and kidnapped at least 20 kids from small towns over a three-day period in the past 20yrs. So far. The LRA has abducted over 20. 000 kids. coercing male childs to contend as soldiers and misss to function as sex or labour slaves. ( United Nations ) How the LRA affected the people’s lives in Uganda Many people in Uganda lost their place and lives. Childs who were used to be child soldiers have been suffered in physical or emotional ways. LRA has been documented as holding abducted above 60 000 kids every bit good as young person in Uganda. In every three of the male stripling. one of them has been abducted. while in every 6 of the female stripling. one of them has been abducted. The immature adult females every bit good as the misss of the beginning of the Acholi every bit good as the Langi are used to execute some jobs while in imprisonment for the Rebels and their kidnappers. These include taking H2O. cookery. carrying of supplies. cleaning for the commanding officers of the ground forces. They besides played the functions of forced married womans to the group members and therefore the bulks were impregnated. Increasing HIV / AIDS rate The struggle of LRA has a great consequence on the kids due to intensifying incidences of premature sex. premature matrimonies. befoulments of great magnitudes. incidences of colza every bit good as sexual torment. In the extreme of these state of affairss the immature misss every bit good as adult females who are the victims of the abduction are made married womans to the Rebels. This has an deduction of exposure to HIV/AIDs. These immature adult females upon being rescued from the Rebels normally encounter hard life state of affairss taking to their engagement in harlotry. The same applies to those who have been displaced and fall back to populate in cantonments. This has besides contributed to intensifying instances of HIV/AIDs. This state of affairs is common ion the northern part of Uganda ( Gatwech 23-43 ) . Uganda has seen one of the most effectual national responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic on the African continent. Harmonizing to the Uganda Aids Commission. so far. around 130. 000 Ugandans are infected with the HIV virus every twelvemonth. Over 1. 000. 000 ( one million ) citizens in the state of Uganda is the existent estimation existing with HIV. 520. 000 of them being adult females while 110. 000 of them are kids ( Gatwech 23-43 ) . The lives of the ex-child soldiers were distorted by the effects of the engagement in the activities of the group. It was hard for the kids to travel back to schools. Majority of the were in a state of affairs that they needed some more opportunities in order to restart to normal life. This is because to the bulk abduction took topographic point at a phase that was early in life. The immature soldiers greatly fear to take engagement in retaliation every bit good as a opportunity of credence. Majority of the citizens consider these childs to be slayers but the fact is that they are normally really good people ( Gatwech 23-43 ) . Decision and solutions In decision. to work out this internal struggle. the authorities is duty edge to carry on the development every bit good as the execution of the most comprehensive scheme turn toing issue of security. human-centered action every bit good as political action. The ground forces should be reformed every bit good as re-oriented which is merely accomplishable through the proviso of a way responsible for the dialogue and let for the passage of the state to greater democracy. The life of the immature kids who took portion in the struggle is at hazard and the duty of their rehabilitation falls on the authorities. Akallo. Grace. A ; Alford. Deann. â€Å"Survived Hell† Ignite Your Faith Vol. 65 Issue 8. p38-40 2007. Gatwech. Shame. â€Å"More victims of LRA Rebels revealed in South Sudan† Sudan Tribune p23-43. 2009. White. C. Todd. â€Å"Uganda† Country Report p1-6. 6p. 2007

Communication Skills in the Construction Industry Assignment

Communication Skills in the Construction Industry - Assignment Example This paper shall likewise recommend that individual sites be treated as a separate business unit managed by a Project Manager. Site Managers or Project Managers should report directly to the project delivery Director to ensure that accountability and deliverables for each project are monitored more effectively. The changes shall also ensure that reporting lines and administrative responsibilities are delineated and established that will clear any ambiguities amongst the personnel at the construction site. A detailed task list on a per module basis during construction phases will make it possible to report a more accurate construction status. This strategy will also enable the project management group to monitor usage of materials and wastage. The foreman will report materials usage, completion status, and manpower consumption. Being informed of the exact construction status on a more regular basis, client expectation will be easier to manage. Determining the critical path will enable any site manager to determine the exact time for construction materials to be delivered. This will lessen the cost of warehousing and materials storage. Heavy equipment use will also be predictable which will lessen the rental cost and parking cost. As a predicate, the construction operation is normally conducted in this manner—during Fridays, foremen are mandated to report the status of the section they are supposed to complete for the week. On Saturdays, based on the report given by the foremen, a verification team inspects the completion stage or the status of each of the work order. On Sundays, the project leaders compare the completed work orders base on the project plan of the building. Base on the completion status, delivery of materials and heavy equipment rentals for the work order that is scheduled to be completed for the week are then reserved for the following week. If there is some misunderstanding with regards to the expectation and the work orders completed, r evision as well as the new instructions, the architects and engineers are called to provide more detailed instruction on the Monday-morning foreman’s meeting.

Law being ubiquitous in everyday life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Law being ubiquitous in everyday life - Essay Example As result, this faith on media is not as strong as it used to be and today's audience is not passive like past, but highly active and critical to media reports, treating it as 'one' of the sources in shaping their understanding of the legal system5. This essay will look at three different dimensions of legal consciousness and will argue that although law is often portrayed as a remote phenomenon, it is still ubiquitous in everyday life, however its presence varies from person to person according to his/her social background. The essay will also examine, how media dramatizes events, simplifies legal language and misreports legal information, selecting sensational news to increase profits. It will also argue that despite media's power and influence, personal experience of the legal system also creates knowledge of the legal system increasing public awareness. ... Law being ubiquitous in everyday life Some legal scholars see law as an important part of everyday life, whereas others assert its presence as marginal7. For years legal scholars examined subjective experiences and public perceptions of law to understand, how society forms an' internal' feature of social relations8 and to comprehend whether it is ubiquitous in social relations. Legal consciousness measures people's awareness and attitudes towards law and the legal system. Legal consciousness examines, what people 'do' and 'say9', how they engage, avoid, or resist the law. Ewick stated, that legal consciousness is shaped by "cultural schemas that define the pattern of social life10" facilitating our behaviour towards other members of society. The presence of law in everyday life and extend of legal consciousness varies and depend on person's race, education, background and experience of the legal system11. The individuals who encounter a greater personal experience are less likely to rely on media. The law is applicable in different ways and holds different meanings for people in a society as Ewick introduces three different forms of legal consciousness: before the law; with the law; and against the law12. 'Before the law', views law as an independent entity with fixed rules and procedures, but these procedures are removed from daily life affairs and are invoked only, when people turn for legal assistance13. The engagement 'with the law' states that law is perceived as a game, and law exists as a part of everyday life14. Under the 'against the law' framework states, that people resist the law, avoiding its presence in their daily activities and try to disobey wherever possible15. Thus individuals

Wine Shopper Essay Example for Free

Wine Shopper Essay In the early days of the Web, wine retailing looked like it could be very successful Internet business. Annual wine sales today in the United States run about $17 billion and worldwide about $100 billion. Some analysts have predicted that Internet sales could reach five-to-ten per cent of that market by 2005. In January 1995, a master sommelier named Peter Granoff partnered with computer expert Robert Olson to launch Virtual Vineyards, the first company to sell wine over website. Their goal was to give wine shoppers direct access to limited-production wines that are often available through most wine retail superstores. They focused on boutique wines for those who really cared about wines rather than marketing to occasional or new wine drinkers. They offered wines from the finest wineries, and screened them for quality. Their strategy was to expand slowly, working with wholesalers and retailers to enable them to sell wines eventually in many states. Virtual Vineyards provided additional value by offering information to educate buyers about each label for sale as well as Granoff’s testing chart and personal guarantee of each wine quality. The company obtained $20 million in funding. However, Virtual Vineyards had no licenses to make sales legally, so it paid high handling fees to wholesalers and retailers who acted as its fulfilment agents. The company had trouble aggregating orders in a meaningful way and had big empty trucks shipping orders all over the country. It also became embroiled in legal court battles because of its lack of licenses in some states. These high operating costs were passed on to consumers, and the company never attracted enough customers to become profitable. Virtual Vineyards initially looked like such a promising business that it inspired other competitors, including WineShopper, Wine. com, and eVineyard. Every new site serving the US had to address the 70year old and very convoluted three-tiered liquor and wine distribution system. When the 21st amendment ended Prohibition in the US in 1933, control over production, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages was left to the individual states. They independently developed or followed a three-tiered system for wine. The first tier is suppliers to each state (the producers and importers). Suppliers can only sell to the second tier, wholesalers, which in turn can only distribute to retailers, the third tier. Retailers, including bars, restaurants, hotels and liquor stores, are the only ones who legally can sell to the public. The system differs between each state, sometimes dramatically. Today 13 states prohibit direct interstate shipping of wine even to its own citizens who are outside their home state. The remaining states regulate importing and require permits. Some states allow wine sales in grocery stores, while others allow sales only in state-operated stores or in private liquor stores. Some prevent sales on certain holidays. Some states limit the amount an individual can purchase within any month or year. Several now prohibit sales via the Internet. Thus, each of the fifty states has its own laws and regulations governing the production, sale, distribution and delivery of wine as well as for tax collection from all three tiers. To control this, every state requires every company to have a state license for each of the three levels that company operates in. These intricate and arcane sets of laws were developed for bricks-and-mortar sales, not for the Internet. Copyright  © 2011 by SYSCON Page 2 Crack Case Those selling wines on the Internet have two choices-either work through bricks-and-mortar companies, paying all three levels a fee for each sale, a costly alternative, or develop their own computer systems to obtain their own licenses and maintain full compliance with all state laws and regulations. Such a system must support laws governing alcohol supplying, sales, distribution, and delivery in each state, linking and fully integrating the producers, wholesalers, and retailers-a very complicated requirement. Moreover, to develop one’s own system today, a company must use computers to maintain adequate legal and tax records for every tier in every state in which it operates. Other non-computer problems faced by Web-based wine sales include age verification. The purchaser or delivery recipient has to be age 21 or older, which means that someone of age has to be home to receive any delivery. Large numbers of consumers might use Wine sites to learn about and experiment with new wines, and if they like any, locate less expensive ways to purchase them. Given the legal complexities of wine retailing, orders could easily take weeks to be processed and delivered. One company that opted to build its own system to obtain its own licenses and control its own sales was WineShopper. com, founded in 1997 by Peter Sisson. He raised $46 million in venture capital from several investors including Amazon. com. He also had the support of Wine Spirits Wholesalers of America, a trade organization, and so he decided to sell exclusively from listings in the wholesalers’ databases. The wholesalers set the price. These wholesalers are not necessarily cheaper than specialty shops, but they claim they can deliver any bottle from anywhere in the world. The company’s goals were to sell any wine available to anyone, offering customers satisfaction and convenience. Sisson said he would be making products accessible in areas where they are not currently available, listing all wines available from all US wholesalers’ catalogues. (Over 250 wholesalers from 47 states, plus 550 wine producers, had already agreed to work with WineShopper). He decided to provide information and independent expertise on wine from such sources as Wine Spectator, Food Wine, and The Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine. He wanted his site to become the first destination for consumers seeking wine information on product. His plan included a distribution network that followed the three-tier system, and it would have its computer environment support the complex needs of the state laws and regulations. The WineShopper. com website was designed to look the same to customers from any location in the US while maintaining a separate computer backend system for each state where it executed a transaction. To support the unique legal requirements of each state, WineShopper used a massive database mapping mechanism that was capable of handling and codifying all of the laws in such a way that it could be mapped to a nine digit zip code based on shipping address. The laws are very complex and go way beyond just the state level. Even country and city laws within states can come into play, notes Dennis Riley, WineShopper’s director of information systems. The whole WineShopper system ran on Sun hardware and partially on Sun software, and it even included wide use of Sun’s Java programming language. Copyright  © 2011 by SYSCON Page 3 Crack Case WineShopper. com used a three-tiered IT infrastructure consisting of a front end of Web Servers, a middle layer of application servers, and backend database servers. The Web Servers directed order transactions placed by users over the Internet to the application servers running various applications, including an e-commerce storefront application cluster and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) application cluster. These application servers communicated with database servers. The ERP application cluster sent the order to the warehouse for fulfilment. To store all the data for so many different business rules and state regulations, WineShopper used Oracle databases and almost 1 terabyte of storage. The company maintained a separate database for the current inventory within each state as well as files for the prices in each state. The system was load balanced to maximize response time for WineShopper’s customers. The company had redundant backup systems to prevent any service interruption. The system was also designed for easy expansion when needed. â€Å"One of our biggest expenditures has been in multimillion –dollar technical development of compliance engines,† explained Suzanne Gannon, the director of public relations and corporate communications for WineShopper. The company was geographically distributed, with the production environment and main data center in Sunnyvale, California, the development and integration environment in San Francisco, and the warehouse in Napa, California, in the heart of California’s wine country. In addition to the challenge of handling unique state laws, the WineShopper.com system has trouble dealing with the legacy systems for inventory and products in distribution used by its wholesalers. The various wine wholesalers use different systems with different SKUs (stock-keeping unit identification numbers for items) so that there was no uniform costing structure that could be used by WineShopper and its distributors. WineShopper tried to develop a coding system to eliminate data inconsistencies and provide a single standard view of data concerning products in distribution Sun claimed that this convoluted three-tiered system was the most complicated Web site it had ever seen. WineShopper. com experienced many delays in going live and in expanding because of software problems, although it finally went live in California in April 2000 and in New York in July. By midAugust the site was also operating for Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin, and it had achieved regulatory approval in over 30 states. Its goal was to have a system running in the states that reached 70% of the US market by the December holiday season. However the company took long to go live, blaming its problem on software. It was spending so much money that in August 2000 it merged with Wine. com. Wine. com has been founded in 1995. It targeted knowledgeable wine drinkers who had both money and good credit records. It kept itself small, selling high-end wines, and focusing on the convenience of delivering wines rather than on offering the lowest price. However, it changed its target over time because of the growing competition from WineShopper with its high spending. Wine. com felt pushed to spend a lot of money and hire a large staff. In September 1999, with no money left, Virtual Vineyards purchased Wine. com’s name and domain name and changed it to Wine. com. The new Wine.com emphasized customer satisfaction and reliable delivery. By early 2000, this company had received another $92 million in investments. Copyright  © 2011 by SYSCON Page 4 Crack Case In early 2000, WineShopper and Wine. com were in stiff competition, spending a lot of money. In August 2000, they decided to end the competition and reduce the expenditures by merging. â€Å"We have very complementary strengths and assets and realized we could focus our resources on growing the wine market instead of fighting each other,† explained Sisson. â€Å"The new company used the Wine. com name and Web address. The two companies continued separate operations until the end of 2000, giving them time to merge their computer systems and concentrate on developing their Wine. com name. They estimated they were offering about 2000 wines, domestic and foreign, including both well-known and boutique wines as well as about 1000 old and rare wines. The company closed a key office in Fermont, California, and consolidated operations in Napa. The new website contained a great deal of wine information, including editorials, ratings and tasting notes from Wine Spectator. The new Wine. com was now considered the dominant force in the Internet wine business. In January 2001, Wine. com laid off 75 of its 310 employees, claiming the cuts reduced staff redundancy because of the merger. At that time, according to Granoff, sales were up 300 % in 2000, and they were selling in 40 states. In 1998, eVineyard was established with only $20 million of private equity. Its strategy was different; buy wine only when a customer ordered it, giving eVineyard only a virtual inventory. It ordered its goods from wholesalers, shipping them to customers either from its Portland, Oregon office or from small logistics centres established in states that required a physical location. Its strategy also included expanding one state at a time, obtaining retail licenses in each state. This process was often very slow; for example it took 10 months in New York. In some states such as New Jersey, the company could only obtain a license by purchasing an existing one. It was only able to sell the wines that its regional distributors handled. According to Brett Lauter, eVineyard’s chief marketing officer, the company served 77% of the premium wine drinking market when it was only operating in 27 states. In 2000, he estimated the company grew 1000% from its previous year and was selling now between $5million and $10 million annually. Lauter estimated that his competitor Wine. com was probably spending over $2million each month to stay in business. â€Å"It takes a lot of wine sales to make up for that burn rate,† he observed. In April 2001, Wine. com official announced the company might file for bankruptcy protection, and it announced a layoff of 160 of the remaining 235 employees, including Granoff and Sisson. eVineyard purchased Wine. com for $9 million, taking only its domain name and customer list. It did not assume any Wine. com’s $17 million debt, and it did not retain any of Wine. com’s 85 remaining employees. This left eVineyard (now called Wine. com) as the only major company in the Web-based wine retail business. Several industry analysts noted that while the others believed they could change the whole wine distribution system, eVineyard (now Wine. com) kept its cost low. â€Å"We didn’t spend money like drunken sailors,† said Michael Osborn, the founder and president of eVineyard. †We’re a retailer. Fundamental business principles apply. † Wine.com had over 400 employees, while we have 60 employees. They raised Copyright  © 2011 by SYSCON Page 5 Crack Case $200 million in venture capital, while we raised $35 million†. eVineyard also retained its own distribution system. Today, the whole wine market has changed, and Web-based wine merchants or entrepreneurs are facing other problems. Most of the money invested in wine Web sites was lost in the 2000-2002 stock market crash, and new dot-com investments will be difficult to find. Moreover, a number of Sonoma and Napa wineries are selling their own wines through their own internet sites. New e-commerce technology make selling wine on the Web more profitable than selling through traditional wholesaler-distribution channel. An online shopping cart appropriate for wine retailing, which used to cost $50000 to set up, now costs only about $1000. What will the future hold for Internet wine retailers? The Case questions you need to necessarily answer: ? Do you think WineShopper. coms business model was a difficult model to work with, and why? What management, organization, and technology issues contributed to this companys failure How important to eVineyards success to-date were the timing, management and strategy? How important was the role of technology? In your opinion, why was eVineyard the eventual winner in the race for online wine sales? ? Considering the factors that contributed to the success and failures of online wine retailing in the US, do you think wine retailing can succeed on Internet in current Indian scenario? Note: Please make reasonable assumptions wherever necessary. No clarifications will be provided. State any assumptions you make in the Case solution.

Things They Carried Essay: The Living Dead :: Things They Carried Essays

The Living Dead in The Things They Carried I have done things that I am not proud of and some things that will never be mentioned in public again. In everything that I did wrong I tried to justify or make it seem to be less of a negative act. Tim O'Brien does not do this in his short story named "The Man I Killed." O'Brien instead gives the young Vietnamese man a history, a present, and a whole life. He does this by creating an elaborate story of teenage love, family conflict, and personal pride. O'Brien was a solider in the Vietnam War, fighting against the communism. He has wrote the book The Things They Carried, about his personal experiences as a solider. The environment that he was in was one of constant death and unending turmoil. Most of the death he writes about was concerning his fellow comrades. After seeing all this and the needless deaths of Vietnam civilians it should harden the heart of a fighting man. O'Brien seems to be different he is still powerfully effected by the gunning down of this young man, who belonged to the communist group. The death of the Vietnamese solider lingers in O'Brien's mind for what seemed like an eternity to him. He vividly recalls the shape of his body noticing the most minuet details. The deceased boy was considered to be a dainty young man, clean fingernails, light freckles on his forehead and a frail and fragile figure. O'Brien uses great detail in describing the body after multiple bullet wounds. He explains how the left cheek is peeled back, that the spinal cord was open through his neck, and of all things a gold ring on his right hand the third finger down. The gold ring is the point which Tim forges a young lover for the young man. From the frail image of his body, O'Brien deems the departed as a scholar who was at school when he met his young love of seventeen years old. O'Brien considers her to have an admiration for the narrow waist and cowlick that rose on the back of his head. the young scholar was a mathematician and enjoyed school. This scholar was unable to defend himself and was constantly picked on by the school yard bullies. He would pray at night with his mother for an end of the war.

Marketing and Full-service Pet Salon

Chapters 1-3 1)The public is becoming more aware of how marketers’ activities affect the welfare of consumers and society. As a result, more firms are working to -create a responsible approach to developing long-term relationships with customers and society 2)A Junior marketing executive at MegaGrain Cereals suggests increasing the package size and price of its best-selling brand without increasing the amount of cereal inside the box. Her superior warns that this might be a bad idea because MegaGrains long-term survival, like most companies, depends on creating and maintaining satisfying exchange relationships 3)Which of the following statements about marketing environment forces is not correct? -They fluctuate slowly and thereby create threats to a firm’s marketing mix 4)Which of the following is not an example of the implementation of the marketing concept? -Burger King reduces the labor costs to produce its sausage-egg biscuits 5)Which one of the following statements by a company president best reflects the marketing concept? -We have organized out business to make certain that customers get what they want )Three basic forms that a product can take are -services, ideas, and goods 7)SunnyD is aimed at mothers with children under age 12. The mothers represent SunnyD’s -target market 8)Which of the following best describes the acceptance of the marketing concept by American organizations? -The marketing concept has yet to be fully accepted by all organizations 9)Greensprings Cemtery in upstate New York, Offers a full service funeral and burial that is non-toxic to the environment. All materials used in the burial are natural and will decompose with no negative impact†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. The owners of the Greensprings Cemeteries are apparently operating under which of the following orientations? -Marketing Orientation 10) Marketing knowledge and skills -enhance consumer awareness and help provide people with satisfying goods and services A change in the minimum drinking age in any given state illustrates a change in the _____________ for Miler Brewing. -Marketing environment 12)Paws and Claws Hotel is a full-service pet salon and boarding kennel. Paws and Claws has an interactive website where customers can directly booka grooming appointment, obedience class, or overnight accomodation for their dog and cat†¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Previously, Paws and Claws was most likely using which type of orientation? ?-sales 13)Which of the following is most likely to be an idea marketer? -abuse counselor 14)A physical product you can touch is a -good 15)Long-term relationships with profitable customers is the key objective of -customer relationship management 16)P aws and Claws Hotel is a full-service pet salon and boarding kennel. Paws and Claws has an interactive website where customers can directly booka grooming appointment, obedience class, or overnight accomodation for their dog and cat†¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦.. The fact that Paws and Claws is open 24 hours each day is part of which marketing mix variable? -distribution 17)Resource deployment and coordination of functional areas of business are determined by -corporate strategy 18)A firm’s unique symbols, personalities, and philosophies compromise its -corporate strategy 19)The Acme Corporation is expanding operations into countries outside the U. S. To improve local managers’ responsiveness to local conditions, Acme’s senior management has decided to delegate decision-making authority further down the chain of command. Acme is decentralizing 20)Electronic marketing has greatly improved the ability of marketers to target individual customers. As a result, ma ny fell that marketing’s emphasis is shifting from share of market to share of -? customer 21)A ________ is created when a company matches its core competency to opportunities it has discovered in the marketplace. -competitive advantage 22)Starbucks is presently involved in a process of assessing marketing opportunites and resources, determining marketing objectives, re-defining marketing strategies, and developing guidelines for implementation and control. Thus, Starbucks is involved in -marketing planning 23)According to the text, a market is defined as -a group of individuals and/or organizations that have needs for products in a product class and have the ability, willingness, and authority to purchase these products. 24)Borders Books uses technology to help them identify specific customers, establish interactive dialogues with them to learn about their needs, and combine this information with their purchase histories to customize products to meet those needs. Borders Books is using the ________ approach. customer relationship management ? 25)A competitive advantage exists when a -firm matches a core competence to opportunities it has discovered in the marketplace. 26)The marketing plan is -a written document detailing activities to be performed to implement and control marketing actions 27)EXperience Limited is a company which offers tours and vacations that include participation in an extreme sport, such as hang-gliding, bungee ju mping, skydiving, and motorcross. Adrian Moss†¦ The information in EXperience Limited’s database could be best used to develop a CRM program 28)Harley-Davidson’s Harley Owner’s Group (HOG) helps to foster strong relationships between riders and their motorcycles, giving it a ________ over other motorcycle manufacturers. -sustainable competitive edge 29)Which of the following is false with regard to customer lifetime value? -All customers have equal value to a firm 30)The Boston Consulting Group classifies products that have a dominant market share but low prospects for growth and that generate more cash than is required to maintain market share as -cash cows 31)A market opportunity results from the right combination of circumstances and timing that permit and organization to take action to reach a particular target market. EXperience Limited is a company which offers tours and vacations that include participation in an extreme sport, such as hang-gliding, b ungee jumping, skydiving, and motorcross. Adrian Moss†¦ According to the BCG matrix, the hang-gliding and bungee jumping tours have been a _________ for EXperience Limited, while the skydiving and motorcross tours represent a ________. -cash cow; questionmark†¦ ? or star 33)A new U. S. utomobile company, Specialty Motors, was established in 2004. In 2008, a recession caused disposable income to decline, and the annual amount of dollars spent by consumers dropped drastically. Specialty Motors faced a problem of trying to determine whether the economy would turn toward prosperity or toward depression. No matter what happend, Specialty Motors was also worried†¦.. The income a consumer would use to purchase a Specialty Motors automobile is considered _______ income. -discretionary ? 34)____________ competitors provide very different products that satisfy the same basic customer need. Generic 35)Marketers who attempt to influence and change the various environmental forces have a _________ response to these forces. -proactive 36)Which of the following is not a reason that marketers try to maintain good relations with political officials? -Political officials can accept direct corporate compaign contributions. 37)More than half of the research of technology created is paid for by -the federal government 38)Meyer’s Sporting Goods, a national chain, has been doing business with Soljur Sports†¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦. Where should he file a complaint? -Better Business Bureau? g 79 39)The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America sets guidelines for its member firms to follow regarding the use of unethical practices. Thus, it is engaging in -self-regulation 40))Meyer’s Sporting Goods, a national chain, has been doing business with Soljur Sports†¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ What action should the BBB take against Meyers if the complaint was substained and Meyers did not change the offending practice? -Issue a warning to consumers t hrough the local newspaper 41)Which of the following industries is most commonly regulated by state regulatory agencies? Utility companies 42)Why are marketers interested in consumers’ levels of disposable income? -It is a ready source of buying power 43)Consumers begin to become more price and calue conscious during periods of -recession 44)One way for corporations to attempt to influence the political environment is through -contributions to poilitical action committees 45)Marketers primarily focus their environmental analysis on ____ competitors. -brand 46)Which of the following are the most frequently sentenced organizational crimes? -fraud and antitrust violations 7)Companies that compete for the same limited financial resources of the same customers are known as _________ competitors. -total budget 48)When a firm has many potential competitors and tries to develop a marketing strategy to differentiate its porducts from the competitors’ products, a ___________ str ucture exists in the competitive environment. -monopolistic competition 49)The best approach for a company to take when monitoring its competitors is -developing a system for gathering ongoing information about competitors. 50)The amount of money received through wages, rents, investments, pensions, and subsidies is called -income

Respose to “He-y, Come on Ou-t!” by Shinichi Hoshi Essay

What would a life be without sunshine or moonlight, without the sound of the wind rushing through the trees, the smell of crisp autumn air, or without the feel of dewy grass brushing our feet? Our environment gives us a source of peace, happiness and relaxation. But what about a life filled with ringing cell phones, angry bosses, tight deadlines and traffic jams? Living with these aggravations causes us stress, anger and chaos, but what are the benefits? Oh, but of course! How could I forget about money! People will go to any lengths for prosperity, even as far as destroying our precious environment. Shinichi Hoshi demonstrates this mania in his short story â€Å"He-y, Come on Ou-t!†. Upon the discovery of the infinite hole, we are first introduced to man’s willingness to sacrifice the Earth’s well-being. A concessionaire claims the hole with a profitable plot in mind and launches a vigorous campaign. â€Å"We’ve got a fabulously deep hole! Scientists say it’s at least five thousand meters deep! Perfect for the disposal of such things as waste from nuclear reactors!† (154), he chanted. Since it’s not environmentally safe to dispose of nuclear waste above ground, it must be perfectly harmless to put it in ground, right? I’d hoped that the villagers would object to this ridiculous arrangement, and they did. They balked at the idea until â€Å"it was explained that there would be absolutely no above-ground contamination for several thousand years and that they would share in the profits. Into the bargain, a magnificent road was built from the city to the village† (154). I am sadly disappointed in you, villagers. You are all in the mindset of â€Å"Oh, it won’t affect us for awhile, plus we’re getting money and a new road! What could be wrong with that?† Has it not occurred to you that even though you are benefiting from this proposal, that it might be causing harm elsewhere, in serious areas such as the environment? Of course not! As human beings we â€Å"dislike thinking about the eventual consequences† (155) and are extremely ambitious, therefore being much too preoccupied with our thoughts of success and growth. Our society has become so preoccupied with visions of wealth and expansion that we’ve failed to notice the state of our weakening environment. We are â€Å"concentrating solely on producing one thing after another† (155), no matter  the price the Earth is forced to pay. I have a hard time to believe that such an intelligent species could be so horribly ignorant about such a matter. Although some are aware of the way we are wrecking havoc against our planet, so little being done to protect our earth. We all need to realize that all of our selfish and inconsiderate deeds that we are pressing upon our planet will be back to haunt us. We are sitting in the driver’s seat, chattering away on our cell phones, too engrossed to spot the danger. In the blink of an eye we see the impending collision, but it’s too late. We are all so absorbed with dollar signs that we can’t appreciate Mother Earth’s true value. â€Å"The man, however, was gazing in id le reverie at the city’s skyline growing ever more beautiful, and he failed to notice† (155).

Criteria for Judging a Research Study †International Business (300 Level Course)

Criteria for Judging a Research Study – International Business (300 Level Course) Free Online Research Papers Criteria for Judging a Research Study International Business (300 Level Course) The article â€Å"Investigating the impact of international cosmetics advertising in China† is written by Bradley R. Barnes, who researches and lectures in marketing at Leeds University Business School, Philip J. Kitchen, who holds the Chair in Strategic Marketing and founded and directed the Executive MBA programme, and Graham Spickett-Jones, who is a lecturer in Marketing at Hull University Business School, and Qionglei Yu, who is Lecturer in marketing at the Hangzhou University of Commerce, China. The article is described in the International Journal of Advertising, 23, pp. 361-387, 2004 Advertising Association and published by the World Advertising Research Center. 1.Review of previous research 44 references from 1970 to 2001 are used for this article. The authors review these references and describe where these data or words come from. They research many literatures not only the field of Marketing of China but also the culture and history of China. In addition, among the authors, the expert in Marketing of China is included. Therefore, I think that their information of the previous research is enough. 2.Statement of the research problem and the purpose of the study They describe clearly their statement of the problem. Their purpose is Chinese women’s perception of international advertising from a Chinese cultural context. Currently, there is a crossroad between old customs and modern thinking in China. Chinese women experience a mixture of traditional culture and modern-world tendencies. On the other hand, they obtain great pleasure form the new power to make decisions regarding their appearance and status quo. The author says that although many experts researched and described about Chinese women’s perception, the contexts are somewhat scant and little has been concluded. That is the reason why they decided to do more researches. Their study is explanatory style and I can not see any predictive style and hypotheses in the article. 3.Description of the research procedures They describe clearly how the study was conducted. Firstly, they describe the background of Chinese people. For example, according to the article â€Å"Chinese people have a strong belief in a certain stereotypical model of the typical woman, and this accepted by the public.† â€Å"They experience great anxiety and a pressure to maintain the status quo (Afshar 1991).† Next, they describe literature review: factors influencing cosmetic advertising decisions in China. In this section, they explain what kind of advertising is effective approach. For example, international advertising approach which is used for all markets, localized approach which is changed by the area, or combination approach. Company should translate their original brand name into Chinese name or not because according this article, â€Å"China has a distinctive language and easy-to-pronounce and meaningful names are important for the initial stage in generating customer attention.† For example, C oca-Cola was translated into a Chinese name to get the attention of Chinese customer, which had the meaning of â€Å"tasty and happy† even though there is a little different form the meaning of the origin name. Third, they research the effective of back music. Fourth, they research the range of age of customers who are interested in the cosmetic. They limit the range of age from 20 to 35. Fifth, they research by using a questionnaire and break down it to six parts: Table 1 ‘Demographic†, Table 2 â€Å"Reference of brand name†, Table 3 â€Å"Reference for music and model’s ethnic origin†, Table 4 â€Å"Individual and reference groups†, Table 5 â€Å"Relationship appeal in advertisement† and Table 6 â€Å"Levels of influence associate with various media source.† Finally, they describe the result from their researches. 4.Flaws in procedural design First, although their research is clear and enough the purpose and procedure, their conclusion is ambiguous because the result of their data is ambiguous. Most data locate neutral which means that the participants answered ambiguously. Ambiguous answer is not always accurate. If they want to dodge their answer or do not have any idea, they would answer neutral position. I think that although Chinese people desire to change, they can not change back stage. Therefore, they can not answer clearly by nature characteristic. Finally, in this research, they could not describe their results strongly. In addition, they do not research by predictive style. If potential companies create advertising to sell something, the most necessary data would be future’s trend. Second, why their research limited from the age 20 to 35? When I asked my Chinese friends, they answered that the Chinese women of high class, who are the age from 40 to 60, also make up and also the Chinese women of all ages are interested in the base cosmetic and take care their face. My opinion is that they should create a questionnaire which has just three categories: Unimportant, Very important or no idea to Chinese people. If they do, they would be able to get clearer result than this research. In addition, they should expand the range of age. Cosmetic products include base goods which are lotion, milky lotion, massage cream etc. There products would be used by wider range Chinese women than that of this research. 5.Analysis of data After they gathered their questionnaire, they organize to six tables and one graph. Then they describe the result of their research obediently. 6.Results and discussion Finally they describe six results. First, the target of the range of age is from 20 -35 because they researched that the women are affected by the cosmetic advertising. Second, level of importance with language and the brand results ‘neutral’ opinion 43%. Therefore, they conclude that none of the respondents had a strong preference for the translation of international brand names into mandarin. Third, according to the preference for music, the number of respondents with a preference for either Western or Oriental models in cosmetics advertisements also express a ‘neutral’ attitude 43%. As a result of the findings, music is not considered critically important to Chinese female consumers. That means that they do not need to change or compose a new piece of music adjusted to Chinese tastes. (P378) Fourth, Chinese women are very sensitive when they evaluate cosmetic products because cosmetic products related to the issue of health and beauty. Therefore, Chinese women need Friends or opinions of specialists when they select their cosmetic products. Fifth, the result of the relationship appeal in advertisements is that the boyfriend/girlfriend or sister/sister relationship is most positive. Next, according to Saywell’s research, Mother/daughter relationship or husband/wife relationship is less attractive because these relationships are traditional types of relationship. As Chinese women desire new something, this research strongly express the present Chinese women. 7.References Current China change greatly. So, even though these references are relatively new, I can not say the references are complete. In addition, even this article may not be competing because Chinese economy progress rapidly. Some of the most important reference sources in the field is 8.Researcher reputation 9.General comments about the report It is clearly written an understandable. The strength is that the researchers are experts in Marketing and they have much information and knowledge. In addition, a Chinese expert of this field is included as a writer of this article. The weaknesses of the research are the only one woman researcher and only she is Chinese. Other researchers who have authority are men and not Chinese. My opinion is that they should have described more detail background about the interest of Chinese women in the cosmetic products. In addition, As China culture is high-context culture; they should have devised their questionnaire style. Research Papers on Criteria for Judging a Research Study - International Business (300 Level Course)Analysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaDefinition of Export QuotasInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesResearch Process Part OneAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenMind TravelThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseWhere Wild and West MeetHip-Hop is Art