Spin Doctors

Since the first principles Tory was all about the motives and interests of intellectual of the 6th and 5th centuries BC, Sophists were positively included as part of the intellectual position of the 5th century. The word ‘Sophist† means ‘professional cleverness'. During the fifth century, sophists were teachers, speakers, and philosophers who were paid to use rhetoric. For the first time In history, philosophy became a job to earn money by selling Intellectual skills. They were spin doctors of that period.There were some famous sophists such as Propagators, Georgia, Hippies, Produces, and Antiphon, among others. They made their living by selling their Intellectual skills to those who wanted to get a professional career and could afford to learn. Sophists offered an expensive private education that poor people could not get any education from them. They taught rhetorical skill: clever talk designed to enable their pupils to manipulate popular opinion in their favor. Furthermore, Sophists presented themselves as great facilitators of democratic procedures.However, their effect was only to secure advantages for their richness. They tried to cheat the poor while they were taking advantage from the rich. Therefore their deeds were undemocratic under the enigmatic Ideology- anyone has the right to do anything whether they are rich or poor, whether they are high or low birth- which prevailed In 5th- century Athens. Therefore the question came up to be argued that â€Å"Are the Sophists a good thing or a bad thing? ‘ This disagreement has raged more than 150 years. The result changes depend on the prevailing ideology of the contemporary world.The Sophists were generally condemned before 20th century. However, they were recovered from that bad reputation by the effects of Hitler who hold Plat's potentially totalitarian political views, in the sass. Many liberal thinkers had come to doubt Plato who disagreed with the Sophist's point of view, and to recognize Sophists as champions of liberalism. This outlook of 1 sass even continues until nowadays. It is encouraged by a naive liberalism which believes that totalitarianism and democracy are simple black and white alternatives.However, the time is reached to the right time to reconsider on all the social exclusion, economic disadvantage, and political spin that what Is theoretically democracy and quite undemocratic In reality. Public opinion can be a good gulled to public policy only if the people are In a position to Judge and can exercise their Judgment freely. Nowadays, sophistry Is one of the methods by which politicians disguise their policies in alien clothing, to make people believe in them as more sealed tan teen really are. I Norte, spin doctors succeed democracy the slogan. L.Test winner In the 4th century BC, when the great Sophists were all dead, Plato wrote more than twenty dialogues which he created a character called Socrates, based on the real Socrates who had died in BBC. Many of these dialogues describe Socrates as who totally disagreed with the idea of the best Sophists of his day. These Plat's imaginary conversations make a range of valid uncertainties about the political and moral principle implication of the activities which relative to the Sophists. Socrates opposed the idea of Sophists' teaching style.He taught people without charge and always prepared to speak his own mind in which what he knows about. He did not care what people thought of him, and he was prepared to die rather than to follow the popularity of the majority vote. He traveled around the country and asked questions about knowledge (is opinion all that matters? ) and ethics (is anyone's Judgment as good as anyone else's? . These opened discussions of Socrates emphasize the shallowness and inadequacies in positions usually associated with the Sophists.This issue arises as to whether these norms and conventions are really binding or not. Most people do the things that society tells them to do? The difference between nature and convention emerges all over the literature and political thought of the late 5th century BC. The Greek word for a man-made law or convention was ‘moos' and nature law was ‘physics'. Many intellectuals of the second half of the 5th century in Athens became more desire to know the questions about whether such man-made laws could or should have authority to respect.Where did they draw from their value? And were there perhaps other limiting factors or values that were independently and naturally right? Antiphon the Sophist suggested that conventions and laws directly conflict with what is naturally valuable. Society does little to make life actually better for those who do act self-righteous. Therefore it was always better to take hold of any opportunities to act unfairly and to steal the advantage.Furthermore, Calicles described about the distinctions between nature and convention in the dialogue called Georgia th at man-made laws postponed people room doing what they really wanted to do, which was to win as much as they could for themselves, at the expense of everyone else. Indeed worse those conventions were a cruel plot on the part of nature's born losers. That was how democracy got going; the rule by great absolute ruler that would be natural in the cruel world of nature, the world in which the winners win and flourish, and the losers lose and die.Only cowards would let those ideas set aside from their way of thinking. 2. MAN IS THE MEASURE Propagators was the most famous of the 5th-century Sophist who more favorable Attlee towards convention tan Atlanta Ana Calicles. He was rumors Tort sallying: Man is the measure of all things. If the word â€Å"Man† implies to human society as a whole, he probably meant that the conventions determined for human beings are the measure of deciding that what counts and what does not count as real; the world is as we make it out to be.If the word â €Å"Man† refers as individual man, Propagators meant that each of us is a perceiver looking out at the world, and what we see is up to us; it is not fixed by any independent reality. Either way, Propagators appears to say that there is no independent truth about what things exist. In other words the entire world is a construct of people. Nevertheless, even if he was not a committed relativist about the gods, Propagators' views on morality seem to have tending towards belief in changeable standards what was right for one society need not be right for another.That is the morally unthinkable soon becomes thinkable. Nothing is sacred. 3. THE POWER OF PERSUASION Georgia compared the power of words to the effect of drugs or physical force. Georgia, the great master of rhetorical persuasion, was the most remarkable of the in 5th century Sophists by his speech in defense of Helen of Troy. The speech took an amusing theme but the work has a more serious aim. It explores and illustrate s the corrupting power of words. Another work of Georgia was a classic text of early philosophy, typically called ‘On nature or what is not'. He proved through the text that rhetoric is so powerful.In the text, he offered an amusing work of philosophy designed to convince nature of things with three conditions: (1) that nothing exists, (2) that if something existed, one could have no knowledge of it, and (3) that if nevertheless somebody knew something existed, he could not communicate his knowledge to others. Ill. AND THE SPIN-OFF The Sophists made an amazing final act of pre-Socratic philosophy by asking society to question its reason on existence, its political beliefs, its moral values, its religious beliefs, its educational system, its legal codes, and its codes of etiquette.Even though Sophists were notorious of their deeds, they enlightened us the ideal democracy that values equality of opportunity. I believe History would have taken notice if the Sophists consistently used their power of persuasion to produce unfair results. However, the Sophists provided the tools for the average citizen to defend oneself, to participate in ileitis and to discover what he or she believed to be true. It placed rhetorical education within reach of the average middle class, and even gave some opportunities to us.I agree with the idea that education in rhetorical skills can help to make democratic equality: everyone NAS relents to express Nils or near pollens without any pressure and without any manipulation. On the other hand, it can also be harmful to us if we are not aware of the intention of using rhetoric skills to manipulate others. Rhetoric is so powerful that it can persuade us to accept logically to disqualify truth. Today, technology has advanced to the highest degree and continues to do so rapidly.Rhetoric continues to be an influential tool in education, politic and economic field. I can recognize the power that persuasion has on a society and its indivi duals. I also get sense and find the influence of a good speaker in everyday interactions. In conclusion, I assure that away from the Sophists' intentions that rhetoric be used for political and Judicial purposes, it has also entered the society through advertisements, news media, the Internet and so forth. Even the friendliest conversation contains some element of persuasion to have an agreement.

Time Warner Analysis

BUSINESS CASE ASSIGNMENT 1 Jie Tian Zhaopeng Li A. As part of strategic planning exercise, describe and analyze the vision and mission statements of Time Warner Inc. There is no explicit vision or mission statements on Time Warner’s website. But according to the description of vision and mission statements on class the â€Å"ABOUT US† statement on the company’s website resembles the mission statement and the â€Å"OUR VALUES† statement fits the definition of vision statement. The â€Å"ABOUT US† statement describes that Time Warner Inc. a global leader in media and entertainment with businesses in television networks, film and TV entertainment and publishing, uses its industry-leading operating scale and brands to create, package and deliver high-quality content worldwide through multiple distribution outlets. First off, this mission statement is a product-oriented mission because it states what products and services it serves its customers. Second, the statement emphasizes that Time Warner is a global leader and provide services worldwide. It shows the scope and domain of the organization is around the globe.And it also clearly describes the organization’s purpose is to create, package and deliver high-quality content through multiple distribution outlets. The â€Å"OUR VALUES† on the website describes that the company encourages risk-taking and divergent voices, makes the highest quality premium content available on every device, creates value by working together within and across our business, upholds editorial independence and artistic expression, attracts and develops the world’s best talent and takes pride in serving the public interest.The â€Å"OUR VALUES† statement falls into seven categories which are creativity, customer focus, agility, teamwork, integrity, diversity and responsibility. The statements show the ambitious long-terms goals of the organization such as recruiting the worldâ₠¬â„¢s best talent and making its content available on every device. It also mentions how the organization will generate value for the future through effective teamwork, innovation and originality and embracing changes and opportunities B. Explain, in detail, its basis of competitive advantages using Porter’s generic strategies (show how this is supported through the firm’s value hain activities) Time Warner has four main subsidiaries which are Turner Broadcasting System, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Home Box Office, and Time Inc. Turner’s entertainment networks include TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, tru TV, Turner Classic Movies and Boomerang. Turner’s news networks consist of CNN and HLN. Each of the subsidiaries of Turner has their own specialties for example that TBS focus on contemporary comedies like The Big Bang Theory, TNT focus on drama, tru TV focus on real-life stories from a first-person perspective.Warner Bros. Entertainment include Warner Bros. wh ich produces and distributes feature films, Warner Bros. Television Group which develops, produces and distributes television series, reality-based entertainment shows and animation programs for the Company’s network and third parties. Other subsidiaries under Warner Bros. Entertainment are Warner Bros. Animation Inc. , Warner Home Video, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Consumer Products Inc. and DC Entertainment.The third segment of the organization is Time Inc. which is the largest magazine publisher in the U. S. based on commercial avenue and published 21 magazines in print in U. S. and over 70 magazines out of U. S. which covers the topic of style and entertainment, lifestyle, news and sports. Time/Warner Retail Sales & Marketing Inc. is also a subsidiary under Time Inc.. Home Box Office (HBO) is the nation’s most widely distributed multi-channel premium pay television service which consists of recently releas ed uncut and uncensored theatrical motion pictures.Based upon the brief introduction of various segments in the organization above it can be concluded that the competitive advantage of Time Warner is founded on differentiation. Porter suggested that a firm could only apply one of the three generic strategies or the company could be â€Å"stuck in the middle† and will not achieve a competitive advantage. However, he also argued that firms could only succeed at multiple strategies by creating separate business units for each strategy.In Time Warner case differentiation strategy and differentiation focus strategy are both applied in achieve its competitive strategy. For networks and film business the company is competing with other film production and network companies. Television programming, feature films and news are the products of these industries which always have a massive audience scope and the companies try to differentiate themselves from competitors. The uniqueness of the product is the key in the competition that customers would like to pay a premium price for the products.Time Warner exploits its brand recognition and embraces innovation and creativity to product various different focused programs and movies to distinguish itself from its competitors. The competitive advantage is achieved through differentiation focus for HBO and magazines business because of their narrow market focus. Magazines like Essence and Golf face targeted audience instead of the broad scope audience. Time Warner has its own well developed distribution channel and sales& marketing company.Therefore, its differentiation could be effectively supported by the outbound logistics and Sales &Marketing sections in the value chain. C. Mintzberg’s family of strategies. Time Warner is involved in both the midstream and downstream business because it develops, produces and distributes feature films, TV programming and magazines. Time Warner distinguishes itself in achievin g competitive advantage through differentiation strategy and differentiation focus strategy. Time Warner elaborates its core business by market development strategy and diversification strategy.Time Warner develops its market mainly by geographic expansion and technology expansion. For example, Turner distributed 57 networks of it regional entertainment brands in over 200 countries. Time Inc. made all of its’ U. S. magazines available at tablet editions. The CW broadcast network cooperated with Netflix. Inc. and Hulu to expand its distribution channel. Time Warner extends its core business by the strategies of entry and control and listening. The 50-50 joint venture between Warner Bros. and CBS Corporation created the CW broadcast network.

Case Study: Starbucks

1. Starbucks laid down its Market Segmentation in the following ways: a. Geographic Segmentation: Starbucks primarily laid down its segmentation in order to spread its outlets around various parts around America. It was not only targeting to settle its bases all over the country, but basically planning to be easily accessible, which is why it was also placed enormously in the same zone. b. Demographic Segmentation: Age= 24- 44 yrs. Gender= Predominantly Female Income= Comparatively Wealthier Race= Predominantly Caucasian c. Psychographic Segmentation: Social Class= Upper Middle Class Lifestyle= Better Educated and/or More Professional . Behavioral Segmentation: Benefit Sought= Premium Coffee, Customer Service, Friendly Environment User Status= Potential and Regular Users Loyalty Status= Strong 2. With the overflow of options, Starbucks grew into a lesser quality place. The Starbucks experience thus, changed first before the customers made their way. Although, Starbucks primarily focu sed on Concentrated Marketing, with the maximization of stores, changing economy, and competitions, it took a different turn. Starbucks was rather following Undifferentiated Marketing, as traditional customers were no longer as loyal as they were with the changing environment.Instant beverages were on demand, so Starbucks had its Market segments spread out to a larger segment, whose focus was not a premium product, but an instant, faster service. 3. Starbucks Market Segmentation is based as follows on the present day: a. Geographic Segmentation: Starbucks today, is not only a part of American culture, but also many different nations worldwide. Although its revenue is majorly sourced from within America itself, it has its grounds set internationally, as a huge potential is identified. b. Demographic Segmentation: With the broadened market segmentation, the demographic segment has taken a pace too.It is no longer consumed by only people of higher income. Having set up less-expensive p roduct lines with availability instance, there’s a larger segment of population who make up potential consumers disregarding the age, race, gender, or generation. c. Psychographic Segmentation: Social Class: Larger class expansion including Lower-Middle to Higher due to less-expensive products Lifestyle: Consumers with high preference of instant and/or household consumption. d. Behavioral Segmentation: Benefit Sought: Accessibility, Brand Value, Instant Consumption, Home Products User Status: Wide range . Starbucks is a potential company with a strong legacy behind its coffee-making. It has now, a higher target markets, and has spread not only limited to its franchise outlets, but also various contractors and other franchises. It can generate its revenue through potential consumers of all social classes and economic ranges, as its products are no longer high-end expensive as it primarily was. It is a big name in Coffee business, and is a developing, high-yield company. Thus, it can potentially return to its previous successful revenue it once enjoyed.

Quality Management and Accountability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Quality Management and Accountability - Essay Example Experts posit that while distinct individual expertise is significant in the creation of team, however, they must not be able to overlook the need to openly communicate to each other to completely manage changes in the hospital. 2. The article you read indicated that there needs to be an agreement and understanding between employees and managers for successful quality programs. Discuss this aspect of the case study (e.g. did this occur, what understanding do you think each group had, etc). In the case at hand, while the team were able to attend training on quality improvement training and created its team for the hospital to strategize the changes for competitive leverage but there is apparent lack of communication and coordination to all departments about how the improvements will be undertaken with everyone’s participation. The case further showed that the human resources are demotivated. They were non-collaborative as demonstrated by their poor attendance in meetings; the c orrective action teams were dysfunctional but has instead focused on problem-solving with blame; poor reporting and documentation; and few were convinced that genuine total quality changes can be fully effected. It is appreciable that there are those who are interested to introduce changes in the administrative and operational aspects of the hospital, like Joe, but the drive for changes isn’t just enough. Joe was only able to send a team to undertake training on quality improvement team (QIT) and partially communicated his plan to few staff. The goal of attaining quality services was not shared by everyone. Managing changes within an organization require that the administration and its teams should sit down together and conduct an evaluation of hospital operation and organisational functions (Weeks, Helms, & Ettkin, 1995). There should also performance evaluation among employees. Such evaluation will assess how the human resources work viz-a-viz its goals and how the manageme nt function to complete its program effectively (Weeks, Helms, & Ettkin, 1995). The evaluation will outline the annual outputs of the hospital and determine the outcome of these programs. This will also cover an evaluation of company policies, human resource management and customer or patient supervision. When this evaluations are done, only then that the quality improvement teams (QIT) could formulate recommendations and program of actions that will serve as framework in instituting changes for the organization (Ciampa,1992). The recommendations will address all the problems and concerns raised in the evaluation holistically so that the team will be able to comprehensively respond to problems. As such, they will be able to see the correlation of reports from all departments, the evaluation process and the procedure of managing total quality improvements (Whetten, & Cameron, 1991). 3. What steps did the manager take to implement the improvement process? What steps did he do correctl y? Which ones did not work? As discussed earlier, the manager was only able to send the staff for training on quality improvement but in the absence of shared goal within the organization, the collaboration and cooperation became nil and nixed. Joe plans and sets target but these are not openly agreed and coordinated with all department heads, thus, the direction in in creating changes are not achieved and the outcome was

Sacagawea-the greatest souls so easily forgotten Essay

Sacagawea-the greatest souls so easily forgotten - Essay Example There had been only scare legitimate information on the life and times of Sacagawea, but the reality which remains quite clear is that the lady deserved to be adorned as a crucial part in the American history. Sacagawea was only 16 years of age when she joined the Lewis and Clarke expedition (National Park Service, 2007). There is difference of opinion on the early years of her life. The year of birth of Sacagawea is supposed to be 1790 (National Park Service, 2007). One of the argument about her life history is that the girl which born as the daughter Shoshone chief, was kidnapped by Hidatsa and was taken to their village in Missouri at an age of ten. She was married there by a French trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau (PBS, 2008). When Lewis and Clarke engaged Toussaint Charbonneau in the team of expedition as an interpreter with exposure to the local people and conditions, his wife Sacagawea also joined the team. Her expertise in the Shoshone language prompted the team leaders to engage her so that she may be of help to them in taking help from Shoshone tribes in exploring and fighting over the naturally complex terrains and water heads (Clark & Edmonds, 1983). The factor of sacrifice and hardship that Sacagawea had made is confirmed while considering the fact she was pregnant when joining the tedious Lewis and Clarke expedition as an interpreter. Sacagawea proved to be a real heroine while being with the team. In 1805, she rescued quite crucial documents which included journal of the expedition from the river as it fell down from the boat. In recognition of her timely action, the leaders of the team named the river after her as Sacagawea River (Clark & Edmonds, 1983). In this context, it must be remembered with honor that without the help and service of Sacagawea the evidence of the so crucial periods in the history of American land would have been lost. Later the role Sacagawea as a

Relationship between systematic theology and christian ethics Essay

Relationship between systematic theology and christian ethics - Essay Example Christian ethics is mainly guarded by the biblical scriptures and other sacred teachings. In essence, ethics plays a significant role in molding people’s behavior and way of life. In addition, ethics aids in bring order in the society and ensuring that everyone acts accordingly in areas of resident, social gatherings and places of work. In this essay, investigation of the assertion that, there exists a certain relationship between Christian ethics and systematic theology is going to be investigated. Both disciplines focus on instilling good moral values to Christians. In fact, the core objective of these two fields of study is to enhance upright moral behaviors for Christians. For instance, Fedler (2006) argues that Christian ethics provides a guideline on how Christians should conduct themselves in private and public places. Similarly, systematic theology explores the Christian behaviors in order to set a platform for proper application of the Christian ethics. In essence, the two work hand in hand in building and developing the Christianity base. Christians are expected to be good ambassadors of Christ by acting according to the provisions of the bible and other holy texts. According to Christian ethics, a Christian should be an individual whose character is admirable to the members of the society. Actually, Christians should behave in such a way that non-Christians envy to emulate their character. The advancement in technology and education has eroded the good human morals a nd, therefore, systematic theology and Christianethics need to be applied together in order to restore and uphold acceptable morals in the society. According to Jenson (2001), systematic theology is not only an endeavor for Christianity knowledge but also an exposure to God’s truth on humanity. Through systematic theology, people are able to understand the reasons why God ordered some things to be done the way they are done and, this aids in building a well-founded

Child Labor during Industrial Revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Child Labor during Industrial Revolution - Essay Example Child labour played a fundamental, though little acknowledge, role in the industrialisation of Britain. As Humphries (1995) writes, "the child worker stands pitifully at the heart of contemporary perceptions of the British Industrial Revolution. But modern economic historians have neglected her experiences and her contribution." That contribution, as may be inferred from Humphries' (1995) research is largely incalculable. His/her experiences, however, have been recorded by the literary authors, amongst whom one may mention Dickens, and sociologists. They are important because they explain several of the questions relating to child labour, as in the conditions which incited it and who, precisely, was responsible for the exploitation of children. In response to the question pertaining to responsibility for child labour and exploitation, the Industrial Revolution only intensified already existing conditions. ... ncontrovertibly unethical base, the Industrial Revolution may be identified as one of the forces which eventually led to the decline of the aforementioned practice. The implication here is that the Industrial Revolution effectively continued a trend and did not cause it and, in so doing, contributed to the termination of that trend. Child labour may have declined towards the end of the nineteenth century but, it endured throughout much of the Industrial Revolution due to market conditions. Poverty, as both Cunningham (1990) and Humphries (1995) explain, did not simply incite parents to seek employment for their children but motivated children themselves, among whom were orphans and street children, to seek employment. In that sense, the labour of children, while founded upon exploitation, provided the child labourer with a means for basic survival. The implication, therefore, is that, comparatively speaking, children benefited from paid employment, if only for the fact that it allowed them shelter and the fulfilment of their barest nutrition needs. Employees sought child labour because of the very nature of market conditions. The demand for cheap and unskilled labour was high and children and women were the perfect candidates, not just because they were cheaper than male labourers but also because they were perceived of as controllable, or a source of relatively trouble-free cheap labour. The aforementioned, combined with the determination to keep production costs at a minimal in order to increase profit margins, incited employees to exploit child labour. While the demand for child labour, due to the factors mentioned in the above paragraph was high, the supply of child labour was even higher. The fact that supply exceeded demand effectively kept child labour

Explain the phenomenon of organisational commitment and analyse its Essay

Explain the phenomenon of organisational commitment and analyse its alleged relationship with organisational performance - Essay Example The most widely studied outcomes include employee retention, attendance, organizational citizenship, and job performance (Angle and Perry, 1981). Organizational commitment has become one of the major concerns of human resource these days. The enhancement of employees performance is issue for both profit and non-profit organizations. Non-profit organizations usually find it difficult to deal with this issue because of their inability to provide their employees with competitive compensations and benefits (Riveros andTsai,2011). One of the important objectives of an organizations human resource team is to keep employees motivated. It is because employees motivation results in commitment which in turn improves their performance and declines their desire to leave the organization. In order to achieve these results, organizations can devise a positive reward system. The purpose of this reward system is to retain employees. A positive reward system may include financial as well as non-financial rewards but mostly, non-financial rewards are proved effective to retain employees (Riveros and Tsai, 2011). Organizational commitment is a topic which has been studied by several authors. Nevertheless, the most important contribution was made by Modway, Steers and Porter (1979) in the form of Organizational Commitment Questionnaire. In order to fathom the importance of organizational commitment, it is important to clarify the concept (Riveros and Tsai, 2011). According to Colarelli and Bishop (1990), organizational commitment involves commitment to an organization as well as organizational goals. Allen and Meyer also proposed a measurement of organizational commitment in 1990. According to them, there are three components of organizational commitment including affective, continuance, and normative. The affective components include employees emotional attachment and their identification with the organization.

Five Forces Analysis of the Hospitality Industry Research Paper

Five Forces Analysis of the Hospitality Industry - Research Paper Example In the hospitality industry, there is a moderately low threat from suppliers. Many of the players in the industry contribute to the percentage of suppliers since they need to have access to quality supplies (Pizam, 2010). Mama’s can benefit from identifying reliable suppliers who provide quality goods since it intends to continue serving delicious meals to customers. Threat of BuyersIn the hospitality industry, buyers have a strong bargaining power because there is a very low switching cost between one restaurant and the other. Customers are well aware of the prices as well as the expected quality of products (Enz, 2010). For this reason, Mama's on Washington Square needs to develop strategies for addressing the threat of buyers in the industry.Threat of SubstitutesIn the hospitality industry, there is an increasing threat of substitutes. Many players are likely to provide customers with substitute products that are of similar quality to Mama’s and within the same price range. Therefore, customers would register a limited switching cost. There is a salient need for Mama’s to develop strategies for surviving in the highly competitive Industry.Ethnic Cuisine in the United StatesThere is an increasing demand for ethnic cuisine in the United States. Specifically, Asian cuisines are gaining popularity and slowly becoming part of the mainstream food. Therefore, the hospitality industry has to specialize in providing customers with a diverse range of ethnic cuisines.

Thomas Keller Essay Example for Free

Thomas Keller Essay Who is Thomas Keller? Why is he so important to Culinary world? Thomas Keller is considered to be one of the top chef in culinary world today. An adventurous, hard-working, quick learner, manager, businessman and a cookbook writer. Many people support him and believe him as a greatest chef in the kitchen. At present he is working towards the opening Bouchon restaurant in Tokyo, Japan in 2013. Keller, a restaurateur, was born in the town of Pendleton in Oceanside, California in 1955. His father is a former marine drill sergeant who left his family when he was 5 years old. On his teens, Keller learned how to cook from his mother while working at the Palm Beach restaurant she managed. Keller started his profession as a dishwasher and quickly moving up to cook. When he was 22, a French Master Chef named, Ronald Henin, his mentor, showed the real task of being a chef, and nurturing people-making them happy. He described when you nurturing a people it brings him pleasure as a human being in every smile of a guest about his cooking. He also mention his brother as the earliest mentor, Josef Keller, who is the chef and the owner of the restaurant â€Å"Josef† in Las Vegas, who gave inspiration to cooking. With no professional training and culinary experience, he moved to France and served apprentices in Michelin-starred restaurant. By the early 1980’s he was working in New York City where he gained national recognition at La Reserve and Restaurant Raphael as chef de cuisine. After several years as a executive chef, Keller opened his first restaurant in 1994 at Yountville, California named â€Å"The French Laundry†. The old century building was built in 1900 and has 62 seat capacity with elegant interior and surrounding gardens. The food is mainly French with contemporary American influences and served two different nine course tasting menus. Later that year, he opened other restaurant Per Se and Bouchon Bakery in New York and Ad Hoc in California. Thomas Keller has several different lines of philosophies related to cuisine. He believes in what he calls â€Å"The law of diminishing returns.† He explains that during the first few bites, flavors kicked in before flavor saturation and palate fatigue sets in. He also talked about the flavor profiles or compositions of foods, each dish had so many components, and there were steps upon required to layer the flavor and texture. The French Laundry garden has a 3 acre land located across the street to supplies Keller’s restaurant in the area, the menu is composed of 100% organic vegetable and herbs. Another part of his philosophy is the contribution, he explained that it might take a young chef to train up to three months to increase the speed and figure out â€Å"who they are and how they’ll develop in the restaurant.†, once they know the style, their ideas and opinions are encouraged. He also wants a young chef with highly motivated, capability, great skill and ambition to his restaurant. And last, the constant evolution, Keller wants to give emotional ownership of his restaurant to the staff and have them embrace that restaurant as if it were part of their own. â€Å"Teamwork† is one of the reason why is Thomas Keller became a successful chef in this world. The dining team, the kitchen team, the restaurant team are part of this dynamic. Being close together as a team and work hard they can achieve a goal and helped build the reputation of the restaurant. Another part is creating kitchen organization, he explained that organization give a maximum productivity and high degree of responsibility to maintaining quality of food ensuring consistency. He insists that the secret to his success is not talent but hard work and an obsessive dedication to detail. Thomas Keller was awarded the best chef in California in 1996 and the Best Chef in America in 1997 by James Beard Foundation. As Ruth Reichl (1997) stated â€Å" The French Laundry, the most exciting restaurant in America.† On food critic of the â€Å"The New York Times.† In 2005, his New York Restaurant Per Se received three Michelin Stars. In 2003 and 2004, The French Laundry was awarded as a â€Å"Best Restaurant in the World† and received three Michelin stars. That made Keller the only American chef to hold two Michelin three-star ratings. I love this video because it was easy to understand how Thomas Keller became a famous from dishwasher to celebrity chef. The story of Thomas Keller video supplies a full course of culinary education and deserves a place in every cook’s kitchen. I also found interesting recipes online that I thought I’ve had a private cooking lesson from the chef. The most interesting part at this video when French Laundry restaurant serve two different nine-course tasting menu and none of which uses the same ingredient more than once. The video also shows how mainly use fresh quality ingredients from the garden, the style and technique of cooking, a course or dishes with its own unique style was probably the most artfully presented and well prepared which things should be appealing to the eyes as well as the palate. For me, a Thomas Keller video gives a world of information, discovery and an inspirational to all young chef or old chef to experience a new ideas, explore great minds and e xperience great art.

SWOT and PESTEL Analysis of Nokia

SWOT and PESTEL Analysis of Nokia Introduction: Nokia is the one of the big giant in the world. It is leading the market 1992. In very beginning Nokia century start with Fredrik Idestams paper mill on the banks of the Nokianvirta River. From 1865 to 1967, the company would become a major industrial power; but it merge with a cable company and a rubber firm to start the new Nokia Corporation to path of electronics. The newly establish Nokia Corporation was ideally placed for a leading role in the early development of mobile communications. As European telecommunications markets were easy to access and mobile networks became universal, Nokia lead the way with some legend products. In 1992, Nokia determined to go ahead with telecommunications business. This was possibly the most vital strategic decision in its history. As acceptance of the GSM pattern grew, new CEO Jorma Ollila makes Nokia the leader of the mobile telephone industry worldwide. Nokias keep continues involvement with 3G, mobile multiplayer gaming, multimedia devices an d also look ahead for the future. Nokia sells its billionth mobile phone as the third generation of mobile technology emerges. Even the though Nokia main business is producing and sell mobile phone. In addition, it got Navteq section, which produce sat nav .it also sell networking technology, call Nokia Simence network. Nokia sell their networking technology to countries. However, Nokia is not only player in the market, there are many companies, particularly the main competitors are Apple , Blackberry, Samsung, Motorola, HTC etc. in the these competitor Apple is the main rival . This report is on the base of UK mobile market. Here we are going to illustrate about Nokia and its closest competitor Apple. SWOT and PESTEL analysis SWOT stand for strength, weakness, opportunity and threat. (See appendices 2) Here strength and weakness is measured as internal factors. Opportunity and threat is external factors. The work of Kenneth Andrews (1971, p47)  [i]  has been especially influential in popularizing the idea that good strategy means ensuring a fit between the external situations a firm faces (Threats and opportunities) and its own internal qualities or characteristics (strengths and weaknesses).Manufacturing strategy can be seen as reflecting this idea of fit in functional terms. Those two factors can come from any environment elements which include PESTEL. PESTEL indicate macro environment or external factors. PESTEL means political, economical, societal, technological, ecological and legal. PESTEL analysis briefly describe about external factor. In this section the SWOT and PSTEL analysis will done to show Nokias competitive position against Apple. First of all Nokia has a strong brand name all over UK, which giving them the dominating power over other brand. Secondly it got wide range of product to target loots of segments in the market. However Apple got strong image in people mind and replacing the Nokia eventually. But it got a weakness of having only one model for serve all type of customer. Nokia phone is very user friendly then other phone. On the other hand App le phone is pretty much technical oriented, which find bit complicated. In terms of distribution channel Nokia got an extended distribution channel than any other brand, where Apple got less distribution channel compare to Nokia. After sell service is superior in Apple then Nokia. In terms of product Apple product are more robust then Nokia. Nokia got strong financial background which help to do innovation and change the model very frequent. There is lots discussion going on about green house effect. Nokia has responded to this situation positively. Nokia is now continuously developing their product, which is environment friendly. The devices shown here introduce eco innovations, and solutions for a greener lifestyle, this practice is will implement more widely in future. They using energy efficient technology in the device and production, they using 100% recyclable bag and device recycle option. Very remarkable change is elimination of user manual and providing that in the device. According to the corresponded of Nokia corporation Petteri Alinikula, Nokia has reduce its power consuming by 65%, which is about one third of the total use, by using recyclable materials and new efficient way of production. And Nokia has become eco friendly company. Nokia phone price is higher than other which is one of their weaknesses. Its got long time waiting in service, which make longer downtime. In contrast Apple got very low service time which gives them some differentiation over their competitor, to compete with other rival brand. Nokia got some highly technical model, which come out with slower performance and not user friendly. Nokia still got very wide market and it market all over the world, which gives them more scope to target more segments then their competitor. Because they got bigger market share they easily reduce price and get competitive advantage. At the same time Apple got little market in worldwide, but it has the opportunity to have big global market, which able to get more economy of scale and also more profitability. telecommunication market is growing rapidly global , which one the door of huge opportunity of future profitability, through excessive communication and aggressive advertising Nokia can still get the highest position in the market. For Apple it is a great threat as it does not doing aggressive marketing. The emerging threat for Nokia is fast goring mobile companies in all over the world ,it also a big threat for all other competitor like Apple ,Samsung ,Blackberry etc. there is a sharp trend of technological development ,which bring a big challenge for these two competitors ,one example is that Nokia and Apple is doing very good on 3G network, but the world going so first and now dealing with 4G technology like wimax. Instead of Apple and Nokia all other company like Motorola, Samsung and Dell are already start making 4G compatible phone. This could affect on current market share. At the moment Nokia do not face any political issue in UK. In addition their mother company is from Europe, they should have some advantage in terms of business and tax. But they might face political complication as they out sources their production .Government may force Nokia stop doing of shoring, which will increase the cost and reduce profitability. Nonetheless they also can face obligation form other c ountries, where they outsources from. Nokia need to react on situation change and have some contingency plan. In addition Mobile phone increases crime. Due to mobile phone they crime is easier to occur. The country like UK has facing crime like mobile scam and fraud. To face these problem Nokia making the devices more secure, by providing GPS. Nokia has also come along with fare trade production, as they introduce scheme to save wild life, called SOS (Save Our Species). They also providing in education by mobile devices .they also providing education in undeveloped countries in coordination with UNESCO. In the project call Education for all goals. Economy is changing so rapidly, it is because of high tech, globalization. Which influence people buying power. All the companies need to reduce their price and promotion and also need to re -segment to cope with the change. Especially in UK market has currency fluctuation rate is very high then other Europian market. There is big issue in pricing; moreover due to recent recession in UK people buyer has reduced. Which was hamper the total sells of mobile industry? However, as the world economy is moving towards virtual economy, like ecommerce, E-business, take marketing, distance learning, tele medicine and e-governess that open a wide path for the whole mobile industry in the world. These increase scope of new market and revenue. Legal is quite hard to face mobile company. But still phone companies are penalize due to legal issue. For instance Nokia has accused Apple for violating copy right low. Which influence the bad publicity and also need to compensate a huge amount of money. Marketing strategy Marketing strategy deal with the issue like what should happen, how to should happened and when and who will responsible for that.  [ii]  Marketing strategy is mainly combined 4ps, product price and places. It mainly start with the product .product is the core element of any product. Business organizations have increasingly recognized the value of placing a broad definition on their products, one that emphasizes the basic customer need (s) being served. PHILIP KOTLER (1969, p.13).  [iii]  So the product is what people aspect from any product. For mobile, the need is the communication. However, According to Kotler (1969) Diagram (see appendices 3) there are three level of product. The core of the product is the benefit which is the communication. Actual product is brand name with Nokia future is SMS, MMS, and WAP. Style is unique model and attractive packaging and the quality is the less downtime then others substitute product. Augmented product is warranty, customer service, distribution channel (Orange, Voda phone, O2 in UK). By this illustration we see that mobile phone is not only physical product its a product service bundle. Figure 1 Service We can see it more clearly in figure 1.as our product is a combination of product and service. The physical product is visible and the service, which is not visible. As service include the customer service, warranty, call quality. So To insure customer satisfaction Nokia not only need to confirm is product quality in durability. But also its before and after sell service. This will also add value to their customer. Then the product enforces the pricing strategy. The pricing strategy depend on two different factors external and internal .In the case of Nokia the external factor is the competitor cost, price and offer and internal factors are mainly on marketing objective like Nokia believe in mass customization. To satisfy all segment needs it got premium pricing product ( smart phone ,multimedia phone ) to low price phone (basic use phone ). Their price all so very in depend on model association and colour, they charge more for the best selling colour then other colour. For example Nokia charge high price for Nokia N95 black model then other colour. This indicate the do consider market demand and price elasticity. It is also clear the Nokia is concern about market penetration, which helps to have gained their corporate strategy. However Apple is a premium brands their attempted not to become cost leader, they like to take skimming pricing and premium price strategy. They are trend to start with high price and eventually they reduce the price. Apple use price elasticity to maintain the price to match the demand .They also reduces the price of slow moving product. Moreover Apple product shows prestige of the users, so people is buys not only product, but also prestige. So it is clear that Apple is the differentiator. As differentiator Apple should have unique selling proposition, which will influence customer to switch the brand. This reinforcing customer image towards the brand and give them fell that they are getting more for their money By having short time low price Apple stimulating short time volume, when the market demand is less. On the other hand having low price help Apple to compete with their competitor and replacing customer brand loyalty. However Nokia got the different price strategy and different product rage. Nokia products are divided in three section devices manufacturing and networking. In device section Nokia mainly do mobile phone but they also do notebook pc, tablet and mobile accessories. Navteq is another section of product, where they sell sat nav and Nokia Semence network, which they joint venture with Siemens and establish network for mobile operator. However, their main competitor Apple doses more products beside mobile phone. It has portable computer, server, accessories, Wi-Fi base station, mp3 player, online TV, peripheral products like video camera, printer. After the price the place need to select. Nokia has it market all over the world. Their main region is Europe, Asia pacific, Middle East, Africa, America, Hongkong, China, and Taiwan. Among those countries Nokia got strong base in European and Asia pacific market. In America they are dominated by Apple, as Apple is an American company. Apples headquarter located in California. Moreover Apple got retail store in three major counties, it got 200 stores in US, UK, and Canada. Apple recently moves to China. By moving to china they got two benefits, low cost out sourcing and huge local market. After the place nest thing come is the people involved in the business. If want to say about people, we need to say about the customer service, which they got all over the Europe and US. Nokia got service centres in every city to stay close to their customer. It has international warranty for its all types of phone no matter where it was bought form. Even thought they got long repair time, but they provide free device repair and certain level of free parts if necessary. Apple got highly trained professional to provide better service. And from front desk to highly technical professional Apple put the right people to right place. Apple is very popular for providing better after sell service. Apple customer service is accessible for all customers near and far, as they provide service in so many ways, phone, video conferencing and web support. In some area where the repair takes long time, Apple provides direct replacement .which give mare value to their service. After the service next thing come out is physical existence. Nokia got customise website for all different region. In their websites they provide device information, price and also the technological solution. In addition they got call centre support in local area wise. Nokia got showroom in every cities. However, Apple web site is www.apple.com. Which allow people to navigate to more customise websites, base on their location. Apple logo, the half eaten rainbow apple represent the Sir Isaac Newton memorable apple, which let people remember their brand easily. Apple got showroom in every big city, which verdict their existence. In addition Apple use different relationship event like Mac World Expo, advertising through different channel to communicate to different customer type. And they convert new customer to loyal customer by providing high quality customer service. Apple also increasing their distribution channel by adding Wall Mart in US and add mobile operator Orange, Tesco, Voda phone as new distribution channel in UK. On the other hand Nokia got distinctive quality then Apple product, Nokia phone are compatible for any network. It has user friendly operating system. It is famous for uses and its model is quite durable in the market. To see this we can analysis product life cycl e of Nokia. Product life cycle Product life cycle is the graph, shows product from introductory to decline stage of product and also explain the measure to control that situation. (See appendices 4) To analysis of product cycle, we use Nokia N95 model and US as a place. We chose US because in the introductory stage Nokia struggle to introduce their third generation phone in US .First N95 was introduce in March 2007,on the time it was on introductory level it got very low sell, so that they start selling it in discounted price in America in Sep 2007. Then it develops the hardware and start selling it in Europe and Asia, which was version N95-2. Later on when they upgrade to version 3, they start selling it in US through ATT. Then they enjoy the steady selling in US market until the new competitor Apple come with new generation Iphon. On their decline stage Nokia increase their promotion and then decided to give free internet with their smart phone including their N95 to compete with Iphone. But still the sell was g oing down. After that they decide to completely change the model and introduce N96. This helps them to keep their market share. However, to find out how good market base they got, we can look in to market share analysis Market share analysis Market share is percentage of selling unit of total unit sell in whole industry by all companies. To analysis the market share we are looking at the smart phones market share worldwide in 2009. Recent research (GSM Dome, Feb2010) shows that Apples iPhone doubled its global smart phone market share to 14.4%, increase 6.2% from 2008, while Nokias Symbian phone keeps their first place in this section. Nokias market share reduce by 5.5 point, while RIM and its Blackberries come second, with a 3.3 point increase in market share, getting a 19.9% share. In the States, BlackBerry and Apple have dominated market share than Symbian and as far as mobile use for communication, Apple and Android got the segment, with 81% market share. In addition, Android phone sales enlarged by 3.4 points, up to 3.9%, but still Android following Windows Mobile and Linux. The first platform had its market share drop 3.1 points, while Linux saw a cut of 2.9%. Palms WebOS have market share of 0.7%. The same research shows that 172 million smart phones were sold in 2009, 24% more then 2008. The iPhone stood for 2% of all mobile phone sales last year.  [iv]  (See appendices 5). In addition, according to Timo Ihamuotila, chief financial officer of Nokia Oyj (2010), their market share in 2010 will decries on 3%,(see table 1). At the same time their profitability has increase. Now Nokia is mere concern for their product price, as their ASP (average selling price) is going up. They also develop the experience of better and unique operating system for all their devices. This will make them differentiator. So finally Nokia is moving from mass customising to differentiator.  [v]  After looking the worldwide market share, let see how Nokia positioning in UK market. Positioning Positioning is depending on customer view toward to the product and the price. In this comparison we choose smart phone of different companies. We compare them by price and quality (matured by ranking 1-5) to show how dose defffernt brand giving the best value for their customers. To drow the posotioneing map we collect the the data from three different web site Nokia, Apple and carephone wearhouse web site. (See appendices 6) Positioning map By compering these we can see that Apple got hihgst quality in the market and Motorola got the lowest. If we see Nokia it is just after Apple and before Blackberry. Which show a nagivite impact on Nokia but if we see the prise, Nokia is giving the best value of price compare to their competitors. So there is a high possibility for Nokia to oprovide high quality in smart price, which will give them another competitive edge. Boston consulting The acronym of BCG is Boston Consulting Group, which general management is consulting from, famous business strategy consulting. From late 1970s BCG Growth-Share Matrix widely accepted and start taught in educational institutions. (See appendices 7) The choice of the product life cycle and market share as the two contingent variables has an added attraction. When combined, they form the framework for the BCGs product portfolio matrix (Henderson, 1979, p513).  [vi]  This administration tool has four different segments, including Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks and Dogs. According to BCG growth share matrix Nokia is in cash cow position. Nokia has the profitability. They are the market leader, with a low growth market share. As cash cow Nokia should fund for their own growths. They pay the corporate  dividends. They pay the corporate overhead. Nokia had exactly same position until the new player Apple Marge in the market. This new competitor could Nokia to lose their profitability and slower their market acquisition .which will eventually repeals Nokia from their position. As a consequence Nokia share price is going down. See However apple is in stars position. They are the market leader in high growth markets. They tend to generate higher amount of revinue, but have to utilize certain amount of cash due to growth of market conditions. For example, Apple is reducing their Iphone price in UK to quickly penetrate the market. Ansoff matrix The  Ansof matrix  presents the product and market choices available to an  organisation. Where it indicate to penetrate new market, product development, movie to new market and product diversification. (See appendices 8) According to Ansof Matrix (Ansoff, 1957) Market penetration starts, when any organization tries to penetrate existing market with current product. Companies use this strategy to increase the sell without changing product-market strategy. If we discuss about Nokia N95, It was first intro introduce in US in April 2007, Nokia N95 was sold in flagship store in discounted price. Then august 2007 Nokia N95 version 2 come out and start selling it in normal price in America. This is clearly defining that Nokia use the Ansof matrix to penetrate the US market. Another strategy is product development .which means new innovation or new product design. Normally it uses to utilize the spare capacity, make harder environment for competitor, reputation of RD and acquiring new technology. For example N8 is a new innovation of Nokia, which let them to have their market, keeping the brand image and also keep them competitive against their competitor. Financial analysis Gross margin,  gross profit margin  or  gross profit rate  is the amount of sells revenue after production cost. It is excluding  overhead,  payroll,  taxation, and  interest  payments. It expresses the relationship between  gross profit  and sales  revenue. It is a measure of how well each dollar of a companys revenue is utilized to cover the costs of goods sold.  [vii]  In the financial analysis part we are going to analyse the EUROPE base, as there is no individual financial data on UK. In appendices 9 one we can see the gross profit margin has been reduce 1.474% in year 2009 compare to year 2007, which should affect the profitibily. Profit margin,  net margin,  net profit margin  or  net profit ratio  all refer to a measure of  profitability. It is calculated by finding the  net profit  as a percentage of the  revenue.  [viii]   Profit margin is an indicator of a companys pricing strategies and how well it controls costs. Differences in competitive strategy and product mix cause the profit margin to vary among different companies.  [ix]   But if few see the net profit margin in appendices 10, it seems that the net profit margin has gone down more compare to gross profit. The amount reduces to 12.578%, which is a huge loose in Nokias profitability. This could be due to the fluctuation of currency and recession. The  current ratio  is a  financial ratio  that measures the company capacity to pay its liability over the next year. It compares a firms  current assets with its  current liabilities. The current ratio is an indicator of company capability to meet creditors demand. If companys current ratio is in their acceptable range, then it is generally considered to have positive short-term financial strength. Nokia got current ratio 1.55 (see appendices 11)which is not so much appricited, still it is not bad as it got long term future plan. Those will incrise the ratio. For example in Nokia Simence network need a high investment and it takes long time to get the profit. This could be the reason of having less assets then the liability. The acid-test ratio is far clearer than the operational capital ratio, mainly because the operational capital ratio allows for the inclusion of inventory assets. Companies having ratios  of less than 1 cannot afford their current liabilities and should be looked at with extreme concern. Furthermore, if the acid-test ratio is much lower than the operational capital ratio, it means current assets are highly dependent on stock. Retail stores are examples of this type of  business. In the case of Nokia, it has ration which has less than 1(see appendices 12); it means that Nokia do not have enough cash to meet is current short time liability.   Return on invested capital  (ROIC) is a financial measurement which indicate that efficiency a company maintaining cash flow relative to the capital it has invested in its business. When the return on capital is greater than the  cost of capital  (usually measured as the  weighted average cost of capital), the company is creating value; when it is less than the cost of capital, and value is destroyed. According to appendices 13, in 2007 Nokia got return of investment of 42.87%, which was very good to for any company. However 2008 it was reduced to 25.828% in the next year which was still good but not favourable as before. Finally in 2009 it reduces to 5.825%, which create very complicated situation. This is affecting company share holder income, which led to reduce the share price. Recommendation As Nokia got very tight competition, Nokia need to be very careful for choosing any strategy. Nokia is responding with the environment, which is appreciable. But Nokia still need to quicker in responding technological change, as technology is changing more rapidly than anything else. Again Nokia has increase ASP (average selling price), which will increase the profitability unite wise but might not going to much effective. Because if the total selling amount get decline ,only having extra revenue gathered by ASP will not able to make up the total profit. We believe that Nokia might need to rethink about their marketing mix. Consumer is very careful what are they getting. So Nokia need to very much careful about the performance of their product. Especially, their operating system needs to speed up. Nokia also need to speed up their after sell service. Those all Nokia can do to reinforce their market .However, if look at the financial analysis. We can see a huge change in their profita bly. There is a sharp decline in Nokia profit margin, more than 12% in last three years. This indicates step reduction of the sell. This will affect the share price and de motivate stake holder to invest in Nokia. Then analysis the current ratio Acid test ratio, we see that Nokia do not have enough assets to pay its liability. As it is less than one. But still there is hope as Nokia is investing in Nokia Simence network, which need high investment in initial time and it takes time to get the profit. Finally comparing both the opportunity and current wealth of Nokia we suggest Nokia to diversify from to mobile business, as it in high risk of having less market share then before and high price device. This will reduce potential buyer for higher price. In the same time by looking the opportunity of new extension of Navteq and Nokia Siemens network, the reasone for referring these two sections is, they got high level of possibelity. If we see current market they are only few competitors in sat nav industry. There are is very high prospective market base in UK and Europe. Another plus point for Nokia is they know these markets very well and they already got existing distribution channel. So they is high possible of new market .moreover they can continue built network for different operator. As they are joint venture with Siemens, which give the both company more financial and technological strength. So we suggest continuing investment in these two sections and eliminating the mobile section to stop draining the capital.

The Failure of Industrial Agriculture Essay -- Argumentative Persuasiv

The Failure of Industrial Agriculture    Two years ago, Italy faced one of the worst droughts in recent history. Unable to combat the lack of water with proper irrigation systems or underground water reserves, regional water bans and severe restrictions were implemented in southern regions, limiting both personal and business related use, in order to prevent a full blown water crisis throughout the entire country. Both domestic and foreign economies suffered from the giant losses incurred due to crop failure and a shortened growing season. Some experts have attributed the extreme droughts in both Southern Italy and other areas of Southern Europe, like Spain and Greece, to years of detrimental agricultural practices in the area. Research has shown that these practices, most of them integral to the tenants of industrial agriculture; a form of farming that employs large tracts of land and excessive amounts of resources in order to produce large returns of a single crop; are stripping the soil of vital nutrients, depositing har mful fertilizers in the ground, and employing other deleterious measures that are making them unsuitable for long term use. Industrial agriculture has been employed by farm owners for years now. Based on the capitalist ideal that mass production of one good will reap more profits, the industrializing of the common farm has become the leading form of agriculture in many countries world wide. It has undeniable benefits for the consumer, making it very desirable in the American and European economies, where it was founded. The ideas of traditional market systems, with inputs and outputs, are applied to agriculture in hopes of increasing yield, be it corn, cows, or bushels per acre, and decreasing the cost of... ...anic farms in Europe, where an EU push to abandon the industrial methods of the past and to look to more sustainable ones, are producing 60 &endash; 80% of the crop yields that are being produced on industrial farms (UCS). Since there is less governmental backing for the large scale production farms, organic ones are beginning to show their true capabilities. In fact, even the UNDP report after Johannesburg states that "organic farming methods seem able to provide similar outputs, with less external resources, supplying a similar income per labor-day as high input conventional approaches." Organic farming can supply the world with the amount of food necessary, but only if subsidies are adequately distributed to make these low-input, low-tech farms competitive.    Sources Union of Concerned Scientists. www.ucsusa.org/news.cfm?newsID=328> Accessed 29 April 2004.  

Themes and Symbols in Poes The Masque (Mask) of the Red Death Essay

Themes and Symbols in The Masque of the Red Death  Ã‚     Ã‚   The literature of Edgar Allan Poe can either be viewed as extremely simple or incredibly complicated, and his short story "The Masque of The Red Death" is no exception. This story can either be viewed as a simple story of horror, with no deeper imbedded meanings, or it can be broken down into many symbols with several possible meanings. Perhaps this story tells of the struggle between man and death, perhaps it speaks of an author's struggles and dreams, or perhaps it was merely written as a tale of horror. Arguments can be made to support all of these overall themes, and there are even more points of view offered about the story that can be explored if someone wishes to find a view with which he or she can better understand or identify. One possible theme of the story is that it is nothing more than the imaginings of a dreaming mind. According to Richard Wilbur, this is partially shown through the geometry contained in the story. He states that, "Poe quite explicitly identifies regular angular forms with everyday reason, and the circle, oval, or fluid arabesque with otherworldly imagination" (269). If Poe used unusually shaped rooms to show dreams, and the supernatural, then with his description of the seven chambers being, "so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect" (qtd. In Wilbur 269), it would appear as though either a dream is in progress, or something supernatural is taking place. In this interpretation of the story, Poe is taken quite literally in some ways, such as his terming the lords and ladies at the costume ball as being "dr... ... to a reader personally, and give that person an opportunity to form an individual opinion over it. Works Cited Etienne, Louis. "The American Storytellers-Edgar Allan Poe." Affidavits of Genius. Ed. Jean Alexander. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1971.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   134-139. Halliburton, David. Edgar Allan Poe: A Phenomenological View. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973. Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Masque Of The Red Death." Bridges: Literature across Cultures. Eds. Gilbert H. Muller and John A. Williams. New York:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   McGraw-Hill, 1994. 495-498. Wilbur, Richard. "The House of Poe." The Recognition of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. Eric W. Carlson. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1966.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   269-277. Womack, Martha. "Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Masque of the Red Death.'" The Poe Decoder. Online. Internet. 20 May 1998.      

Essay --

a) Economic: Implementation of GST tax has an adverse effect upon the pricing of food. An increase is imminent due to the fact that basic food materials such as sugars and flour faced an increase of price. There are two possible solutions to this; one would be the current solution, which includes methods and studies to reduce the cost and finding methods to attract customers. The difference between KFC franchise and other franchises is the diversity of available menu. I believe that essentially KFC should provide some form of diversity upon its menu, thus for people who can’t purchase those which are expensive, could perhaps purchase food items which are within their budget. In addition to that I suggest that more variety form of cuisines should be introduced and at the same time KFC should be able to retain its originality and symbol. Essentially I believe that the possible way for KFC to counter the increase in price would be to provide better services which would somehow allow the custo mers to compensate the increase in price. Better service extends to possible new menus, bett...

Rethinking Our World

Rethinking our world Linguistic analysis: * Claims that almost all philosophical problems can be dispensed with once their underlying linguistic basis is exposed * No matter how hard we try to solve a problem we fail, then we are dealing with a false problem/ meaningless set of words * 2 British philosophers = Bertrand Russell & AJ Ayer * Focused on logic, linguistic meaning & verifiable facts Help us do: * Think more clearly * Be precise in what we mean * Spot hidden assumptions & dishonesty in all forms of propaganda Can’t help us with: * Moral problems * Life choices * Facing own mortality Seeing the people we love suffer * Our own suffering Logical symbolism & argument: * Arrive at the basic structure of truth * Process is facilitated by representing objects & relationships symbolically * Any statement that is true/false by definition can be expressed in form of symbolic logic Empiricism: * Gained through traditional 5 senses(seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting) g ives us our most reliable form of information * Concerned with establishing the truth by means of scientific testing * Searching for objective truth * Linguistic analysis, logical symbolism & empiricism = logical mpiricism Can help us: * Understand how our physical world operates * Test truth of certain claims * Refute what is false * Respect natural laws of the Universe * Learn from experience Failings: * Places too much emphasis on science * Ignores human values * Views human beings as machines * Tend to ignore anything that can’t be explained scientifically * Confines truths to that which can be experiences through senses Critical Rationalism: * Encourage questioning & open-mindedness * Socrates, 470-399 BC * Challenge existing ideas & beliefs by questioning them * Essential for the future of true democracy Emphasis that scientists must be objective * Completely against societies where people can’t speak their minds freely & discuss things openly * Focuses on avoidi ng falsity Help us to do: * Question what people in authority tell us * Be more open to what other people think * Examine our own opinions more carefully * Be more tolerant & understanding * Solve problems Can’t help us to do: * Make quik decisions * Find meaning of life * Can make us feel insecure * Solve problem of suffering Types of false argument: * Name-calling * False cause & effect Falsely representing an opinion in order to discredit it * Appeal to emotion * Falsely claiming that, because a point of view is popular, it must be true Existentialism: * What is meaning of life? * Modern believe that â€Å"our duty† is to decide for ourselves what life is about Can help us to do: * Question other people’s ideas & values * Be more open about ourselves * Trust our instincts * Spot fakes * Enjoy life more Failings: * Too trusting * Can be confusing * May lead to despair * May leave us feeling helpless & angry * May be seriously disruptive Nihilism: * Philosophy of nothing No purpose in life = waste of time * Can lead to violence & chaos, but also free people who have grown up in very repressive religious environments African philosophy: * Holistic philosophy which shares certain ideas with Buddhism philosophy: it stresses the importance of human community & community’s place in the Universe * Claims that happiness at least partially consists of living for others, supporting each other * It’s an anti-materialistic philosophy Can do: * Build communities * Encourage human beings to be more humble * Give deeper understanding of ourselves * Help us appreciate mystery Re-examine need for tradition in human life Can’t help us do: * Doesn’t challenge power structures * Unable to accept women as men’s equals * Doesn’t encourage critical thinking * Tends to ignore needs of individual person * Tolerates cruel superstitious practices System theory: * Sees things as a whole rather than splitting things into par ts & encourages us to keep the objective of a system in mind The enneagram & Human personality: 1. Reformer 2. Helper 3. Movie star 4. Individualist 5. Scientist 6. Loyal supporter 7. Pleasure-seeker 8. Achiever 9. Peacemaker Critical theory: Most famous version = Maxism – wants to abolish all inequalities of wealth & all social inequalities Influences: * Maxism * Feminism * Black rights movements * Postmodernist thinking * Socialism Help us do: * Realistically assess power * Identify those who have power & those who don’t * Identify weaknesses in existing power relations * Define own, personal power & weaknesses * Re-examine our priorities * Re-assess our lives Fails: * Become fanatical * Sometimes too simplistic in its analysis of power * Too idealistic * Lead to despair & violence * Ignore human emotions & desires * Very grim philosophyReligious Leaders & social criticism: * Buddha- Buddhism: search for reality using, primarily powers of the mind Path consists of: * right thinking * right attitude * right means of earning a living * right conduct * right views * right speaking * right effort * right concentration * Moses: on a call for social justice under the One God. * Mohammed: vision of society was of all humankind united under Allah * Jesus of Nazareth: radical criticism of oppressive social & economic structures & His single-minded focus on what He called â€Å"The Kingdom of God† * Karl Marx: stood for hope & better tomorrowFeminism: * Sexual stereotyping * Creating bigger place for women in the world * Rejecting view that women are inferior to men Type of feminism: * Critical rasionalism: questions traditions * Critical theory: challenges all forms of power * Empiricism: asks us to look at reality objectively & social reality * African philosophy: attempts to decolonise the efforts of domination by white males * Logical empiricism: feminism precisely define problems women face Claims: * Women people in own right * Women should r eject men’s definitions of what makes a women valuable * Not make defensive claims to â€Å"equality with men† Women’s happiness doesn’t depend on having a romantic/marital relationship with a man * Have right to pronounce an abortion – men don’t get pregnant & bear children Phenomenology: * Look at things & ourselves as they really are * Believes theories about themselves, life & Universe can be very misleading – lead to falsehood & deep unhappiness * Promote religious belief * Confront ourselves in all our ambiguity & complexity & thus get nearer to â€Å"real me† * Encourages us to resist power structures by a process of retreat & non-engagement rather than confrontation Hermeneutics: * Greek – interpretations Similar to existentialism * Take imaginaryy & symbolism seriously * Claims that arts & crafts are important in human life * Believes happiness is linked to our own creativity in whatever form thet takes * Encour ages us to be poets, writers, authors, actors, painters, designers Main ideas: * Emphasis the importance of listening & observing * Claims that individual’s life-experience influences the way he/she understands world * Affirms importance of dialogue in arriving at an understanding of any issue * Is anti-authoritorian & encourages the individual to create his/her own meaning & understandingHelp us do: * Create meaning * Discover own hidden artistic abilities * Resist scientific arrogance & domination * Understand each other * Be more tolerant of each other Can’t help us with: * Define problems * Overcome injustice * Be decisive * Take action * Be more logical Modernism: * Science, reason & technology will fix it all Postmodernism: * Doesn’t believe in definitions Examines following aspects of human condition: * Way in which we see ourselves * Failure of science to solve many problems Fact that reason may not be a good guide to solving certain problems * Power of large, modern institutions over individual * Need to experience all our emotions to the full * Our inner needs * Mental anguish & illness * Where we get our standards of right/wrong * Trust these standards * Criminality & delinquency * Technology is morally neutral Methods of enquiry in philosophy: * Phenomenology: who are we? * Hermeneutics: symbols & images speak to us * Empiricism: what is actually going on * Some forms of feminism: who says the male is the â€Å"norm†?

Indiana Building Supplies

Indiana Building Supplies – Comment An analysis of these ratios shows that both Clemens and Willis are right. All of the profitability ratios for IBS are higher than the industry average. Thus, IBS seems to have done well. And indeed, it was done well for its shareholders in 2005. Note, however, that the current and quick ratios have generally been trending downward and are significantly lower than the industry averages as well as the stipulations in the loan covenants. Thus, liquidity is poor. Moreover, inventory is turning over very slowly and the average collection period has increased significantly.These figures are manifestations of IBS’s policy of raising prices and focusing almost exclusively on Indiana customers who are relatively price-insensitive but have a more uncertain demand. It seems like IBS is charging a sufficiently high price to overcome a sales level that is significantly lower than it was in 2004. In fact, it has probably been lucky to encounter a r obust demand from its Indiana customers (it is reasonable to assume negligible demand from Ohio and Missouri), so that it did not experience a more precipitous decline in sales relative to its 2004 sales.In addition to this, IBS has also experienced very high volatility in its liquidity and inventory turnover ratios during 2005, another development that is consistent with its pricing strategy. The lengthening of the collection period seems to indicate that Indiana customers are more risky in the sense that they don’t pay as promptly as the average customer. What does this mean for the bank? Peter Willis is correct in being concerned. What IBS seems to be doing is to adopt a strategy of increasing risk for the possibility of higher profit.Raising the prices of its outputs is equivalent to concentrating on the Indiana market and excluding the Ohio and Missouri markets. This means changing its market in such a way that IBS now faces a riskier demand schedule for its products, bu t one that yields it higher profits if it is â€Å"lucky†. Since the bank is simply repaid what it is owed, it does not benefit from this higher profit-higher risk strategy. If IBS is successful in selling off all that it produces (i. e. , if the Indiana customers exhibit sufficiently high demand), then all of the extra profits go to IBS.On the other hand, if demand is poor and IBS cannot unload its finished goods inventory, the bank may not be repaid and could be left holding a mix of finished goods, work-in-progress and raw materials inventory. So, the bank absorbs much of the risk associated with IBS’s pricing strategy. This is a classic example of moral hazard related to risky debt. Note also that IBS’s debt ratio has been increasing since 2000, and now it is well above the industry average as well as what is permitted in the loan covenants. This also hurts IBS’s creditors since their risk exposure is increased.Moreover, as we saw in our discussion of capital in this chapter, a decline in equity capital relative to total assets increases the firm’s incentive to take more risk at the creditors’ expense. So, Clemens’ willingness to go along with Klinghoffer’s suggestion now is not that surprising. Note that the benefits of increased profitability are skewed more in favor of IBS’s shareholders; for 2005 the return on the net worth of IBS is 299 basis points above the industry average, whereas its return on total assets is 70 basis points above the industry average.Let us now see if IBS could generate enough cash internally to repay FNBB its old loan as well as the new loan. As we saw in our earlier discussion, there are three sources of internal cash generation: (i)net income and depreciation, (ii)reduction of accounts receivables, and (iii)reduction of inventory. Now, suppose that we can get IBS to bring its ratios in line with industry averages. How much cash will this generate? (i) Net income a nd depreciation: Assuming cash flows from earnings and deprecation in 2006 remain the same as in 2005, we have cash flows from earnings plus deprecation = $202,500 + $72,000 = $274,500. ii)Reduction of accounts receivables: In 2005, IBS’s average collection period was 49 days, whereas the industry average was 37 days. Current accounts receivable = $600,000 (Average collection period = 49 days) Projected accounts receivable = (Sales / day) * 37 days = ($4,500,000/365) * 37 days = $456,164 where ($4,500,000/365) is sales/day for 2005. If IBS could reduce its average collection period by 12 days, it could generate $600,000 – $456,164 = $143,836 (iii)Inventory: In 2005, IBS’s inventory turnover ratio was 5, whereas the industry average was 8. 5.If IBS could increase its ratio to the industry average by reducing its inventory, then this would generate $900,000 – $529,412 = $370,588, where $900,000 is the actual 2005 inventory and $529,412 = year 2005 IBS sales / 8. 5. Adding up these three sources gives us $788,924 (=$274,500 + $143,836 + $370,588). If a new loan were to be extended, IBS would owe FNBB $473,000 + $220,000 = $693,000, assuming a 10% interest on the new loan and no new interest accumulation on the old loan. Thus, if sufficient preventive measures could be taken, IBS could generate enough cash internally to pay off the bank. A word of caution, though.The $788,924 is a very optimistic estimate since it assumes that IBS can bring its ratios in line with industry averages without affecting its profit margin. This is unlikely. We would recommend not calling the old loan and extending the new loan, but asking IBS to do the following: 1. Reduce sales prices so as to be competitive with sellers in Ohio and Missouri. 2. Pursue a more aggressive marketing strategy to reduce inventories and accounts receivables. 3. Cut back on production to ensure inventory does not get stockpiled. 4. Get tough in collecting old accounts from Indiana customers even if it means sacrificing some future business. .Provide some augmentation of equity by cutting back on dividends and possibly issuing some more new equity at an appropriate time. Get the debt ratio down. 6. Do not take on new debt to replace the $200,000 that will be paid off with the bank loan. 7. Secure the bank loan with specific (inside) collateral if not already done so. 8. Design a realistic periodic loan repayment plan. 9. Consider the possibility of asking for a personal loan guarantee from Bob Clemens. We have assumed that the accounting practices of other firms in the industry are comparable to IBS’s, so that a comparative ratio analysis like this is meaningful.

External and Internal Analysis Essay

This report will provide an analysis of Bayonne Packaging, Inc and its involvement in the paper packaging industry. The three most important issues facing this company are analyzed which include (i) how can Bayonne strengthen communication among departments and improve overall company culture, (ii) how will Bayonne be able to develop or improve their computerized scheduling system (iii) given Bayonne’s poor delivery performance, how can operational efficiencies be improved in terms of capacity utilization of the machines. In addition to analysis of these current issues, alternative solutions have been developed for each. The alternative that holds the strongest presence is for Bayonne to instill a strong corporate culture and ultimately strengthen communication that will allow for the company to excel in its key performance measures of cost, quality, dependability and speed. Introduction Bayonne Packaging, Inc. is currently involved in the paper packaging industry. Currently a 43 million dollar company, Bayonne has grown from 1982 when sales were just 10 million. Bayonne differentiates themselves in being  a â€Å"specialty packaging† paper converter that produces customized, complex-design packaging that is used by industrial customers for promotional materials, software, luxury beverages, and gift food and candy. By diversifying into new markets Bayonne applied its strength in innovative and difficult packaging design and their ability to fold and glue complex blanks. The main issues facing the company are the following: (i) how can Bayonne strengthen communication among departments and improve overall company culture, (ii) how will Bayonne be able to develop or improve their computerized scheduling system (iii) given Bayonne’s poor delivery performance, how can operational efficiencies be improved in terms of capacity utilization of the machines. I t is thus crucial to fully analyze these issues more fully and examine the factors that have contributed to each in order for Bayonne to gain competitive advantage. Analysis of Bayonne’s Issues 800  I. How can Bayonne strengthen communication among departments and improve overall company culture? Bayonne’s most stressful month of October has caused delivery, cost, and quality to tank. Consequently, Bayonne has not been able to execute their strategy (see section 2.1) well and excel in key performance measures. This is due to lack of communication and coordination between the quality control, sales management, Fold and Glue, and composition departments. There are several factors that contribute to the communication issue at Bayonne. Among other weaknesses of the company such as building a reputation for late delivery and complaints from customers about quality of products (see section 2.3), communication is one of the strongest. Bayonne seems to be failing in the ten essential managerial tasks of the strategy execution process. Moreover, the lack of communication is reflected in their inability to staff the organization (see section 2.5a) as no proper training is realized and departments are working as silos rather than one unified organization. In addition, lack of communication is also causing for Bayonne to build on their organizational capabilities in specialized packaging and scheduling (see section 2.5b). Bayonne has not been able to develop a strong management team that can assess which value chain activities, for example, should be performed internally and which ones should be outsourced (see section 2.5c). The fact that orders were late more  than 20% of the time in October is reflective of poor communication in the company and lack of delivery in key performance indicators (see section 2.1c). Bayonne is losing customers because of communication problems and lack of internal leadership (see section 2.5j). The work climate (see section 2.5i) has become bitter and there is no sign of a strong corporate culture, cohesiveness or collaboration, which is ultimately causing for a large misunderstanding and negative assumptions between departments. II. How will Bayonne be able to develop or improve their computerized scheduling system? Bayonne’s computerized scheduling system is viewed as useless as it reflects inaccurate information and assumptions about orders. This is causing for company personnel to not do their strategic roles as proficiently as possible and instead the individual departments are making their own decisions (see section 2.5g). Employees are questioning whether or not the scheduling system presents to be practical. The schedule that is generated twice a week by the computerized scheduling system may be a leading cause for Bayonne not being able to live up to their vision, mission, and objectives (see section 2.1A). The composition department is particularly concerned because as manager, Sean Quinn explains; between rush orders and ganging the orders to keep the machines running, he cannot afford time-wise to do what the printout says. Essentially, the schedule indicates to employees that they have an order that they have never seen or still have an order that is finished and got shipped. Inaccuracy may be the leading cause of Bayonne not being able to sustain a competitive approach in terms of their business and functional strategies. For example, one of Bayonne’s business strategies is the importance of determining priority of orders by computing critical ratios (see section 2.1B). In addition, this system has become a weakness to the company (see section 2.3) and is also leading to customer value proposition and the company’s cost structure to weaken, especially in secondary activities of the Bayonne’s value chain (see section 2.4, Product R&D, Technology and Systems Development) Not only is the this system causing workers to ignore printouts and raise frustration, it is causing for a lot of time wasted that could be used toward producing higher volumes of products at a level of good quality for customers. III. Given Bayonne’s poor delivery performance, how can operational efficiencies be improved in terms of capacity utilization of the machines? Since Bayonne’s highest volume month is October, the company has not been able to match capacity to its demand requirements also leading for insufficient allocation of resource that contribute to strategy execution (see section 2.5d). Evidence from the computation of machine effectiveness (see financial analysis page) indicates that the Heidelberg presses are operating at 100.29% capacity, essentially making Bayonne’s printing activity the bottleneck of the process. Consequently, this does not give the ability for Bayonne to focus on its core capability of specialized packaging (see section 2.5b) nor deliver on their key performance measures (see section 2.1). In addition, poor use of capacity utilization is also reflected in Bayonne’s decrease in producing good quality products. Producing quality products is essential in keeping customers loyal to the company and is a key success factor in this industry (see section 1.5). The Heidelberg press is slowing down subsequent activities since it can only produce a limited amount of pieces per month, which causes for limiting the inputs that are available for the Die-cut centre. Bayonne’s main resource is their wide range of machines that are supposed to be operating at efficient levels (see section 2.2). These machines are valuable because they contribute to the effectiveness of the company’s strategy. However, with the use of adequate capacity being questioned may be the leading cause of poor delivery performance, which is ultimately the reason that Bayonne occurred a loss in their most stressful month. Discussion of alternative solutions to the issues I. How can Bayonne strengthen communication among departments and improve overall company culture? A solution to this issue would be for Bayonne to reassess their current strategy and instill a strong corporate culture that will bring employees together (see section 2.5i). Bayonne can build on what they already have in place such as the daily production meetings. This is the only chance where employees across all departments come together face-to-face to discuss issues. Instilling a strong corporate culture has its pro’s and cons. The  main advantage is that it can create a strategy supportive organizational structure that Bayonne is currently lacking off (see section 2.5c). Another advantage is that it will also allow for internal leadership to be strengthened. Having a strong leader will set the tone and ensure everyone is working as a team. When communication is improved, Bayonne will be able to delivery on time because the departments will be working collaboratively rather than separately. The only negative to instilling a strong corporate culture is that it wont work unless employees embody the culture and take it seriously and understand that it contributes to Bayonne’s key performance indicators of cost, quality, speed and dependability. II. How will Bayonne be able to develop or improve their computerized scheduling system? An alternative solution to this issue would be for Bayonne to gain adherence to the computerized system by fixing the data that is leading to inaccuracies and introduce a pre-work order jacket. Currently, the work order jacket lists the routing, standard setup and run times, special instructions and ship-to information (see section 2.4, Distribution). If management at Bayonne work toward gaining employee loyalty to this system and introducing a pre-work order jacket based on prioritization where a report would be sent to each department before they begin working on orders and when the prior departments finishes the order, the next department would be aware of what orders are on the way within the next few days –would contribute to proper strategy execution. However, there are some pros and cons to this issue. An advantage of introducing a pre-work order jacket and gaining loyalty of the computerized system would lead to more efficient operating levels at the facility. This will lead to decreased delays, increased quality and better time management. It would enable company personnel to do their strategic roles more proficiently as well; something that Bayonne is not currently acting upon (see section 2.5g). A con with this alternative would be the possibility of initial confusion of how exactly the new system would work. Also, some employees may simply be resistant to adhering to the computerized scheduling system even if it were to be fixed or question whether or not it would be practical enough to sustain high volumes. III. Given Bayonne’s poor delivery performance, how can operational efficiencies be improved in terms of capacity utilization of the machines? A solution in improving capacity utilization would be to make more use of the International Royal and Queen machines. Currently these machines are operating at nearly 50% capacity utilization. Since these are the fastest machines, placing important orders to them would generate higher volumes. Advantages in making these machines the main use would contribute to Bayonne excelling in their key performance indicator of speed (see section 2.1C) and improvement in functional and business strategies (see section 2.1B). The machines are only operating at 44.49% capacity utilization, which means that Bayonne is lacking in improving operational efficiencies that could drive down costs. These machines produce the most pieces at the highest speed so making use of them would be highly beneficial. The main disadvantage of this proposed alternative i s that the volume may affect profit margins of the company –a concern of president Dave Rand (see section 2.4). In addition, these machines are complex and difficult to set up which could interfere with allocation of proper time management. This may result to poorer quality – causing for Bayonne main strength in innovative package design to be diminished. Recommendation According to my analysis, Bayonne must focus on strengthening communication within the company. Bayonne has to instill a strong corporate culture and develop on internal leadership within the company. This will lead to happier more productive employees and will allow for Bayonne to build upon their organizational capabilities. In turn, strong communication will lead synchronization among the departments and employees will work as a team rather than as silos. A strong corporate culture and excellent communication will eliminate misunderstanding and frustration among departments that has been causing for Bayonne to develop a track record for late deliveries and poor quality. Ultimately, communication will be the key in Bayonne’s ability to execute their strategy and excel in key performance measures that are crucial to the profitability in the company. Financial Analysis Overall, Net profit margin has been declining which indicates that the company has depleting cash reserves and may have difficulty paying liabilities. Gross profit margin for Bayonne is declining which may indicate that fewer funds may be available for operating expenses. Due to limited financial data in the case, other profitability ratios (i.e. operating profit margin, net profit margin, return on equity, liquidity ratios (current ratio, working capital), and leverage ratios (total debt-to-asset, debt-to-equity) have not been able to be computed. It is apparent that the Heidelberg press machine is operating at full capacity and is the bottleneck of the process. This is causing for scheduled hours to go overtime. High-speed machines such as the international royal and the international queen (only being used 44.96%) are not being fully utilized to an efficient manner, which may be the cause in late delivery and poor quality. APPENDIX 1. EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT 1.1 – PESTEL Analysis Political: n/a Environmental: severe weather conditions may have a substantial effect on this industry if these conditions were to cause a delay in the transportation process of the package Something like a power outage or blackout could interrupt the flow of the packaging process, which in turn will have an effect on sales and the customer. Sociocultural: Customers to the paper packaging industry seeking to make a greater impact with promotional materials reflects the rapid growth of this industry. Fast-paced society – want things delivered on time with no delays.(not being able to keep up rush-orders may affect sales). Technological: advanced  technology may cause industry profits to decline or no longer be needed (e.g. migration of software sales and distribution from CDs to the internet) Economic: if cost of materials (such as glue or paint) used to do the packaging were to rise; orders from customers may decline (important to stay strategically priced). Legal: not complying with FDA r equirements (about coatings, adhesives, and liners) could have an effect of business within this industry. Overall, the macroeconomic environment of the paper packaging industry presents a few challenges. Despite limited information given in the case on external knowledge of this industry – it seems that this industry has experienced booming growth. This industry may be challenged when it comes to diversifying into new markets if the dot-come bubble continues to burst and migration of software sales and distribution form CDs to internet were to increase. In order to survive, companies within the paper packaging company have to diversify into emerging markets and constantly innovate in design of the package or product. 1.2 – Porter’s 5F Analysis: there is no sufficient information about rivals within this industry in the case that can be applied to this framework. 1.3 – Driving Forces  Regulatory influences and government policy changes Requirements set by the food and drug administration (FDA) can have an impact on costs, operational efficiencies and health and safety concerns if companies within the industry do not comply with the regulations. Product and marketing innovation Additional customer market segments have become available to this industry because of the explosive growth of software packaging and promotional material. Both these driving forces have strategic implications for competing companies in the paper packaging industry. For example, if companies within this industry do not comply with specific industry requirements then they will  not be able to run their business or go into financial debt. Also, it is important that this industry to diversify into emerging markets in order to compete competitively. 1.4- Strategic Group Map: no sufficient data in the case to cover this framework since the case does not talk about competitors. 1.5 – KSF’S  Developing collaborative relationships with customers, who are closer to the end consumer Working closely with industrial customers for companies in this industry is crucial as it has an impact on sales for the company and eventually for the industrial customer. Excelling in global supply chain management Excelling in operational performance It is important to keep track of costs going in and out of the company. For example, if cost of goods sold (COGS) takes up a high percentage of the company’s sales may indicate that the company is not performing efficiently or not earning enough revenue to comfortably run the business. Effectively managing the delivery of products while keeping costs minimized It is important for companies in this industry to develop a track record for constant on-time delivery as this will reflect in the customer being loyal to the company which will drive sales. 1.6 Industry Outlook: overall this industry is conductive of good profitability since many industrial customers need their products to be packaged properly in order to be sellable. It is therefore important to excel in cost, quality, speed, and dependability at a competitive level for companies within this industry. 2. INTERNAL ANALYSIS 2.1 How well is Bayonne’s present strategy working– The present strategy at Bayonne is to out-compete rivals and prioritize in four key performance measures, which are quality, cost, speed, and dependability. This is mainly more of an operations strategy seeing as this company is the producer of the product that the customer sells. It is important for Bayonne to deliver on quality packaging, constantly innovate all while minimizing costs and producing high volume to remain competitive. A) Vision mission and objectives: Vision: although there is not enough sufficient data that states Bayonne’s vision; it can be assumed that based on what is given in the case, Bayonne’s vision might be along the lines of becoming the number one industry leader in specialty packaging by providing the best customer satisfaction, quality and product innovation. Mission: based on what is given in the case, Bayonne’s mission could be being committed to providing innovative solutions to difficult package design while excelling in cost, quality, and delivery. Objectives: financial objectives at Bayonne are to keep costs down as much as possible, while still delivering on quality. Strategically, Bayonne aims to excel in their key performance measure of dependability, cost, quality and speed that’s embedded in their strategy. Overall, they strive in being operationally efficient. B) Bayonne’s Competitive Approach Business Strategies: Working closely with customers to ensure satisfaction and approval in the design on the package Building on competitive advantage by providing additional finishing to the package as a courtesy to the customer. Also tapping into new markets and products such as promotional material Importance of determining priority of orders by computing critical ratios (e.g. lower than 2 indicates concern for the job) Expediting the most important orders in hopes of sustaining customer’s loyalty to the company. Functional Strategies: Ensuring quality is met by checking two pieces every hour and conducting a final inspection Ensuring that the work-order jacket travels with the job at each department Ensuring that if a full delivery cannot be made then at least getting partials out is important When orders need to be completed quickly, then this is done by â€Å"ganging† them up whenever possible. Sales  management department is focused on pricing aggressively to the market in order to sustain volumes. C) Key Performance Indicators Strategic: how Bayonne is doing in terms of their key performance measures Financial/Machine Effectiveness -Quality: quality control reports indicate that 6% of products were found defective due to glue problems, leading to an increase in customer rejects of shipped products. Finishing department has problems in including all pieces of the product. -Cost: cost of goods sold has increased, net sales have decreased from previous years, which has caused Bayonne incurring a loss in 2011. -Speed: there is a lower overall speed of delivery to customers. Machines are not being fully utilized since employees are not given the opportunity to assess which orders to run on what machine. A lot of orders that are expedited causes for a breakup to occur in production leading to extra set up time for the machines. -Dependability: Not doing well. Customers are aware of Bayonne’s inconsistency of delivering packages on time. This is reflective in the company’s worst month; October – where 20% orders were late. – Financially, Bayonne understands that there is a tradeoff in keeping costs down, getting good quality and hitting delivery promises. The ultimate goal is to perform financially well in all three. – Bayonne’s declining net profit margin may be indicative that cash reserves are depleting and they may have difficulty paying liabilities. – Gross profit margins have also declined possibly indicating that raw material costs have increased and manufacturing costs have gone up. – In calculating machine effectiveness, it is indicative that in the print department the Heidelberg press is the slowest of machines, which is creating a bottleneck in the process where capacity utilization is 100.29%. 2.2 – VRIN Resource: Wide Range of Machines operating at efficient levels. Capability: Specialized Packaging (includes innovative, difficult packaging design, and finishing touches) Is it Valuable? The machines pass the valuable test because they contribute to the  effectiveness of Bayonne’s strategy. The International Royal and International Queen are Bayonne’s most important machines that contribute to gaining operational efficiencies and added value to the customers because they operate at a high speed. Bayonne’s specialized packaging capability is very valuable and highly contributes to the effectiveness of their strategy (especially in the quality area). Since this capability is competitively valuable, Bayonne passes this test. Is it Rare? Since these are generic machines, this resource is not rare. It therefore does not pass the test since other packaging companies can invest in the same machines as long as they have the financial stability to do so. Not a lot of companies may take the time to closely work with customers in special and complex packaging design. Also adding personal finishing touches is not something a lot of other paper packaging companies take the time to do. Bayonne therefore passes the rare test. Is it Inimitable? The machines are imitable; therefore this resource does not pass the inimitable test since other companies can purchase the same machines to produce the same quality packaging. There is no uniqueness to them. Capabilities in specialized packaging design is something that other companies can copy as it is not competitively superior to potential rival companies. Bayonne does not pass the inimitable test. Is it Non-Substitutable Although Bayonne may have an efficiency advantage with their machines, it does not pass this test since potential rivals can copy the same machines and produce equally good products at lower costs by locating their plants in countries where wage rates are relatively low. Potential paper packaging industry rivals may also offer specialized packaging capabilities. This means industrial customers can pick and choose with which paper packager to partner with. Therefore, Bayonne does not pass this test. Overall, this framework presents strategic implications to Bayonne indicating that their resources and capabilities are not ones that contribute to Bayonne having a competitive advantage that is sustainable. The company’s  resources of machines and specialized packaging capabilities present to be competitive assets to the company and are central to Bayonne’s strategy. However, by not passing the last two tests of this analysis is indicative that Bayonne may be prone to imitative attempts and efforts from potential rivals. 2.3– SWOT Analysis  Strengths – Working closely with customers – Aggressively entering into new markets – Innovative and difficult package design – Ability to fold and glue complex blanks – Ability to price aggressively – Well managed scheduling in Composition department in terms of being rarely out of stock and re-stocking quickly. – Use of High-speed machines help keep volumes high – Consistent performance from Maintenance team in running inspections and fixing something right away if it breaks down. Weaknesses – Complaints from customers about quality (concentrated in Fold&Glue) leading to defective products – Developing a bad reputation for late delivery time, which is also causing customers to lose trust in the company – Mismanagement and communication problems between departments inevitably causing orders to run late (threats coming from heads of other departments, no synchronization) – Computerized scheduling system appears useless as it conflicts with time management of rush orders – Some machines run slow despite being fast to set up (e.g. Staudes) – Data reported through the shop floor computer terminals is inaccurate Opportunities – Diversifying into emerging markets and taking on new types of customers. – Prospective money to be made in Manhattan in terms of promotional material which can lead to gaining more customers Threats – Possibility of receiving safety concerns for not complying with FDA requirements leading to overall increased costs. 2.4 – Value Chain Analysis: are the company’s cost structure and customer value proposition competitive? Primary activities: Supply chain management: from the limited information provided in the case, there is not much that can be said about Bayonne’s supply chain management. The most relevant fact is that Bayonne’s supplier is International Paper that helps keep the composition department stocked with the necessary materials that are used to make the products. In terms of costs in this area, according to Bayonne’s income statement – the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) significantly increased from 83.2% in September 2011 to 90.7% in October 2011. Since October is also the month in which Bayonne occurred a loss of $365,694 is indicative that the company is not performing well on the cost performing measure. Operations: Bayonne places high value in executing their operations strategy since they are responsible for producing the product itself at their facilities. The goal is to keep margins low while getting the volume. The flow of order through the production department is a system relevant to Bayonne executing their strategy. Quality assurance activities are performed at Bayonne where there are two inspectors on each shift covering the Composition, sheet, print and Die-cut, Fold&Glue, and Finishing departments as well as inspecting the shipping dock. The inspectors check the machines every hour during the production run and a final inspection is performed before the product gets shipped out. Distribution: In order to keep track of the products that Bayonne produces, heavy reliance is held in their â€Å"Work Order Jacket.† For example, before shipping the finished product to the industrial customer, quality control managers check the product against proof in the work order jacket. The jacket lists routing, standard setup and run times, special instructions, and ship-to-information. It also held the customers signed proof along with samples signed by operators, supervisors, and QC at each le vel. Distributing finished products to customers on time is highly important to Bayonne not losing customers; however data shows that in the month of October 2011, they were late more than 20% of the time causing customers to lose trust and expedite orders. Sales and Marketing: although there is not enough information to indicate what Bayonne’s costs, activities, and assets related to sales force efforts are – the products that Bayonne produces directly  impact the end customer. For example, industrial customers who place large orders with Bayonne and pay a high price per piece; place high expectations that Bayonne deliver the product on time in correspondence to say, a promotional campaign that they are launching on a specific date. Its seems that sales management at Bayonne is not developing a good track record for on time delivery because of miscommunication going on between the departments. Also, sales management places high relevance on pricing aggressively to the market, which may conflict with profit margins of the company. Service: Bayonne provides all necessary services such as design assistance and final delivery of the package. It is important for the company to gain customer approval when developing artwork a nd package design as it directly affects profitability. This is why the sales force at Bayonne works closely with the customers showing that the company respects the important decisions that they make since these customers are the ones that make the product sell to end consumers. Profit Margin: President Dave Rand complains about margins, but not about volume. Secondary Activities Product R&D, Technology, and Systems Development: Bayonne’s strength is in innovative and difficult package design and their ability to fold and glue complex blanks. In order to remain innovative and keep volumes high; the company uses high-speed machines such as the International Royal and International Queen. Bayonne also uses a computerized scheduling system, which add up the standard set up and run hours for every order released to the plant and schedules order by priority. However, the use of the computerized scheduling system is having a negative effect in terms of order processing. Human Resources Management: Since Bayonne is mainly a family run business, there are no real HR practices in place. Employees essentially work on a â€Å"do what it takes† system and there are no training procedures. General administration: n/a 2.5- Ten Managerial Tasks of the Strategy Execution Process a) Staffing the Organization Bayonne Packaging began as family business and later grew into a larger organization. However, the lack of cross-functional communication may be indicative that no proper training is realized as the departments work as silos rather than one unified organization. Bayonne recognizes the importance of good upper management seeing as the old VP of operations was fired and replaced by John Milliken who has a background in general manufacturing and seems to exhibit traits of a valuable and talented employee. Since Bayonne incurred a loss in 2011; this may reflect on the fact that management is weak, and employees may not be valued as important assets that tie directly to strategy execution and gaining of competitive advantage. b) Building on Organizational Capabilities Bayonne’s ability to manage people to gain competitive advantage is lacking. Through internal development, Bayonne can build on their scheduling capability. Since each department works in a separate manner, there is no synchronization, which interferes with orders being successfully completed. Second, Bayonne’s capabilities in specialized packaging can also be improved through internal development by having managers at the company set an objective to develop this capability and organize activity around it. Bayonne is able to differentiate themselves by possessing strength in innovation and difficult packaging design (i.e. working closely with customers in the design and adding personal touches in the finishing department) but lack of collaboration and communication in the company have resulted in operational deficiencies. c) Creating a Strategy -Supportive Organizational Structure Bayonne is not properly organizing work efforts in a strategy supportive fashion. In order to excel in the key performance measures of cost, quality, speed and dependability embedded in their strategy – they may have to reassess operational activities. A strong management team has to be built within the company in order to assess which value chain activities, for example, should be performed internally and which ones should be outsourced. Currently at Bayonne their organizational structure is not aligning with their strategy; in part due to communication problems. Also, there seems to be no delegating of authority or facilitation of necessary collaboration and coordination with external partners and strategic allies. d) Allocating Sufficient Resources to Strategic Execution Bayonne is not operating as cost-effectively as possible. Although sales  management may be pricing aggressively to customers by offering a high price per piece – this indirectly affects profit margins at the company. Bayonne is not using their resources (i.e. their machines) in an efficient manner. e) Instituting policies and procedures that drive strategy execution activities There are currently no policies in place at Bayonne, which may hinder good strategy execution. The work climate is not one that facilitates good strategy execution; employees are unnecessarily being yelled at, and pressured to run orders in short notice of receiving them. Bayonne’s procedure for preventing or finding defects is signing off the first good piece the operator runs and then recording it in the Work Order Jacket. However, this shows a degree of carelessness in ensuring good quality as often there is a possibility for more than only one piece being defective. Excelling in cost, quality, speed, and dependability is being compromised by lack of communication and coordination among employees when they disagree on acceptable partials and make up their own â€Å"rule of thumb† that is not in sync with the goals of other departments. f) Adopting best practice and business processes that drive strategy execution activities Bayonne has not adopted any benchmarking methods that would help in implementing best practices. The only common practice at Bayonne is in recognizing revenue when its billed the customer, and billing when the product is shipped. In October 2011, Bayonne was late with their deliveries more than 20% of the time, compared to 2009 with only 5%. This is affecting Bayonne’s ability to excel in the dependability aspect of their strategy; also since customers are aware of this and consequently ‘move up’ their orders g) Installing info and operating systems that enable company personnel to do their strategic roles proficiently The computerized scheduling system at Bayonne is weakening their organizational capabilities. Many employees find the scheduling system to be useless, as the printouts do not accurately reflect what has been finished and what needs to be started. Lack of accuracy and timely information about daily operations does not allow for managers to gauge how well the company is executing their strategy. h) Tying rewards and incentives directly to the achievement of strategic and financial targets There is currently no reward system in place at Bayonne. This causes for lack of motivation and engagement among staff. Employees are neglected and not encouraged for their hard work as  managers are only focusing on expediting orders by getting them authorized by Dave Rand. i) Instilling a corporate culture that promotes good strategy and execution There is no corporate culture in place at Bayonne. The work environment is not strong or positive. Miscommunication leads to misunderstanding among employees and even screaming. Managers are not properly guiding employees in the right direction o f how to do things right and doing the right thing – instead they are focused on their own goals in mind. For example, Wascov only focused on pricing aggressively to the market and expediting orders causing for other departments to rush orders and compromise quality which leads to the upset customers) No commonly held convictions in place of how the company’s business is to be conducted – instead, departments make up their own separate rules leading to incisiveness across the board. j) Exercising the internal leadership needed to propel strategy implementation forward There is no strong internal leadership in place at Bayonne resulting in lack of synergy between the departments. This is why new VP of Operations; Milliken has been put in place. He seems to be staying on top of what is happening by touring the factory and asking relevant questions to department managers in aim of propelling strategy implementation forward. Neil Rand (Dave Rand’s uncle) is not exhibiting traits of a proper executive for Bayonne. Although he does whatever it takes to eliminate work order delays, he does this by randomly showing up and neglecting other important orders. This leads to requests for earlier finishing dates and inevitably leading to an increase in late orders. 2.6 – Strategic Issues 1.How can Bayonne strengthen communication among departments and improve overall company culture? Miscommunication seems to be occurring across different departments, which may be the cause of the increase in late deliveries in October. Lack of company culture may also be the cause in synergy and good energy within the company. 2.How will Bayonne be able to develop or improve their computerized scheduling system? This current system is causing for many inaccuracies, which leads to orders to be expedited. Lack of proper data that the system is generating is causing for unnecessary frustration among employees and quality is being compromised. 3.Given Bayonne’s poor delivery performance, how can operational efficiencies be  improved in terms of capacity utilization of the machines? It seems that the Heidelberg press machine is the bottleneck of the process as it is operating at full capacity, but it is unable to cope with variability in customer orders. Some machines are not be ing fully utilized which affects Bayonne’s performance measures in speed and dependability