Online Reservation and Ordering System

Section I INTRODUCTION Clothes are the things that have the attributes of color, size, pattern and cut. They are usually comfortable to wear. Clothes are usually being shopped in malls, boutiques and tiangge. An online shopping is an electronic shopping of products that are available online through internet. Clothing is one of the basic needs for humans of all ages. They bring with them the feeling of comfort. This is also a way for you to express your personality and emotions. Thus clothing is important to human existence. Since it is the time of new millennium malls have faced the increasing needs to adapt and sustain the needs of man. By means of the internet, shoppers can now browse the available items on the web. Online shopping has been dominant in every corner of life. This could help the customers buy the product they want, when they want in the convenience of their own time. For some, shopping can be associated with their identity. Most of the middle to high class society shop online for their own convenience. One of the marketing strategies that Online Reservation and Ordering System should have is to make sure of the products availability. They also provide wider area for shoppers. Thus encouraging the customers to visit and patronize the store. The purpose of proposing this Online Reservation and Ordering System is to help Salad Dressing in gaining more income and publicity. Purpose of Project Plan This study aims to design and develop the Online Reservation and Ordering System for Salad Dressing Iloilo Branch. This would benefit the boutique since it will be one of the ways that the shop would gain profit. The proposed system will help Salad Dressing Iloilo Branch by providing: 1. Less time in purchasing an item and no need for a personal transaction. 2. Customers can now view all the available products since browsing the website would be in their own convenience. . The boutique would be more exposed to the majority of the public since the proposed system will be online. Project Scope and Objectives The project scope covers the online reservation and ordering of available items. Customers can reserve or order the products they want. They can also pay their bills online because of the accessible mode of payments which is by the use of credit cards. Customers can also browse the website and be updated on the latest products that are available in the boutique. The supervisor or the cashier will be the one who will update the product list on the website. The project team’s main objective is to develop an online reservation and ordering system for Salad Dressing. The system has a web administrator account which can access the content of the system and manage the updates of the product list on the web. Only the supervisor or the cashier can access the said account. This system was proposed to help Salad Dressing Iloilo Branch only. Other than the above mentioned are not part of . researcher study. Major Functions Online Reservation and Ordering System is a way for the customers to browse or access the items available in the boutique. This is made easy by the use of the internet. Our system would have the following functions: †¢ Browse Product Availability With the use of the system, customers can browse or search available products on the boutique. †¢ Products can be Reserved/Ordered Using this system, it would be hassle free for the customers to buy the product online since it will take less time and they can do it without personal transaction. †¢ Easy Mode of Payment The customers can pay their due amount through credit cards. †¢ Updates the Latest Trend Since this will be online the customer knows the latest products that were available. †¢ Printing of Reports Data retrieval would be more convenient and time saving. Performance Issues The store where the project team conducts the study has problems with the availability of a certain product that the customer needs for an occasion. Since the boutique is not that popular to the public because of their limited publicity. To prevent this incident, the project team proposed an Online Reservation and Ordering System. With the use of this system it would be more convenient for the customer to check on the products availability and reserve a product that he/she needs. This system will also help in their publicity as well.

Age discrimination

Gus Atavist and the other candidates that were over the age of 40 were not consider for the new positions, therefore, showing that these antedates were being age discriminated against (He-man, Judge, Icemaker- Mueller, 2012). EPIC did not follow protocol on the listing the new position, interviewing or selecting the employees for the new CSS positions. EPIC did not post the position with the Job descriptions, therefore, not allowing candidates to know what the duties of the new positions were or allowing them to figure out if they met the qualification of the Job.In the past Gus has always received outstanding remarks on his appraisals, therefore, should be consider for the new CSS position. He was overlooked because they stated that he lacked technical and communication skills that are needed for the position. However, there was not any written comments or suggestion in his personnel file that stated that he lacked technical or communication skills. Thus, there was no documentation of why he did not receive the position.Past appraisals and personnel files of the candidates were not used until after the candidates were given the Job, therefore, the senior vice president of corporate claims (SPEC) and managers of corporate claims (MAC) did not know what the work ethics, skills and communication of the candidates were. The vice president of regional claims was not allowed to give any input on any of the candidates that worked under him. Thus, the candidates were not selected based on their qualifications or communication skills (He-man, Judge, Icemaker-Mueller, 2012).The SPEC and the MAC took the list of the candidates, discussed the candidate with each other and evaluated them. The candidates were never evaluated based on qualifications technical or communication skills because the personnel files, appraisals and the input of the VRRP or human resources were never used. Job description was not posted or wrote up to describe the details of the positions, therefor e, the SPEC and the MAC could not evaluate if the candidates were qualified for the Job. However, the only candidates that were offered position were the young candidates.These candidates did not have more skills, education, and qualification than the other candidates because the SPEC and the MAC did not follow human resource protocol (He-man, Judge, Icemaker-Mueller, 2012). Age discrimination involves treating a person/candidate unfavorable because of his or her age. For an example, not hiring or promoting a candidate because of their age (Sheen & Klein, 2001). Thus, the only conclusion is that Gus and the other candidates who are over the age of 40 were discriminated against because of their age.Rebuttal from the Viewpoint of EPIC Best Protection Insurance Company is in the process of restructuring. They have to eliminate regional center manager positions, however, they are increasing five new corporate claims specialist positions. Unfortunately, there are more position that are b eing eliminated than they are creating. Therefore, the ARC have to apply for the ewe positions if they want to stay with the organization. The SPEC and the MAC reviewed all the candidates. They looked at all the candidates' qualification, technical and communication skills.They selected those candidates who was the best candidates for the CSS positions and best for the organization to grow into the future. The personnel files, appraisals and the input from the VRRP were not needed in the first phase of promoting. The decision was made based on the experience that the SPEC and the MAC has working with the candidates. Based on the decisions the five candidates were offered the positions. After, the candidates were offered the positions the SPEC and the MAC did review the personnel files and the appraisals to make sure there was not discrepancy.Unfortunately, Gus Atavist and the other candidates were not the best candidates for the position. Gus lacks the technical and communication sk ills that EPIC need to grow into the future. Gus and the other candidates were not discriminated because of their age. Thus, their age was never consider or evaluated during the entire process. If they did meet the requirements their age could have been an added value because of their experience. The CSS position is an established position within the EPIC Company.Therefore, EPIC did not write a new Job description and qualification, since the positions was already created. The company is not creating a new Job, new Job description and new job qualifications. They are Just increasing the amount of CSS that they already have, therefore, a new Job description is not needed. Thus, the reason that the position was not posted, Job duties described and qualifications (He-man, Judge, Icemaker- EPIC is an equal employment opportunity employer and they do not discriminate against race, sex, or any other characteristics.The company has not been accused of discrimination until now when not all the candidates did not receive the promotion to the CSS position. Gus Atavist and other candidates that were not chosen could not give examples of the younger employees being favored over them before in the past. Thus, EPIC does not discriminated against anyone, the only reason that age discrimination is being brought up is because Gus and the other candidates were not qualified and did not receive the promotion (Age Discrimination, 2014).In conclusion, the candidates were reviewed and evaluated based on their lubrication, technical and communication skills. The SPEC and the MAC did their evaluation based on the past work experience. After the selection the personnel files and appraisal were review to make sure the candidates were the best candidates. Unfortunately, there was only five positions that were added and some employees were going to have lose their positions. Gus Atavist and the other candidates were not discriminated because of their age. They were not selected because t hey did not meet the requirements for the position. Age discrimination Gus Atavist and the other candidates that were over the age of 40 were not consider for the new positions, therefore, showing that these antedates were being age discriminated against (He-man, Judge, Icemaker- Mueller, 2012). EPIC did not follow protocol on the listing the new position, interviewing or selecting the employees for the new CSS positions. EPIC did not post the position with the Job descriptions, therefore, not allowing candidates to know what the duties of the new positions were or allowing them to figure out if they met the qualification of the Job.In the past Gus has always received outstanding remarks on his appraisals, therefore, should be consider for the new CSS position. He was overlooked because they stated that he lacked technical and communication skills that are needed for the position. However, there was not any written comments or suggestion in his personnel file that stated that he lacked technical or communication skills. Thus, there was no documentation of why he did not receive the position.Past appraisals and personnel files of the candidates were not used until after the candidates were given the Job, therefore, the senior vice president of corporate claims (SPEC) and managers of corporate claims (MAC) did not know what the work ethics, skills and communication of the candidates were. The vice president of regional claims was not allowed to give any input on any of the candidates that worked under him. Thus, the candidates were not selected based on their qualifications or communication skills (He-man, Judge, Icemaker-Mueller, 2012).The SPEC and the MAC took the list of the candidates, discussed the candidate with each other and evaluated them. The candidates were never evaluated based on qualifications technical or communication skills because the personnel files, appraisals and the input of the VRRP or human resources were never used. Job description was not posted or wrote up to describe the details of the positions, therefor e, the SPEC and the MAC could not evaluate if the candidates were qualified for the Job. However, the only candidates that were offered position were the young candidates.These candidates did not have more skills, education, and qualification than the other candidates because the SPEC and the MAC did not follow human resource protocol (He-man, Judge, Icemaker-Mueller, 2012). Age discrimination involves treating a person/candidate unfavorable because of his or her age. For an example, not hiring or promoting a candidate because of their age (Sheen & Klein, 2001). Thus, the only conclusion is that Gus and the other candidates who are over the age of 40 were discriminated against because of their age.Rebuttal from the Viewpoint of EPIC Best Protection Insurance Company is in the process of restructuring. They have to eliminate regional center manager positions, however, they are increasing five new corporate claims specialist positions. Unfortunately, there are more position that are b eing eliminated than they are creating. Therefore, the ARC have to apply for the ewe positions if they want to stay with the organization. The SPEC and the MAC reviewed all the candidates. They looked at all the candidates' qualification, technical and communication skills.They selected those candidates who was the best candidates for the CSS positions and best for the organization to grow into the future. The personnel files, appraisals and the input from the VRRP were not needed in the first phase of promoting. The decision was made based on the experience that the SPEC and the MAC has working with the candidates. Based on the decisions the five candidates were offered the positions. After, the candidates were offered the positions the SPEC and the MAC did review the personnel files and the appraisals to make sure there was not discrepancy.Unfortunately, Gus Atavist and the other candidates were not the best candidates for the position. Gus lacks the technical and communication sk ills that EPIC need to grow into the future. Gus and the other candidates were not discriminated because of their age. Thus, their age was never consider or evaluated during the entire process. If they did meet the requirements their age could have been an added value because of their experience. The CSS position is an established position within the EPIC Company.Therefore, EPIC did not write a new Job description and qualification, since the positions was already created. The company is not creating a new Job, new Job description and new job qualifications. They are Just increasing the amount of CSS that they already have, therefore, a new Job description is not needed. Thus, the reason that the position was not posted, Job duties described and qualifications (He-man, Judge, Icemaker- EPIC is an equal employment opportunity employer and they do not discriminate against race, sex, or any other characteristics.The company has not been accused of discrimination until now when not all the candidates did not receive the promotion to the CSS position. Gus Atavist and other candidates that were not chosen could not give examples of the younger employees being favored over them before in the past. Thus, EPIC does not discriminated against anyone, the only reason that age discrimination is being brought up is because Gus and the other candidates were not qualified and did not receive the promotion (Age Discrimination, 2014).In conclusion, the candidates were reviewed and evaluated based on their lubrication, technical and communication skills. The SPEC and the MAC did their evaluation based on the past work experience. After the selection the personnel files and appraisal were review to make sure the candidates were the best candidates. Unfortunately, there was only five positions that were added and some employees were going to have lose their positions. Gus Atavist and the other candidates were not discriminated because of their age. They were not selected because t hey did not meet the requirements for the position.

Professional Career Action Plan Essay

When I first started out going to school after college I thought that I wanted to be a teacher and so right after high school I started going to school to be an elementary teacher. I quit school because I wanted to move out of my parent’s house and be on my own so I got a full time job. After I moved and got stable I went back to get my early elementary degree. After about a year and a half I got pregnant and had my son and couldn’t go to class in the morning after being up all night with a toddler and then to work so I quit school again until my son got older. My son was able to start school when he was two so I decided to go back to school and get my educational degree. As I was going to school I was also volunteering at my son’s school and that is when I decided I really didn’t want to be a teacher and I was undecided what I wanted to do and I knew I was wasting my money and time going to school so I quit once again. I got a job at a temp agency working for the temp sending people on assignments and after a year the company decided they were going to close the company in my location but my supervisor got me a job at Advanced Radiology Services doing data entry putting in codes in the system. After a few years I realized that I really like being in the health care field and wanted a career in it and I tried to move up doing different jobs in the field but I realized that in order to really move up and eventually become a director I would need a degree so I decided to get my degree in Healthcare Management so I went back to school, this time determined to make it work. My Job in the Health Care sector In the health care sector my career job is to be the Director of the billing department of a health care facility. As a director my job would be to work with a team or staff to establish and maintain the skills which are necessary for the facility. I would need to display a personal commitment and courage and in doing that I will be keeping the staff working as a team. I would be developing as well as improve the performance of myself as well as my staff and I will need to do this through training, coaching and feedback. In order to achieve this I would have to further my education by obtaining a baccalaureate degree in a health related area and have experience in an allied health field. (eHow 2013) I have worked in the health care field for over ten years and have done billing front end and  back end, customer service, demographic edits, payment poster, and issue refunds. I have also trained new and current employees and served as a lead. I also have my schooling that can qualify me for the director position. Although I have all of this I feel I would still need to get certified in and get my dual certificate in CPAT and CCAT and what this is the CPAT is designed for people who work on the hospital side of patient accounting and the CCAT is for people who work on the clinical/physician side. Having this certification will help keep me in pace with the industry and also will allow me to gain recognition by the industry by letting me get the job or a promotion that I would want. (illinoisaaham 2013) I also would need to get a Master’s degree in a health management related field. I feel that I need this degree so I can learn more on being a director and learn more on directing a facility. Achieving my professional Goal The steps that I will need to do in order to achieve my professional goal are to continue to go to school and receive my master’s degree in Master of Health Administration with a Concentration in Sustainability Management. Obtaining this degree I feel will be a benefit for me in my role as Director. I also plan on taking getting my certification in CCAT and CPAT. I also feel that before I can achieve this I will need to be a supervisor and manager for a few years so I can have a better understanding of leadership roles. Being a supervisor is the start of being a manager and then a director those are the steps that I will have to take in order to achieve my goal of being a Director. I am now employed at Spectrum Health Hospital and I feel that I can go far in this organization and eventually be a director for this organization. This organization will help me get the certification that is need because it is something that they off and also will allow me to go to school and furth er my education. If I get the certification and the degree that is required then I will be able to get a job as a director at any health care facility or organization. With the career action plan that I have done I feel this will help keep me grounded and on track with the steps I need to obtain in order to achieve my goal. Completing a goal maybe harder than it seems but if you have steps in place that will help keep you focused you can get through your goal and you will want to achieve higher goals in the process. This is a step by step process  and may not happen overnight but with dedication and hard work you can successfully complete the goal you set out to achieve. References American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management AAHAM Retrieved from http://www.aaham.org/Certification/CPATCCAT/tabid/90/Default.aspx CPAT/CCAT Frequently Asked Questions Retrieved from http://www.illinoisaaham.com/images/Technical_Certification_FAQs.pdf Edwards T, Job Description of a Health Director eHow Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/about_5347304_job-description-health-director.html Setting goals and objectives Retrieved from http://www.time-management-guide.com/goals-and-objectives.html

Report on the company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Report on the company - Essay Example By the very essence of its existence, the Coca-Cola Company definitely has stakeholders. This paper will analyse the stakeholders of the Coca-Cola Company and how they are affected by the company as well as how they affect the organization. The Coca-Cola Company is an American company that has its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America. The company was established in 1886 by John Pemberton and Asa Griggs Candler (Coca-Cola 2014). The company has a presence in many countries, estimated to be over 200, including the U.S., Britain, Canada, South Africa, Kenya, among numerous other countries. By the fact of its presence in several countries, the company is a multi-national. The business entity is a public limited liability company and has its shares traded in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The company has well over 500 brands to its name, its main brand being the Coca-Cola drink (or simply, Coke) (Coca-Cola 2014). The company makes, sells, and distributes soft drinks including Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Minute Maid Juices, Dasani mineral water, orange juice, and different brands of coffee and tea, to name a few (Coca-Cola 2014). It is estimated that worldwide, people consume at least 1.5 billion servings of one brand or another of the Coca-Cola Company every single day (Edinburgh Evening News 2010). Beyond any doubt the high level of consumption of Coca-Cola brands translates to high turnovers and profits for the company. In 2010, the company earned in excess of 10 billion Euros in the U.K. alone (Edinburgh Evening News 2010). The company is a strong brand, the reason it has several franchises across the world. In fact, most of the sales and profits that the company gets credited for come from the franchises. Some of the main stakeholders of an organization include the owners/shareholders, government, customers, community members, employees, and management (BBC 2014). Like many other

The difference between Islamic and conventional Banks Research Paper

The difference between Islamic and conventional Banks - Research Paper Example Financial scholars have surpassed lasting ambiguous loan contracts practiced by drawing attention of the financial world to the benefits presented by bank products that meet the requirements of Sharia. Most of these products conform to religious backgrounds of the local people; and hence turn out to be attractive to wide fragments of the population in need of financial services they can identify with their cultural beliefs and way of life. Despite these existing trends, little academic evidence and research on the functioning of Islamic banks is recorded. Since its establishment in 1970, Islamic banking has witnessed a significant growth. With the establishment of its operational foundations a few decades ago, the banking model acted as a major vehicle that offer products similar to convenient banks. Numerous academic research and literature have gone further to establish the viability of these types of banks in dealing with finances. It is also evident that the last few decades the banking model has been characterized by an increase in its financial institutions that are spread in all continents. Most importantly financial institutions, in Europe and Asia, operate on Islamic windows and thus provide a convenient banking framework to their clients. Therefore, this paper describes some of the common differences between Islamic and conventional banks (Ali, 2005). Despite the fact that there is growing interest on Islamic banking and Islamic finance literature, a few academic papers about the subjects exist. A policy research working paper by Beck, Demirgà ¼Ãƒ §-Kunt & Merrouche (2010), confirms that there is a deficiency of academic work highlighting Islam finance trends. This trend contrasts with the increased importance played by Islamic banking in a majority of Muslim countries across Asia and Africa. Based on the details presented, this paper will, hopefully, contribute to the rising literature

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Building a Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Building a Business - Assignment Example This is a risk that many entrepreneurs must face, yet the most committed ones often manage to find a way to get the business to a point where it can thrive. If I eventually found a partner to run the business with, my share in the business would reduce to half. However, I would also only be liable for half of the debts. The ultimate goal is to become a limited liability company or corporation so that I would not be personally affected by any debts that the business would incur. This is a risk that many entrepreneurs must face, yet the most committed ones often manage to find a way to get the business to a point where it can thrive. If I eventually found a partner to run the business with, my share in the business would reduce to half. However, I would also only be liable for half of the debts. The ultimate goal is to become a limited liability company or corporation so that I would not be personally affected by any debts that the business would incur. Because the business will begin as a sole proprietorship, I would not have the ability to raise funds right away. Any money that the business would start out with would have to be personally funded by myself. This is a huge risk, especially if the business goes bust. The initial startup capital would be $50,000. This is not a huge amount, but it would get the business started at least. Because I would be running the business by myself, I would look to source sports shoes at wholesale prices and then on-sell them at retail prices. Using this selling strategy would result in very little profit at first. However, it would slowly pay off my initial capital of $50,000. Obviously, if another partner joined the business, they would be able to invest some funds. This would mean that the business would reduce its debt by up to twice as fast as I could by myself. Eventually, if the business gets to the stage of an organization, money could be raised through stocks and shares. Because Sporty Shoes would not gain instant mark et recognition, the demand would start out very low. Very few people would have heard about the brand, so customers would generally be local. Once the business gained more of a reputation, demand would increase, particularly from other states. Demand can be expected to remain high over the long term because sports shoes are needed for all types of athletic activity.

Cult of Hera Essay Example for Free

Cult of Hera Essay Cult of Hera Olympia Hera, queen of the gods, also known as the goddess of the sky, women, and marriage. She has many cults in Greece and is highly worshipped. I am going to focus on her oldest cult, which resides in Olympia. The cult was constructed around 600 BC, in fact it is the oldest temple in Greece. The style of the temple is peripteral hexastyle with six columns on the front and back and sixteen on both sides comprising pronaos, calla and optistodomos. The columns are a little over 15 feet. Originally these columns were made of wood and were gradually replaced by stone. The temple was thought in earlier times to have been dedicated to Zeus and Hera. When the temple of Zeus was completed it was officially only the cult of Hera. There is still an image of Zeus in her temple. In the cella there is Hera seated on a throne and Zeus is standing beside her wearing a beard and an helmet on his head. Only the head of Hera remains. There is also an image of Athena with an helmet on her head as ell as Zeus, carrying a spear and shield. The image of Hesperides was removed out the cult by the Eleans. The people of Megara built a treasury and dedicated offerings in it. The offerings were cedar white figurines inlaid with gold, represented Herakles fight with Acheloos. Other items important to the ancient Greek, such as, Iphitus bronze disk and a carved ivory chest hidden by cypselos, were believe to have been stored in the temple. In later years the cult housed the famous Hermes of Praxiteles. The cult stood for almost a thousand years, until about 300 A. D. References JSTOR: The annual of the British school, Vol. 90 Gate to Greece: Guide to Greece: Peloponnese: Olympia Temple of Hera Heraion Cult of Hera 1: Ancient Greek religion

Expository essay Essay Example for Free

Expository essay Essay Expository writing is a life skill. More than any other type of writing, expository writing is a daily requirement of most careers. Understanding and following the proven steps of the writing process helps all writers, including students, master the expository essay. Expository Essay Structure Usually, the expository essay is composed of five paragraphs. The introductory paragraph contains the thesis or main idea. The next three paragraphs, or body of the essay, provide details in support of the thesis. The concluding paragraph restates the main idea and ties together the major points of essay. Here are expository essay tips for each part of the essay structure and writing process: 1. Prewriting for the Expository Essay In the prewriting phase of writing an expository essay, students should take time to brainstorm about the topic and main idea. Next, do research and take notes. Create an outline showing the information to be presented in each paragraph, organized in a logical sequence. 2. Drafting the Expository Essay When creating the initial draft of an expository essay, consider the following suggestions: The most important sentence in the introductory paragraph is the topic sentence, which states the thesis or main idea of the essay. The thesis should be clearly stated without giving an opinion or taking a position. A good thesis is well defined, with a manageable scope that can be adequately addressed within a five-paragraph essay. Each of the three body paragraphs should cover a separate point that develops the essay’s thesis. The sentences of each paragraph should offer facts and examples in support of the paragraph’s topic. The concluding paragraph should reinforce the thesis and the main supporting ideas. Do not introduce new material in the conclusion. Since an expository essay discusses an event, situation, or the views of others, and not a personal experience, students should write in the third person (â€Å"he,† â€Å"she,† or â€Å"it†), and avoid â€Å"I† or â€Å"you† sentences. 3. Revising the Expository Essay In the revision phase, students review, modify, and reorganize their work with the goal of making it the best it can be. Keep these considerations in mind: Does the essay give an unbiased analysis that unfolds logically, using relevant facts and examples? Has the information been clearly and effectively communicated to the reader? Watch out for â€Å"paragraph sprawl,† which occurs when the writer loses focus and veers from the topic by introducing unnecessary details. Is the sentence structure varied? Is the word choice precise? Do the transitions between sentences and paragraphs help the reader’s understanding? Does the concluding paragraph communicate the value and meaning of the thesis and key supporting ideas? If the essay is still missing the mark, take another look at the topic sentence. A solid thesis statement leads to a solid essay. Once the thesis works, the rest of the essay falls into place more easily. 4. Editing the Expository Essay Next, proofread and correct errors in grammar and mechanics, and edit to improve style and clarity. While an expository essay should be clear and concise, it can also be lively and engaging. Having a friend read the essay helps writers edit with a fresh perspective. 5. Publishing the Expository Essay Sharing an expository essay with the rest of the class can be both exciting and intimidating. Remember, there isn’t a writer on earth who isn’t sensitive about his or her own work. The important thing is to learn from the experience and use the feedback to make the next essay better. Essay Variations Essay writing is a huge part of a education today. Most students must learn to write various kinds of essays during their academic careers, including different types of expository essay writing: Definition essays explain the meaning of a word, term, or concept. The topic can be a concrete subject such as an animal or tree, or it can be an abstract term, such as freedom or love. This type of essay should discuss the word’s denotation (literal or dictionary definition), as well as its connotation or the associations that a word usually brings to mind. Classification essays break down a broad subject or idea into categories and groups. The writer organizes the essay by starting with the most general category and then defines and gives examples of each specific classification. Compare and contrast essays describe the similarities and differences between two or more people, places, or things. Comparison tells how things are alike and contrast shows how they are different. Cause and effect essays explain how things affect each other and depend on each other. The writer identifies a clear relationship between two subjects, focusing on why things happen (causes) and/or what happens as a result (effects). â€Å"How to† essays, sometimes called process essays, explain a procedure, step-by-step process, or how to do something with the goal of instructing the reader.

The Effects of International Business Strategy in emerging Markets

The Effects of International Business Strategy in emerging Markets The increase in the continuous growth of the emerging markets, in particular the four major countries Brazil, China, India, and Russia, are the largest emerging markets (LEMs) which face challenges and offers immense opportunities to the international business growth however in the recent times it has shown an increasingly fierce competitiveness internationally of these economies now pose a challenge for the economies of the world. The challenges are evident in the form of increase in the commodity prices, rising food cost, growing outward investment and acquisition the largest emerging markets firms, with its direct impact on insecurity in jobs and growing inequality of income in developed and developing nations hence creating a need for restructuring the international institutions to reflect the shifting balance of economic power in the world economy. The growing recession in the west and the reliance on selective protectionism on a rise are impacting the prospects of the emerging economies of the world. Theoretical aspect This is research aims at formulating the scope of the international strategy by analysing the current situation of the economys and the theories applied by different theorist on the emerging nation in the past taking into consideration the degree of their effectiveness into account and postulating new perspective and dimension to it. The analysis of the early phase of the market emergence, Institutional theory helps in comprehending the impact on the enterprise strategies this is due to the strong influence of the government in the emerging economys to that of developed economies . the role of institutional theory is reviewed in context to the other theories and their interactions in understanding the the emerged and the developed market economies. Institutional theory This theory emphasizes on the influence of surrounding system organisation that shapes the social and organisational behaviour(scott 1995). The important role of an institution in a economy is to reduce information and transaction cost by building a a stable structure to facilitate interaction bye reducing uncertainty .Suhomlinova (1999) found that government institutions influence had a negative impact on Russian enter-prise reform, Lau (1998) suggested that political and market pressures were the institutional constraints faced by chief execu-tives in Chinese enterprise hence this theory would help in assessing the social barrier and interference pattern in the emerging market economy. Transaction cost in emerging economies Transaction cost economics studies the firm-environment interface through a contractual or ex-change-based approach (Williamson, 1975). This aspect plays an integral part as the rational governance choice requires a trade-off, at the margin, between the transaction costs associated with the market mode, a firms need for control, and the governance costs of hierarchy which in most of the emerging economies is high hence Choi, Lee, and Kim (1999) hypothesized that measurement and enforcement are two critically important transaction costs in emerging economies. In a country where the price system does not accurately provide signals for efficient resource allocation, measurement costs should be high. Similarly, in a country where official discretion rather than the rule of law defines property rights, enforcement costs will be high (La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shlei-fer, Vishny, 1997). This aspect has a important role to play in the emerging economies for international business. Resource based perspective The resource based view has argued on a primary concern, why do firms differ and how they achieve and sustain competitive advantage. Penrose (1959) argued that heterogeneous capabilities give each firm its unique character and are the essence of competitive advantage. This is another dimension for the research as to how do we strategize and enter the makets of these emerging economies Empirical analysis Research on strategy in this field of emerging economies is difficult on several grounds as the theory postulated for the developed economies may not apply for the emerging economies, with the empirical hence researchers do find it difficulty in data collection sampling measuring the variable for example the firms performance with the variety of variable changing. The combination of quantitative and qualitative method is the most reliable and relevant method of data collection and analysis. Sampling and data collection Sampling approach has to be innovative pertaining to the changing economies for example the general data source like telephone directory could become outdated rapidly. The data which may be generally collected from a company may not necessarily be consistent witht he data possessed by the government authority hence there requires a collaboration of different studies to analyse and find the right method for data collection as questionnaire, surveys are dependent on the postal service. Collaborative projects with local researchers using face-to-face interviews may be a key means of gaining access to data sources (Lee Miller, 1999). Henderson and Cock-burn (1994) used quantitative questionnaires, qual-itative interviews, and multiple informants to increase the validity and reliability of their measures of organizational competence, variable measurement do pose a number of problems that present a difficulty in strategy research in emerging economies. Mixed methodology In assessing the empirical aspect relating to the research of the growth and the different attributes to international business in emerging countries, the approach to it has to be on broader perspective hence it requires a collaboration of quantitative which primarily deals with the numeric data collection converting it into statistical form and then evaluating it to derive result and the qualitative measure of analysis which aims at understanding the meaning exploring it further by means of case study , questionnaire surveys to and then analyse the response, both method in proper coordination would provide the insight in understanding the complexity of the emerging market and the factor effecting international business. Conclusion The areas of research is focussed to the (BRIC) nations Brazil Russia India China with downfall of the economy which is at the brinks of pulling itself out of recession the key to overcome lies with this countries hence the objective of the research is to evaluate the current aspects of International business strategy applied to these emerging economies.

Edgar Allan Poe :: essays research papers

Edgar Allan Poe was a master of his craft, gifted with the talent of introducing each reader to his or her own fears. As the first writer to compose tales of horror, death, and mystery into literature and poetry, he is blessed, maybe even cursed, with an imagination that set higher standards in the field of writing. However sinister or dark it may be, Poe’s writing continues to have an impact on the world of writing. A look into Poe’s childhood might shed some light on where his fascination with death comes from.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts to drifting actor parents. Denying his parental responsibilities, Edgar’s father abandoned his wife and children, leaving her to support the family as best she could. He died somewhere around 1810. His mother traveled through various cities acting in as many stage performances as she could get, but the struggle eventually took a toll on her health. Towards the end of 1811, shortly after turning 2, while in Richmond, Virginia, she became ill and died. Her three children were put into homes. His brother William died young, his sister Rosalie later became insane, and Edgar was placed into the home of a well-off, yet unsupportive man named John Allan. Allan was emotionally detached from Poe, refusing to even legally adopt the boy. This move would begin a chain of events, eventually triggering a drinking problem, that would cause majority of Poe’s psychological troubles later in life. He was raised in an wealthy home, but lacked the emotional support needed to build determination and confidence in himself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Edgar would attend the finest boarding schools to train to be a proper gentleman. But, when it came time to go to the University of Virginia in 1826, his foster father barely gave him enough money to survive. In those days, the average college freshman was nineteen years old. Edgar was certainly wise beyond his years, enrolling in college only a month after his seventeenth birthday. This made it harder on Edgar to survive out on his own at such an early age. John Allan had always been strict and harsh, and sometimes even cruel to Edgar, but this was the first time he denied him the means to survive outside of his home. Adding insult to injury, he also forbade Edgar to study what his heart so desired: poetry.

Animal Testing in the United States Essay -- Science Product Expiramen

Millions of animals die each year in the United States due to animal testing. Animals are used in laboratories to test chemicals in products and also used in research for the study of diseases such as cancer and AIDS. Unfortunately, these animals suffer tremendously while being experimented on and afterwards they are commonly put to death. The government has established legislation which gives certain guidelines for animal in laboratories, but it does not apply to every animal. The government even requires certain animal experimentation on specific products such as pesticides. There is also much dispute on whether or not animal testing is actually reliable in research for human products and diseases. The issue of animal testing becomes an issue of ethics; do humans have the right to harm other species for their own benefits? This would be a much easier question to answer if people actually knew how relevant and useful animal experimentation and research was for humans. As of r ight now, humans are harming animals in experimentation without even knowing how valuable the results will be in benefiting human research. Animal testing is a cruelty to animals and it should be made illegal in the United States. The Draize test and the LD-50 tests are the most common types of product testing. The Draize test is done to measure the harmfulness of a chemical by observing its effect on the eyes and skin of animals. This test is mainly used to test chemicals in cosmetics. It is administered by applying 0.5mL or 0.5g of the test substance to the eye or skin of animal (most commonly rabbits) for four hours. The animal is then observed for fourteen days. There are two types of Draize tests: Skin irritancy test: experi... ... 8 March 2006. "Draize Test." Wikipedia. 22 February 2006. 7 March 2006. "History: Animal Welfare Act." 2005. American Anti-Vivisection Society. 8 March 2006. "http://www.aavs.org/welfare01.html> "Iams... The Suffering Behind the Scenes." 2006. 8 March 2006. "Public Health Service Policy of Human Care and Use of Laboratory Animals." 1 January 2006. National Institute of Health. 6 March 2006. Stephens, Martin and Rowan, David. "An overview of Animal Testing." 2006. The Humane Society of the United States. 8 March 2006. Stevens, Karen L. "Animal Testing Alternatives." All for Animals. 2006. All for Animals. 24 Apr. 2006 .

Biography of Isaac Newton :: Sir Isaac Newton Essays

Sir Isaac Newton Jan 4 1643 - March 31 1727 On Christmas day by the georgian calender in the manor house of Woolsthorpe, England, Issaac Newton was born prematurely. His father had died 3 months before. Newton had a difficult childhood. His mother, Hannah Ayscough Newton remarried when he was just three, and he was sent to live with his grandparents. After his stepfather’s death, the second father who died, when Isaac was 11, Newtons mother brought him back home to Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire where he was educated at Kings School, Grantham. Newton came from a family of farmers and he was expected to continue the farming tradition , well that’s what his mother thought anyway, until an uncle recognized how smart he was. Newton's mother removed him from grammar school in Grantham where he had shown little promise in academics. Newtons report cards describe him as 'idle' and 'inattentive'. So his uncle decided that he should be prepared for the university, and he entered hi s uncle's old College, Trinity College, Cambridge, in June 1661. Newton had to earn his keep waiting on wealthy students because he was poor. Newton's aim at Cambridge was a law degree. At Cambridge, Isaac Barrow who held the Lucasian chair of Mathematics took Isaac under his wing and encouraged him. Newton got his undergraduate degree without accomplishing much and would have gone on to get his masters but the Great Plague broke out in London and the students were sent home. This was a truely productive time for Newton. He conducted experiments on sunlight and prisms. He discovered that sunlight was made up of different colors. This lead to his work on reflecting telescopes. At the same time he was working out his ideas of planetary motion. He returned to Cambridge in 1667 and became the a fellow, earned his MA and the following year became the chair of the math department. he then wrote a book on optics. Newton worked cooperatively wiht other scientists such as Robert Hookeand Edm und Halley on planetary motion. But he was later bitter and resentfull not wanting to give other any credit for their contributions to his work. Newton went on to serve in government positions such as a member of Parliament and later as Warden of the Mint. His only words spoken as a member of parliament were "shut the window." He had a mental breakdown of sorts resulting in thoughts of persecutiojn mania later in life.

Discuss Research Into The Breakdown Of Romantic Relationships

One piece of research into the breakdown of romantic relationships is from Duck (1982). According to his phase model of the breakup of a relationship, it all begins with the breakdown of the relationship where there is dissatisfaction within the relationship. These dissatisfied partners then begin to consider all the problems within the relationship, thinking mostly about the relational ‘costs’ which develops a resentment for the relationship. This is known as the intra-psychic phase.Once a threshold of being unable to withstand the relationship anymore, the dissatisfied partner expresses their uncertainties about the relationship and so the dyadic phase has been reached and the couple will re-assess their goals, possibilities and commitment. If this is not successful, the social phase has been reached where the decision to leave the relationship is made and is publically discussed between third parties. Next, self-justifications and version-makings of the breakup are of fered, which is known as the grave-dressing phase.Finally, the individuals will attempt to recreate a sense of their own social values, by preparing for different types of future relationships and knowing what they wish to get out of them, known as the resurrection process. The evolutionary perspective on relationship breakdown is another explanation into the breakdown of romantic relationships. Perilloux and Buss (2008) have developed an explanation of why evolution might have shaped the behaviour of rejecters and rejectees differently. Their research is based on four main predictions.The first prediction is the costs related to emotional investment. In a relationship, women will consider the costs of losing the stability of a relationship whereas, if a male has high emotional investment in a relationship, he is more likely to share his resources. However, if the relationship breaks down, the male may leave his children unsupported. This highlights the importance of a males resourc es to the female, who will experience higher costs associated with the loss of emotional investment from their male partner.The second prediction is increasing commitment as a response to the threat of a break up. A woman will value emotional commitment highly in mates, especially to ensure the survival of any offspring, so males threatened with relationship breakdown may employ strategies to exploit this, possibly increasing their commitment for example, by suggesting marriage. The third prediction is infidelity. This may be a deliberate attempt to break up a relationship with a relatively poor-quality mate, in order to make way for a higher-quality mate.The final prediction is managing reputational damage where a rejecter may be perceived as being cruel and heartless by peers, whereas the rejectee is frequently perceived as the victim. In order to prevent any reputational damage, the rejecters will be motivated to minimize any reputational damage and make efforts to be seen as rea sonable and compassionate rather than cruel and heartless. A strength of Duck’s phase model is that it is supported by observations of real life break-ups.Researchers Tashiro and Frazier (2003) surveyed undergraduates who had recently broken up with a romantic partner and they reported that they not only experienced emotional distress, but also personal growth. These students reported that breaking up with their partner had given them new insights into themselves and a clearer idea about future partners. Through grave-dressing and resurrection processes they were able to put the original relationship to rest and get on with their lives.However, a weakness of this study is that Tashiro and Frazier surveyed undergraduates, meaning that they may not have been in a relationship for a long time so therefore would not experience the stages of breakdown as such because they are much younger so therefore may not take into consideration the loss of costs so this therefore weakens the validity of their study. Another strength of Ducks phase model of breakdown is that the model stresses the importance of communication in relationship breakdown.Paying attention to the things that people say, the topics that they discuss and the ways in which they talk about their relationship offers both an insight into their stage and also suggests interventions appropriate to that stage. If the relationship was in the intra-psychic stage for example, repair might involve re-establishing a liking for the partner, possibly by re-evaluating their behaviour in a more positive light. In the later stages, different strategies of repair are appropriate such as in the social phase, third parties may be able to help the partners patch up their differences.This highlights the positive implications of the model, and how it can help couples amend the relationship, despite reaching later stages. However, a weakness of Duck’s phase model and research into rejecters and rejectees is that there are ethical issues within the breakdown research. When carrying out research in this sensitive area, it often raises issues of vulnerability, privacy and confidentiality. For example, a woman in an abusive relationship may fear recrimination from her abuser should he discover her participation in the research.Ultimately, the researcher faces a choice of protecting a participant’s safety or pursuing this valuable information. Therefore, it is hard to measure the issues which led to the breakdown effectively. A limitation of the evolutionary perspective on relationships is that it is deterministic. The evolutionary perspective neglects personal choice and environmental influences, claiming that human behaviour is influenced by adaptations that developed in the Stone Age. This makes sense only if the environmental challenges remain static over evolutionary time.However, if the environment is dynamic rather than static, then the only human that would be adaptive is one tha t is flexible and responsive in any social and physical environment they are in. In some environments, it may be adaptive for males and females to act in the ways suggested, but not in all. For example, nowadays, due to changes within our environment it has enabled women to be less dependent on men for their resources. This therefore challenges the claim of these being universal human behaviours as it has ignored the dynamic nature of relationship breakdown.Another limitation of the evolutionary perspective on relationships is that is gender biased. Researcher Hollway (1989) argues that gender differences evident in the relationship behaviour of males and females reflect less the role of evolutionary forces and more the shared cultural discourses of the different sexes. These discourses are patterns of thinking and communication that are common within one gender but not the other within a particular culture. For example, with the ‘male sexual drive’ discourse, a man may be more likely to report greater infidelity.However, Holloway claims this is not because they are like that by ‘nature’, but because there is a cultural discourse that instructs him how to act on the basis of his sex. In the case of breakdowns, gender differences in how an individual reacts may be less determined by our adaptive biology and more to do with what males and females believe is the appropriate way to behave given that they are products of gender-specific socialization within that society. Overall, evolutionary explanations of sex differences in this area represent a gender-biased representation of how males and females behave during relationship break-ups.

Entire Course (Managerial Economics) Essay

Firm Objectives. Why do some business firms pursue a triple-bottom-line outcome while others focus only on profit maximization? Please, use a real company example to illustrate your points Decision Making Under Uncertainty. To save on gasoline expenses, Edith and Mathew agreed to carpool together for traveling to and from work. Edith preferred to travel on I-20 highway as it was usually the fastest, taking 25 minutes in the absence of traffic delays. Mathew pointed out that traffic jams on the highway can lead to long delays making the trip 45 minutes. He preferred to travel along Shea Boulevard, which was longer (35 minutes), but rarely had traffic jams. Edith agreed that in case of traffic jams, Shea Boulevard was a reasonable alternative. Neither of them knows the state of the highway ahead of time. After driving to work on the I-20 highway for 1 month (20 workdays), they found the highway to be jammed 3 times. Assuming that this month is a good representation of all months ahead, should Edith and Mathew continue to use the highway for traveling to work? How would you conclusion change for the winter months, if bad weather makes it likely for traffic jams on the highway to increase to 6 days per month? How would your conclusion change if Mathew purchased a new smart-phone app that could show the status of the highway traffic prior to their drive each morning, thus reducing the probability of them getting into a jam down to only 1day per month (where on this day, the app showed no traffic jam, but a jam developed in the meantime as they were driving along the highway). Economics of Risk and Uncertainty Applied Problems. Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button. 1. A generous university benefactor has agreed to donate a large amount of money  for student scholarships. The money can be provided in one lump-sum of $10mln, or in parts, where $5.5mln can be provided in year 1, and another $5.5mln can be provided in year 2. Assuming the opportunity interest rate is 6%, what is the present value of the second alternative? Which of the two alternatives should be chosen and why? How would your decision change if the opportunity interest rate was 12%? Please, show all your calculations. 2. Volkswagen is considering opening an Assembly Plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the production of its 2012 Passat, tailored for the US market. The CEO of the company is considering two potential options for the size of the plant: one is a large size with a projected annual production of 150,000 cars, and the other one is a smaller size plant, which is cheaper to build, but can only produce up to 80,000 cars per year. Depending on the expected level of demand for these cars in the US, Volkswagen has to decide which option is more profitable. The discount rate is 6% and for simplicity purposes, the CEO is only evaluating a two-year horizon. The initial factory setup cost, the expected demand scenarios, profit, and probabilities are shows in the below table. Calculate the Net Present Value in each of the two options. Which option should the CEO choose and why? Please, show all your calculations. 3. An angel investor is considering investing in one of two start-up businesses and is evaluating the expected returns along with the risk of each option in order to choose the better alternative. Business 1 is an innovative protein energy drink, which has ENPV of $100,000 with a standard deviation of $40,000. Business 2 is a unique chicken wings dipping sauce with an ENPV of $60,000 and a standard deviation of $25,000. a) Apply the coefficient-of-variation decision criterion to these alternatives to find out which is preferred by the angel investor, assuming that he/she is risk-averse. b) Apply the maximin criterion, assuming that the worst outcome in Business 1 is to lose $5,000, whereas the worst outcome in Business 2 is to make only $5,000 in profit. c) If you were the angel investor, what is your certainty equivalent for these two projects? Are you risk-averse, risk-neutral, or risk-lover? Week 2 Marginal Rate of Substitution. What is the marginal rate of substitution (MRS) and why does it diminish as  the consumer substitutes one product for another? Use examples to illustrate Demand Elasticity. Please, read the article Hainer, R. (2010), provided in the required readings section for this week. The tobacco industry is a prime example to consider when talking about price elasticity of demand. While nicotine use can be addictive for many users, it is not addictive for the so-called â€Å"social smokers†. What can we say about the price elasticity of demand for nicotine products (such as cigarettes, pipes, tobacco) in the group of nicotine addicted users, versus the group of â€Å"social smokers†? Can we say whose demand is likely to be more elastic? Why? Consumer Demand Analysis and Estimation Applied Problems. Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button. 1. Roshima is researching universities where she could study for her MBA degree. She is considering 3 major attributes that she considers important in her choice: ranking, price, and location. The value she places on each attribute, however, differs according to whether she remains full-time employed during her studies or quits her job and focuses on her degree. If she continues to work full time and takes all her courses online, then ranking is the most important attribute, twice as important as price and three times as important as location. If she quits her job and attends school full time, then location becomes three times as important as ranking and twice as important as price. She is considering two universities, respectively, the MBA program at Arizona State University (ASU) and the MBA program at University of Phoenix (UOP), both of which are priced at approximately $25,000. She has rated each attribute on a scale of 1 to 100 for each of the two schools. a. Which of the two options should Roshima pursue of she wants to keep her full-time job? (Calculate the total expected utility from each school option and compare. Graph is not required) b. Which of the two options should she pick if she plans to quit her job and dedicate to her studies? c. Which option should she pursue if the probability of being laid off and unable to find a new job is estimated as  0.6? Show your calculations and explain your reasoning. 2. The demand function for Einstein Bagels has been estimated as follows: – 40.73Px + 84.17Py + 0.55Ax  where Qx represents thousands of bagels; Px is the price per bagel; Py is the average price per bagel of other brands of bagels; and Ax represents thousands of dollars spent advertising Einstein Bagels. The current values of the independent variables are , , and a. Calculate the price elasticity of demand for Einstein’s Bagels and explain what it means. b. Derive an expression for the (inverse) demand curve for Einsteins’s Bagels. c. If the cost of producing Einstein’s Bagels is constant at $0.10 per bagel, should they reduce price and thereafter, sell more bagels (assume profit maximization is the company’s goal)? d. Should Einstein Bagels spend more on advertising? 3. The consulting firm that you work for has been hired by the US Government to provide an independent analysis of the demand-side effects of a contemplated increase in the tax on gasoline. They provide you with a data set relating to the period 1962-1987, which they say contains valuable historic lessons relating to the impact of volatile pump prices due to the supply restrictions imposed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations that required car manufacturers to increase the fuel efficiency of the cars they sold, while at the same time Real Disposable Income (RDI) per capita was rising, the number of passenger cars (NPC) almost doubled, and inflation was pushing up the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Week 3 Relevant Costs. Two partners own together a small landscaping business in North Carolina, called Summer Lawn Care. They have been specializing in summer grass seeding, installation, and maintenance. Recently, the partners acquired special technology and know-how for winter grass installations and maintenance. They also added a tree cutting service as recent storms in the  area had caused demand for this service to soar. One of the partners insists that the name of the business should change to Lawn and Tree Care, so that it better reflects the range of services and, thus, generates more customer interest, and thus contracts. The second partner wants to keep the old name and argues, â€Å"We have already paid for business cards, vehicle paint, signage, and ads in Yellow Pages†. Evaluate the arguments of the two partners. Explain and illustrate their points by identifying the relevant and irrelevant costs for this decision. Contribution Analysis. Explain what is meant by â€Å"contribution analysis†. Carefully define the term and provide examples to illustrate it. Production Cost Analysis and Estimation Applied Problems. Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button. 1. Jennifer Trucking Company operates a large rig transportation business in Texas that transports locally grown vegetables to San Diego, California. The company owns 5 large rigs and hires local drivers paid fixed salaries monthly, regardless of the number of trips or tons of cargo that each driver transports each month. 2. The Palms Dry Cleaning Shop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, faces a highly seasonal demand for its services, as the snow-birds retirees flock to Florida in mid-fall to enjoy the mild winter weather and then return to their main homes in mid-spring. Given this seasonality, Palms tries to keep the overhead costs as low as possible and therefore, often uses seasonal contracted labor to man its operations. The following table shows the labor costs in each month of operation over the past 12 months as well as the total number of garments that were dry-cleaned in each month. Palms pays fixed wages per hour to each employee, and we can assume that the costs of other variable inputs (such as chemicals, electricity, etc) have remained constant. 3. Over the past 12 months the Four Winds Novelty Company firm has recorded its internet sales (equals monthly output levels) and its monthly total variable costs (TVC) for a particular novelty item as shown in the following table. Sales have grown over this period with  relatively few shocks due to uncontrollable weather, political and sporting events. This online retailer carries no inventories; when it receives a pre-paid on-line order from a customer, it simply buys the product from a supplier and ships it out to the customer. Week 4 Strategic Behavior Oligopolies. An interesting example of strategic behavior comes from a 1997 article about Microsoft’s investment in Apple (New Straits Times, 1997). The article is included in the Required Readings list. Facing tough anti-trust scrutiny from government agencies, Microsoft provided financial support to Apple in order to ensure Apple’s survival and, therefore, to ensure that competitiveness in the industry remains. Moreover, the partnership with Apple provided an additional market for Microsoft’s products – the MS Office and the IE products were to be bundled with the MAC OS as one of the conditions for this financing. Discuss this case in the context of market structure and strategic behavior. What market structure do these firms operate in? Why did Microsoft need to preserve competitiveness in the industry? What was Microsoft afraid of in the event that Apple did not survive? Local Market Power. Bulls Eye department store specializes in the sales of discounted clothing, shoes, household items, etc. similar to the offerings at a regular Walmart or Target. Bulls Eye is the only department store in Show Low and the nearest other discount retailer is Target, located 49 miles away in Eagar. Bulls Eye, therefore, has some market power in its local area. Despite having some market power, Bulls Eye is currently suffering losses. An analyst at Bulls Eye is recommending to the manager to raise prices, so that profitability can be improved. The manager is unsure of this strategy as recent data points to increasing numbers of individuals shopping more and more. What are the pros and cons of raising the prices at Bulls Eye and would that strategy be profitable? Market Structures and Pricing Decisions Applied Problems. A small business which produces plastic vacuum-suction covers for round household dishes has  a monopoly that is protected by a utility patent. The market demand curve for this product is estimated to be: – 25P where Q is the number of plate covers per year and P is in dollars. Cost estimation processes have determined that the firm’s cost function is represented by + 2500Q -0.25*Q2. 2. Greener Grass Company (GGC) competes with its main rival, Better Lawns and Gardens (BLG), in the supply and installation of in-ground lawn watering systems in the wealthy western suburbs of a major east-coast city.Last year, GGC’s price for the typical lawn system was $1,995 compared with BLG’s price of $2,100. GGC installed 9,130 systems, or about 55% of total sales and BLG installed the rest. (No doubt many additional systems were installed by do-it-yourself homeowners since the parts are readily available at har dware stores.) Week 5 Good Will in Price Bidding. Sometimes, a bidder on a work contract may bid lower than what would maximize his/her profit from the contract and the reason for that is to create goodwill (to increase expected future business from the buyer). How would you value the goodwill that is obtained in this way? New Product Introduction. Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany owns the Alka-Seltzer, which was launched in 1931 and was meant for relief of minor aches, pains, inflammation, fever, headache, heartburn, sour stomach, indigestion, and hangovers. The Alka-Seltzer Plus was a spin-off of the original medicine, meant to relieve colds and flu. The company has recently introduced a new and improved Alka-Seltzer Plus, as described in the TV ad: â€Å"The Cold Truth†, (please, watch the ad listed in the Required Readings) Price Quotes and Pricing Decisions Applied Problems. Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button. Maxim Motronics A.G. have been marketing a new product in Europe that has achieved notable market success and it now plans to introduce this product into the United States market. Week 6 Game Theory and Strategic Behavior. Suppose that GE is trying to prevent Maytag from entering the market for high efficiency clothes dryers. Even though high efficiency dryers are more costly to produce, they are also more profitable as they command sufficiently higher prices from consumers. The following payoffs table shows the annual profits for GE and Maytag for the advertising spending and entry decisions that they are facing. Based on this information, can GE successfully prevent Maytag from entering this market by increasing its advertising levels? What is the equilibrium outcome in this game? Sustainable Competitive Advantage. Describe the circumstances under which a firm chooses a low-cost strategy to attain sustainable competitive advantage. What about the situations when a differentiation strategy is chosen? Provide specific real world examples. Focus of the Final Paper Research a specific company of your choice and identify some of the managerial decisions that were made over time and in response to changes in its market or competitive environment. Use the Ashford University Online Library and web-based sources for your research. At least three external scholarly sources must be used. Address all of the following areas: Describe the company and provide a brief history of its operations. Find or use graphs to illustrate its financial performance over the years. Identify any sources of risk or uncertainty in its operations. Do the financial reports indicate risky or uncertain activities or changes to the economic environment that ultimately appear to have affected the company’s financial outcomes? Be specific. Are there any government regulations that have affected this company’s operations domestically or abroad? Explain.

Report on “Principle-Centered Leadership”

To successfully evaluate a work such as Principle-Centered Leadership, one must first examine the background of the author, in this case, Stephen R. Covey. He is a famous expert on issues of leadership, specialist in family issues, besides he works as an organizational consultant and vice chairman of Franklin Covey Co. From Stephen R. Covey’s pen came of several much-talked-of books, he is also an owner of numerous honors and awards; Time magazine named him among twenty-five most influential Americans. In 1990, following his successful Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989), Stephen R. Covey wrote a book entitled Principle-Centered Leadership.This book was an evoked response to new conditions in business pre-caused by applying the natural laws of life to organizations described by the author and challenges leaders face in business by applying these natural laws. Covey underlines that the sustainable success of organization as well as the success of an individual, in pa rticular, must be based on persistent work. Covey provides the interpretation of the natural laws, among which one can find security, guidance, wisdom, and power, and further on he expatiates how concentration on these laws and defined by him seven-habits practice bring about personal and organizational change.Besides, according to Covey, determined commitment is prerequisite to success in business, and latter can be achieved only if one is ready to complete paradigm shift in long-range outlook. The paradigm, which author intends to bring for the reader, is many-sided and is conformable to classic dilemmas of contemporary life. The principle-centered leadership presents a new way of thinking based on timeless principles. These principles of human being presented on various levels including personal, interpersonal, managerial, organizational serve as a core of Convey paradigm. Each level is described by key law: personal – trustworthiness, interpersonal – trust, manager ial – empowerment, organizational – alignment.According to Covey principle-centered leaders are people, regardless the gender, who work on the ground of natural principles, or laws, and make those principles into the center of their lives, into the center of their relationships with others, into the center of their agreements and contracts, into their management processes, and into their mission statements (Covey 1990).In this book Covey attempts to expound habits that basically help people to achieve effectively success both in their professional and personal lives.This book is supposed to serves as a leadership philosophy guide, the guidebook to personal fulfillment and professional success through â€Å"principle-centered leadership† based on principles, showing how goals of excellence and total quality express an innate human need for progress in personal and organizational life. The book is aimed to show that a world of business is still based on the  "power-brokering† and â€Å"strong-armed† approach to leadership and it needs to be changed. This book supplies managers of any level with instruments and vocabulary to acquire proper leadership quality and become mediators of appropriate change.Covey describes traditional business workplaces as small societies where the colleagues that work together share the same political and social needs and interests as all people do in the society in its broad direct meaning. Thus, he suggests exploiting a â€Å"principle-centered leadership† paradigm for businesses that presumably is based on time-proved social values. As for any society the most important things are the maintenance of stability and order just the same for sustained success and more efficacy of any business such important thing is adaptation of the unilateral authority and government of a management hierarchy that views employees as economic units, not social participators.However, in the â€Å"human rela tions paradigm,† this power is, to some extent, more well-disposed, it takes into account and accepts emotional needs, while remains the same strong. â€Å"Human relations paradigm† uses the creativity and talent of employees more extensively, though preserves its utilitarian sense. In any event, employees are usually only a means to reach the target of the company. It often happens that their initiative is not appreciated. In other words, Covey draws the attention to the fact that very often employees are not considered to be political and social peers in most companies.According to Covey companies are facing a need to use all of the talents of their employees in order to achieve active competition of an infinitely more complex and dynamic economic landscape. He implies that a new principle-centered leadership paradigm is required. Moreover this paradigm is centered at the social and political â€Å"principles† of â€Å"fairness, equity, justice, integrity, hon esty, and trust† (Covey, 1990). Admittedly, it is a paradigm that provides full citizenship within a company to all employees.The author describes characteristics of a company operating with application of principle-centered leadership paradigm. The authorized employee, who stands in the base of the company, is trustworthy, in other words, he or she is highly-qualified and possesses the features of integrity and maturity. Such individual trait of trustworthiness develops trusting relationships among all other members of the company to such extent that constitutes the foundations of the company’s success. Trust also assists to achieve highly efficient communications among the company staff. The company is managed in compliance with â€Å"win-win performance agreements with negotiated accountability and consequences stipulations† (Covey, 1990). With such agreements in place, explicit managerial control is replaced by self-supervision (Covey, 1990). The author asser ts that companies that have taken over principle-centered leadership cease to be autocratic, and have established a form of democracy.However, one question arises while reading this book. Is the principle-centered leadership really democratic? The implementation of principle-centered leadership involves top-down approach. This paradigm intended for top leaders, possessing wisdom, with the purpose to convert their organizations by â€Å"communicating vision, clarifying purposes,† and establishing an overriding, governing mission (Covey, 1990). The aim of mission formulating is to increase employees’ feeling of making contribution. The author provides long-winded explanation why he offered such behavior which can heighten an executive's honor and authorities with others. It becomes apparent that the principle-centered leadership paradigm is supposed to rest on charismatic leadership, which often calls to emotions and not comprehensive participation.Covey’s concept of principle-centered leadership is based to great extent on his debates that principles of cooperation among people are â€Å"self-evident, objective, and external† as the natural laws should be. However, such statement seems to lack sound reason. Impartiality, integrity, and justice are all disputable points that often fall under strenuous debate in society. The all-wise leader does not have a hold on the definition of those ideals.Principle-centered leadership adopts the frame of employee authority, but in reality it seems to be, to more extent, a paradigm in motivation. The aim in principle-centered leadership is to make employees, in imperceptible way, believe that the company is being managed in a well-disposed, impartial manner â€Å"by all-knowing, high-minded leaders towards lofty goals† (Covey, 1990).The author fails to provide compelling and strong examples of conflicts that may accompany principle-centered leadership concept. These potential conflicts are, actually, underestimated as inessential compared to the prevalent devotion to a transcendent mission.In conclusion, Covey fails to convince the reader of efficacy of principle-centered leadership treating it as indefinite concept and applying, unfortunately, no social approach to form the basis of this concept.Bibliography:Covey, Stephen R., Principle-Centered Leadership New York, NY: Summit Books, 1990

A Woman’s Place

â€Å"A woman's place is in the home. † This is a very old saying, and has today I think come to mean something very specific. When people use this expression today, it is usually in ridicule of someone else, and suggesting that they have very old-fashioned and reprehensible beliefs. The notion is that people who actually believe that the saying is true, believe that all women should be forced to stay in their homes, and not go out to work, or have careers, and that they should busy and content themselves with tidying up and decorating the home, to make it a pleasant place to be for their husbands who will appreciate this.On top of this, they must do the cooking and washing. If this is what the saying means, then I disagree with it. The saying refers to a very large and complicated topic: that of people's roles in society, and if I were forced to state that I either agreed or disagreed with the statement, then whichever answer I gave would be a simplification so great that it would be untrue. However, I may surprise you by stating that I am more in agreement with the statement than against it. The standard modern belief seems to be that the saying is wrong. Modern people also seem to believe that those who agree with the saying have old-fashioned views.Actually, I think that there is a confusion between modernity and older ways on this issue. The notion that a woman must stay at home and have no occupation, and instead make a nice nest is a modern one, not an old one. Before the industrial revolution, and right back to the start of farming, the home was not as it is now. There were no factories. Clothing for everyone was made in homes. There were no machines for spinning yarn, no automatic looms, no huge workplaces employing hundreds of people dyeing and sewing cloth. Instead, there was what we now call â€Å"cottage industry†.A region's cheeses were made in the homes of the locals. A woman who was good at making cheese or sewing could earn money this way, and she would work at home. There was no divide between the home and work. There were no office blocks, people did not commute, and no one was stopping women from working by confining them to their homes. Similarly, the modern home, in which a couple might live, is a modern thing. Homes until very recently were places where many people lived. Rich people had servants, and poor people had extended families, lodgers, and took on the task of looking after each others' children.Homes were not lonely prisons as they can be for the modern housewife. The idea that the home is a nice place to stay in and be proud of, and spend money on, is also quite modern, and of great convenience to the various DIY chains around today. Some great houses of the very wealthy were show-pieces, and used for entertaining, but for the common man, the house was a place where the roof kept his bed and belongings dry, and the floor was made of earth, and one room was a pig pen, and another was for weavi ng. My feeling is that people should act in whatever way is most likely to make them happy.Coercion tends to prevent happiness, and freedom tends to promote it. I do not think that a woman's place should be forced on her, I think that women should be free. I also think that if they were truly free to pick the path that would for them lead to the greatest contentment, that many more of them would end up not going out to work. The housing situation in modern Britain strikes me as inconvenient for the fostering of happiness. Whereas once a man could with a simple job support himself and his wife and family in a home, today most couples find that both of them have to work full time to afford a decent house.How can this be a good thing? Do women go out to work at the check-out counter of a supermarket because they love it? No, I suggest that they do this because they think that they need the money. Would it not be better that they did not have to do this? If they were free, would they no t prefer something else? House prices rise and fall dramatically. In recent times in Britain, they have risen very sharply. They have been subject to a inflationary force peculiar to themselves.In a given area, there are only so many houses. If everyone buys a house there for ?10,000, and each home is paid for by one person's wages, then perhaps this  situation could remain stable, or just follow the general pattern for inflation. But if later a couple, both of whom are working, buys one house for ?12,000, then the next person in the area selling his house will know that it is possible to get ?12,000 for it, and so will instruct his estate agent to get this amount for him. Soon, all the houses become â€Å"worth† ?12,000, and the cycle repeats, with the prices going ever upward until after a while the only way to afford a house there is to pay for it with the wages of two jobs, and all the women have to work. Are the people of that area now richer? Are they happier?Some of them might be, but for most the situation is that they do not have much or any more spending money, but instead money tied up in the same homes as before that today cost more, and now the women are all working, which makes everything difficult. Very few of the women will work at home, so the house will be empty most of the time. The thing itself that all this is for – the house – gets enjoyed less not more. Childcare becomes a huge problem.Many women will find themselves chasing their tails, trying to earn more so that they can afford to pay for child carers that they need because they are at work trying to get enough  money to pay for childcare. People who argue against a woman's place being in the home are often well-educated people who take great interest in their careers. It should be remembered though that most women are not highly career-oriented, educated and intelligent. Working the till at a supermarket is not a career, it is a job. Whereas an educated woman might get great fulfilment from working as a doctor in a hospital, I do doubt that this is why many women choose to scan in tins of baked beans for a living. Half of births are male. This is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.There are areas in Britain where the traditional male jobs have disappeared. Mines and steel works have closed, the army is now very small, and machines have taken over the jobs of many men in what few shipyards and car factories are left. Nevertheless, men still seek these sorts of job. Most new jobs are taken up by women. In many places, this leads to a great amount of male unemployment, and a discontented underclass of unemployed males is not good for a stable and peaceful society. Would it not be better to have those men doing something useful that gave them self-respect and purpose?Men have evolved instincts that make them do things for women. They may not always realise that what they do is for women. Quite often, they may feel that the reverse is true. Men drive recklessly. This is not good for society. Evolution has favoured men who take risks and show off, however, because in the past these men passed on the most genes. Today, selfish men drive too fast and endanger us all, but the drive in them that makes them do this comes from the fact that women of the distant past were impressed by skill and daring. Today, men get a kick out of being able to support women.They also get a hefty kick in the confidence and self respect if they cannot do this. It is commonly remarked that men do not like to marry women who earn more than they do. Society at large does not respect the kept-man. Given that this stems from deeprooted instinct, it is incredibly unlikely that this will change in the near future. We could try and educate people to respect kept-men, and kept-men to be happy being kept, but this would be going against the grain of human nature. Surely it is much better to go with the grain of human nature.This way, rather tha n having a population that can tolerate the situation, you will have a population that will be happy. This may strike you as a ridiculous opinion, and an entirely subjective conclusion, but I must point out that there is a fundamental difference between the two states of being. In one, you have people who know that they ought to believe a certain thing because they have been told to, and who perhaps (though probably imperfectly) go along with this. With the other, you have a population that gets an endorphin rush from what it does.In our ancestral past, people did not have to fill in forms. They did have to copulate in order to pass on genes. Consequently, we did not evolve to get a natural mental high from form-filling, but we did evolve to get something of a pleasant sensation from copulation. Today, we have to fill in forms, but no amount of education can make formfilling fun, because our brains simply do not have a mechanism for releasing pleasure chemicals for form-filling. Our brains do, however, have very strongly hard-wired mechanism for rewarding sex.By the same logic you cannot educate men to be happy about being kept or women to be happy working in an office while a stranger looks after her kids. You can, of course, find exceptions. Somewhere, there is a happy kept-man, and a woman for whom photocopying forms is a continuous source of joy. I am writing about the great mass of people. One thing about the saying â€Å"a woman's place is in the home† is that people find it belittling. To them it suggests that women are lesser things, not clever enough to do anything more than dust and cook. There is nothing in the statement that says this.If another saying were â€Å"a man's place is in the army†, or â€Å"a man's place is in the factory†, would people similarly think this an insult to the intelligence of men? I think not. There is nothing innate to the saying â€Å"a woman's place is in the home† that means that women are s tupid. That association comes from the history of ideas – from old arguments that have been used to suggest that women are inferior. Let us forget them. An awful lot of work has been done on human intelligence, and one consistent result is that the average man and average woman are of equal overall intelligence.Success these days is rated in male terms, it seems. To become high rank in an organisation is high status and good, and to be applauded. To earn lots of money is impressive too. To be high-profile, assertive, and otherwise masculine receives praise and to be domestic and content is seen to be contrary to this. It is a great shame that women seem to see success in the same terms. To be self-respecting, they now are made to feel that they have to succeed as men. That they usually find that they are not as good as men at being male they often put down to prejudice and unfairness in society.If the only way they can succeed is at being male, and they are competing against men, then they will always lose. Similarly, men competing in a female world will always lose. Indeed, society is biased that way too, as any man who has tried to get custody of his children after a divorce will tell you. If women will always lose, then they are likely to end up discontent. Surely it would be better to go with the grain of human nature, and offer them a feminine form of success. We live in a money-driven economy. To eat, most people have to buy food from shops. Mothers need money to raise children.For the typical woman, there are two ways of getting it: from a man, or by earning it herself. Clearly the better of the two is from a man. You may be shocked to read this, but I really do mean it. If a woman can delegate the task of getting money to someone else, and by this method end up with the money she needs, then this is surely easier and better for her than having to manage the simultaneous tasks of bringing up children and working. People may admire working mothers , and say, â€Å"how ever do you manage it? † but I do not believe that these women chose their way of life for its ease and convenience.So, it is better for the mother and her children to get the money from a man. Men might prefer to spend all their money on themselves, but this does not mean that it is better that they do. Men do get a reward in self-esteem from supporting their own children, and surely it is good for a society that they do. It seems that it is better for women, for children, for men, and for society that women get financial support from men. This is all very well, but unfortunately, life is enormously more complicated than this may suggest. Marriages break down very often.One major reason that divorce is on the increase, is that women are more financially independent, and can afford to divorce. In a modern rich world, their children will not starve. After divorce, the typical woman is considerably poorer, and the typical man richer, but still women divorce their husbands. A society that forces women to stay in marriages they hate would be sub-optimal, but so too surely is a society in which marriage is close to meaningless. It could be that we have fallen into a post-industrial trap. The invention of farming was a bit like a trap.Before farming, people did not own land, and wandered around hunting and gathering. The population was low and scattered and free. Once farming started, people had to stay put to farm their land, and to guard it from pests and thieves. They had to regard the land they farmed as their own. Farming increases the number of people who can live in a given area of land, and after not many generations, it was impossible to go back to hunting and gathering, because the population was then too large to support that way, and the rest of the land was beingfarmed by people who didn't take kindly to poachers. The result was that people who were once free were now trapped in the backbreaking world of farming. Perhaps our economy will make it impossible for houses to be affordable for typical single wage earners. If enough people stay together for long enough to pay enough joint mortgages, then house prices can stay inflated. Governments could not simply intervene and lower the price of housing. Attempts to force people to sell things for less than they could get for them always fail one way or another.Something is only ever worth what someone else is prepared to pay for it. It could be that men have ended up in a world where male virtues are criticised in all but the successful few, and in which their male instincts cause them to pursue lives that will bring them little pleasure. Meanwhile women cannot feel respected without independence, but cannot get enough money without dependence on a man who might be gone tomorrow, and so still they have to go out and get jobs.