Electronic Sources †Internet Essay

I will research promotional methods on the Internet including leaflets, in which I will look at the distribution of local newspapers to see how far advertisements spread. I decided to use a wide range of sources, as I believe this will give me a more reliable source to draw conclusions and to evaluate. Some information can only be found from one source such as the most popular brand of electrical appliances, which can only be found out by using a questionnaire. Another reason for a wide variety of sources is to allow me to find out information such as markets, which are not catered for by large companies, I will then cater for this market. I will carry out questionnaires or use research already carried out by another company, which will allow me to use textbooks or the Internet. I will group the people on their response to my research in social grades. This will help to create an image of the average wage, and class in the local area. Then I will cater for the group that the majority of people fit into. SECTION 4 RESULTS OF RESEARCH SECTION 5 PROMOTIONAL METHODS RECCOMMENDED I have reviewed all of my results and thought carefully about the recommendations I will give to the business ‘Electrical Retailer’. From my research I have found that the social grade of the local area is C and the average pay is between â€Å"15000-â€Å"25000. The majority of these people do not shop locally, and the main reason is that the local shops do not cater for their needs. This is shows me that I there would be place for me to sell my goods, aimed at social group C. This is because of the people surveyed the majority fit into this group, so it makes sense to primarily aim for them, and then unskilled workers. Also the shop that most of people say they shop at is out side of the local area, but they would shop locally if they had the choice. Source A and B shows the popularity of papers and how often they are read. These bar charts surprised me as I found out that the Spalding Guardian and the Lincolnshire Free Press was attracting a larger readership yet papers tend to be read more daily. This is a factor which I will definitely need to consider as newspaper advertisement is a possible promotional method, however I still believe that I will portray my message to inform potential customers and attract them towards my business. Source C shows a pie chart and my results show the different types of media and their accessibility. Television clearly stood out and then poster billboards on transport. This question told me a lot and played a big part in deciding the type of advertisement to use to promote the business. As part of my competition I looked in national newspapers and on the Internet to search for promotional methods used by Curry’s. Below I have found an advert, which from my market research I know is very expensive and therefore the size of the company is large. Also Curry’s attracts millions of customers throughout the country which is why they advertise nationally instead of locally. I found out that 25 slots a week prime time, which is when the radio is listened to most between 4. 01 – 8. 00pm costs   1000. This company has built up a massive customer base over many years, which is why I have a budget of   8000 for the first year of trading to spend on promoting the business. I think that the best method for me to use is poster billboards on public transport. Even though more people have access to a television, this media is not suitable for my business. I will also use leaflets as this would mean that I could put in coupons for the reader. Also that I should use bright colours in my advert, as my leaflets should have a distinctive shape. I will advertise on the local transport system i 780 per year, for a large advert on the back of a bus. The leaflets that I will produce will cost i 145 for a 1000 delivery, and will be in full colour both sides. Leaflets will contain information such as sales, the different range of stock being sold and prices. Also I will advertise in the local paper each month with a relatively small advert which is cheap. I will change my method of advertising depending on the time of year. This is because I feel that more advertising should be done when events like Christmas take place or the January sales. From my research I know that I need to advertise months before Christmas around about October to benefit. I have constructed a table, which shows how I will budget my advertising costs throughout my first year of trading. A lump sum of money is kept aside in case all goes wrong.

Preferred language style Essay

Your questions should focus on how the counselor develops with clients. For example you may ask questions such as If a client asked you how you work or about your orientation to helping, what would you say? Or simply` How do you build relationships with clients, and what suggestions do you have for a new counselor in training? Or ` How do you deal with people who don’t want counseling or aren’t open to the process. And are mandated to be there by state. Please read the page from the text about building relationships it will help provided ideas Thanks Lethax In my session, I would be interviewing a psychologist who would be performing psychotherapy or ‘talk therapy’ for his patients or clients. The main purpose of the interview is to get an idea of the services the psychologists would be providing and the manner in which they would be managing the patients. These are the set of questions to be asked: – What are your professional qualifications and do you have a professional license to practice psychotherapy? How many years have you been practicing? What is your area of specialization and interest? In your practice, do you ensure that you stick to a professional code of ethics? What is the nature of your clients? What are the problems they come with? Do you provide treatment on the advice of another professional? Do you have to maintain confidentiality of information of your clients? Do you share this information with anyone else? If you have to secure this data on a system, how do you do it? Do you maintain relationships with the client or the family/parents? Do you read books or other literature in order to gain more information regarding better development of relationships with the clients? Whilst conversing with the clients do you make assumptions or judgments? How do you gain the trust of your clients? What are the means by which you would be able to develop a rapport with the patients (formal and informal interactions)? What are some of the challenges that you face whilst establishing a relationship and how do you cope with them? How do you motivate your clients (monetary or non-monetary means)? How do you come to a treatment plan for a particular patient? Do you follow any guidelines that you would be using whilst treating patients? Do you publish the information so that patients visiting you can know before hand? What are your likes and dislikes regarding the profession? Do you experience similar patients or patients having different types of problems? References: Kaye, K. (1998), Interviewing a Psychologist, Retrieved on October 17, 2007, from

Uneployment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Uneployment - Assignment Example extreme levels to an extent of posing major security threats to the respective countries since unemployment is recognized as the mother of courtliness ills like dishonesty, corruption and falsehood. It makes humans develop the dark side of their character. This paper is going to explore the issue of unemployment into by first describing the link between the unemployment rate and the GDP growth rate in Greece and in Australia during the period 2003-2012; explaining causes of structural unemployment in Nigeria as well as evaluating policies adopted by the coalition government since 2010 to reduce unemployment in the UK. Using relevant statistics, describe the link between the unemployment rate and the GDP growth rate in Greece and in Australia during the period 2003-2012 ( You are not expected to compare the two countries Sources show that Australia’s unemployment rate began to climb at the same time carbon tax started to increase. The carbon tax began on July 2012 and since then the rate of unemployment that had been dormant for two years started increasing dramatically. Australia’s GDP is said to have been outperforming that of major developed countries in the year 2011 and 2012 since its economy was accelerating upwards an impressive rate not until the carbon tax was implemented. In 2012, the rate of unemployment in Australia was 5.2% Unemployment in Nigeria is among the most critical problems that the country has been facing for many years. The rate of unemployment in the country is at alarming levels despite the fact that Nigeria is endowed with diverse and infinite resources, both human and material. According to a study that was conducted in 2010, the secondary-school graduates consisted of the principal fraction of the unemployed accounting for nearly 35% to 50% with the average the rate of unemployment within the age group of 20 to 24 years being 40 % while that for persons between 15 to 19 years was found to be 31 %. There exists a number of

A critical discussion of Porters view that the economic structure of Essay

A critical discussion of Porters view that the economic structure of the restaurant industry determines the pattern of competition in that industry - Essay Example The global restaurant industry is highly saturated and in a mature stage of development along the industry life cycle, a factor that is driven by the economics of the industry. The economic structure is influenced by the tangibles along the value chain for food services organisations, including the volume of suppliers along the supply chain and the pricing structure of procurement, which impacts all restaurant organisations. The industry is also impacted by the demographics of the consuming public in terms of income as well as the availability of financial capital or ability to raise capital in the regions where the food services organisations operate. Hence, there are a variety of factors that will determine the methods and strategies by which competitors attempt to compete to attain some form of competitive advantage that are all linked with the economics of the industry. The restaurant industry In China, as one example, there is a high concentration of Western fast food companies that have saturated the industry. Growth in consumer demand for Western food brands has given food service companies ample opportunities for expansion out of the North American and European markets. However, it not only consumer demand that has provided these opportunities, it is the investment by a more liberal Chinese government that has stabilised the regional economy that provides advantages for market entry and expansion. The government has injected considerable financial capital into urban development, there is more interest by venture capitalists for this same pursuit, and government policies have provided much more incentives for foreign direct investment in the country (Areddy 2009). Inflation has been largely stabilised by government intervention and policy development, thereby offering consumers much more disposable income that is crucial for sustaining profitability. In 2012, the government invested 57.92 billion USD to motivate more effective corporate borrowing and to control interest rates (Safe Trading 2013). From a social perspective, as Chinese culture begins adopting more ideologies and principles associated with a capitalistic economy, lifestyle preferences are changing that are favourable for new entrants in the fast food industry. In contemporary China, 50 percent of consumers prefer eating in restaurants over that of household consumption (Ganster 2006), which provides a potential market of approximately one half billion consumers. In 2008, consumers in Shanghai spent approximately seven percent of their total disposable income on restaurant dining which represented a whopping 20 percent increase in spending from that of 2007 (Rentz and Xu 2010). Therefore, the economic structure of the industry, coupled with higher guarantees of consumer expenditures on food services, establishes an industry environment that can satisfy profit expectations for a variety of major competitors and new market entrants into the country. The entire fast food industry in China, from a market value perspective, increased 16 percent between 2010 and 2011 and is estimated to be worth 74.8 billion USD in revenues to all competitors (Ho 2011). Therefore, major fast food companies, such as KFC, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, have found considerable profit success by entering the Chinese fast food market. Prior to recent years, however, in order for the aforementioned companies (and their large variety of other competitors) to achieve market success, they were forced to import food products from the West which significantly raised operating

Assessment for Training Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Assessment for Training Project - Assignment Example The training program can have a positive influence on teachers’ performance improvement. Teacher training program is a type of adult training which facilitates to develop personal knowledge. The teacher training program is designed to provide a context regarding the requirements of teachers and their desired learning activities (Wati 79-104). Nowadays, education is going through a serious transformation with the arrival of globalization, increase in social along with demographical diversity among students, the introduction of the knowledge-oriented economy and initiation of information and communication technology (ICT). Thus, traditional teaching activities are unable to generate skilled employees which are required for fulfilling the demand of present employment market. These changes have resulted in the development of the teacher-training program by Microsoft to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning procedure (Al-Hattami, Muammar and Elmahdi 39-45). In accordance with the opinions of Teachers Forum organized in 2005, it has been observed that most teachers believe that they are required to offer different learning experiences to the students. In the Teachers Forum of 2006, the teachers insisted on facilitating innovative learning activities by involving in authentic and meaningful tasks which can develop critical thinking and enhance their problem-solving ability within their respective environment (Microsoft Corporation 1-21). AREA OF TRAINING NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED With respect to education, it is worth mentioning that the education system, designed for grandparents is not appropriate for present day’s students. Educational systems in various schools have not changed fundamentally in over a century. Thus, the key question arrives in this context is that if the traditional educational system is able to satisfy the requirements of the students of future generation? (Microsoft, â€Å"Teacher Training Programs†) Educa tional investigators have long proposed the schools to follow a new model of teaching and learning. One key priority with respect to teaching is to alter the core of schooling from teacher-centered to pedagogy-based understanding of students’ thought procedure, their abilities to learn and use theoretical concepts in order to derive the solution of practical problems. In order to understand the areas that must be addressed in Teachers Training Program a questionnaire has been designed for teachers (see appendix). About 50 teachers from various schools have been surveyed for recognizing their requirements. According to the outcome of questionnaire, it can be recognized that most of the teachers have not participated in any professional development training activities in last three years. Among the respondents who have stated that they participated in training programs in last three years depicted their participation in courses which are particularly related with their respecti ve subject areas, educational conferences and seminars and formal school arrangement training. The respondents also stated that the training programs

Establishing a Learning Community Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Establishing a Learning Community - Essay Example onger the world they have known; that the nation, and indeed the world, is undergoing deep and ever-accelerating changes; and that even the community or neighborhood in which they live no longer offers the comfort of continuity. One need only meet disadvantaged minority individuals, without the skills or abilities to participate in a society that does not recognize them, or elderly citizens, attempting to live in an environment they do not understand, to find people who have already lost most meaningful relationships with society. (Barge, 2003) They and many others in our communities are in such precarious positions because they are no longer able to cope with a changing environment. Change, accelerated by technological development, is affecting individuals and organizations at a rate never before experienced in the history of mankind. When life was simpler, one generation could pass along to the next what it needed to know to get along in the world; tomorrow was simply a repeat of yesterday. Individuals must now live in several different worlds during their lifetimes. (Kress, 2006) A new civilization is upon us, and it will reshape the whole nations character. A variety of forces quickens the pace of change. Americans will have to greatly increase the occupational mobility; a rise in the knowledge industries has to take place; computerized wireless hookups will be used by businesses, industries, and government agencies; people will have more leisure time, and jobs will be more customized. While some of the forces will be quite disruptive, others will offer opportunities to strengthen social and economic fabrics. (Sivers, 2003) Who would have believed that the doomsayers of the 1950s and 1960s were right about the rapid decline of natural resources and the explosion of population? America is truly and surely a country in crisis. America is convulsed by urban violence, illiteracy, homelessness, high deficits, unemployment, an increasing disparity between the

European Union Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 2

European Union Law - Essay Example Based on similar grounds, directive 2004/113/EC was implemented in order to expand the protection against gender discrimination in different areas of the society1. In the light of discrimination, Article 141 TFEU plays a significant role by obligating EU member states to ensure any kind of discrimination with respect to sex must be prohibited. In this context, Article 157 deals with maintaining ‘equal pay for both male and female workers’ in an organisation for similar job responsibilities2. Discrimination practices in employment can occur in different situations and under different conditions. For instance, when an employee receives treatments which segregate them from other employees bearing same job responsibilities, on the basis of subjective or assimilated criteria such as gender, nationality, religion, disability, age, marital status, parental status, political views, socio economic view and trade union activities, it may be referred to as discriminatory practices. Discrimination and equality are governed by the key principle that an employee must receive equal treatment. Contextually, the code of non-discrimination is used to gender oriented discriminations concerning equal pay for male and female in Article 157 TFEU. This Act is used for avoiding pay gap between the earnings of men and women in an organisation. Under Article 157, an employee is regarded as an individual who performs certain activities under the guidance of another individual in exchange for money for a certain period of time. Therefore, once an individual is considered an employee as described in Article 157 TFEU, the articles of the treaties can be applied to him/her3. Article 157 TFEU provides an explicit commitment to equal pay for males and females, stating that equal pay without discrimination on the basis of gender denotes that the pay for similar kind of work must be calculated on the basis of the same unit of measurement for each employee. Equal pay also denotes tha t the pay for work at certain time rate must be equal for similar kind of job. With respect to Article 157 TFEU, pay comprises not only the basic remuneration committed to the employee, but also his/her overtime pay, extras, special advantages, travelling grants, rewards for appearing in training, termination payments and job-related pensions. Thus far, this has been constantly interpreted by legal bodies to imply that there must be no discrimination on the basis of gender over pay. With respect to any discrimination regarding pay, the European courts consider the link between the notion of pay which is articulated in Article 157 and the practiced social security system4. With respect to discrimination practices, there are two types of acts that can be performed by an organisation which are direct discrimination and indirect discrimination. In this context, it can be stated that Article 157 of the TFEU forbids both direct discrimination on the bases of gender in the area of pay and indirect discrimination. It is worth mentioning in this regard that direct discrimination happens when an individual is unequally treated on the basis of gender; for instance, when a woman is paid less than a man in a similar job. On the other hand, indirect discrimination refers to the discrimination which is the consequence of gender neutral norm, which tends to hamper an individual’s interests on the basis of sex5. With respect to the case of Kate, it can be observed that

Managing information centre in health sector Essay

Managing information centre in health sector - Essay Example The comparison of information management in the health sector as compared to any other organization leads us to notice that apart from the very ‘importance’ of information management and the urgent ‘need’ of it in the health sector it works pretty much in the same way. The health sector competes within itself with various institutions just like any other organizations, the aim is to increase the efficiency or to increase the value of the work done at a lesser cost, and most of it is a duplicate of what other organizations employ. But what is different is the mass sharing of information in a productive manner in order to improve social health overall and speed up the diagnosis to treatment ratio. While other organizations mostly share a major part of their information within itself out of competition, the health sector doesn’t. All of its focus is on the treatment of the patients and of course, the revenue generated regardless of which medical organiza tions do not hold back crucial information. What currently the information management centers are focusing upon is termed as a paradigm shift which may be elaborated by saying that the main effort is upon providing better quality at a relatively lower cost. A specialist in this particular area, Joel Barker (1992) states about paradigm that it is: A set of rules and regulations (written or unwritten) that does two things; (1) it establishes and defines boundaries; and (2) it tells you how to behave inside the boundaries in order to be successful.

Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 102

Discussion - Essay Example She changes her shape and movement into something more meaningful to emphasize on her message to the audience. For example, when she kneels and opens her hand, but her two palms are together given out the importance of the moral values in the society based on the unification of the people living in the community (Kaufmann, 2006). Her message focuses on the welfare of the society and the importance that friendships carry in respect to the development of the community. The dancer is able to move around freely with her hands and legs both in the same direction as the body. She poses a lot of energy when she stretches one leg behind and both her hands are stretched in front of her face and quite high on her head. She manages to get up and move her legs in unifying steps. In this dance when the dancer kneel down and pulls her other legs far behind her and in the same position stretches her hands high in front of her face, she shows how much friendship and union of the society is important for their growth. This dancer tries to give the audience information through her movement of the body that exists through her changing of the body shape and form to describe the relationship that exists in the society. The facial expression she gives she gives during the dances supports the information regarding the culture and tradition they

Culture and Beliefs Essay Example for Free

Culture and Beliefs Essay Different cultures and beliefs can have an effect on implementing anti-discriminatory practice. One example of this preventing anti-discriminatory practice is though in a culture saying please and thank you to things, where in another culture this may not be normal and so if someone doesnt say thank you or please to something this may be seen as rude, and could make the person treat the other person differently. Another way culture and beliefs can affect implementing anti-discriminatory practice is that people may understand a persons situation, or not understanding why someone behaves in that way and then the professionals own views or stereotypes will take control over the way the person treats the individual and then this wont promote anti-discriminatory practice. This may differ depending on where the health care setting is for example if it is in more of a multi-cultural area, beliefs and views may be different. Not understanding the importance If care providers don’t understand the importance of promoting anti-discriminatory practice, they are more likely to not work in an anti discriminatory practice. Care providers should be aware of the active promotion of anti discriminatory practice in order for the service users of health and social care to get the best of the services. If care providers fail to work in an anti discriminatory practice, service users will be not treated fairly and their choices wouldn’t be respected or taken into account, so therefore it is very important for health and social care professionals to work in an anti discriminatory practice. If the care settings fail to promote an anti discriminatory practice, service users will be marginalised and disempowered and this can lead to stress and depression and can trigger challenging behaviour. The way in which anti-discriminatory ractice is promoted may be different in different health and social care setting such as a school will focus more on children where as an residential care home may focus more on elderly or disability. Following the ‘norm’ Both care providers and service users are used to doing what is the ‘norm’ for them. This can cause problems when promoting anti-discriminatory practice because if for example a care provider is used to carrying out certain behaviour then they may ignore new anti-discriminatory practice that has been introduced because it is something they are not used to doing. This can cause loads of problems because it means service users may be neglected and discriminated against because new practice is not being followed. This could also sometimes be down to the age of the care provider. If someone has been working in a care setting for a long time they may be used to caring in a certain way which means that they will not adapt appropriately to new practice where as someone who is new will be fully aware of the new procedures in place so may be more likely to follow them.

Professional Development in Nursing | Reflection

Professional Development in Nursing | Reflection In order to enhance knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed for a safe and effective nursing practice, this reflective piece aims to demonstrate the author’s commitment to the need for professional development contribution and personal supervision activities. Through leadership, peer support, supervision and teaching this account will further enhance the professional development and safe practice to others. To achieve these aims, backed with supportive evidence, the author shall use a case study to enable him make discussions and debates. To maintain confidentiality, names of people and places mentioned in this account has been anonymised in accordance to NMC code of professional conduct (NMC, 2010). During the mid-point of his final placement, Bruce was instructed by his mentor to assume the primary nurse role for 73 year old Alice who was detained in an inpatient psychiatric unit under section 3 of the Mental Health Act. Alice was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease dementia with a history of falls, self-neglect and aggressive behaviours toward staff and fellow patients. Following Alice’s CPA review, additional medication was prescribed to her after a mutual agreement between Alice, her family and the MDT as rapid deterioration in her mental state was a concern. CPA (2008) recommends that patients, family and carers should be involved in decision making in regard to their care plans. To promote medication adherence, NICE (2009) declares that, patients should be involved in decisions about prescribed medication to enable them to make informed choices. Bruce was not aware of Alice’s new prescribed medication because he had 2 days off from work. Upon return to work, Bruce volunteered to be the nurse in charge of the shift to enable him gain more confidence and build his leadership skills. Whilst Bruce was being supervised during the morning medication rounds as guided by (NMC, 2010). Alice noticed that there was a new medication so she asked Bruce purpose of the additional medication. Bruce could not confidently explain the purpose of the medication so he asked Dora his mentor who stood by to explain to Alice. Alice became extremely angry and agitated, hostile and physically aggressive towards Bruce accusing him of wanting to kill her however, staff intervened and managed to de-escalate the situation. NICE (2005) recommends that at the first signs of agitation or violent behaviour, staff should first try to calm the patient down using de-escalation methods. Taking the above scenario into consideration one can say that Bruce acted proactively by volunteering to co-ordinate the shift. However, Bruce should have been more concerned to find out the outcome of Alice’s CPA meeting as her acting primary nurse. NMC (2008) asserts that the care of people should be your first concern, treating them as individuals and respecting their dignity. Since Bruce volunteered to coordinate the shift, he could have delegated some of the task i.e. medication rounds to other qualified nurses to enable him to catch-up with what happened at the ward during his absence. Delegation of task enables the team leader to be able to devote more time to those tasks that cannot be delegated. With more time available, the leader can invest time and energy into developing practice, improving standards and influencing decisions that affect their service (Garland and Sullivan, 2010). It was a bad practice for Bruce to administer medication without knowing it purpose as a nurse. NMC (2010) affirms that, nurses must know the medicine’s therapeutic use, its normal dosage, side effects, precautions and contra-indications before administering it. Bruce should have checked the use of the newly prescribed medication in the British National Formulary (BNF) before administering it to Alice (NMC, 2010). Bruce could have also asked Dora about the purpose of the newly prescribed medication when he realised he was not familiar with it even before dispensing it into the pot for Alice. However, one can say that Bruce acted professionally by acknowledging his limitations and therefore asked Dora to explain the use of the newly prescribed medication to Alice. NICE (2009) recommends that as a good practice, nurses should provide patients with verbal and written information regarding their prescribed medication to promote medication concordance. Bruce in a meeting with Dora identified the need for developing his medication administration and management skills and agreed on an action plan under his mentor’s supervision. Care Quality Commission (2013) affirms that supervision provides opportunity for staff to review their performance, set objectives in line with the organisation objective and service needs, and identifies training and continuing developing needs. Bruce further identified the need for research on medication administration, management and medication training all these shall be accomplished under the supervision of Dora. Bruce also has requested to be more involved in medication administration and did a research and found out that, patients must always understand the reason for taking a particular drug. NICE (2009) recommends that, at intervals agreed with the patients, staff should review patients’ knowledge, understanding and concerns about medicines, and patients view of their need for medicine b ecause these may change over time. Bruce had the opportunity to learn how to write CPA reports, tribunal reports and continued to build his confidence in writing plans of care and risk profiles by assuming the primary nurse role for Alice. Bruce also seized the opportunity by being the primary nurse to Alice to gain a better understanding of the MDT working. DOH (2004) ten essential shared capabilities recommends that professionals, patients, family and carers should work in partnership to provide quality care. By volunteering to coordinate the shift gave Bruce the insight of the responsibilities and what to expect from a qualified nurse. Coordinating the shift enabled Bruce to research more about his leadership styles, improved on his communication and delegation skills and his management. Bruce also had the opportunity as the shift coordinator, to do an incident report about Alice’s physical aggression towards him under Dora’s supervision. It can be argued that Alice was not supposed to behave that way however, she could forget about her CPA meeting and the newly prescribed medication because of the symptoms of her illness. Wrycraft (2009) declares that, typical symptoms of dementia are loss of memory, confusion and a change in personality, mood and behaviour. NHS (2012) confirms that, common symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease include memory loss, especially problems with memory for recent events, such as forgetting messages, remembering routes or names, and asking questions repetitively. Based on the above account, a nurse should always reflect and evaluate his or her practice then plan future practice areas for development.

The War of the Stars :: Essays Papers

The War of the Stars In 1975, a young director named George Lucas wrote the story of the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker. The story was so long that it had to be broken up into a pair of trilogies, the first trilogy focusing on Anakin himself and the second focusing on his son, Luke. He determined the second trilogy to be the most exciting and resolved to film that one first. Unbeknownst to Lucas, he was creating what would soon become one of the most widely recognized and revered science fiction epics of all time. The epic is known to all, young and old, as Star Wars. The incredible popularity of the Star Wars universe was surprising to Lucas when he first made it. In fact, every producer he proposed the idea to rejected it, except for one: Twentieth Century Fox. At this time, science fiction (also called sci-fi) was not in any respects a profitable movie idea, but Lucas was determined to make his film. The executives of Twentieth Century Fox had seen Lucas’s previous film, American Graffiti, and vowed to produce Lucas’s next movie. Lucas made a deal with Fox that would end up making Lucas a multi-millionaire. The deal seemed so ridiculous to Fox that they thought they were ripping him off. In 1977, the first film of the second trilogy, Star Wars: A New Hope, was released, smashing box offices across the country and soon becoming the most successful film in North American history. In 1978, Lucas began production of the second chapter of the trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back. He financed the film out of his own pockets. The movie was released in 1980 and again smashed box offices, becoming the most successful movie of 1980. Soon thereafter, Lucas made The Return of the Jedi, the final chapter in the trilogy. It was released in 1983 and grossed over 265 million dollars. Just before its completion, however, Lucas announced that he was leaving the Star Wars project for another time, when computer generated effects were more advanced and cost-effective. For the next sixteen years, even without new films, the Star Wars universe continued to expand, gaining more fans every year. Many books telling the tales of the future and past of Star Wars were published. A handful of cartoon shows appeared on television, although none were overly successful.

Physics of Swimming Essay -- physics swim swimming

The study of physics and fluid dynamics in swimming has been a field of increasing interest for study in the past few decades among swimming coaches and enthusiasts. Despite the long history of research, the understanding of how to move the human body effectively through the water is still in its infancy. Competitive swimmers and their coaches of all levels are constantly striving for ways to improve their stroke technique and overall performance. The research and performances of today's swimmers are continuously disproving the beliefs of the past. Like in all sports, a better understanding of physics is enabling the world class swimmers to accomplish times never before thought possible. This was displayed on the grandest of scales in the 2000 Olympics when Ian Thorpe, Inge De Bruijn, Pieter Van Den Hoogenband and a number of other swimmers broke a total of twelve world records and numerous Olympic and national records. Several forces play significant roles in the movement of the human body through the water. The forces are drag, lift, gravity and buoyancy. Lift and drag are the main propulsive forces that are used by swimmers. Resistance, known as drag, can be broken into three main categories: frontal resistance, skin friction, and eddy resistance. The effect of buoyancy in swimming is best described by Archimedes’ principle: a body fully or partially submerged in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid that is displaced by the body.1 This effectively negates any effects that gravity might have on a swimmer. The rare exception to this is a swimmer with very little body fat, and this is overcome by keeping the lungs inflated to a certain degree at all times. Frontal... ...s, but through her intense regiment of endurance training she was recently able to win two Olympic gold medals. A select few swimmers go beyond momentum and energy and use power to its fullest and have no competition, like Ian Thorpe or the once great Alex Popov. Works Cited 1 David Halliday, Robert Resnick, and Jearl Walker, Fundamentals of Physics, Extended, 5th ed. (NewYork:Wiley, 1997) 361 2 Cecil M. Colwin, Swimming Into the 21st Century, (Champaign: Human Kinetics, 1992) 20-32, 58-59 3 James E. Counsilman and Brian E. Counsilman, The New Science of Swimming, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1994) 6-7 4 James E. Counsilman and Brian E. Counsilman, The New Science of Swimming, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1994) 10-22 5 Robert E. Schleihauf, "A biomechanical analysis of freestyle." Swimming Technique, 1974, 11(3), 89-96

Harriet Tubman Essay -- essays research papers

Harriet Tubman Even before Harriet Tubman was born she had a powerful enemy. Her enemy wasn’t a person or even a country; it was the system known as slavery. It is known that at least two grandparents were captured by slave traders and brought to North America from the Slave Coast of Africa during the 18th century. Because slaves were not allowed to read and write, Tubman grew up illiterate. She left no letters or diaries that would later allow historians to piece together all the parts of her life story. But we do know that she was one of history’s great heroines. With courage and determination, she escaped from slavery herself and then led more than 300 slaves to safety and freedom. When the Civil War began, she tirelessly scouted for the Union army and continued to free her people. Many of these newly freed slaves became new recruits for the Union army. Tubman rose from slavery to become one of the most remarkable stories in the history of the United States of America. About 40 years before the Civil War began, a slave child, Araminta. Like others born into slavery, Araminta, who later become known as Harriet Ross Tubman, was never to know her birth date. Her parents, Harriet Greene and Benjamin Ross, couldn’t read or write. They didn’t even know the months of the year. They simply kept track by the seasons: summer, winter, harvest time, and planting time. They had no family records beyond their own memories to document the births of their 11 children. The most important fact about Harriet Tubman’s birth was not the date or the place, or even who her parents were. It was that she was, from the day she was born the property of Edward Brodas, who owned her parents. A child was a slave if either her mother or father was a slave. Araminta’s master, Edward Brodas, wasn’t an evil man. He went to church, where he was taught that slavery was a natural part of life and that God had made white people better than black people. He was taught that because he was born with the privilege of being white and wealthy, it was his responsibility to provide those entrusted to his care. He didn’t feel sorry for his slaves as they worked all day in the hot sun, because he honestly believed that the Africans were better suited to such labor than he was. He believed that they had been created for just such hard, backbreaking work. When he heard his slaves singing as they w... .... So she did the work she could, she was as strong as a man was. She could lift heavy loads and work long hours at any job she was given. In 1849, Harriet Tubaman made plans to escape. Unlike Frederick Douglass, she knew nothing about geography. In fact, she knew the names of only two northern states, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She could not have read a map if she had been given one. Her only compass was the North Star. Harriet’s first plan for escape included three of her brothers. Since her master’s death, rumors had been circulating that she and her brothers would be sold to the next slave trader and taken to the south. At first her brothers were interested in her plan, but they grew more and more nervous as the time to escape approached. Too many things could go wrong, they thought. It would take only one person to betray them. They would be lucky to get out of the county. As soon as some one discovered that they were missing, the whole county would find out. The brothers didn’t think they had a chance, but Tubman thought being taken south would make an escape even harder. They would have fat her to travel. But she successfully escaped and help many other slaves escape also.

Violence against Women

Introduction The United Nations defines violence against women as any gender based violence that leads to or is likely to result in sexual harm, mental harm or any other kind of suffering to women. This includes threats, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty either in private or public life (The UN Declaration on Violence Against Women 1992). Bardwell (2010) describes violence against women as the most pervasive violation of human rights in the world. Violence against women bears significant costs for the society, individuals, public services and the economy as a whole. The prevalence of violence against women and girls in England is more than that of diabetes, stroke and heart diseases (Adams 2010).). The figures published by the Office for National Statistics from 2012 to 2013 estimated that approximately 1.2 million women suffered from domestic abuse and other 330,000 were sexually assaulted. Sexual violence and domestic violence are in most cases hidden because the victims choose to su ffer in silence or are afraid to come out and report (Riecher-Ro?ssler & Garci?a-Moreno 2013).). Violence against women and girls is recognised globally as a violation of fundamental human rights that include the right to non-discrimination based on sex, right to not be treated inhumanly and degradingly, right to respect for private and family life and right to life (Bird & Westley 2011). The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action to which the United Kingdom is committed, states that violence against women is one of the major hindrances to the achievement of gender equality. Although the United Kingdom. The United Nations Committee and the European Court of Human Rights on the elimination of discrimination against women recognises violence against women as a form of discrimination. The United Kingdom has an obligation to exercise due diligence to prevent violence against women under the European Convention on Human Rights. Under the Beijing Platform and the Convention, the country has an obligation to change stereotypes, cultures and attitudes that perpetuate gender inequality. In the UK the new public sector equality duty under the Equality Act of 2010 requires all public bodies to consider equality, discrimination and good relations between groups in the way they formulate policy, employ people, buy goods and services and deliver services. This means that all the public bodies have an obligation to prevent violence against women. Violence against women voluntary sector The voluntary sector provides important services to support and protect the victims of violence against women. The organisations in the voluntary sector working to end the violence directed towards women in the United Kingdom challenge the system that allows for violence and abuse to continue in the country and at the same time celebrate the women who have survived such violent. The voluntary sector mostly pursues proactive prevention measures that can be categorised into three major groups depending on the target population (Stark & Buzawa 2009). The first group consists of the general measures directed at certain population groups or the whole population. For instance some of the voluntary groups use study courses in preventing violence against women for students and media campaigns targeting specific groups of children. The second category comprises of targeted measures directed at specific high risk groups for instance educating the armed forces on the importance of respecting th e rights of women and all other human beings. The last category consists of the measures directed at the individuals who have already been subjected to violence before with an intention of preventing them from committing the violence again. For example they provide rehabilitation programs for the perpetrators of violence to educate them on the importance of respecting the rights of women and human rights in general. Educational institutions and schools have been supportive of the voluntary sector as they allow them to access the students and educate them on the adverse effects of violence against women. In addition to that, these institutions also pay special attention to violent behaviour as far as the welfare of the students is concerned. The voluntary sector organises awareness campaigns targeting women to inform them that men are responsible for all their acts of violence and that such violence is illegal and as such should be reported and punished. Such initiatives are aimed at encouraging more women to come out and report the violence that they suffer privately at home in order to protect them from repeated assaults which can end up costing their lives in the long run. The campaigns also encourage the men to examine and challenge any cultural orientations that perpetuate violence against women. The programs directed at the young people have particularly been rewarding as it has reduced vio lence in learning institutions although there is still need to do more (Hughes & Owen 2009). The voluntary organisations often target providing education to the young people to correct the system. Most of these organisations believe that it is the system to blame for the high rates of violence against women because the society is not sufficiently educated on the need for respecting the basic human rights thus leading to the violation of the rights of women through battery and sexual violence (Harne & Radford 2008). As such they direct a lot of their effort in educating the young people at an age where the identity of their gender is just starting to take shape and can easily be influenced. For example the 16-20 age groups are often persuaded to stay in love and respect their partners in order to reduce violent behaviour in partnerships. The emphasis is that if they really love their partners then they should always strive to make them happy and not engage in any acts that would harm them. Such programs are often conducted in different communities including youth associations, schools and sports clubs. In terms of protecting the immigrant community, the voluntary organisations often pursue comprehensive integration as the best strategy for preventing them against violence. The aim of comprehensive integration is not just to help them find jobs and settle but to help them restore their sense of life control. One way of helping the immigrants achieve this is by giving them information, support and guidance in the early stages of integration. The voluntary organisations often do this with respect to their cultural backgrounds in order to ensure that they do not perceive the process as one designed to force them abandon their cultures. The intervention programs targeting the immigrant groups are normally well constructed in order to consider their cultural backgrounds as well as the different challenges that come with the process of immigration and integration. Some of the immigrants coming into the country are from countries with patriarchal and hierarchic social structures where the right of women with regard to equality is something that has never existed both in theory and practice. For instance the girls who come to the country from cultures that do not proscribe violence against women often live under several restrictions (DeKeseredy 2011). Such restrictions make the integration process very difficult let alone access to information on physical and sexual violence. In these groups some parents at times prohibit their daughters from using the internet, engaging in leisure activities, meeting boys or doing any other things that their peers are doing and they may also wish to participate in. The voluntary organisations often dissuade the immigrant communities with such cultures from sending their girls to other countries in order to defend their sexual reputation. Although the gendered phenomenon is inculcated deep into their culture, these organisations target the parents from this group with an aim of informing them on the dangers they expose their daughters to by forcing them to move to the other countries. Incidences of forced or early marriages are also common among these people and this increases the risk of the women and girls being exposed to violence because they do not have free will since all decisions are made for them by other people. In order to stop such behaviour and protect the women and the young girls, the voluntary organisations often offer low threshold services and activities as well as peer support groups to inform the population on the availability of such services so that they know where to turn to whenever they need any kind of assistance. Marri age is a voluntary union under the UK legislation and all the marriage procedures are supposed to protect the freedom of choice of all the individuals involved. The voluntary organisations often give the immigrants information regarding gender equality, consequences of domestic violence and rape, and where to report such incidences whenever they are perpetrated. Peer groups are one effective channel that the voluntary organisations utilise in passing information regarding aspects like welfare, wellbeing, life control and prevention of violence against women. These groups are efficient in that the members are in most cases free to discuss their personal challenges with their colleagues making it easy for the voluntary organisations to offer help and assistance to the victims of violence against women. To the victims of violence, the voluntary organisations normally offer them support as well as therapy to help them recover from the trauma caused by the violence. The support is normal ly offered jointly with other health services in selected environments to help the victims recover in the shortest time possible and resume their normal life activities (Thiara et al 2012). In addition to this, the voluntary organisations also help the victims to make use of the legal system by reporting the offenders to the authorities so they can face the law and pay for the consequences of their unlawful actions. For instance they offer financial assistance to the women who are unable to raise the legal fees, file for divorce, social security, and negotiate for child custody among other things. Owing to the fact that child custody and visiting arrangements exposes the victims to the risk of further violence in the form of blackmail, threats or direct violence the voluntary organisations normally help the women with security arrangements like insisting that whenever such visits are made it should never be in private. The voluntary organisations have managed to achieve this level of success because they devised strategies of reaching out to the women and men differently. Once they identified that the issue lies with the system, they embarked on educating the young people on the importance of respecting human rights and upholding high moral values. To the women who are currently at the risk of being exposed to violence, the voluntary organisations have made measures to encourage them to come out and report so that they can be assisted. They inform the women that the men should take responsibility for their actions and as such they should come out and report any incidences of violence early before they escalate to the level of interfering with the quality of their lives (Lombard & McMillan 2013). The men are encouraged to resort to other measures of conflict resolution without resorting to violence because violence is itself a problem and does not provide a solution to anything. This shows that diff erent categories require different intervention mechanisms but all these efforts are aimed at achieving the major objective which is to protect women against gender based violence. The response of the voluntary sector to the issue at hand is directed by both proactive and reactive approaches. These strategies are important as they are useful in helping the voluntary organisations achieve their objectives in the short and long run. The proactive approaches are used on the young populations with an objective of educating them on the need to uphold high moral values and respect human rights (Hughes & Owen 2009). They are encouraged to solve their differences in relationships amicably without resorting to violence because violence only leads to more problems. The reactive approach on the other hand is intended to help both the perpetrators and victims of gender violence. The victims are encouraged to report the perpetrators to the authorities, seek counselling and get out of the abusive marriages. The perpetrators are also offered counselling and educative services to ensure that they do not repeat the crimes again. The response of the voluntary sector differs slightly from those of the statutory agencies because the latter mostly pursues the reactive approach while the former pursues both (True 2012). The statutory agencies help the victims by offering different services like healthcare, counselling, encouraging the victims to report, and helping the victims with the legal procedures among others. Their emphasis is twofold, one is to help the victims and the other one is to deter the behaviour. The sectors response presents a holistic approach as it aims to provide both short term and long term solutions. There is no evidence that the measures taken to control violence against women are working because the number of violence victims is still high in the country as already indicated in the country. There is also a possibility that the figures provided are still an underestimation given that many women still fear coming out to report that they are in abusive relationships (DeKeseredy 2011). Exter nal factors particularly funding has affected the response of the voluntary sector because they have limited resources at their disposal. The devolution of funding for the voluntary sector from the central government to the local authorities has resulted into many inconsistencies in levels and types of funding. For example many local authorities in the country have stopped giving the grant aid and now prefer commissioning of services through tendering and other contract funding. This has led to instability within the voluntary sector and loss of essential services (True 2012). A perfect example is refuge accommodation where the authorities have resorted to support few large organisations providing services to communities that they do not have any previous connections or knowledge at the expense of strengthening the smaller local organisations that are well placed to cater for the needs of the local people. In other cases the housing associations and other providers are taking over t he specialist services offered for the victims leading to loss of expertise and independence of the voluntary sector (Thiara et al 2012). With the limited funds the voluntary sector cannot do much and as such they should focus their energy and resources on services not offered by the statutory bodies. There is need for them to focus on the key areas that they can achieve maximum returns with the limited funds while exploring other means of raising more money to support their activities. Summary and the key issues The prevalence of violence against women is still high in the United Kingdom despite all the efforts made by the government to reduce the problem. The voluntary organisations present a good avenue of mitigating the problem although they face many challenges that hamper the effective execution of their services. These challenges range from inadequate financing to additional roles like caring for men too have destabilised the organisations. The national government should therefore help these voluntary organisations with adequate funds and support to help them reduce violence against women in the United Kingdom. References Adams, R. (2010). The short guide to social work. Bristol: Policy. Bardwell, A. (2010). Domestic violence (DV) as violence against women: A human rights issue. A study of the UK government’s human rights violations against South Asian women victims of DV. University of Essex Bird, F. B., & Westley, F. (2011). Voices from the voluntary sector: Perspectives on leadership challenges. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. DeKeseredy, W. S. (2011). Violence against women: Myths, facts, controversies. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Harne, L., & Radford, J. (2008). Tackling domestic violence: Theories, policies and practice. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill/Open University Press. Hughes, L., & Owen, H. (2009). Good practice in safeguarding children: Working effectively in child protection. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Lombard, N., & McMillan, L. (2013). Violence against women: Current theory and practice in domestic abuse, sexual violence and exploitation. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Riecher-Ro?ssler, A., & Garci?a-Moreno, C. (2013). Violence against women and mental health. Basel: Karger. Stark, E., & Buzawa, E. S. (2009). Violence against women in families and relationships. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger/ABC-CLIO. Thiara, R. K., Hauge, G., Bashall, R., Ellis, B., Mullender, A., & Harwin, N. (2012). Disabled women and domestic violence: Responding to the experiences of survivors. London: Jessica Kingsley. True, J. (2012). The political economy of violence against women. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

California Pizza Kitchen

CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN TUI University Instructor: MGT599 Module 1 Case Study The purpose of this report is to identify and give feedback on the company’s current mission and vision statements as well as its values and goals as stated (or not) by the founders and management. The need to have a clear vision and a real mission statement is fundamental and vital for all businesses. The values that make the company what it is and the end state or goals that it wishes to achieve are equally important. In looking at these factors I will identify the following where possible: What is California Pizza Kitchen’s vision statement and is it relevant? What is CPK’s mission statement and is it effective? What are the values and short and long term goals and what is the company doing to clarify and refine them on a continuous basis? Hildy Gottleib of the Community-Driven Institute has an excellent way of differentiating and explaining what vision and mission statements are. She says the simplest way of doing it is using three little letters and they are â€Å"ARY. Used in this way, Vision and Mission look quite different and are much easier to understand. (Gottleib) She goes on to say that written in this way it is easy to understand that when someone is a visionary they are able to see what it is they want to do and as a missionary they are able to execute their vision. She used the analogy of Jesus. He was the visionary and his disciples were the missionaries. (Gottleib) A good majority of organizations have websites like CPK’s. On these websites most companies will give their mission statement if you will. This statement is important for many reasons. It is stated so that potential clients and or investors can learn what the company is about when it comes to business. This is what helps draw people to the business. When people have a clear understanding as to what a company does or wishes to do in regards to customer service, it causes them to take stock of the company and determine if the company is a right for their consumer needs. My research of the company shows that the company has no mission statement as of publication of this report. The closest mission statement (if one were to call it that) that I could potentially identify was â€Å"CPK’s strong brand awareness has been developed primarily through full service restaurants and through the expansion of our high quality fast-casual, CPK/ASAP concept†. (Smith) I believe another way of saying this is that it is California Pizza Kitchen’s mission to be a â€Å"leader in authentic California-style cuisine† (all the while) being widely known for diverse and innovative menu items. This is no clear mission statement as given by the company but rather this person’s interpretation. If you read their website you will not find much of anything except their personal story. Although this is nice, it tells neither the customer nor the potential investor anything as to what the company is striving towards in clear language. It does nothing to spark or draw interest to the company. California Pizza Kitchen has no clear or discernable mission statement and their vision statement is just as absent. On their company website is stated the founders intent but not their vision â€Å"Having always wanted to get into the restaurant business; they traded in their legal pads to serve hearth-baked pizzas. (California Pizza kithen) Their unspoken business vision was to create pizzas that were an interpretation or a culmination of food with an international flair on a global level. Their pizzas include such creations as a Jamaican Jerk, Thai, and shrimp pizza. This flair has served the company well. Although the company has gone through a rough patch while under the ownership of PepsiCo which nearly ran the business aground due to what some may say was an overly aggressive business model , the company is now back on track with the original founders put back in control of the company. This has allowed CPK to right itself and grow at a more realistic pace. The founders have been allowed to lead the company as they intended at the start and the brand name is flourishing. It is because of this vision that the company is again succeeding. So, it is fair to say that the company has a vision but that vision is shallow and has no clear long term ambition other than serving specialty pizza. I have made numerous inquiries both by email and phone calls to the main office and other places within the company to clearly state their values and goals. I finally received a reply from a Mr. Locksley who is a member of their marketing and relations department. My request to him was simple; tell me what you understand the company’s values and goals to be. He simply regurgitated in an email his company’s web page statement. This is not good. Either he is unable to clearly communicate the company’s values statement as well as their goals or, there are none. It is my findings that the company has no values or goals statements. The company is simply operating on a loose configuration of statements given on a webpage or in an employee handbook. The company touts respect, opportunity, communication, and kindness (R. O. C. K) for all just like all other companies but, there is nothing that I could locate in my search for the employees to get behind other than that. (California Pizza kithen) The company has not given its employees a set of values that all can get on the same page with or real sustenance and purpose. There is an employee handbook but it is more like a generic/vanilla document that covers employee benefits, requirements for uniform standards, and other HR issues. No wonder the employees have no clue. You can’t enforce company standards or values if you don’t ensure that all have access to them in order to read and comply. This is totally unsatisfactory. Goals, the company has no clear or identifiable set of goals in its current state. While under PepsiCo the company had a goal to grow at a stated pace over so many years, while under the current leadership they are focused solely on repairing the damage to the brand name caused by PepsiCo. This could be a goal of sorts but it does or says nothing to the effect of what the company’s future overall end state is. The company must look at its current situation and develop a set of goals that will enable it to better move forward and grow. Although the company will either continue to survive or eventually wither and fail, a good set of goals will enable everyone to work smarter and more effectively toward success. This aspect is of great importance to company shareholders in that it affects their profits. If the company can’t define a clear goal for the company in regards to profits then the stakeholders in the company suffer and will eventually sell out. Stakeholders want to make money as in any organization and if they don’t, they will revolt on management until it responds. Some things that I would recommend to the company in general are: 1. work aggressively to develop a short and long term vision for your company. 2. After you have your vision identified, develop a team of individuals to recognize your mission and then implement it by sending company leadership out to the employees to articulate it. Once everyone knows what it is the company wants it can begin to implement that vision by working to achieve it. . Take a consensus from across the entire work force in what it deems is or is appropriate values that you want the company to follow. This can be done by online employee surveys or management at each store location polling workers on site. You can gather results either way and decide on those values that are important to all workers at every level and exemplify the very best traits and characteristics of your busine ss. This will allow workers to feel good about where they work and give customers a more positive attitude about the business they are frequenting. . Develop a goal for your business. You can have a goal for employees in regards to customer service and one for the future growth and development of CPK franchises. Both will reap huge rewards for you business. I recommend that you place your vision, mission, values, and goals in high visibility locations throughout the organization. This allows everyone to read and understand what it is they are working towards. Place them in the company board room so that the CEO and board of directors can see it every time they meet. Use them as a gauge to see if the senior leaders are using them to make decisions which support your various statements. If their not then either replace them or hold them accountable for their failures by withholding bonuses or other perks. In conclusion, the company has no set vision, mission, or values statements. There are no clear and defined goals for the organization. The company must do the following in order to begin the process of changing: 1. Develop a vision statement in order to allow everyone to understand what it is the company wants or intends to do. 2. Develop a mission statement that supports that vision. Then, with the vision, begin to work aggressively to realize that vision. 3. Access your company as a whole and determine those values that will support your vision and mission from those that are within your employee base. Tweak and revise constantly in order to ensure that your company reflects the very best and important aspects of your employee base and that they genuinely feel like a part of the team effort. Your employees are your business and the most important part at that. Without them you are out of business. Hold management (CEO, Board of Directors) accountable in ensuring that they make decisions based off of various established statements. 4. Lastly, strongly impart to everyone what the overall goal(s) are for the organization and give them the tools and support to achieve it/them. The company must ensure that it effectively incorporates and uses the first three legs of the support (vision, mission, values) to realize the final result or goal. A goal is nothing without the latter three. With these recommendations you will find that the organization will function and flow far more efficiently than before. It will take determination and real effort on the part of California Pizza Kitchen to achieve the recommendations as laid out in this Summary. I thank you for your attention to this assessment summary. Works Cited California Pizza kithen. California Pizza Kitchen. November 2010. 30 November 2010 . Gottleib, Hildy. 3 Statements That Can Change the World: Mission/Vision/Values. 2007. Creating the Future. 28 November 2010 . Smith, Richard M. Rolling In Dough. 25th June 2007. Harmon Newsweek LLC. 30 November 2010 . California Pizza Kitchen CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN TUI University Instructor: MGT599 Module 1 Case Study The purpose of this report is to identify and give feedback on the company’s current mission and vision statements as well as its values and goals as stated (or not) by the founders and management. The need to have a clear vision and a real mission statement is fundamental and vital for all businesses. The values that make the company what it is and the end state or goals that it wishes to achieve are equally important. In looking at these factors I will identify the following where possible: What is California Pizza Kitchen’s vision statement and is it relevant? What is CPK’s mission statement and is it effective? What are the values and short and long term goals and what is the company doing to clarify and refine them on a continuous basis? Hildy Gottleib of the Community-Driven Institute has an excellent way of differentiating and explaining what vision and mission statements are. She says the simplest way of doing it is using three little letters and they are â€Å"ARY. Used in this way, Vision and Mission look quite different and are much easier to understand. (Gottleib) She goes on to say that written in this way it is easy to understand that when someone is a visionary they are able to see what it is they want to do and as a missionary they are able to execute their vision. She used the analogy of Jesus. He was the visionary and his disciples were the missionaries. (Gottleib) A good majority of organizations have websites like CPK’s. On these websites most companies will give their mission statement if you will. This statement is important for many reasons. It is stated so that potential clients and or investors can learn what the company is about when it comes to business. This is what helps draw people to the business. When people have a clear understanding as to what a company does or wishes to do in regards to customer service, it causes them to take stock of the company and determine if the company is a right for their consumer needs. My research of the company shows that the company has no mission statement as of publication of this report. The closest mission statement (if one were to call it that) that I could potentially identify was â€Å"CPK’s strong brand awareness has been developed primarily through full service restaurants and through the expansion of our high quality fast-casual, CPK/ASAP concept†. (Smith) I believe another way of saying this is that it is California Pizza Kitchen’s mission to be a â€Å"leader in authentic California-style cuisine† (all the while) being widely known for diverse and innovative menu items. This is no clear mission statement as given by the company but rather this person’s interpretation. If you read their website you will not find much of anything except their personal story. Although this is nice, it tells neither the customer nor the potential investor anything as to what the company is striving towards in clear language. It does nothing to spark or draw interest to the company. California Pizza Kitchen has no clear or discernable mission statement and their vision statement is just as absent. On their company website is stated the founders intent but not their vision â€Å"Having always wanted to get into the restaurant business; they traded in their legal pads to serve hearth-baked pizzas. (California Pizza kithen) Their unspoken business vision was to create pizzas that were an interpretation or a culmination of food with an international flair on a global level. Their pizzas include such creations as a Jamaican Jerk, Thai, and shrimp pizza. This flair has served the company well. Although the company has gone through a rough patch while under the ownership of PepsiCo which nearly ran the business aground due to what some may say was an overly aggressive business model , the company is now back on track with the original founders put back in control of the company. This has allowed CPK to right itself and grow at a more realistic pace. The founders have been allowed to lead the company as they intended at the start and the brand name is flourishing. It is because of this vision that the company is again succeeding. So, it is fair to say that the company has a vision but that vision is shallow and has no clear long term ambition other than serving specialty pizza. I have made numerous inquiries both by email and phone calls to the main office and other places within the company to clearly state their values and goals. I finally received a reply from a Mr. Locksley who is a member of their marketing and relations department. My request to him was simple; tell me what you understand the company’s values and goals to be. He simply regurgitated in an email his company’s web page statement. This is not good. Either he is unable to clearly communicate the company’s values statement as well as their goals or, there are none. It is my findings that the company has no values or goals statements. The company is simply operating on a loose configuration of statements given on a webpage or in an employee handbook. The company touts respect, opportunity, communication, and kindness (R. O. C. K) for all just like all other companies but, there is nothing that I could locate in my search for the employees to get behind other than that. (California Pizza kithen) The company has not given its employees a set of values that all can get on the same page with or real sustenance and purpose. There is an employee handbook but it is more like a generic/vanilla document that covers employee benefits, requirements for uniform standards, and other HR issues. No wonder the employees have no clue. You can’t enforce company standards or values if you don’t ensure that all have access to them in order to read and comply. This is totally unsatisfactory. Goals, the company has no clear or identifiable set of goals in its current state. While under PepsiCo the company had a goal to grow at a stated pace over so many years, while under the current leadership they are focused solely on repairing the damage to the brand name caused by PepsiCo. This could be a goal of sorts but it does or says nothing to the effect of what the company’s future overall end state is. The company must look at its current situation and develop a set of goals that will enable it to better move forward and grow. Although the company will either continue to survive or eventually wither and fail, a good set of goals will enable everyone to work smarter and more effectively toward success. This aspect is of great importance to company shareholders in that it affects their profits. If the company can’t define a clear goal for the company in regards to profits then the stakeholders in the company suffer and will eventually sell out. Stakeholders want to make money as in any organization and if they don’t, they will revolt on management until it responds. Some things that I would recommend to the company in general are: 1. work aggressively to develop a short and long term vision for your company. 2. After you have your vision identified, develop a team of individuals to recognize your mission and then implement it by sending company leadership out to the employees to articulate it. Once everyone knows what it is the company wants it can begin to implement that vision by working to achieve it. . Take a consensus from across the entire work force in what it deems is or is appropriate values that you want the company to follow. This can be done by online employee surveys or management at each store location polling workers on site. You can gather results either way and decide on those values that are important to all workers at every level and exemplify the very best traits and characteristics of your busine ss. This will allow workers to feel good about where they work and give customers a more positive attitude about the business they are frequenting. . Develop a goal for your business. You can have a goal for employees in regards to customer service and one for the future growth and development of CPK franchises. Both will reap huge rewards for you business. I recommend that you place your vision, mission, values, and goals in high visibility locations throughout the organization. This allows everyone to read and understand what it is they are working towards. Place them in the company board room so that the CEO and board of directors can see it every time they meet. Use them as a gauge to see if the senior leaders are using them to make decisions which support your various statements. If their not then either replace them or hold them accountable for their failures by withholding bonuses or other perks. In conclusion, the company has no set vision, mission, or values statements. There are no clear and defined goals for the organization. The company must do the following in order to begin the process of changing: 1. Develop a vision statement in order to allow everyone to understand what it is the company wants or intends to do. 2. Develop a mission statement that supports that vision. Then, with the vision, begin to work aggressively to realize that vision. 3. Access your company as a whole and determine those values that will support your vision and mission from those that are within your employee base. Tweak and revise constantly in order to ensure that your company reflects the very best and important aspects of your employee base and that they genuinely feel like a part of the team effort. Your employees are your business and the most important part at that. Without them you are out of business. Hold management (CEO, Board of Directors) accountable in ensuring that they make decisions based off of various established statements. 4. Lastly, strongly impart to everyone what the overall goal(s) are for the organization and give them the tools and support to achieve it/them. The company must ensure that it effectively incorporates and uses the first three legs of the support (vision, mission, values) to realize the final result or goal. A goal is nothing without the latter three. With these recommendations you will find that the organization will function and flow far more efficiently than before. It will take determination and real effort on the part of California Pizza Kitchen to achieve the recommendations as laid out in this Summary. I thank you for your attention to this assessment summary. Works Cited California Pizza kithen. California Pizza Kitchen. November 2010. 30 November 2010 . Gottleib, Hildy. 3 Statements That Can Change the World: Mission/Vision/Values. 2007. Creating the Future. 28 November 2010 . Smith, Richard M. Rolling In Dough. 25th June 2007. Harmon Newsweek LLC. 30 November 2010 .

Strategic Cost Management (SCM) GPBL Trimester Essay

Strategic Variance Analysis of a Firm Growth,Price, Profitability, Productivity Elements affecting its Profits and consequent Cash Flow. Max. Word Count – 3000 words This is a study on a Strategic Variance Analysis for the profitability as well as the Operating Cash flow. In this context you need to take some critical assumptions if you are unable to procure the relevant quantitative details. The quantitative details you will need are as follows: 1. Industry aggregates of the Units Produced and Sold 2. Chosen Firm level details of the Units Produced and Sold. 3. Input Output Ratio. This will need assumptions and perhaps be restricted only to the materials. You need to perform a reasonable amount of research to obtain these numbers. Quantitative details may be provided in Annual Reports of the firms constituting the industry you have considered. Check sources such as the Capitaline. Ministry of Commerce and Industry, RBI, Planning commission, some publications such as the stati stical outline of India etc etc. You need to examine the following: a) Select an Industry, use an appropriate justification of having defined the industry by using the ITC code, HSN or SIC classification or any other that will have some universal acceptability. b) Choose a Firm you would want to analyze that constitutes the Industry you have chosen. c) If industry aggregates are not available define the industry by identifying the major industry players and then aggregate their quantitative details to make this a proxy for the Industry or the market you would want to consider. d) Perform a Strategic Variance Analysis to demarcate the impact of Growth, Price and Productivity elements in explaining the impact on the changes in the profits of the firm you have chosen for the year with its subsequent year. Therefore if you are analyzing the Year 2011 compare this with 2012 for the firm and the industry. e) Perform a strategic variance analysis on the operating cash flow for the firm cho sen. f) Conclude on strategy you believe the firm is adopting given the financial analysis you have done. Marking Parameters: 1. Choice of the Industry and the firm and its justification. -[10 Marks] 2. Demonstrated evidence of the research done in obtaining information for points (a), (b) and (c). [30 Marks] 3. Critical Analysis of Points (d) and (e).[50 Marks] 4. Conclusion[10 Marks]

TMM Brain Storming

Find out In the beginning of the class If the students had done any prior preparations to learn that lesson and encourage such students. 3. Help the students make a smooth transition from +2 Make the students aware that the study pattern Is entirely to (NSA) 4. Different from what they were following in the last 12 years. They should be mentally prepared to adopt a new teaching style and learning process. 5. When students get good results, they must receive some positive strokes and visible appreciation. Increase the Library hours so that students get more time for REAL research . Tidies. Check if they are using it properly. 7. Allocate specific time in the time table for student- teacher interaction on a one to one basis. 8. Encourage and educate students to respect all faculties whether they teach them or not. 9. Do not criticize students in public unless there is a sufficient reason. 10. Do not do anything which would bring down the self esteem and morale of the students. 11. Best teachers (Communicators) should be allocated for the first years. 12. Teachers need to pay undivided attention Just for academic matters. Unfortunately today they re involved in several extracurricular activities like collection of fees, uniforms, dress, sandals, collection of records from the press, taking quotations etc. 13. Curriculum meeting should be conducted every month on a FIXED date in a PROPER manner so that the coordinators are fully equipped. 14. In the clinical, teachers must be given a control over the students than the staff nurse. In the present scenario, staff nurses enforce their work on our students. 15. Special meeting with the parents of weaker students must be conducted more frequently.Change the teaching method – student friendly. Make sure they understand the topic properly. 16. Increase interaction with the students- use Sacramental method of using more questions and make them think. Plan Discussion classes Instead of lecturing classes. 17. Prepare power point presentations In a professional manner. 18. Prepare proper lesson plan and get approval from the concerned person. 19. Assign an Internal faculty to assist or follow up the external faculty. 20. All the faculty should be given training In modern techniques of communication. 21. Equip the students to WRITE the exam properly.Some students write the correct answers, but give wrong embers, and then they wont get marks. They make a lot of such mistakes. They should be given proper orientation before they go for the exams. 22. Class co teach a subject or not. Then they can build up a close knit relationship and maintain it all the time. When the students face with a problem, then it is easy for them to approach that person. This is the time, these students face a lot of psychological, behavioral, hormonal issues and they badly need a mentor and a counselor whom they can trust completely. 23.Plan the curriculum for each year at least two months n advance so that teachers will k now their responsibilities properly. Short notice planning is creating a lot of tensions and problems. Once you plan it, go strict about implementing it. Do not change it as your mood changes. It creates problem for those who are forced to implement it. 24. Faculty should develop a culture of completing their works in the stipulated time. It should not be postponed or kept pending. 25. Find out the weak students in the first quarter itself and plan some special activities for them. Give them more study time if needed, avoiding clinical once in a while. 6. Conduct minimum of three PTA meeting every year. 27. Students who have not cleared I and II year exams should be withheld from Ill year classes and clinical. (Parents to be convinced). 28. There should not be any discrimination between B. Sc and M. Sc faculty. A We Feeling should be created. Conduct all – staff meeting every month. 29. Academic programs should not be interfered by Conferences or Workshops. 30. Disciplinary a ctions should be made without any delay. 31. Students should not be overburdened with extra money collection in various heads. 32. One staff: 10 students family should be created.There should be a mix of brighter as well as weaker students in the group. They should help each other in all matters. There can be even a healthy competition between the groups. Brighter students should help weaker ones to go up the ladder. In the hostel, 5 adjacent rooms can be provided for them. 33. Students must be given opportunities to get engaged in non curricular as well as entertainment programs once in a while. They should not feel that TM CON is a prison and the staffs are kill Joys. 34. Non academic activities are the unidentified ‘hole' in the result bucket. 35.Conduct weakly revision followed by a one hour test on Monday. 36. As far as possible, do not make any changes in our academic master rotation plan for 52 weeks so that the implementation would be more effective. 37. Make the stude nts clear their doubts in the class itself or immediately after the class. Teachers should be available for that. 38. Help the students to adjust the timings and write the answers according to the marks. 39. Constantly appreciate the students and staff for all the good things comes from them. 40. Students Just mugging up the lecture notes and answer key is not advisable.Engage them in some small projects and assignments in their subjects. For the concern of the Management 41. Revise the admission criteria. Consider only those who have more than 70% marks in + 2. Those who got less than that are not fit for the present standards of KUAKA. We are trying to help a family by giving admission to this course. But ultimately we are putting that family in more grief and financial crisis. 42. A student who scores high marks in +2 may not be having any interest or caliber to pursue nursing studies. So strict scrutinizing should be done at the time of admission. 3.The present system of aptitud e test is quiet inadequate to evaluate their interest. It is simply a bunch of questions on physics, Chem.. , Bio, English and Bible. Hardly changed. 44. Let the board create an opportunity for the students to express their assessment and evaluation on their studies or any other topics. We realized that the Chairman and others in the board sat with students during a couple of lunch sessions was very encouraging for them. 45. Reduce the workload of students in the hospital. 46. Arrange faculty welfare programmer regularly without affecting academic aerogramme to relieve them from stress and burn out. 7. Minimize the external faculty for the first year. If needed find out those who can properly communicate to the fresher. Avoid Hi if – trainers. Students are new to the system and atmosphere. Several of them are from Malaysia medium. When they do not understand the teachers hi if stuff, they get mentally dejected. They are scare to express it to anybody. And thus their morale an d confidence level goes down. Their first impression about the course is that it is a hazardous task. That impression lasts throughout. So we need to create a very good first impression to them. 8.Arrange personality development classes like: Effective Time management, How to study well, Goal, How to get out of Exam Phobia, How to prepare for and write exams etc†¦ 49. A forum for expression should be given. It is good if it is a confidential. This is for the first time we get an opportunity to express our thoughts in the last 10 years. So keep a locked box in the reception area so that students, their parents and even the faculty in the college can write and put their suggestions. Either President or Secretary of the College Board only should be able to open it. 50.A big number of he faculty are uncomfortable in the campus due to various reasons. Provide a comfortable and peaceful environment for the faculty to work. Avoid situations which create unwanted stress from superiors in the college. 51. Unnecessary interferences of higher authority (in the campus) even in minute things should be avoided. Faculty should be given certain amount of freedom with an aim of the betterment of the institution in mind. 52. Very often teachers are being called to Principals office during class time. This should be avoided. Otherwise we lose the concentration and the flow.Sometimes we come back with a different mental set up. So avoid such interferences. 53. Individuality of the teachers should be considered. They have their own status. Do not treat them as mere subordinator. 54. When teaching faculty are in some trouble, help them to solve it instead of making it more complicated. More than the money, the Staff should get a Job satisfaction and mental peace. Create such an atmosphere in the campus. 55. Faculty should not be scolded in front of others (Students, parents and other faculty). If the principal or the board wants to say something to the staff, it should be done personally and privately.Avoid ego clashes. 56. At times, I had felt that I am still in a Barbarian era, where there is no concern for one another. Treat others with some respect. TM Con had a family atmosphere in the beginning. That feeling should come back. Faculty, right from the principal to the Junior most should sit together and discuss. Authorities should be willing to accept a good suggestion even if it comes from the Junior most. Faculty should get a listening ear. 57. A good working atmosphere would motivate both the students and faculty. A stressful atmosphere will force you to look always for n opportunity to get out.You feel like working more hard when you own it. A come back to the good old days. 58. More such barnstorming sessions should be arranged with heterogeneous group of people such as two students from each nursing batch, one from M Sc batch, Administrator, Wardens etc and they can be give these points as a background and make them answer to the same old quest ion. 59. We must provide more recreational facilities to the students. 60. Children who come out of their homes need comfort from their parents. So arrange telephones so that they can call their parents and talk to them.

Integrated marketing plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Integrated marketing plan - Essay Example According to the Italian tradition coffee houses are like a place for conversation and that provides the customers with a sense of community. From the very beginning Starbucks has been a very different company. The company has not only celebrated the coffee and rich tradition but also successfully brought a feeling of connection. The company endeavors to bring an exceptional experience to the lives of its target market (Clark, Taylor 2007; Starbucks Corporation 2011) Starbucks coffee is a globally acclaimed coffee brand. The brand boasts about its quality and charges a high premium based on this product attribute. The famous coffee brand is in its maturity stage. Many competitors have entered the marketplace when they saw the first coffee house growing. Quality and high prices are not just the only attributes of the product of Starbucks Coffee. Starbucks coffee is of high quality and it is ensured that there is a consistency of quality and taste throughout the globally operating chai n (Bussing-Burks, M. 2009) It is because of its high quality that the brand charges a high premium for its products. There are several other product attributes, other than the price and quality that contribute towards the image of the products offered under the brand name of â€Å"Starbucks†. ... The primary target market of Starbucks consists of men and women aged between 25 to 40 years from urban areas and usually with high incomes. This target segment accounts for almost half the sales of the Starbucks. In order to appeal this target audience Starbucks works keep its products current and position them in such a way that they become a status symbol. Then comes the target market of young adults aged between 18 to 24 years. This segment accounts for 40 percent of the sales of the company. This target audience looks up to Starbucks because it positions itself as place where college students can hang out and socialize with new people. Starbucks appeal to this consumer segment by introducing new technology and by projecting a cool image of the brand. A current example of new technology would be the installation of Wi-Fi that the company has managed to introduce in all its stores. It makes it easier for the students whether they want to hang in there and work on their projects or it can be that they just want to hang in there to enjoy the coffee. The relaxing atmosphere provided by the Starbucks stores is an appealing factor to both the adult and young adult target audience. Now moving to the third target market segment that Starbucks is serving, comprising of kids and teens aged between 13 to 17 years. Though this segment is not large and accounts for only 2 percent of the total Starbucks sales, but still the company focuses on this segment. The main reason for the focus is that it is mainly the parents who purchase items for their kids. There are several products that Starbucks has just made for the kids and teenagers. Starbucks do not target the kids segment directly but it does make sure that its products are kid-friendly. The company

Mini Research Project Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mini Project - Research Proposal Example When the world real Gross Domestic Product was having a howling dread, the GDP of China was pretty much sturdily moving upward in an open contrast (Easterly, 2011). The underlying research project aims to spotlight the off budget fiscal activity and the effectiveness of the emergency fiscal policies implemented by the Chinese government by making use of the IMF’s published augmented fiscal data. Data were originally augmented by adding the general statistical output up with the off budget fiscal data. Though, this is a secondary research including the subjective approach by analyzing a number of theoretical sources to make a solid and theoretical inference so far. However the augmentation in the fiscal data is an aid to understand the underlying course of activity rather to replace the general purpose government released statistics. It was not possible to draw the judgments by using each and every part of the published augmented data; hence here I am going to exclude some of t he figures to reduce the complexity and intricacy i.e., policy banks fiscal activity data, ministry of railway net borrowing etc. In the period of the world economic crisis, local government aimed to implement several plans to reduce the impacts. Out of the most prominent activity, the most observable can be reported as the infrastructure investments to support and boost up the economic development in the country. It remained a popularized countercyclical tool to foster the internal developmental course. This developmental spending was categorized as an off budget expenditure and managed through the sales of the government inland property or Local Government’s Finance Vehicle borrowings so far internally. Thus IMF introduced the concept of augmentation in order to measure the impact of the budgeted and off budgeted fiscal activity within the economy. Without complementary augmented data, it is quite thorny to analyze the total effect and stimulus towards the tradeoff to the crisis.