Transaction Costs Economics

Introduction The conditions of doing businesses change dramatically for the past century and especially for the past 30 years. With the continuous improvement of the infrastructure marked by transportation, communications and technologies, as well as changing role played by the government and the financial markets, firms found new ways and equipped with new abilities to control their operations and interact with suppliers, customers, competitors and other stakeholders. Given the above infrastructure changes, vertical integration became a logical option for firms as the demand of product and market size increased tremendously which allowed the high-volume production since the early 90s. With the continuous advancement of the production and telecommunications technologies, it comes to a stage whereby market became a viable substitution of organisation as the exchange coordinator. Hence, one of the most important strategic decisions of firms is to define their boundaries and under what circumstances should they consider using market instead of internal organisation to coordinate exchange. This essay is to try to describe the key characteristics of Transactions Costs Economics (hereafter TEC) and with real life examples given as how it affects the decision of using market vs. organisation. Also, by quoting the example of Sony (battery), Apple (iPod) and firm that I am working with, we can see how firms define their vertical boundaries and what is the role played by coordination in a vertical chain. TEC One of the principle contributors to the study of TEC is Oliver E. Williamson. While Williamson drew on the earlier work done by Ronald Coase regarding the concept of transactions costs, he further advanced it and had developed the Transaction Costs Analysis (TCA) theory in the 1970s and the 1980s. In the neo-classical approach of economics study, firm is treated as a â€Å"black box†, and internal workings of which were not considered to be important. TEC, however, argued differently. It tried to explain why firms exist and why they existed in a particular form of structure and the extent to which it will integrate vertically, given the existence of transaction costs. Transaction costs can be aroused from: ? researching potential suppliers ?collecting information on prices ?negotiating contracts ?monitoring the supplier’s input ?legal costs incurred should the supplier breach contractual negotiations Another key characteristic of TEC is its underlying assumptions, namely bounded rationality and opportunism. Bounded rationality refers to the fact that people are bounded by the limits of their own knowledge and memories. People may also be bounded in their rationality when they are overloaded with information which is beyond their processing abilities. Opportunism refers to the possibilities that people might try to maximize their own benefit by lying about their true intentions or chances that people might exploit another party by taking advantage of unforeseen situations. It is worthwhile to mention that while TEC had tried to modify the assumptions under neo-classical decision theory by adding the deceitful human behaviour element in TCA, the core assumption of profit maximisation is still maintained. One of the key methods to maximize profit is to minimize costs. By assuming that management and the owners of the firms are rational, they must compare the cost of internal co-ordination, which includes the cost of internal production and the cost of governance, to the cost of using the markets, which includes external production cost and transactions costs. In essence, management is considering the â€Å"Make or Buy† decision when they do the cost comparison exercise. With the assumptions highlighted above, TEC then attempts to explain why a firm will integrate vertically by specifying three attributes that are used to characterize any transactions s, i. e. Frequency, Uncertainty and Asset Specificity. TEC argues that these attributes will determine whether transaction costs will be lowest in an organization or in a market. For frequency, it refers to the situation whereby firm will seldom integrate vertically if the services rendered or goods produced are rarely used. For uncertainty, it may be rooted from bounded rationality described above and from a situation whereby different parties involved had asymmetric information of the exchange. High uncertainty would generally lead to vertical integration, given the savings in transaction costs outweigh the costs incurred for vertical integration. For asset specificity, arguably it could be the most distinctive element in the TEC theory. As investment in relationship-specific asset that cannot be redeployed to another transaction without incurring extra cost or sacrifice in the productivity of the asset, it would lock the parties into the relationship to some degree. The level of specificity will increase if an asset has little value in alternative use. With the existence of this attribute, transaction costs may increase so much that it may push potential firm away from using market. In turn, firm will internalize the exchange by vertically integrating the firm that provided/offered the specific assets. With the notion of the investment in relationship-specific asset, it transforms the relationship between trading partners whereby parties which made investment in relationship-specific assets, the relationship changes from a â€Å"large numbers† bargaining situation to a â€Å"small numbers† bargaining situation. This situation is described by Oliver Williamson as the fundamental transformation. It gives raise to two important theoretical concepts, i. e. Quasi-Rents and the problem of Holdup. Both of these concepts affect the costs of arm’s-length market exchange and in turn affect the â€Å"Make or Buy† decision. Once a firm invests in a relationship-specific asset, it generates positive quasi-rent. The other party in the exchange may know this extra profit and will push for getting a share of it by holding up its trading partner. It can be done by renegotiating the terms of the exchange, or event breaching the contracts when they are incomplete. In view of the possible Holdup issue, the incentive for firms to invest in relationship-specific assets in the first place might be greatly reduced. Without the adequate supply of these assets, it might force the firm to make them by itself. Make Vs. Buy Cases Having the theoretical basis of the TEC theory described above, we can now see how the theory can be applied to the real life examples. The first example that I quote is the defect notebook batteries produced by Sony which resulted in recall in year 2006 and in 2008. In the personal computer (PC) manufacturing industry, most of the players, such as Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Dell, have been using the market and they buy most of the component parts required to make their desktops and notebooks instead of making them by themselves. One of the standard components of notebook is its battery. All of these PC firms buy their batteries from the market and one of the major battery suppliers is Sony. These PC firms made this â€Å"Buy† decision as they found Sony has attached economics of scale in producing notebook batteries which their in-house unit could not attain. Also notebook batteries are not relationship-specific assets and are not too difficult to coordinate in the production flows as it is a stand alone add-on that only required when the assembly of the notebook components is completed. So Timing and Sequence Fit are not a major coordination issue. In addition, leakage of private information is a non-issue as the raw materials of making battery cells are almost homogenous and relatively â€Å"low-tech† in the manufacturing process. Hence, these giant PC firms entered into contracts with Sony for the supply of their notebooks batteries. In year 2006, dozen of consumers worldwide reported Sony batteries were overheating and a few minor burns. The overheating batteries were shipped with Lenovo, HP, Toshiba and Dell notebooks. It resulted in a 9. 6 million notebook recall in year 2006. In this case, all PC firms were following the standard make vs. buy decision process and tried to reduce their production costs by using the market. However, all of them had underestimated the transaction costs related to the use of the market mechanism. With asymmetric information where Sony has more information that HP, Dell and other PC firms, it may subsequently use it opportunistically. The PC firms can reduce the problem by improving the quality control and contract terms of buying these batteries. However, it comes at a cost, transaction costs. While the compensations claims from these PC firms to Sony were not publicly disclosed, it certainly damaged the reputation of these PC firms and Sony. It also increased the costs of the contracts between them. While public expected this recall would not happen again, in year 2008, about 35,000 Sony notebook batteries were recalled in US after several reports of fire. Apparently, all parties involved had not taken into the transaction costs factor seriously enough given the 2006 recall. Vertical Integration I would like to illustrate the vertical integration strategy by referring to production of iPod by Apple Inc. While Apple Inc. claimed itself as a firm that designs and manufactures consumer electronics and computer software products, essentially it uses the market specialists as the coordination. It contracted out of all of its manufacturing functions and only kept the core design of its products in-house. Even its software was not entirely developed in-house. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc. , ordered a team of hardware designers within the firm to design the hardware of iPod in year 2000. When Apple first launched iPod in the market on October, 2001, it used the software developed by a company called PortalPlayer. Apple also contracted another company, Pixo, to help on the user interface design and implementation. It is Apple Inc. hich continuously refined the look and feel of the software as the development progress. Regarding manufacturing, it was out-sourced to Taiwan companies with factories located in Mainland China. Component parts that made up of iPod are supplied by different suppliers, such as Samsung for microcontroller and storage medium and Cirrus Logic for audio chip. Interestingly, while Apple Inc. decided not to have forward integration for the manufacturing of iPod, it actively pursed the downstream integration by establishing its own distribution and retailing channel. It set up an online media store of iTunes Music Store on April 2003 and operates more than 250 retail stores in more than 9 countries. With the PC iTunes software that can access the iTunes Store and the special property right protection technology (Data Retention Management) that only allows iPod to play the contents (which include music, videos and games) purchased from the Store, the iPod, iTunes and on-line iTunes Store are well-coordinated in the downstream of the vertical chain. It also increased greatly the sales and profitability of Apple Inc.. Another case that I can refer to is my firm that I am currently working with. It is big law firm. When we decide whether we would outsource our supporting functions, such as data management and IT support, we always consider the chance of leakage of our private (client’s) information, which is critical to our profession. It will have negative legal and reputational consequence if our clients’ information is leaked to outsiders. As complete contracting is either infeasible or too costly, most of data management applications are developed in-house instead of buying from the market. Conclusion TEC is important as it represents one of the first and most influential attempts to develop an economic theory that look into the firm structure in a more serious manner. It is most often used to analyze vertical integration of firms. With the development of technologies and communications, transaction costs to use Market are reduced. However, the example of Sony batteries recall case shows that firms might underestimate these costs. While more firms are downsizing their structure and contracted out their functions, they strategically integrate to the functions which can enhance their overall profitability. The setting up of iTunes Stores and selling of proprietary contents by Apple Inc. for iPod is a good example. With possible leakage of private information and the failure to have complete contract, professional services firm is more likely to use the internal resources for its data and IT management.

The Tain: Cuculain Hero?

Amber Borkowski Reading Literature Myths Cuchulainn: A Hero or a Killer? A mythic hero is a story figure that embarks on a journey in order to complete tasks that make them into legends of tales. Cuchulainn is a mythic hero in the Tain, a story of a war between the North and South of the land in Ireland. A hero is a term that can be a homonym with many other meanings. A person can consider a police officer, their mother, or many other examples as a hero. Even with the broad spectrum of the word, every example does surround the feeling of being protected by the person. I consider Cuchulainn to be a war-hero.Cuchulainn is a well-trained warrior that is able to perform stunts of throwing a javelin, stone, just fighting with his fists, and many more while leaving every opponent dead or too terrified to fight him. But does being able to defeat every opponent make a character a hero or just a person to be feared? Cuchulainn was raised and trained by the best of all the instructors to becom e a great warrior that would be remembered, and that is just what he did. When Cuchulainn was just a boy he left his mother and went off to join the boy troop where he would train and be protected by the troop.The war in the tale began at the point where Medb and Aillil, the queen and king of Connacht, had an argument over who had the most possessions. The two were equal until the point came where Aillil owned one great bull more than Medb. Medb was so enraged that she waged war to retrieve the equally great bull from Ulster. At this time, the Ulster army was in their pangs, unable to have the strength to fight. Cuchulainn protected the land from Medb and Aillil’s army, killing thousands of their soldiers.With Medb and Aillil’s army becoming weaker, Cuchulainn agreed to fight one great warrior a day. Every day the opponent would be defeated and this continued until the pangs lifted from Cuchulainn’s Ulsterman army. Eventually, Medb and Aillil were defeated and t here was peace in the land among the people. During the tale of the Tain, there was a section about Cuchulainn going into a warp spasm and killing men, children, and women the same. â€Å"The first warp-spasm seized Cuchulainn, and made him into a monstrous thing, hideous and shapeless, unheard of.His shanks and his joints, every knuckle and angle and organ from head to foot, shook like a tree in the flood or reed in the stream. †(Kinsella, p. 150) At this point Cuchulainn is transformed into an un-human monster with essentially no emotion or thought other than destruction. â€Å"In this great Carnage on Murtheimne Plain Cuchulainn slew one hundred and thirty kings, as well as an uncountable horde of dogs and horses, women and boys and children and rabble of all kinds. †(Kinsella, p. 156) To me this behavior seems more like a murderer’s actions than a â€Å"heroes†.Almost like a villain in a superhero movie that needs to be stopped because of their unthin kable actions. Cuchulainn was definitely a hero for being able to protect Ulster while they were not able to fight. He was a hero to his people, but was extremely feared by the opponents. Cuchulainn would also be considered a hero because he does not necessarily want to kill all of the people he did. He was just obeying the orders that he was given and obeying his king. There came points in the story where Medb and Aillil had sent people close to Cuchulainn for him to battle.At these points in the story it is understood that Cuchulainn is not a senseless killer with any type of emotions, even though in those days the value of life was not very high. To fight these men or not was a terrible decision to have to make because Cuchulainn was aware of the amazing stunts he could perform against an opponent, leaving them dead. If a person is able to defeat every opponent that is placed in battle with them, does that make them a hero or just a person that is feared by all? To answer this qu estion it really comes down to what side of the situation the person giving the opinion is on.A relatable situation in history would be of Adolf Hitler. He was a dictator that was admired by the people who followed him. The loyalty of the people allowed him to kill thousands, but if he had the strengths of Cuchulainn, he could have done it alone. Similarly, he was feared by one group and considered a hero to the other side. There is not really an answer as to Cuchulainn being a hero or just a crazy mass murderer. The answer would have to lie in which side of the war you were on. Works Cited Kinsella, Thomas. (1969). The Tain. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Brazil Economic Growth Essay

Currently, Brazil’s economy can be said to be better than it was some 30 years ago. This is because of the sustained implementation of policies that aid the economy. However the growth rate has been slowing down since 1980. From that time, there have been vulnerabilities in their public sector balance sheet and the distortion of taxes. This has resulted from the monetary policy that has been implemented in the country (http://www.wilsocentre.org). The growth rate is at 2.7percent although they aim to increase it to around three or four percent. It is also affected by the high interest rates that are experienced in the country.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Up to 1999, the rates were constantly increasing. This was because of the exchange rate stabilization program that was introduces and after that they rose because of the destabilization policies. The policies were put in place to help curb high inflation rate. This worked because since 1993 the inflation has been decreasing. A lot has actually changed during the governance of President Lula. Since their form of government is federative republic they have the mandate to remove the president from power through voting. The people in power therefore have to ensure that they improve the economy and make good their promises so that they can be voted back. Brazil has been able to move up to number 10 in the world economy scale.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The gross public debt compared to the GDP rates is very high. In June 2007, it had reached and 182 billion. The previous year recorded a debt rate of 157 billion. This is the debt owed to the creditors who are abroad (http://brazileconomy.blogspot.co). The government’s foreign debt in the same time period rose from 64.8 billion to 71.2 billion. Although the ratio between GDP and the gross public debt is skewed towards debt the fiscal surplus has been increasing. It has reached a level of 4.25 percent of the GDP because of the high interest rates. It means that the GDP is also increasing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Brazil concentrates on the production of iron and steel, chemicals, petroleum processing, automobile assembly and cement making (http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com). The motor vehicle assembly industry is the backbone of Brazilian economy. Through foreign investment and construction of other plants the industry is expanding rapidly. The export sector contributes greatly to the growth of the economy. The export intermediary goods contribute 13.5 percent of the economy while the manufactured goods contribute 55 percent of GDP. Most of the intermediary goods are from the steel and iron industry and also the cement making industries.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Brazilian economy is controlled by both public and private sector but leans more on the private sector. It allows foreign investment in its industries. It has a lot of natural resources including crude oil, which it mines, and processes. Most of these industries are privately owned and the government benefits from the taxes paid. It works closely with the United States of America. It buys American treasures and as of June 2007 the share of Brazil of he America treasures had risen from 1.7 percent the previous year to 4.2 percent. The relationship between America and Brazil is therefore said to be positive because they buy from each other. America benefits from the Brazilian industries as consumers and also as investors and Brazil benefits in the same way. Reference: Brazil Economy Watch Tuesday September 18th 2007. Retrieved on September 20th 2007 from http://brazileconomy.blogspot.com/ BRAZIL INDUSTRY retrieved on September 20th 2007 from http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Brazil-INDUSTRY.html Economic Policy and Prospects for Reform: Lula’s Second Administration November 2006 retrieved on 20th September 2007 from http://www.wilsoncentre.org/topic/pubs/ThinkingBrazil.24.pdf.

Outline a plan to stop a planned terrorist incident conducted by Research Paper

Outline a plan to stop a planned terrorist incident conducted by Hezbollah - Research Paper Example Additionally, the paper discusses the mitigating and responsive factors that are paramount in order to avoid the loss of lives as occurred during the 9/11 attacks. Furthermore, the discourse delves into the fundamental preventive measures such as the application of the Patriot Act that uses intelligence and surveillance to stop terrorism suspects from perpetrating their acts. There are different hazards that the terrorist group, Hezbollah is capable in terms of its militant activities. This ranges from shooting down planes carrying high profile personalities and planting bombs in influential buildings. Similarly, this Jihad-guided organization has power to hijack planes and ram into buildings the way Al Qaeda did in the 9/11 attacks in America that resulted to several loss of lives. However, it is noteworthy to observe that Hezbollah initially was not a jihadist group but a form of movement that played a fundamental in Lebanon’s independence (Bullock, Haddow & Coppola, 2009). On that aspect, this group has developed a deep hatred for the Christian Maronite and the Sunni. This has hardened the group into the most dreaded global terrorist organization that executes its missions through suicide bombings. For example, there were more than thirty incidents of suicide bombings in Lebanon in the early 80s though the group does not acknowledge their acts. This deadly tactic was also used in 1983 when a suicide bomber riding vehicle packed explosive materials drove near USA barracks and killed more than two hundred and forty one US marines (Uda, 2009). Apart from the use of suicide bombings, this militant organization also uses extortion as a technique of communicating their message to their enemies that include Israel and the US. This has been apparent in cases where members of either states or their sympathizers have been caught by the group. Moreover, the extortion always

Strategic IT Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Strategic IT Management - Assignment Example Introduction of several differentiated products and expected technology revolution increased the needs of customers. Since then, the organizations are always trying to develop several effective business and operational strategies in order to survive in the competitive global business market. E-commerce is the example of modern technological revolution. Several global, glocal and local organizations are providing the facility of online goods and services to their customers through this e-commerce concept. Mobile commerce or M-commerce is an important evolving area of e-commerce. The mobile commerce helps their users to interact with several service providers through a wireless network and mobile. Moreover, in mobile commerce process, mobile devices are being used for transaction processing and information retrieval. Location based service is an important mobile application that is introduced by the mobile industry in order to fulfil the demand of the customers. However, the study will analyze and evaluate several aspects of mobile application and location based services. In order to support the evaluation, several background theories have been applied in this study. This evaluation will help the readers to understand the significance of mobile commerce and location-based services. Identification of Key Ares The complications of modern life are dramatically changing due to change in purchasing or consumption process of the customers. It is difficult for the people to consume time for traditional shopping processes and activities due to their daily busy work schedule. Mobile commerce is a significant and important aspect of e-commerce. People generally place their orders through several mobile commerce applicatio

Analyse the difference between Economic Growth & Economic Development Essay

Analyse the difference between Economic Growth & Economic Development. What are the problems concerning measuring economic development Illustrate your answer using case studies - Essay Example Economic development is determined by the quality of life that the population enjoys due to the improvement of the various aspects life. This improvement can cause the region to realize economic growth. Economic growth, however, has a much narrower outlook of than economic development, in that; it refers to the increase in the value of products from the various sectors involved in the economy of a nation. The growth is usually expressed using the Gross Domestic Product GDP. When economic growth is realized in a region, it is not guaranteed that this growth will result in development. Another significant difference apart from the definition of the two terms is that, economic growth takes one dimension in that it is centered on increasing the GDP of a region. This is, however, different in economic development, since the latter involves a wider approach in that it is involved in the income created in the population and the improvement of the quality of life of individuals, since social amenities and structures are also improved (Capello and Nijkamp, 2008, 173). This will result in a positive effect in the lives of the population. Economic growth, however, is narrower in that growth will not necessarily have a positive impact on the population. The two phenomena are also different in that economic growth is quantitative. This is so since the phenomenon mostly deals with numbers in that the growth is translated by the figures and percentages. Economic development in contrast is measured in the quality since the development is translated to the improved livelihoods of the population. Economic development is, therefore, measured qualitatively (Arestis and Thirlwall, 2006, 109). Another noteworthy variation between the two is that economic development is irregular and spontaneous. It causes changes in the equilibrium that is

The beginning of Modernization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The beginning of Modernization - Essay Example In addition, railroads improved the transport of goods and people, which reduced operational costs and boosted industrial growth. The effects of the Industrial Revolution are changes in work attitudes (i.e. use of rules system to impose new work schedules that changed laidback work attitudes into a more productive-schedule-based thinking), population growth, urbanization (i.e. growth of cities), new social classes (i.e. industrial middle class and the proletariat or working class) and the growth Great Britain (which became the world’s richest and first industrial nation). The Second Industrial Revolution refers to the Technological Revolution. It is called the Technological Revolution because of innovations in electricity, communication, and steel production. The main ideas of Karl Marx are the concept of the class struggle and its predicted outcomes of open revolution and a classless society. These ideas shaped the politics and the union movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century through influencing socialism and the rise of socialist parties (e.g. in Germany) and trade unions (especially in Britain). Conservatism, liberalism and nationalism shaped Europe. Conservatism supported obedience to political authority, asserted that organized religion was essential to social order, and was reluctant to accept demands for civil liberties and nationalistic aspirations. Liberalism supported the protection of civil liberties through a Bill of Rights, separation of Church and State, right of peaceful opposition to the government, and right to vote and hold office for men of property. Nationalism believed that every nationality should have its own government. The causes of the revolutions in 1848 were dissatisfaction with their state of civil rights and freedoms and nationalistic endeavors. These revolutions failed because of internal factions within the revolutionaries themselves and support of other

Role of a Management Consultant Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Role of a Management Consultant - Essay Example B., 2001). The same brand is part of a long, classic, one-on-one competition with its archrival, PepsiCo. Inc. Coca Cola experienced a rapid growth in sales and consumer –preference, thanks to Roberto Goizueta who raised Coca Cola to the heights of performance while he was CEO from 1981 to 1997. Using his sharp analytical skills and market foresight and risk-taking tendency, Goizueta took Coca Cola into the direction of high sales, increasing market-share, revenue gains and high profit margins. He revolutionized how the soda industry is run and showed the world that just by focusing on Coca Cola’s principle black beverage; the company became a top-notch giant. This very philosophy inspired Coke’s followers, and even the Board of Directors, which included tycoons such as Warren Buffet, Herbert A. Allen and Donald Keough. They remained admirers of this approach and frowned upon any notions of diversification, unlike what was happening inside PepsiCo. Throughout the nineties, through this very approach, Coca Cola saw its rise in the world of beverage as an undisputed winner over PepsiCo. Inc. Goizueta took some very successful decision during his time, one of which was to form a new company under the name Coca Cola Enterprises, in 1986, which handled the US bottling operations for Coca Cola. This, immediately, helped Coca Cola in terms of the debt burden and also, raised their stock volumes, while reassuring quality bottling and distribution. (Cravens & Piercy, 2009). According to Cravens and Piercy (2009), this move turned out to be quite a profitable one as Coca Cola could erase off $2.4 billion from the balance sheet. Moreover, having formed Coca Cola Enterprises, US bottling operations were handled well and timely distribution channels were assured. He was known to be risky, as he himself used to admit. His believes were of the nature that risk-taking is a necessity for growth and development. In a growing consumer-market, playing safe all the time could mean losing out on opportunities and business. Goizueta is renowned for another important move: his non-contemporary approach of globalization of brands. ‘Think global, act local’ was the underlying philosophy of Goizeuta to expand and capture foreign markets. Unlike the general wave of globalization, he insisted that, to develop a successful multinational brand, it was important to think globally while acting in the local context. He explained that standardization and uniformity represent a strong and consistent image of a brand and it triggers a sense of surety in the minds of consumers worldwide. This uniformity can help create a very powerful image of the brand; while also considering vital selling points and marketing campaign specifics of differing cultures and geographies. At the very end of all this positive period, it did become quite apparent that the direction in which Coca Cola was heading into, had a dead-end. Arguably, his headstrong, upfro nt style of leadership, even though raised Coca Cola to reach new heights in the short-run; however, his moves, somehow, created a recipe for future disaster. His decisions focused more on the bottling operations than the actual customers. It is important to note that Mr. Roberto Goizueta maintained that Coca Cola did not need diversification to increase revenue. Instead, according to Suhaib Riaz (2008), he borrowed millions

Statistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Statistics - Essay Example In this case, we will get the stats of one of my favorite players Anthony Carmelo from New York Knicks. He scores 25.7 points per game, 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists. This is supported by career season high or the highest score he got in these respective areas. He got a career high of 30.7, rebound high of 10.3 and an assist of 5.2 (NBA, 2013). These numbers are what is called in statistics â€Å"averaging† or adding up all the scores and other relevant statistics and divide them by their quantity. For fans like us, it gives us a snapshot of the player’s performance from field goals, rebounds, assists. This can even further be broken down to other sub-area such as field goals, three point shots and free throws to give us detailed information on how a player performed. The statistic used in this game is founded in good math but it is not intimidating and easy to understand that makes us appreciate the game

Make Green Delicious Essay Example for Free

Make Green Delicious Essay With global accolades, rave reviews and local food critics, its customer bases has grown substantially. Kennedy wants to expose the thought of slow food philosophy to as many people as possible, from his customers, workers, to the community. In order to set up a foundation, build public relation and reach more people in the community, Kennedy has to spend more time and extra money which a lot of his chefs found it unnecessary. To balance between grown and sustainability, Kennedy should cut costs in other areas. C. Alternatives: 1. Set up foundation * Cut costs * Pair up with a local non-governmental organization as it may be hard to run a foundation without proper skills training 2. Do not set up foundation D. - Recommendation: Set up the foundation. If the foundation succeeds, it can achieve Kennedy`s goal of educating the public about the slow food philosophy. It will help the corporation overall as it furthers differentiate the brand. If the foundation fails, it will hurt the corporation a bit but with its 33 years of experience and brand building, it should be able to recover. E. - Implementation Plan: It may be a good idea to pair up with a local non-governmental organization so that it reduces the risk of failing to manage the foundation. It is important to look for a local non-governmental organization that agrees and aligns with the firm`s own philosophy and goals. In terms of cutting costs, as mentioned in the case, it can move the production kitchen to a lower cost location and supply Jamie Kennedy Kitchens with his own rural farm. In this way, efficiency is improved. One issue that should be taken into consideration is that by supplying the corporation with its own farm, it may be competing with the local suppliers and damage the established relationship between suppliers.

Media Ethics for Online and Social Media

Media Ethics for Online and Social Media ETHICS for ethical media practices in the context of Online and Social Media Introduction The Online and Social Media constitute the major component of the life of people in terms of news, information exchange, gathering information, banking, shopping etc., Unlike the traditional media, in spite of restrictions is the usage of Online media well within the stipulated regulations and ethical? Does interacting in Social media cause social, regulatory , commercial and legal issues? How far is the awareness among the public on the ethical backgrounds, the principles governing this media and the regulations? This paper analyzes the ethics along with the standards and regulations. Online and Social Media Media is a term which represented the print the radio in the olden times. With the growth of technology many other media have emerged based on the internet. Most recently, with the invention of smart phones the media has broadened its scope or it can be viewed as the media has witnessed a new dimension to reach mass audiences. Ethics The increase in the internet usage and the internet access in computers as well as mobile phones and smart phones have vitalized the growth of Social the Online Media. Official UAE census data of Global Media Journal estimates Internet penetration at 82.2%, which is higher than in the United States. The social media is a common platform for information exchange. The reach in multitude makes it necessary for the ethics to be followed. Media Ethics was once considered a quality to be followed by the journalists and the reporters. But today it becomes important for each and every individual making use of Social and Online Media to be ethical. This paper analyzes the extent of ethics that is being adapted. 3.1. Ethics on Online Social media The Online Social media is a platform which is common to one and all. Our personal network, our professional network or any other unknown sources constitute the audience of the Social media. The journalists or the reporters are responsible for the content delivered through the Print or the Broadcasting media. But when it comes to the Social Online media every individual who shares information becomes responsible. NPR Ethics handbook, 2012 states that the probability of access to the internet is also high owing to the cost reduction .Most importantly, the frequency of usage of the social media is very high. Hence the probability of disclosing unethical content is relatively high. 3.2. Ethics on Social, Commercial, Legal, Regulatory and Cultural factors The Online and the Social Media have a direct impact on the society. The information sharing and the freedom of access with anyone and everyone has definitely shaked the institution of a family. The frequent update of information on the growth and achievements cause an internal stress for the segment of the society that has not witnessed growth at all or a relative growth. The reach to the Mass has interested many of the commercial institutions to utilize the Social Media for their business development and marketing. This has opened more doors to any business but at the same time presents a huge competition. According to NPR ethics handbook (2012 ),the society has no way to estimate or to analyze the genuinity of the information or the authenticity of the company as information comes with an unknown author. Consequently, the fake information posted about a specific company or brand on the Social media could also lead to legal problems. Every individual has a close group of friends/ relatives, the next level would be professional friends and then the acquaintances, employers etc., The level of intimacy and the extent of information sharing is not the same in each level. The unnecessary information sharing also is unethical. According to Vallor,Shannon (2012) as employees of an organization, they have a limit in disclosing the information pertaining to the company, the products etc., to be ethical in their approach. The Online and Social media are used by the employees to voice out their personal opinions on the products/ regulations etc., which is unethical. Individuals have their own likes, dislikes, interests and these personal preferences could result in bias towards the people, products, organizations. This bias could either be positive or negative and this is used to influence the people in the Online and Social Media. The children and the teenagers have started using the Social and the Online Media. The Social media has age restrictions but the extent to which it is being followed is highly uncertain. The Wikipedia (2014) states that the personal and confidential information is being disclosed without awareness and they are being preyed upon by the people engaged in unwanted activities resulting in sexual abuse. The elders, in the other hand, are connected to the media through the electronic gadgets and seldom find time for their family. The Online and Social Media give way to cross culture . Cross culture is a salient feature in terms of business but at the same time has a negative impact on the society. Wail. A. Barry, Gwen Bouvier (2011) state that the private or intimate information is brought to public by the unethical use of social media . Every country has a culture, belief structure , values, religion associated with it. The Social Media enhances the awareness of various cultures , religions but sometimes the cultural difference could create an impact on the society. What is correct in a country may seem to wrong in the other country. Ethics in the world UAE. The Online and Social media have kept the whole world connected throughout and has facilitated information exchange, information updation etc,. but at the same time the ethical factors like freedom ,integrity, secrecy are not measurable. In an interview ( 9news.com, 2014) Linda Chandears, President of Daniels Fund states that the children use Social media without proper awareness and get into problems which persist for their lifetime. Also Elliott ( 9news.com, 2014) underlines the fact that Social media came into existence without proper regulations and has been the prime cause of cyber crimes. The information or images posted by the people themselves and sometimes by the peer group has completely shattered the personal and also professional lives. This calls for practicing ethics both in the personal and professional lines and to maintain appropriateness whilst using Social Media .The awareness to maintain ethics in the Social media as well has started and people have started evolving their social media practices . In the UAE, the country as a whole is well connected digitally .The survey indicated 78% of the country’s population had regular Internet access, and that almost half had an account on a social media websites (ibid ). UAE has its own laws and ethics with respect to religion, culture, traditions , beliefs etc.,A TRA person in his interview to UAE Emirates Business 24-7 that any social media that allows interaction without disturbing the country and fellowmen mentally or physically with respect to their values will be allowed. The other sites which cause harm or degrade the society as a whole or specifically children, women etc., are blocked. These studies reveal that the Social and online media are equally gaining predominance in the UAE too and the factors governing media ethics have to be given significant importance too. Principles and standards The basic factors that have to be considered when using a Social Media constitute the principles of Social Media. Jon Reed (2014) describes the information that is delivered in the social media needs to be authentic as it is viewed by the community and cannot be misleading. Social media can be used for marketing but the basic approach towards the social media and the other traditional media has to be different. Building a community in the social media is a lengthy process and more importantly earning reliability as well as trust worthiness is the clue to success. The results in the case of a social media marketing does not happen immediately and the kind of waiting is worth it. The ICCO (2011) clearly specifies that the Social media has been in action for quite some years now and cannot continue in the trial period . The norms have to clear and factual for the customers . The control over the social media and the social media marketing will only enhance confidence on the media. The criteria have to be designed after getting inputs across the line. Different criteria with different standards puzzle the customer and it is time to break various criteria and dwell on a single factor. This helps easier understanding and the results can also be well monitored . This standardization helps in understanding the Social media in complete and to develop and invent methods for the better future. This standardization helps in Social media becoming a constitutive part of the company’s marketing agenda. Overcoming the shortcomings or the misleading factors of the Social media helps in getting utmost clarity and to boost the customers’ confidence levels. In the recent past many companies have been engaged in the tracking of social media basically to understand the functioning and the outcome. These companies also are deriving methods to measure the output levels to improve the marketing strategies or to establish innovative methods for brand building. The Social media sites , their reach, the accuracy, the relative momentum, the passion attached to the sites etc., are analyzed to formulate scientifically measurable marketing processes. The opportunity in the Social media is commendably high owing to the omnipresence , the universal acceptance and the extreme passion attached to them.The challenge is to develop a unique solution to meet the specific needs of the cus tomer rather than standardizing. The traditional media have specific methods to measure the reach, frequency etc., whereas the Social media is yet to develop exact methods The recent aids used in close monitoring are Attending closely/Tracking Social interaction study Impacting study/ focusing Competing standards Website Usage study Network traffic/ topic analysis Quest Analysis Inclination study The methods seem to be simple but it is actually not owing to multiple factors that influence Social Media. The organizations using social media need clarity in the objective and the result expected for the companies to reach a consensus as to accordingly develop a strategy. Appraising the characteristic perspective and in terms of size and number are equally important for accuracy in results. These methods inspect the groups and the interaction perspective to clearly analyze and measure returns. The success of social media depends on the group size and the person who can lead the group. But the probability of accessing the groups and the members is very low. More importantly the openness of the individuals and the extent to which they will stand by the opinion is still a controversy. These aids and methods have to be tested over time to attain accurate methods. The false notion of most of the companies is measuring outcome by counting the number of likes in a social media. The number of likes even though indicates the number of people who actually visited the site is not an accurate way of audited reach. The key is to understand what percentage of the total people who have visited the site would fall into the potential targeted audience and the skill lies in identifying the same. Edelman Berland (2014) states that the organizations are not aware of the trends in Social Media and yet are much interested to be present in Social media  to stick on to the technological upgradations. They look out for advice from adepts in the field and subsequently demand clarity in the methods used. The global need is to develop standards and continuous work has been in progress. Conclusion From the time Social media came into existence, there has not been much ethics in the Online and Social Media. The factors like Social impact on the society, cyber crimes , Social media marketing have started focusing on the importance of the Ethics. The regulations in place require an updation based on the developments in technology. There are specific instances where the existing laws require amendments . These ongoing changes in laws, regulations can be monitored closely. The need for global standards and the regulations for the social media has been understood and the organizations are thriving to get advice on the Social media trends and processes. These standards in a global level will definitely create a benchmark in the Social and the Online Media. 6. References Vallor,Shannon 2012, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-social-networking/ Sharlyn Lauby, 2012, Ethics and Social Media: Where Should You Draw The Line?  http://mashable.com/2012/03/17/social-media-ethics/ Global Media Journal Arabian Edition Summer/Fall  Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 3-27 , Use of Social Media in the United Arab Emirates  http://www.gmj-me.com/gmj_custom_files/volume1_issue2/articles_in_english/volume1-issue2-article-3-27.pdf Social Media in Wikipedia  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media Stats.ae by Fish Eye Analytics, 2013  http://www.stats.ae/UAE-Facebook-Stats McAfee, Parent’s Guide to Social Networking Sites  http://www.mcafee.com Jon Reed, 2014, 7 Principles of Social Media Marketing  http://www.getuptospeed.biz/2013/09/7-principles-of-social-media-marketing/ Tim Marklein, Practice Leader, Technology Analytics, WCG; Co-chair, Council of PR Firms Measurement Committee,Katie Delahaye Paine, founder and CEO of KDPaine Partners LLC ,Richard Bagnall, MD Metrica, Director Gorkana Group, 2011, ICCO Moving Towards Global Standards for Social Media Measurement, http://amecorg.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Workshop-G.pdf Edelman Berland, Blog, https://www.edelmanberland.com/social-media-2/coalition-aims-to-establish-global-standards-for-social-media-measurement/ Nelson Garcia, KUSA , 2014, 9news.com   http://www.9news.com/story/tech/2014/10/24/daniels-fund-ethics-social-media/17862483/ NPR Ethics handbook, 2012, http://ethics.npr.org/tag/social-media/, Wail. A. Barry, Gwen Bouvier, 2011, Cross cultural Communication  http://www.academia.edu/1523380/Cross-cultural_Communication_Arab_and_Welsh_students_use_of_Facebook

Free Essays on Homers Odyssey: Greek Values :: Odyssey essays

Greek Values and Homer's Odyssey "Look death in the face with joyful hope, and consider this a lasting truth: the righteous man has nothing to fear, neither in life, nor in death, and the Gods will not forsake him."-Socrates, a Greek philosopher and contemplative thinker. The above quote is the basis for Greek belief, demonstrating the respectable Greek citizen. It displays courage and obedience for the Gods in which the Greek world revolved around. Greeks had many traditions and ways of life. Greek cosmos played an important role in Greek life including the God's influence and personality, Greek military ideas, philosophers, and Greek poetry. The God's impact and personality had a direct influence on daily life in Greek society. The Gods can give things "A cruel turn, this. Never had I thought to see this land, but Zeus let me see it." (Book 5, Line 426-427 The Odyssey unabridged), however, they can also take things away and curse their people "Take yourself out of this island, creeping thing...Your voyage here was cursed by heaven" (Book 10, Line 82-85 The Odyssey unabridged). Greek citizens had to always be considering what the Gods were thinking of them. The Greeks knew that whatever the Gods gave them, they will just as easily take everything away. By knowing the nicknames of the Gods, readers are able to determine their personalities. Throughout The Odyssey, Athena, Roman name Minerva, is often referred to as the "Grey-eyed goddess". This explanation can account for her cleverness and her bright, scheming eye. Athena is constantly changing shapes and disguises, but the cunning eye, stays constant. Another example of one of the God's personalities, is in the myth of Athena's birth. The personality of Zeus shines. It displays Zeus' constant lust after female mortals. There are many other displays of Zeus' lust. Many half mortals are the offspring of Zeus, due to his flirtatious attitude. While the Gods were a very important aspect of the Greeks, so was war and militaristic power. These values can be seen in Thucydides The Funeral Oration of Pericles, which explains a battle of the Peloponnesian War. "And we have not forgotten to provide for our weary spirits many relaxations from toil".

Anatomical Discoveries During the Renaissance Period Essay -- history o

More medical discoveries and advances are occurring every day. Medical treatments and understanding of the human anatomy have come a long way. Though if it weren’t for certain Anatomists, we may have not have had the right comprehension of the human body which could have led to errors in surgery and more deaths while treating patients. The Renaissance period was a time where Anatomists searched for clearer understanding of the human body. During the Renaissance period, Anatomists questioning and experimentation led to great discoveries of the human body. Wrong theories of the anatomy have been assumed to be correct for thousands of years. Theories of using a scientific base were not used by the Europeans until the Renaissance period (â€Å"Medicine†). These theories, made by a Greek Physician named Galen, were supported by the Catholic Church. The Middle Ages were a difficult time to achieve medical advances because Galen’s theories were not to be questioned or tested(â€Å"The Impact of the Renaissance on Medicine†).Even after these theories appeared to be inaccurate, the support from such a high authority made it extremely difficult to change the medical practices and training(â€Å"Rennaissance medicine†). The knowledge of medicine grew drastically during the Renaissance period (Siralisi 189). Research conducted during the Renaissance period by Andreas Vesalius, Matteo Realdo Colombo, Geronimo Fabrious, Ambroise Pare, and William Harvey has given us a better understanding of the human anatomy ("Renaissance medicine"). Once the Renaissance period hit, anatomists were able to work through the scientific method and find the flaws in Galen’s theories(â€Å"The Impact of the Renaissance on Medicine†). A vital advance made during the Renaissance per... ...ways to clean and heal wounds. He realized the importance of cleaning the wounds. He also designed prosthetic limbs and the truss, which is designed to keep hernias from growing ( â€Å"Medicine†). Works Cited Siraisi, Nancy G.  Medieval and early Renaissance medicine: an introduction to knowledge and practice. University of Chicago Press, 2009. "Renaissance medicine."  Hutchinson Encyclopedia. 2011.  eLibrary. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. "medicine."  Compton's by Britannica, v 6.0. 2009.  eLibrary. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. About William Harvey (Harvey Medical Research Foundation).  eLibrary. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. "The Impact of the Renaissance on Medicine."  Hutchinson Encyclopedia. 2011.  eLibrary. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. "Colombo, Matteo Realdo."  Hutchinson Encyclopedia. 2011.  eLibrary. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. "Fabricius, Hieronymus."  Hutchinson Encyclopedia. 2011.  eLibrary. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

Establishment of the Silk Route Essays -- Chinese History

Currently living in the twenty first century we can take modern travel methods from airplanes, vehicles, trains, and ships for granted, altering our perception of the distance we travel significantly. These advanced distribution systems we now employ allow us to exchange culture, products, technology, and ideas by breaking down barriers, truly globalizing the world. Similar to the modern travel marvels we make the most of today, years ago before human’s relationship to machine, the silk route provided that ability to connect multiple countries. This important trade route developed over time transferring numerous products like silk from China to several countries in the Middle East, Mediterranean, Europe and Ancient India. In addition, the silk route was more than just a trade route that brought products to and from because it developed into a transcontinental network carrying goods, information, religion, language, and technology. The Silk Route is indisputably one of the oldest international trade routes consisting of a series of roadways laid over land primarily, until the introduction of sea travel. What initiated the overwhelming interest in trade was one of the oldest fibers known to man, silk, that originated in China. Silk is a luxury fabric that can be woven into textiles, producing a rich texture and luster like no other material. Dating back to 2500BC this exotic material was used exclusively for Chinese royalty, but gradually expanded to become a bigger part of the Chinese culture. Since this unique material was considered more valuable than gold at the time, as soon as word got out to neighboring countries the overwhelming interest was inevitable. The demand for this appealing material brought silk westwar... ...esearch. Web. 14 May 2012. . "Silk History: History of Silk Fabric; History of Chinese Silk; Silk Road History Silks History." Silk History: History of Silk Fabric; History of Chinese Silk; Silk Road History Silks History. TexereSilk, 2011. Web. 14 May 2012. . "Silk Road - Its History, Development, Operation and Significance to the East and West." Silk Road - Its History, Development, Operation and Significance to the East and West. Web. 14 May 2012. . "Silk Road Culture Exchange, Religion and Technology Introduced into China via Silk Road." TravelChinaGuide. Web. 14 May 2012. .

Studying psychological disorders

1.) Describe the general behaviors associated with the disorder. Psychological disorders are usually associated with disturbances in mood, perception, memory, and emotions. There could be an increase in the level of anxiety which is usually observed in patients with phobias or other stress disorders. There could also be dissociation or disrupted consciousness and identity which is characteristic of dissociative disorders.Basically, these people could experience confusion on their situation and there could also be estranged from one’s own environment. These individuals could also exhibit over the board behaviors and activities. There are also evident physical manifestations of the disorders such as seizure or other physical disabilities. a) Explain how biological influences play a role. Biological influences play a big role in explaining the nature of psychological disorders. The psychological side of man is usually associated with the nervous system and its functions.Different existing medical treatments for psychological disorders also focus on monitoring brain activities and the likes. Also, there are several cases in which physical trauma to the brain can cause certain psychological distress and at the same time psychological disorders are often manifested in an abrupt change in biological processes. Genetic factors may also increase a person’s risk of acquiring a psychological illness. b) Are there biological reasons why an individual may exhibit behaviors related to the disorder?Explain your answer. There are biological reasons behind the behaviors of an individual having a particular disorder. For example, sleep disorders are mainly caused by a disruption in the biological sleep patterns of the individual. This psychological disorder is also biological in nature because it also involves difficulty in breathing and even paralysis of different parts of the body. Sleep disorders can also be caused by other psychological illnesses such as schizo phrenia and other mood disorders.

A world without laws

Now, Imagine a world without any laws. No rules, no commands and Just your rules to be followed. It's also crazy Isn't To have a world without any laws means not only to be free but also to be In a world with chaos. For example, the traffic rules, Without any traffic rules, how can we determine whether we are on the go signal or not? Can you Imagine It? A car being smashed by another?What result would that supposed to be? Focuses! What else? It's accidents. Yes I can say that every person has his/her rights to wish for his/her freedom however, this freedom should be limited. In this case, I can also say that even though they can do anything what he/she wishes for, he/she can never wish what a government wishes to have in its institution, to have peace and order. Yet, people wish for their own interest and it doesn't help each other. Imagine the people peeing in different places, different streets? Or how about people who throws garbage anywhere? Do you think it's healthy?A big NO for me because these things exults into floods, typhoons and other natural calamities being held not constant or even worse deceases.. This makes the lives of others to be in danger. What about buildings making their goods at higher price or shall we say doing the act of overpricing? Is it helpful to us? I say, no. How can people with little income buy food with too expensive goods? How can they live their lives without buying it? The tendency would be robbery. They will be forced to rob food shops because they can't afford a high price of goods because they are poor.They will be forced and in such ease would make it a hobby because of that high prices of goods. Imagine the world without any law enforcers; do you think we can live peacefully? To those who have lost their innocent member of the family, do you think without the law enforcers, can they claim their right for injustice? No they can't. What about drugs, a world full of dangerous drugs, do you think it molds people to what ou r present professionals are doing right know? Again, I think not. These things we can imagine if we create a world without laws.A world full of accidents, harassment and such cases that a man can o without making himself or herself put Into Jail. Are you willing to have a world Like that? I guess not. Therefore, Imagine a world with laws. Laws that protects human life, a law that makes a person free with Its Limits, Isn't It wonderful? And Peaceful? We need laws to guide us, we need them because we do. Live a world with laws to be guided, secured and to be protected. A world without laws By Paraphrases Imagine a world without any laws. No rules, no commands and in fact we only follow rules of our own. Try to think of it. Fun! Isn't it?Now, imagine a world without any laws. No rules, no commands and Just your rules to be followed. It's also crazy isn't To have a world without any laws means not only to be free but also to be in a determine whether we are on the go signal or not? Can you imagine it? A car being they claim their right for injustice? No they can't. What about drugs, a world full of do without making himself or herself put into Jail. Are you willing to have a world like that? I guess not. Therefore, imagine a world with laws. Laws that protects human life, a law that makes a person free with its limits, isn't it wonderful? And Peaceful?

Electric Vehicles Technology Analysis Essay

Hybrid electric vehicles are one of the applications of hybrid technology in real modern life; in which it’s currently a high demand technology and is growing rapidly. Although hybrid vehicles weren’t the latest type of transportation technology to be discovered, since they appeared earlier than gasoline vehicles, because of the cost of research and technology they disappeared a prosperous century of gasoline vehicles began. Nowadays, when the world needs green transportation because of high fossil costs and political reasons, hybrid vehicles returned and development into that type of technology is kicking back to full speed. Hybrid vehicles are the combination between electric engines and gasoline engines. Therefore, they inherit all the characteristics of traditional vehicle and add new functions of electric motor to help the vehicles save energy as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Many vehicle manufacturers such as BMW, GMC, and Toyota are applying hybrid technology in producing their cars. One of the main reasons that hybrid vehicle are not as popular as regular gas powered vehicles is their prices. Most consumers don’t want to pay the extra $5,000- to $8,000 price tag to buy a vehicle that they don’t see the instant benefits of. Nevertheless hybrid vehicles will bring the benefits to their users and the environment, but not immediately when they buy the Hybrid vehicle. While in use, Hybrid vehicles will reduce the fuel consumption by an average of 42% which in return would be also good for the environment as it reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 42% than the usual amount. However, in addition to what Hybrid vehicle offers the public in money savings by consuming less fuel and supporting a greener environment, it also made it possible for the public to accept alternative power sources for their vehicles. Also, hybrid technology has helped expand the research into battery power, battery life and battery size which helped in emerging of newer technology of fully electrical cars that doesn’t use any gas, for example: The Nissan Leaf. In the meanwhile, currently the available fully electrical vehicles (Nissan Leaf) on the market have advantages of totally being gas independent, and faster acceleration than some of the hybrid cars (I personally test drove the Nissan Leaf both on city streets and on the highway and I think it accelerated a lot better than my 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid. ). In my opinion the technology still not fully developed to be the most reliable form of transportation for an individual or a house hold use, since you can’t drive more than 100 miles per full charge as advertised; which I am sure it’s a little bit less based on consumers review (around 75-85 miles per full charge. ) In the near future I can imagine that fully electrical cars be more reliable and go in between 700 to1000 miles per full charge, of course it will take its course of development just like any other new technology that starts small and gets bigger by time. I imagine in the next couple years electrical cars will be able to go anywhere in between 100 to 200 miles per charge, then in the following few years from 200 to 300 miles per full charge, etc†¦ Furthermore, in my opinion I think that gas engines are a thing of the past and I can see in the future Hybrid engines and electrical engines replacing everything that we are using today, from gas powered vehicles to airplanes, from motorcycles to scooters and lawnmower to children toys. In conclusion, the human race is using new technologies to try to fix the harm they caused the environment by creating products that don’t contribute to the pollution of our environment and many consumers hope that hybrid and electrical motors technology would help reduce the pollution and contribute to help save our environment.

Danone Governance Structure Essay

Board of Directors terdiri dari 14 anggota, dengan delapan diantaranya merupakan anggota independen yang dipilih melalui rekomendasi dari Nomination and Compensation Committee. Di dalam Board of Directors termasuk diantaranya Audit Committee, Social Responsibility Committee, dan Nomination and Compensation Committee. Anggota dari Board of Directors per Mei 2012, adalah: †¢Franck Riboud Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Danone †¢Emmanuel Faber Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors and Deputy General Manager †¢Bernard Hours Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors and Deputy General Manager of Danone †¢Bruno Bonnell Chairman of Sorobot SAS †¢Richard Goblet d’Alviella Executive Chairman of Sofina SA †¢Yoshihiro Kawabata Senior Managing Director and Head of International Business Division of Yakult Honsha Co. , Ltd. †¢Jean Laurent Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fonciere des Regions †¢Benoit Potier Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of L’Air Liquide SA †¢Isabelle Seillier Chairman of J. P. Morgan for France †¢Jean-Michel Severino Managing Partner, â€Å"Investisseur and Partenaire Conseil† †¢Jacques Vincent Chairman of Compassionart †¢Jacques-Antoine Granjon Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of vente-privee. com †¢Mouna Sepehri Member of the Executive Committee, Executive Vice-President of RENAULT SAS †¢Virginia A. Stallings Professor of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Secara umum, kami berpendapat bahwa Struktur Corporate Governance dari Danone adalah di bawah rata-rata. Posisi chairman dan CEO telah dijabat oleh Franck Riboud sejak 1996, dan struktur tersebut memberikan kekuatan yang terlalu besar bagi seorang individu. Lima director telah menjabat di Board of Directors selama kurang lebih 12 tahun. Menurut kami, posisi yang hampir permanen dari CEO dan beberapa director dapat menyebabkan hubungan yang nyaman antara mereka dan dapat berakibat pada hilangnya fungsi professional dari board. Misalnya, pada penentuan besaran kompensasi bagi para director sebesar 30% dari nilai saham. Hal tersebut dapat menjadi salah satu pertimbangan dari potential shareholders untuk mengurungkan niatnya menginvestasikan dananya ke Danone.

Interests Rates Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Interests Rates - Coursework Example Akerlof’s experience during his writings on Lemons problem and its effect on the proficient functioning of a market is best summarized by stating that markets are characterized by asymmetric information, and thus there is a need for adjusting the markets interests rates for individual market participants, which necessitates the better-informed participants to take costly actions in an effort to develop market outcome by transmitting credible information to the poorly informed. According to Akerlof, most sellers are likely to lower the quality of a product in situations where the buyer cannot exactly determine or observe the product quality. He adds prices are likely to decline because of the unwillingness of the buyers to pay because of skimped quality. This leads a much lower quality because sellers maximize every opportunity to make more prices at the lower prices offered by buyers. This leads to market failure because sellers would sell a high-quality product at high prices despite the fact that buyers are willing to pay for the high prices.Akerlof uses examples of second-hand cars to enhance his theory of market equilibrium. The categories the cars into two; Lemons and Plums. The lemon represents a bad car, a car that is of poor quality and buyers should avoid buying lemons in the market according to Akerlof. He uses plum to mean a good quality car and most buyers would prefer to buy a plum. This situation occurs because people will not easily verify the quality of a product.

Pricing and Distribution Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Pricing and Distribution Strategy - Essay Example Conceptually the Ad’s must be considered the benchmark for any successful product campaign as the Apple iPhone has defined the smart phone market in the United States for the better part of a decade. No carrier or manufacturer had ever managed to expose any vulnerability in Apple’s iPhone and its advertising strategy, until Micromax teamed up with Android OS to produce an â€Å"iPhone killer† advertisement. Introduction: â€Å"You don’t buy a smartphone, you buy an iPhone.† This is the Apple mantra; it is the capstone of their entire advertising and marketing campaign. Apple isn’t content with being a leader in sales alone; they want to own the market. The iPhone wasn’t the first phone, but they engineered it to be so unique that you couldn’t help but think it was. Apple introduced a concept of innovating ergonomics that could be marketed in simple dynamic visual ads that affected consumer perceptions of their products, and ulti mately allowed Apple to dominate the entire smart phone market segment. Such was the state of the smart phone universe until October 2011. The iPhone 4S was unveiled at Apple's "Let's Talk iPhone" event on October 4, 2011, on the Apple Campus in Cupertino, California.( Chaffin, 2011) With the usual pomp and circumstance Apple rolled out its standard new product campaign in a typically â€Å"Apple fashion†.( Chaffin, 2011) As iPhone 4s sales commenced on October 7, 2011 Apple prepped a One Half page Top Fold Advertisement to run in the USA Today on Sunday October 9, 2011. Following the Apple print ad Micromax and Android OS rolled out a Full Page print ad in the exact ad space within the USA Today on Sunday October 16, 2011. These two ads are the focus of this paper and represent the proverbial yen and yang of the battle between Apple and its competitors for the smart phone universe. While Apple’s ad followed its dynamic marketing strategy, the Micromax and Android Adve rtisement exposed a hugely successful tactic that could be deployed to counter the iPhones dominance in the market. II.The Advertisements Comparison/Contrast: The Apple â€Å"Fasten Your Seatbelt† Print Ad from October 9, 2011: The Apple iPhone 4s Advertisement follows a traditional â€Å"Apple† philosophy: It’s not so much the marketing angle that matters as it is the way that people identify with that angle. The Ad itself is a clean Picture-Window Layout featuring the sleek sexy iPhone as the center feature of the Ad. The theme, copy brilliance and wit of the Ad are more important than layout. Apple takes the basic ideas of Doyle Bernibach and enhances them around the architecture (Beasley, 2002) of the iPhone as a product. The simplicity and execution of the Ad creates a contextualization of the product for the consumer (Beasley, 2002), it successfully builds upon the aura of the iPhone and Apple with a â€Å"New† and â€Å"Faster† sales hook th at captures consumer’s attention and presents a clear call to action that motivates current iPhone and Smart phone owners to upgrade to the iPhone 4s. The Micromax and Android OS â€Å"I CAN’T† Counter Ad from October 16, 2011. The Micromax Advertisement is a variation on the frame layout in which kidney-shaped copy is spread over a large portion of the layout, creating a cul-de-sac of white in which the headline and product are placed. (Altstiel, 2005) The Copy type is reversed in non-patterned or plain-toned areas to allow the consumer to first focus on the headline, then

Accounting information system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 5

Accounting information system - Essay Example n cases where they have accepted to donate, the organization simply collects the cheque or cash from the donors and issues an acknowledgement for receipt of the funds. Some of the donors are government agencies, corporate sector, trust and foundations. Additionally, the organization gets its finances from program fees and consultation fees. Therefore, the revenue cycle has limited actors and the processes are simple and few as well. For instance the process of obtaining revenue is through donations and fees charged for consultations and program fees. There are no products or services to be sold in exchange for money. Therefore processes such as order processing, billing, invoicing and deliveries are not there. The revenue cycle is initiated by developing a set of programs and projects that can be funded by the donors. The organization writes a proposal to the donors who will in turn give a feedback on whether they will support the proposal or not. The following are some of the processes inherent in the revenue cycle: i) Request Proposal: This is done by the projects and program development department. The proposal for the various projects and programs is developed and submitted to the various donors. The donors will go through the proposals and determine whether they will support the project or not. Proposal development is an intensive process that requires a team of experts. The final proposal is submitted by a projects coordinator who is in charge of all project activities in the organization. ii) Approval of program Proposal: Once the donors receive the proposal, they will scrutinize the contents of the program proposed and decide whether to fund it or not. They will then approve the program and pledge their support for the organization. The program proposal always has the estimated budget, the duration of the program and the expected start and end date. It also has additional details that include the financial and technical proposal. It must have the

International Business - Overseas Market Entry Actions Essay

International Business - Overseas Market Entry Actions - Essay Example However, the cosmetics industry in Iceland has escaped most of the fallout resulting from financial market collapse in the country, which has opened up internationalization as a viable strategic objective. This paper will focus on Blue Lagoon Cosmetics Company and its potential entry into the Kuwaiti market, including the most viable international business strategy, its marketing actions, and appropriate organizational structure. In order to do this, the paper will use literature studies on international business strategy and apply theoretical models to the entry of Blue Lagoon into Kuwait. Blue Lagoon was started in 1976 as a way to take advantage of a geothermal plant constructed in the Reykjanes-peninsula. The geothermal plant produces water rich in natural minerals that are also integrated into the white silica clay on land, which Blue Lagoon collects and sells as cosmetic products (Icelandnaturally.com, 2013: p1). Blue Lagoon Ltd. was established in 1992 due to the popularity of its warm spa water, after which bathing facilities were opened in 1999, which made it one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland with at least 70% of all tourists visiting Iceland also visiting the Blue Lagoon. The company has three state-of-the-art geothermal spa facilities, which host restaurants, conference rooms, an indoor pool, and modern changing and shower rooms. In addition, Silica mud is also part of the company’s assets, in which visitors can bathe. Blue Lagoon has dedicated its activities to developing the health of visitors, building on the presence of geoth ermal water that contains blue-green algae, silica, and salt (Icelandnaturally.com, 2013: p1). The company began producing skincare products as Blue Lagoon Iceland made of unique chemicals, which were first marketed in the late 90s. In the early part of the 2000s, they launched

Slumdog Millionaire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Slumdog Millionaire - Essay Example Destiny shows them many different colors of life. Winner of four Golden Globe awards, eight Oscars and many more awards like the Baftas, Sulmdog Millionaire is not only a critically acclaimed film, but also a hardcore entertainer. The movie has an interesting plot and reveals a lot about the diverse Indian lifestyles. Director Danny Boyle does a good job in capturing the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of the slums in Mumbai. Boyle is successful in making each scene very real, from capturing a short-lived moment of happiness to the pain and struggle of poverty and homelessness. The director has been successful in making you feel for the characters of the story. He has brought out the beauty of India, whether it’s the Taj Mahal or the slums of Mumbai, or the Indian trains or even the community toilets of the urban Indian slum. Apart from the scenes Boyle has brought out the best in the cast, whether it’s Anil Kapoor, from Indian mainstream cinema or Dev Patel, or the children who come from the Indian slums. The cast of the movie includes actors from mainstream Indian cinema, like Anil Kapoor and Irfan Khan, Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto, and Azharuddin, who plays the role of the child Salim from the slums of Mumbai. All the actors in the movie have given it their best shot. Though the cast involves actors coming from various areas and lifestyles, they all have contributed their best and given the film critical acclaim. The child actors bring out true colors of life in the slums. The expressions, the speech, the style, and the emotion used by the actors are very authentic and captivating. The performance by all the actors has been excellent and they have given their roles a touch of reality.

Economic Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Economic - Assignment Example In the perfect competition case the focus of the discussion is break-even profits in the long run. In the perfect competition scenario the emphasis of the analysis is on product differentiation strategy. In our first case we have small firm operating in a very competitive environment. The type of environment this company is dealing with can be categorized in economic terms as a perfect competition market structure. Perfect competition is an economic market structure that has many sellers and buyers participating where the firms sell identical products which allows for customers to substitute goods or services with ease (Investopedia, 2009). In this market structure the barriers of entry as low. The low barriers of entry create easy access for suitors to participate in the marketplace. Due to the intense competition companies often leave the marketplace. The fact that products are similar in nature allows for many substitute products to appear. A good example of businesses that participate in perfect competition is the agricultural industry players. In perfect competition the formula to determine profits is price equals marginal costs equals marginal revenues (P=MC=MR). A qualitative interpretation of this formula is that there are cero economic profits achieved in the long run. Since the sellers realize the existence of the zero profit phenomenon merchants are not worried as much about unitary profits in the short run, they instead concentrate on accumulating profits over the long survival. Survival for companies operation under perfect competition is the sign of success. Appendix A shows a graphical illustration of profit behavior under perfect competition. Case b in the graph illustrates the zero profit long run scenario. Appendix B provides more details about the equilibrium that creates a break even profit. Understanding the true reasons why there is not profit in this market structure in the long run is not really that complicated. The profits and

Evaluate the different schools of thought that exist with regard to Essay

Evaluate the different schools of thought that exist with regard to stabilisation of business cycles - Essay Example (1) Self-correcting mechanism (2) Keynesian theory of business cycles (3) Real business cycle theory. The self-correcting mechanism states that if any of the major economic problems (inefficiency, slow growth, instability etc.) would occur in the economy then the mechanisms of â€Å"self interest† and â€Å"invisible hand† will rectify these problems. The self-correcting mechanism was proposed by Adam Smith. He suggested that in any such condition the forces of demand and supply will work automatically and the equilibrium will be restored by self correcting mechanism. But when the self-correcting mechanism failed badly due to problems such as inflation and unemployment, John Maynard Keynes, the founder of macro economics, disagreed with the phenomenon of self-correcting mechanism. In his theory he has focused on the role of government and the aggregate demand. J.M. Keynes has suggested that the higher the level of the aggregate demand, the higher will be the level of em ployment, supply and economy. In his theory he has discussed the demand side of the business cycle. He suggested that whenever there is a downfall in the economy the government should increase the aggregate demand through economic policies (fiscal and monetary) and through increase in investment expenditure. According to him a raise in aggregate demand will result in growth in supply, employment, income and economy.

That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without Essay

That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence (Christopher Hitchens). Do you agree - Essay Example They tried to prove that the correspondence truth is unknowable or unthinkable as it would call for comparison between cognition with its uncognized object which would be impossible (Net Industries, 2012). Moreover, Peire, the American Pragmatist proposed that the only way a concept can be indentified is from its practical effects of its objects. This implies that when this proposal is applied to definition of truth, a belief can only be true so far as it satisfies practicality of its objects. The fact that truth can only be sustained through inquiry implies that for truth to be indentified there has to be evidence to support such truth, which has to be practical and verifiable. However, knowledge can be attributed as evidence: to the extent that such known concept is true, inconsistency with the knowledge of an individual would amount to inconsistencies with some form of truth (Kelly, 2006). This applies to both normative and indicative evidence. Stating that smoke is the evidence o f fire implies that whenever smoke is sighted there must be presence of fire. Therefore, Hirtchens assertion â€Å"that which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence† is true in justifying the truth. Kelly (2006) defines evidence to be the kind of thing which makes a difference in what one has justifications in believing, or what is perceived to be reasonable for one to believe. Therefore, one’s justification in believing is barely a matter which can be traced to one’s evidence (Kelly, 2006). This implies that two individuals with the same types of evidence would be exactly the same according to what they are justified in believing regarding a particular issue. Therefore, the main question is if believing requires evidence, and whether the object believed can be proved beyond any doubt regarding its identity and hence truth. According to Dunwoody (2009), belief is matter of judgment and decision making. Evidence is more related to fact s; evidence leads to justification in believing something as the truth. However, a fact is by itself subjective in nature as one has individual evidence to believe in a particular object, which to them represents the truth. Schmitt (2004) explains that to apprehend a fact by itself is an act of judgment and perception; this is directly related to the belief held by a particular individual. Therefore, facts which would amount to evidence that can sustain inquiry is also a belief as nothing is knowable in the world; everything is mediated by an individual’s senses and it is only a representation of objects in the world. Therefore beliefs are constructions of individual’s evidence and lead to construction of truth through consistency of these beliefs (Schmitt, 2004). Therefore, to establish the truth there are definite evidences required to support such beliefs, implying that evidence is critical in attaining any truth. According to James (1907) the truth of an idea is fa r from the stagnant property inherent within the idea, but truth happens to an idea. In other words, and idea is made true by events through a process which an idea verifies itself. The process of making an idea to be true is composed of a series of evidences, which justifies the truth in such an idea. Therefore, the fact that people seek evidence to believe or to assert the truth of a specific idea is thus correct; truth is verified through a process and by events, which constitutes a series of evide

Descriptive Essay Example for Free

Descriptive Essay Time The living room, or family room, is generally considered the main gathering area in most homes due to the television being located there. However, this is not the case in the more than one hundred year old, light grey, two story home in which I live. The main attraction of this particular living room is the comforting atmosphere and warm fires that take place in the wood-burning fireplace. Upon entering the living room, the golden honey colored hardwood floor creaks underfoot and the fireplace stands out from the roughly textured, earthy green walls that rise up to the textured white ceiling. The long narrow boards that make up the beautifully maintained hardwood floor run lengthwise making this room look even bigger than it actually is. The textured ceiling was done in multi-directional, sweeping, fan patterns that resemble seashells. Hanging in the center of the room is a fifty-two inch brass-trimmed ceiling fan with five dark wood colored blades. Below the fan blades are three frosted glass, bell shaped covers which shade the light bulbs. The massive, seven foot wide, brick fireplace juts outward from the wall as if in attempt to invade the room. Leading to, and as wide as, the fireplace are three rows of eight inch square, red brick colored tiles set into the hardwood floor. The dark brownish red bricks that form the fireplace surround are staggered uniformly, rising five feet high to the white painted wood mantle. The jet black mortar that fills the void between each brick and each tile ties them together. The opening, or firebox, is fitted with a brass frame that holds a pair of glass bi-fold doors. In front of the fireplace doors is a freestanding, flat black painted, tri-fold, wire mesh screen protecting the floor from the popping embers of a hot burning fire on those cold winter nights. To the right of the wire mesh screen are the tools used for tending to the fire and cleaning out the fireplace. They are black wrought iron and hang on a metal rack that matches the screen in front of the fireplace. On the mantle above the fireplace are two matching, and evenly spaced, square ‘infinity’ candle holders, as well as a glass, cone shaped reed diffuser. The candles above the fireplace give off an illuminating glow creating dancing shadows on the wall and ceiling in the evening hours, adding to the natural warmth of the room. The reed diffuser has bright red apple scented oil in it that can be smelled halfway across the room. One of the most interesting things in the room is also on the mantle and that is a nearly rocket shaped, fourteen inch tall by two inch diameter glass Galileo thermometer. Against the wall to the left of the fireplace is the large, grey trimmed, fifty inch screen television which resides atop a five foot long by two foot tall wood stand. The television and stand sits with its back to the front windows of the house that look out to the heavily trafficked Campbell Street that leads into town. On the front of the dark honey colored stand are two oak trimmed glass doors, that neatly frame the open center section, dividing it into thirds. The open middle area holds the black dvr and a dull silver colored surround sound system. On display behind the glass doors, on either side of the electronics, are several video games and movies standing as soldiers in formation. Hanging behind the television are a set of long sheer white curtains that shadow the matching white blinds. The standard horizontal blinds are recess mounted between the wide, off white painted window trim that wraps around the windows. The bright white trimmed, four year old, double pane windows take up about two-thirds of the wall, allowing an abundance of sunlight to come flowing in during the early daytime hours when the blinds are open. On both sides of the windows hanging on the wall, in plain dark wood frames, are family photos that captured happy and joyful times that often bring about stories that surround those times and people. The most favored seating area and best viewpoint for the television and entertainment stand is directly across the room against the opposing wall. This is where the large, three cushioned, cream-colored, smooth and soft feeling micro-fiber couch sits. This thing really looks like it means business when it comes to comfort and relaxation. The overstuffed cushions sink just enough to make accidental napping very easy. The padding in the outward arching arms have the feel of memory foam, soft enough to not reach for a pillow when lying down after a long day at the office or at school. Holding the couch about three inches above the floor are four, black, square, plain looking feet. On each side of the couch, tucked against the wall are a pair of small, somewhat ordinary, dark stained, wooden end tables. Further complimenting the space on the end tables, are a few decorative candles in tall holders. Also on the table to the right side of the couch is a bouquet of brightly colored silk flowers in a short, square, clear glass vase. All of the things in this particular living room are only a part of what makes this house feel like home. It is an area where stories are told, laughter is heard, entertainment is had, and cozy fires are enjoyed by friends and family. The living room is not just another room in the house, it is a place where memories are made.

Human Resource Management At Walt Disney World Resort Tourism Essay

Human Resource Management At Walt Disney World Resort Tourism Essay Theres probably no place on earth as magical as the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The theme park continues to thrill, delight and exceed its guests expectations nearly 40 years after its opening. The secret to Disneys success is its well-trained, enthusiastic and motivated work force. Its a secret that the founder, Walt Disney himself realized years ago. You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world but it requires people to make the dream a reality, he said. A Brief History The Walt Disney World Resort, is the worlds largest and most visited recreational resort, covering 30,080-acres near Orlando, Florida, USA. The resort was founded with the opening of the Magic Kingdom theme park in 1971. It consists of four theme parks, two water parks, 23 resort hotels, lodges and time-share properties, sports facilities complex, and other recreational venues and entertainment. Epcot park was added in 1982, Disneys Hollywood Studios in 1989 and Disneys Animal Kingdom in 1998. This world famous resort was inspired by the dreams of Walt Disney and his creation of Disneyland in California. The resort is the largest single-site employer in the United States, employing 42,000 people, with over 3,000 different job classifications. More than 1000 people work in the security department alone. Hiring Disney is renowned for being a fun and friendly place at which to work. Its ability to offer attractive incentives make it a desirable place to work and it is constantly evaluating the market to ensure their wages remain competitive. All Disney employees participate in training programs that update them on the latest service techniques, product knowledge, and technology being used in their parks. Disney recruit both internally and externally, advertising vacancies on their website, via the press, job fairs, employment exchanges and colleges. There is a large quantity of college students working in Disney. Employment representatives also travel to Puerto Rico to recruit for positions such as housekeeping, custodial and food and beverage. It s 4 major employment strategies are: Hire the right people Develop people to deliver service quality Provide needed support systems Retain the best people Once potential employees have been identified, interviews follow. The skills and abilities that managers generally look for are: Excellent communication skills Good team player Self motivated Analytical ability Problem solver Leadership potential Strong computer skills Project management skills Relationships-builder Able to manage expectations Personal and professional style Strong business judgment Ability to facilitate and multitask A guest service orientation Disney theme parks promise to provide a superior service in order to create a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦imaginary world where visitors can escape the themes of the real world. To achieve this, the company has to employ people with the proper skills and personalities, who are also motivated, with a clear knowledge of the companys marketing objectives and strategies. Staff have to be polite, well dressed, energetic, enthusiastic, and people-loving, always serving guests whole-heartedly. All staff are provided with an extensive knowledge of the park facilities, rides, and sites. HRM Practises Disney believes in investing in its staff and provide various training programs and learning opportunities for employees to work their way into higher positions. The company promotes from within 70% of the time. Almost everyone including the managers start out in an entry-level hourly job (Disney almost completely promotes from within). There is a program to help hourly workers who want to become part of management, there is another that lets them transfer to the technical unions like plumbers and electricians as an apprentice. That program involves four years of training leading to a very well-paid job. Disney also give educational reimbursement for those who are continuing their education while working for Disney full-time. Supervisors try to create a family-like atmosphere in Disney by offering flexible schedules and on-site day care programs for working parents. . The company also host numerous special events for its employees that are held in the park after hours. Present day human resources practices at Disney are considered to be extraordinary, with all staff being trained in excellent customer satisfaction policies. However HR practices were very poor in the early years of Disney. The Walt Disney Company originated back in 1923, when Walt and Roy Disney started their first animated recording studio. Early animation production was highly labour-intensive. Rigid division of tasks was further delineated on gender lines. By 1941, the Walt Disney Company employed 1,100 people. Ellwood (1998) describes Walt Disney as a notorious workaholic, a perfectionist who pushed his staff relentlessly. Both paternalistic and domineering he rewarded loyalty and punished dissidents. There were no women or black people promoted to senior positions during this period. The company was the only Hollywood studio without union representation and as such was targeted by the American Federation of Labour. Eventually, animators took industrial action over conditions an d lack of recognition in 1941. By the end of the 1990s, the Walt Disney Company had developed into a $23 billion media conglomerate. Cast Members Employees in Disney are called cast members. Quality cast members are a direct result of quality hiring practices. Bonuses are paid to workers who refer new hires. Disney believes its important to have people who have actually worked in different parts of the company, to do the hiring. So these cast members working in the casting office, come from all different parts of the Disney organization, and work on 12-month assignments. While prospective cast members wait for their initial interviews, they watch a short video that describes the interview process and outlines what the company expects of them, if theyre successful. Once hired, all new cast members go through the same 1 and a half day training program called Traditions. Its here they learn the basics of being good cast members, from Disney history to direction on how to meet and exceed guest expectations. Cast members learn they must adhere to the companys strict 13 page manual of dress codes, known as the Disney Look. The Disney Look is a rigid code of cast member appearance that imposes a well-scrubbed, all-American look. It details the size of earrings allowed, to the size of finger nails, to the no tolerance rule regarding facial hair and dyed hair for both females and males. Disneys grooming standards make sense when you consider employees to be part of a cast of characters so there is no room for non-conformity. Every employee is instructed in the Seven Guidelines to Guest Service which highlights the need to smile and to be cheerful. From the very start, staff are encouraged to implement a have a nice day! mentality, and to smile the Disney smile all day. Casting Employees are routinely assigned jobs according to age and appearance, a process officially known as casting. The most presentable get the most popular front-line jobs and shifts. For example: Young and pretty workers get jobs that involve a lot of interaction with customers; Haitian women generally work in housekeeping; Older women sell in the shops Older men work in security Puerto Recons work in food preparation African Americans work as stewards or cooks, More than a 100 Africans are employed in the Animal Kingdom, to lend authentic flavour. Anyone who might appear less presentable work on the night shift Cast Members receive some excellent benefits including: Health, Dental, Life Insurance Complimentary Theme Park Passports Learning and Development Opportunities Paid holidays, vacations, and sick days Retirement plan. Scholarship Program 30% Discount on park merchandise Employee Stock Purchase Program Access to a Cast Member-only lake and recreation area with tennis, volleyball, and an Olympic-size swimming pool. Educational Reimbursement Educational Matching Gifts Program Service Awards Employee Cast Member Contests Childcare Centres Credit Unions Employee Stores Cast Members usually work 40 hours or more each week, with quality service being the responsibility of every one. Each one measures service quality levels, establish benchmarks and set goals, as there is no person in charge of quality. Instead of one quality director, Disney has 42,000 of them. (Paton S. M. Service Quality, Disney Style, Quality Digest) Disney University Many hours have been devoted to designing successful employee universities which train workers in the Disneyland philosophy. Walt Disney established the Disney University to teach these unique skills. The University provides cast members with free world-class training in diverse skills including computer applications, professional development, management/leaderships development, health safety, interviewing, business, etc. Empowerment Disney is committed to employee empowerment. Employees are empowered to resolve all guest issues on their own, with managers only getting involved in extreme circumstances. Managers use service measurement teams to empower employees. 1 or 2 employees from each department take note of any service issues that might take from a guests stay at the resort. By keeping records of every problem, and how it was dealt with, helps to reduce the chances of it happening again. To keep up-to-date with their guests expectations, Disney also collects huge amounts of data about guests from opinion polls, surveys, focus groups etc. From this information, the company know that the top three things that guests expect are for the parks to be clean, friendly and fun. Every worker, from the CEO to cleaner, know these 3 expectations well, and is empowered to make them happen. All employees know, too, the definition of quality at Disney: Disney defines quality as attention to detail and exceeding guest expectations. Performance Appraisals Management use performance appraisals and performance surveys, to measure internal service quality. The annual performance appraisal is designed to give the employee a broad perspective of his/her accomplishment from the previous year and to identify upcoming challenges. Another strategy employed by managers to deliver service quality, are monthly development action plans. (DAPs) (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2000) Rewards Disney certainly know the true value of retaining productive employees. Annual turnover amongst its employees is only 20%. This low turnover is made possible by treating employees like resort guests, and the extensive employees reward programs, Disney offers. There are in excess of 50 different reward and recognition programs, that are geared towards maintaining high employee morale, the most prestigious award being the Partners in Excellence program. This award involves one employee nominating another employee (who has excellent attendance and no disciplinary action record). The nominated employee then receives a bronze statue of the company founder, Walt Disney, and is invited to a dinner ceremony where he/she is individually recognized for his/her outstanding accomplishments by company executives. Disney also rewards employees through service pins, attendance awards, and Recognition-O-Grams (ROGs). Recipients usually wear service pins on their uniforms, which they receive service pins on their first, fifth, tenth, twentieth and twenty-fifth anniversaries. Attendance awards are also offered to employees after one, three, five, ten and fifteen years of perfect attendance. The awards range from honorary certificates to a $2000 gift certificate. Recession hits  Disney Theme Parks Like many other industries, the entertainment industry has been affected by the world economic downturn. Early this year, Disney reported a 32% drop in net income for its fiscal first quarter of 2010, attributing the results to the recessions effects on its studio, television and parks. The Walt Disney Co. axed 1,900 jobs from its theme parks in California and Florida. Walt Disney World in Orlando eliminated 1,400 jobs. The original Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, axed 300 positions. The rest of the jobs were eliminated at the companys corporate headquarters at Burbank. These decisions are not made lightly, but are essential to maintaining our leadership in family tourism and reflect todays economic realities, said Mike Griffin, a Walt Disney World spokesman. Those laid off received a 60-day paid administrative leave, a severance package that is based on their years of service, extended medical benefits, and job placement. According to the Los Angeles Times: Disney is bracing for an extended downturn as people skip theme parks to save money. The recession, and the recent decline, has really hit the theme park industry, but it has hit the destination parks more than the regional parks, People are staying closer to home, the newspaper said. Trade Unions Workers are represented by 34 unions, the biggest being the Service Trade Council Union (STCU), The STCU represents about 22,000 F/T and 5,000 P/T workers at Disney World. The SEIU is part of the STCU, a consortium of six trade unions that is the only group certified to bargain with the Disney company. In the last two years alone, Disneyland Resort has successfully negotiated nine agreements with the union. These agreements included wage increases, sick pay and access to seven affordable and reliable health care plans offered through Disneys Signature benefits package for full-time cast members. Conclusion This essay looked at the human resource practises that have been adopted at Disney in order to maximize the delivery of superior guest services. Reasons for the companys success include emphasis on customer service, and a focus on the elements of efficiency, courtesy, show, and safety. It has shown how employee strategies at Disney lead to the attainment of exceptional service quality. Disney takes a lot of care with its casting department and regularly assess its pay packages and new ways of recruiting. It offers a competitive package of wages and incentives to its staff, such as free park admission and discounts on park merchandise. In the past, Disneys theme parks has been fairly recession-proof. But this year, fewer people found their way to the Magic Kingdom as profits were down from 2008-10. Disney said the company manages its operation based on demand, and like any other business it is subject to the ups and downs of the economy Its important that management stress to workers that employee development and empowerment is an on-going process, as the actions of empowered employees have enabled Disney to develop a lasting relationship with millions of guests worldwide. The human resource department must continually develop successful recruiting strategies and effective reward and recognition programs to maintain high morale and promote teamwork.