Discussion Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 17

Discussion Questions - Assignment Example the community as well as that of its employees, being honest in their operations and ensuring that their operations do not harm the community, its environment or its economy. These obligations ensure that organizations uphold integrity in their operations and benefit their immediate societies (Paetzold, 2009). The approach of the second organization has several advantages that include creating a positive image of the organization to the public. Additionally, this approach can be used as a marketing strategy to reach more potential customers. The main advantage of the approach taken by the first organization is that it minimizes on costs. However, the approach may create a negative image of the organization. An organization’s responsibilities within a community differ from an individual’s responsibilities in several ways. While an organization is liable for all the actions that its employees take on its behalf, this is not the case with individual responsibilities. This makes the responsibilities of an organization to have a wider scope than those of individuals. Additionally, an organization, unlike individuals, risks incurring huge financial losses if it fails to observe its responsibilities. Individual responsibilities, on the other hand, have little financial or economic bearings on individuals (Paetzold,

Understanding of the Relevant Literature on the Skills Managers Dissertation

Understanding of the Relevant Literature on the Skills Managers Require in the 21st Century - Dissertation Example Understanding of the Relevant Literature on the Skills Managers Require in the 21st Century However, it is important to remember that the present age has new facets that are critical for the company’s success. Businesses nowadays are strongly influenced by globalisation and technological innovation. Hence, in order for managers to be effective, they must be capable of managing the forces that has characterized the new century. Moreover, since the new business age is very dynamic, it is therefore important for the managers of today to be more nimble and agile in order to anticipate and act quickly on the changes before they are pushed into obsolescence. That way, they can capture opportunities as they are realized or defend against threats as they emerge. Moreover, globalisation has demanded that managers become able to manage a diverse workforce as more and more companies are expanding overseas (Khatri and Ong, 1999). Hence there has been an increase in the demands of managers to go beyond their talents and skills to ensure that they are able to innovate themselves s ince this is basically the game that companies and managers have to play in the 21st century. The new century has offered new and exciting challenges for businesses all over the world. The massive improvements in technology have greatly helped in the advancement of communications and information capabilities of countries, companies and individuals worldwide. Basically, this has put an end to the industrial age and heralded the information age which has even brought to fore a new breed of employees, the knowledge workers. These people have radically changed the manner of doing things wherein the office hours as well as office spaces have been practically taken out of the equation (Serrat, 2008). This is all the more demanding if the company is trying to get and maintain a global presence since there is the inescapable need to source out manpower from the different countries from which they operate in as well as to be able to maintain this global workforce. Moreover, there has been a general shift from solely focusing on the financial indicators as the sole measure of the strat egic success of a company. Kaplan and Norton (2005) have shed light on the lack of capability of measuring the success of a company’s strategy by basing on the financials alone. According to these Harvard business thinkers, it is important to have a balanced view of the lagging as well as the leading indicators in order to properly gauge the company’s overall situation. Hence, they have brought forward the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) in order to properly capture these indicators in their four perspectives which are the Learning & Growth, Internal Business Process, Customer and of course the Financial Perspective. All these provide a confluence of indicators for the company to properly analyze their situation and make changes, if necessary, in order to ensure that they remain on track with their targets. However, all these goes to show the increasing demands to the managers of the 21st century wherein there seems to be a shift towards the capability to multi-task and be ab le to adapt to the fast-paced and multicultural business environment of today. Aim The purpose of this paper is to

Marketing Strategies Analysis Of Vodafone Marketing Essay

Marketing Strategies Analysis Of Vodafone Marketing Essay This report explores environmental evaluation and marketing strategies analysis of Vodafone. Referring to situational analysis, the SWOT analysis shows several important insights, such as fierce competition, high penetration rate, low differentiation and innovation. After defining two marketing goals, this study discusses marketing strategies of Vodafone from the perspective of marketing mix. Furthermore, there are two significant recommendations for Vodafone including social media and relationship marketing. Table of Content 1.0 Introduction This study will explain environmental evaluation and marketing strategies analysis of Vodafone. Firstly, this study will provide the situational analysis from the implementation of the SWOT analysis. Furthermore, segmentation targeting and positioning facilitates Vodafone to understand different needs of target markets. Secondly, the marketing objectives and goals will be defined and explained. Then, this study will introduce marketing mix to discuss marketing strategies. Finally, the recommendations will be given. 2.0 Situational Analysis This chapter will propose the situational analysis to evaluate the environment of Vodafone. The SWOT analysis including strengths and weaknesses of organisational environment and opportunities and threats of external environment aims to provide the comprehensive understandings of internal and external organisational environment. In the following, this chapter will employ the SWOT analysis to analyse and evaluate the internal and external environment of Vodafone. 2.1 Strengths There are several aspects of Vodafone strengths including brand recognition, emerging markets, solid foundation in major countries, strategic alliances and new service development. For instance, along with the economic recession severely influences the prospect of developed countries, such as European countries, UK, and North America, emerging markets increasingly contribute to the sustainable development of Vodafone. In terms of Table 1, during the period between 2009 and 2011, the annual growth of service revenue in emerging markets is more than 6%. However, there is comparatively slow growth of service revenue in Europe. Most telecom and internet service providers, like Vodafone, increasingly recognised that the exploitation and development of the global market, particularly emerging markets, considerably influence the sustainable development of telecommunications service providing companies partly because of the market saturation of domestic countries. Table 1: Key Revenue Performance Indicators 2009 2010 2011 Service revenue growth (0.3)% (1.6)% 2.1% Data revenue growth 25.9% 19.3% 26.4% Emerging markets service revenue growth 6.4% 7.9% 11.8% Europe enterprise service revenue growth (4.8)% 0.5% Fixed line revenue growth 2.1% 7.9% 5.2% Notes: (*) means that organic growth which presents performance on a comparable basis. Source: Vodafone (2011a, p.13) Furthermore, Vodafone has competitive abilities to develop new telecom service, such as 3G and data service. As Table 1 shown, compared with traditional service revenue growth, the data revenue growth is higher than traditional service revenue. Beside the higher growth of emerging markets and data revenue, the strong brand recognition and strategic alliances of Vodafone contributes to the sustainable development of Vodafone. 2.2 Weaknesses Several aspects of weaknesses, including uncertainty of revenue growth in data service and Euro market, gradually influence the development of Vodafone. For instance, there is a distinctive pattern of telecom service in emerging markets and developed countries. According to Figure 1, this figure implies that there are two significant results on mobile subscribers and penetration rates across regions. Firstly, the developing countries, especially rest of Asia, have over 800 million mobile subscribers, which is considered as the most potential mobile service consumption market. Secondly, compared with developed countries, rest of Asia and world has comparatively low mobile penetration. Hence, Vodafone, known as a pioneer of the global telecommunication service market exploitation and development, concerns its global market exploration. Figure 1: Total Mobile Subscribers and Penetration Rates by Region as of Mid-2007 Source: UMTS Forum (2008, p.6) 2.3 Opportunities Referring to Opportunities of Vodafone, the growth of emerging market and data service and telecom solution for corporates are described as two important opportunities. Firstly, as the previous analysed, the higher degree of mobile penetration in mature markets. Nevertheless, there is a growing space for Vodafone in emerging markets. Hence, emerging markets and relevant areas may gradually benefit the long-term development of Vodafone, since there are more opportunities. Secondly, Vodafone has its own business department for serving corporate client. Compared with consumer market, corporate client has their unique needs on communication and data service. For Vodafone, it not only is an opportunity, but also is considered as a challenge. 2.4 Threats There are several obvious threats facing Vodafone, such as high penetration rate in mature market, and powerful competitors. Firstly, as Figure 1 shown, compared with developing countries, mature markets, such as Europe and North America, have comparatively high penetration rate. In other words, the marketing environment in mature markets is more fierce competition than emerging markets. Secondly, in the UK mobile service market, there are three considerable competitors facing Vodafone, including Everything Everywhere (Orange and T-Mobile), O2 and Three. Everything Everywhere has more than 27.6 million subscribers (Everything Everywhere, 2011), which is separately more than each competitors. This competitor not only has the dominated position in the UK mobile service market, but also has the remarkable performance on international cooperation to explore global market. For example, it cooperating with Everything Everywhere in the UK market serves the Chinese tourists and residents dur ing the tourism period (Everything Everywhere, 2012). The following competitor is O2 that has over 22.2 million subscribers. For O2, it has the remarkable abilities to formulate and implement its well-defined marketing strategies. For instance, it provides the free Wi-Fi service suitable for consumers in McDonalds store (O2, 2012). These competitors exert their powerful influence on the competitive situation of Vodafone. 3.0 Differential Advantage/Competitive Edge This chapter will discuss the differential advantage/competitive edge of Vodafone, including solid foundation of innovation, innovative abilities for improve corporate client performance, and support of strategic alliances and cooperation. Firstly, Vodafone has its solid foundation in the telecom industry. In terms of the amount of the subscribers experiencing the telecommunication service, Vodafone is the second largest mobile telecommunications firm. Currently, Vodafone operates its telecommunications service in over 30 countries, such as UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, and Ireland, and, cooperating with domestic partners to provide telecommunication services in more than 40 countries, including Denmark, Singapore, Thailand, Russia, Finland and Ukraine (Vodafone, 2012a). In terms of Vodafone (2012c), the vision is to be the worlds mobile communication leader-enriching customers lives, helping individuals, businesses and communities be more connected in a mobile world. Secondly, in the corporate client market, Vodafone has its competitive advantages. For instance, Vodafone innovatively provides the TomTom with traffic data service and machine to machine communication solution (Vodafone, 2010). It not only makes traditional telecom service applied to business communication solutions, but also expands its market from consumer market to business client. Thirdly, the strong strategic alliances and cooperation of Vodafone facilitate Vodafone explore international market. For example, in 2011, Vodafone and Conexus created the relationship of strategic alliance for expanding the Asian market (Vodafone, 2011f). In fact, since strategic alliance has considerable abilities to understand local consumer behaviours, business environment and government regulation, these abilities helps Vodafone to effectively formulate and implement marketing strategies in foreign markets. 4.0 Segmentation Targeting Positioning Market segmentation is described as a market with the similar needs and behaviour of consumers. It is considered as a process of an organisation recognising its competitive advantages for serving market segmentation. After implementing strategy of market segmentation, Kotler Keller (2006) argued that target market is based on the understanding of specific needs, qualities and behaviours of market segmentation. In another hand, the determination of market segmentation may specific target market not available to competitors. The targeting and positioning is dedicated to understand what target market wants and how to provide suitable service satisfying their needs. Currently, Vodafone has two major target market including consumer market and corporate market. Referring to consumer market, for instance, young generation consumers, such as university and college students, are more concerned with mobile data service including mobile chat, quizzes, phone games, ticket purchase and others. For this specific target market, Vodafone may provide more discount for young generation consumers to make them become loyal consumers, which consequently benefits the long-term development of Vodafone. For corporate market, Vodafone incline to provide the customised service for specific corporate client, since different corporate clients have their specific needs. 4.0 Marketing Objectives and Goals The marketing objectives and goals contain two detailed orientations including marketing sales performance and marketing communication. Firstly, referring to marketing sales performance, there are several detailed predictors for Vodafone to determine the marketing sales performance in the following five years. In the next five years, the service revenue growth in emerging market should be kept at 20%, and in mature markets at 2%. Furthermore, new services, such as 3G and data service, should experience a considerable development, which should annually increase by 3%. Referring to cost of marketing activities, Vodafone should make more efforts to improve the performance of marketing activities. Secondly, marketing communication not only involves corporate communication and marketing communications, but also concerns branding and the improvement of brand image in the mind of consumers (Pelsmacker, Geuens Bergh, 2010). Hence, evaluating the performance of integrated marketing communication is considered as another important marketing goal for Vodafone. For instance, it may hire professional service consultants to assess the performance of Vodafones IMC from various perspectives, such as consumers attention rate, and frequencies of advertising. Moreover, the feedback from consumers and partners will be used for improve the future performance of IMC. 5.0 Marketing Strategies and Programmes The analysis and evaluation on marketing strategies of Vodafone from the perspective of marketing mix. In terms of Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders Wong (2001), marketing mix is described as an effective marketing analytic tool for determining and marketing products. Therefore, this section will use marketing mix to analyse and evaluate the marketing strategies of Vodafone. 5.1 Product Today, Vodafone has three major business categories including business solutions, personal solutions and branded phones devices (Vodafone, 2012b). The service for business solutions contains integrated communications, mobile solutions, productivity services, voice and messaging, roaming for your business and machine to machine solutions, which aims to provide the efficient communication environment for business and corporate clients. In regard to personal solutions, Vodafone desires to facilitate individual consumers communicate with family and friends through several channels, such as mobile, email, chat, and internet. Furthermore, Vodafone offers the retailing service of branded phones devices. Since there is an extremely similar mobile service among different telecom companies, Vodafone should concern more services beyond communication, such as apps downloads for individual consumers to experience the benefits and funs from smartphone. For corporate client, the technical suppor t and customised service may contribute to successfully attract and maintain corporate client. 5.2 Price From the traditional view, since there is a few telecommunications service providers in a country, this liberalised market particularly facilitates these providers become oligopolies (Cambini Valletti, 2003). These oligopolies have the competitive influence in the pricing decision in comparison with consumers. Along with the application of the internet-based technologies offers more choices for consumers, such as internet chat, consumers increasingly shape their own influence in this market. Nevertheless, Vodafone and its competitors provide the similar service package and prices for consumers. For Vodafone, there are two important price plans containing pay monthly and pay as you go. The plan of pay monthly includes several dimensions for consumer to choose their proper plan, such as plan type, contract length, plan type and monthly cost (Vodafone, 2012d). Hence, the mobile service providers play a critical role in the game of pricing. 5.3 Promotion Promotion, known as integrated marketing communications, plays an important role in the creation and delivery of the persuasive information for consumers and the establishment and enhancement of the interactive relationship between Vodafone and its customers. There are several strategies of integrated marketing communications developed by Vodafone, such as social media, advertising and internet-based platform. Vodafone, like most firms concerning their brand image and their interactive relationship with consumers, focuses on the application of social media. For example, Vodafone adopts Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo to implement the interactive communication with target consumers. Furthermore, Vodafone establishes the internet-based platform to improve the engagement of consumers in mobile service and communications. For instance, several forums, including Apple forum, BlackBerry forum, HTC forum and others (Vodafone, 2012e), make each specific target market engage in these forums to e xchange feedback and experience on these products and relevant services. 5.4 Place Place is described as the distribution networking facilitating Vodafone effectively deliver services and products for consumers. In fact, the effective distribution networking can help firms to shape their competitive advantages. Currently, there are two major distribution channels developed by Vodafone, including online store and real store. Firstly, Vodafone launched the online store to offer several aspects of mobile products and services, such as mobile phones, accessories, apps downloads and mobile services. The online store can save consumers time and money. Secondly, Vodafone, like O2 and Everything Everywhere, operates real stores to improve customer experience. 6.0 Recommendations This chapter will propose two recommendations for Vodafone to achieve its sustainable development in the long run, including social media, and customer relationship and relationship marketing. The first recommendation on the application of social media concerns the implementation of integrated marketing communications. The second recommendation on relationship marketing contains four aspects to implement relationship marketing, such as service quality, price perception, brand image and value offers. In the following, this chapter will described relevant theories on social media and integrated marketing communications and relationship marketing and propose several detailed practices for Vodafone. 6.1 Social Media Vodafone adopted social media including Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo to enhance the interactive communication with target consumers. From the theoretical perspective, social media is defined as activities, practices, and behaviours among communities of people who gather online to share information, knowledge, and opinions using conversational media (Safko Brake, 2009, p. 6). Furthermore, these two researchers recognised that companies should integrate social media into their process of formulating and implementing marketing strategies. For consumers, social media plays a critical role in personal communication. Individuals enable to create and send their own understandings on Vodafone products and service, including good and bad feedback. However, compared with the traditional communications channels, such as advertising, sponsorship and public relations, Vodafone cannot control the contagion of user-generated information on the negative evaluation on Vodafone mobile services. Hence, it is difficult for Vodafone to manage social media. However, social media provides one of the most important measures, such as word of mouth. From the consumer perspective, the user-generated word of mouth may be more reliable and trusted in comparison with the Vodafone-generated information. For instance, Hanna (2008) stressed that more and more concerns review the online feedback on products or service experience from other consumers, which may exert its influence on their purchasing decision making. Based on the internet platform, individual consumers can share their experience and communicate with each other to become an influential opinion group. Vodafone should concern the development of these similar groups and engage in these groups to obtain their experience and information on products or service. The feedback and experience from consumers can help Vodafone to develop more effective marketing strategies. For the implication of social media for Vodafone, Vodafone should play an active role in the communication with target market under the circumstance of social media. For instance, Vodafone not only uses Twitter to send the information on products and services, but also employs YouTube to deliver the video on the practices of corporate social responsibility, such as social work for local communities. In particular, Vodafone should concern the contagion of the negative information and feedback and effective respond to these feedbacks. Furthermore, the resolution of the negative feedback not only may adjusts the negative attitude of consumers toward Vodafone and its mobile services, but also may recover consumer confidence and contribute to customer loyalty. 6.2 Customer Relationship and Relationship Marketing In terms of Tseng (2007), relationship marketing is described as the contemporary mainstream of marketing thoughts concerned with the establishment and maintenance of the strong relationship between firms and consumers. In this essence, the formulation and implementation of marketing strategies should be based on the comprehensive understanding on the changing needs of consumers. Compared with the traditional marketing thoughts, relationship marketing is more concerned with the long-term customer relationship, which consequently benefits both consumers and firms in the long run. Therefore, Vodafone should concern the building and maintenance of the strong relationship with consumers. In this section, there are several tactics contributing to the implementation of relationship marketing, such as service quality, price perception, value offered (Bansel, Taylor James, 2005) and brand image (Peng Wang, 2006). In the following, this section will explain the application of these four tac tics for Vodafone. Firstly, service quality distinctive from the quality of physical products contains several characteristics, such as intangible and produced and consumed simultaneously (Gronroos, 2000). Since service quality can be perceived by each consumer, each consumer may have different perception on the similar service quality. Hence, the trusted relationship between the frontline service employees and consumers plays a critical role in the enhancement of the perceived service quality. If consumer can perceive the superior service quality through the communication with the frontline service employees, the satisfied consumers can become the loyal consumers dedicated to the long-term mutual relationship with firms. Hence, Vodafone should concern the improvement and development of the frontline service employees to enhance the perceived service quality. Furthermore, there are various measures to improve the perceived service quality, such as service design and development and improvement of store environment. Secondly, price perception is more sensitive for consumers, since it considerably affects the final decision on purchasing behaviours. If consumers perceive the price beyond their expected, the higher price perception may exert its negative influence on their purchasing decision (Peng Wang, 2006). In terms of Cheng et al. (2008), there are two important dimensions determining the price perception, including reasonableness of price and comparison from competitors. For Vodafone, it should improve service quality to make consumers perceive the reasonableness of this price, but also concerns the fluctuation of prices developed by the competitors. Based on the fluctuation of prices developed by the competitors, Vodafone should evaluate the competitive situation and service of the competitors and make the reasonable decision to cope with the potential price war. Thirdly, referring to brand, Gronroos (2000) described brand as not first built and then perceived by the customers. Instead, every step in the branding process, every brand massages, is separately perceived by customers and together add up to a brand image, which is formed in customers minds (p.287). Hence, the building of brand image not only aims to marketing physical products and services through the predicted role of brand image, but also is involved in the sustainable development of a firm. For Vodafone, it is necessary for Vodafone to build and enhance the brand image of Vodafone. There are several detailed measures for Vodafone, including marketing communications and corporate social responsibility. The marketing communications measures contain advertising, sponsorship, and social media to enhance the brand image in the mind of consumers. In particular, the implementation of corporate social responsibility will significantly contribute to the building and enhancement of brand image of Vodafone, since most consumers believe that the practices and behaviours of corporate social responsibility can influence brand image in their mind and purchasing decision. Fourthly, value offers is that consumers will evaluate the value and cost of products and services. If consumers believe that they obtain value beyond the cost of products and services, they incline to purchase this product or service and produce customer satisfaction. According to Ravald Gronroos (1996), service providers should create and deliver the superior value for consumers through the enhancement of value offers, which consequently contributes to the improvement of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. For Vodafone, it should concern the creation and delivery of value offers. 7.0 Conclusion This report discusses three major issues of Vodafone including environmental evaluation, marketing strategies and recommendations. Referring to the SWOT analysis, there are several important insights, such as fierce competition, high penetration rate, low differentiation and innovation. After defining marketing objectives, marketing mix will be used for explaining marketing strategies of Vodafone.

Living Deficiently or Energy-Efficiently :: Economy Pollution Papers

To live deficiently or energy-efficiently: that is the question. Although the majority of us are aware of the pressing environmental problems we face daily, we are not very aware of the urgency to find a solution to them. Life on earth is built up like a wagon wheel; we can remove a few of those spokes and we might still be able to travel safely, but eventually the wheel will weaken and collapse. At that point, no amount of human ingenuity will allow us to reconstruct the wagon wheel so we can keep traveling on to the future. This fact is obvious, given our inability to completely clean up any damage our pollution has done to the environment—how can we expect to rebuild or repair a collapsed planetary ecosystem? We cannot keep consuming resources and damaging the environment at our current exponential rate. Exponential growth implies infinite expansion, but our Earth is finite, and its resources are finite. If something is not done about our wasteful use of the planetâ₠¬â„¢s energy and resources, our lives will be made miserable and desperate as the natural processes which support human life collapse like a flimsy wagon wheel made of sludge and decaying tree stumps. We will be living deficiently, if at all, according to our current standards of living. Pollution cleanup is no good; continuing to use the current rates of energy that we use without change is no good. We must concentrate on preventing environmental problems in the first place, and what’s more, we must figure out a simple, economical, and practical way that each of us can do it. This solution is energy-efficiency. Series of Topic Sentences to Follow Outline: It is necessary to find a practical resolution to environmental problems. Examples of these environmental problems include: These environmental problems pose a serious threat to humans because the planetary ecosystem is being slowly destroyed. We often like to use the less-impacting terms â€Å"degraded† or â€Å"injured,† but we shouldn’t use diction to hide the truth. By flagrantly using unnecessary quantities of energy, we are gradually destroying our environment—not â€Å"degrading† or â€Å"injuring† it, but destroying it. Our environmental problems are caused by pollution release, resource overuse and destruction, and carelessness towards the environment. The source of all these problems is the lack of human energy-efficiency in manufacturing products and, with greater contribution to the problem, the lack of energy-effiicient lifestyles.

Review and Evaluate Strategies in Health and Social Care Environments to Overcome Barriers to Effective Communication and Interpersonal Interactions

There are a lot of useful strategies within a health and social care environment for example a hearing aid would be very useful as a deaf person would be able to hear people talking to them as it picks up and increases the volume of an individual’s voice so the deaf person would hear them clearly but also it has disadvantages as if the hearing aid battery was not working it would be no use to them as they would not hear anything or only hear tiny bits of conversations, also hearing aids amplify background noise and if the background noise was very loud it could put the person in a great deal of pain as everything is 10 times louder to them.Mobile phones have a lot of advantages such as the service user can get in touch with medical professionals if they need to and get advice quickly without them having to travel to the doctors but also it is a disadvantage as not a lot of service users would know how to use mobile phones as they are advanced. Also if a service user was trying to use a mobile phone but failing to it could also make them stressed this could lead to other health problems on top of the ones that they may already have.Hearing loops are a advantage in health and social care as it helps deaf people hear sounds more clearly and also cuts out any background noise so the deaf person could hear what anyone is saying and understand it very clearly, the disadvantages of having a hearing loop is that they can pick up interference from other magnetic fields this may confuse the person who is wearing the hearing loop and also could put them in some discomfort as they are picking up more sounds than they should. In some situations a loop may not be secure, other hearing aid wearers can listen in this could make the deaf person feel as if everyone is listening to what he is saying or listening to and could make the deaf person feel very uncomfortable.Interpreters are a great advantage in health and social care as they can communicate a conversation, whet her it be signed or spoken to someone in a different language that they may understand. A disadvantage of an interpreter may be that they don’t only have to interpret the words and signs but also have to find a way of expressing a meaning if this is not done correctly then the service user may not understand and misunderstand what they are being told and make it into something much worse than they are  actually being told.A translator is really useful in health and social care as they change recorded information such as a written word into another language this would be good for someone who is deaf that cannot hear a interpreter so the translator would write it down for them instead, the disadvantage of a translator is that they also have to convey the meaning as well as the word so if the translator is unsure of the meaning it could then confuse the service user and also because they have to write it down if their hand writing is not clear enough the service user may mista ken it for another word.A signer is a good way of helping the deaf community in health and social care as a signer is a person who uses a signed language to communicate with deaf people this is very useful as the service provide e.g. doctor is not likely to have learned signed language but if a signer came in he could communicate with the deaf individual through the signer it is also a lot easier than lip reading as lip reading may not always be understood. The disadvantages of a signer would be that the signer would have to make every hand movement as clear as possible so that the service user understand 100% what they are being told also the signer would have to use a language appropriate to the service user and not use any words they may not understand such a jargon and slang.

Active and Passive Indexing

The first index fund began in 1971, with $6 million funded by Samsonite, the luggage-maker. Since then, there have been many arguments of whether an active index fund or a passive index fund offers better long-term results for investors. Index funds are already the fastest growing sector of the mutual fund business. From 1986 to 1996, the amount of money invested in index funds grew from $556 million to $65 Billion. And if anything, individual investors have been slow to embrace passive management. Institutional investors invest a far larger percentage of their assets passively. Many individual investors are simply uneducated and unaware of the arguments and experimental evidence supporting passive management. Institutional investors and academics have known for years (many for decades) that passive investing is extremely difficult to beat and that the majority of active investors will fail in their attempt to outperform the market. Active indexers assert they can outperform the marketplace. Passive (index) portfolios state they can mirror the performance of the indices. Both have their good times and their bad times. Active indexers raise cash in times of increased risk and instability while passive indexers remain fully invested. This can be quite painful during times of large declines in the market. Passive portfolios mirror the gains of the indices during roaring bull markets and eventually outperform the majority of active money managers who must remain diversified and who sometimes take on additional risks in an attempt to produce the performance and safety that they have promised their clients. The evidence has piled up during today's bull market that the average dollar managed by active managers does not keep up with the market index. Finally, indexing is a way to avoid being blind-sided in certain areas of the marketplace. Active management themes can easily find themselves on the wrong side of an investment. There is a perception among investors that a strategy designed to match stock market returns is less risky than a comparable actively managed portfolio. Since the index approach invests in a manner that is most friendly with the market's natural liquidity, it produces the least disturbance. The passive investor also has diversified his risk. Specific negative things can happen to individual companies or groups. As a passive investor, one is not exposed to any of these things. However, it does not mean you have a risk-free investment. The downside to passive index investors is that they â€Å"fuel the fire† of a market that appreciates well beyond its true value. Index mutual funds must put new money to work†¦ they can not hold cash†¦ and their investors all buy the exact same stocks. When stocks go down, index funds, being fully invested, will receive the ultimate effect of the decline. Combined with this loss is the fact that they will also have to sell shares to cover shareholder redemptions. These funds will get hit harder than many active portfolios with a cash cushion. Most active managers of investment portfolios raise cash as they perceive higher valuations, excessive instability, and extreme risks, therefore; reducing the display to loss during declining markets. Another downside to passive indexing is the impact they have on market instability. This gives the patient active money manager a welcome opportunity to take advantage of stock selection at very attractive prices and, to some extent, time the market in making their decisions of when to buy and when to sell. Index investing is a tricky business that can roil markets. Actively indexed funds have gone upward over the last decade. This has occurred despite the fact that investors have poured huge amounts of money into active funds over this period. The costs of investing in index funds have trended downward as they have become more popular with investors. The costs of active index funds just might decrease in the future, thereby narrowing the cost gap with passive index funds. But all evidence to date has shown just the opposite trend – the costs of active funds continue to go up and the costs of index funds continue to go down. Actively indexed funds typically generate relatively large amounts of taxes while passive index funds generate relatively small amounts. Some of the resulting gap in performance caused by taxes would seemingly be narrowed if the federal government were to lower tax rates. Congress did this at the end of July 1997 when it reduced the maximum long term capital gains tax rate from 28% on investments held more than one year to 20% on investments held 18 months or longer. The tax bill provides that in the year 2001 this rate will be reduced to 18% for investments held five years or longer. Finally, active money managers serve the specific needs of their clients. They manage portfolios based exactly on the investor's objectives and tolerance for risk. They make decisions based on a stated time frame and they are capable of changing the goals and direction of a portfolio on a moment's notice. They are the investor's personal link to the market and the protector of their capital. The value of these services is immeasurable to most investors. One thing that really does not influence the investor as much as it should is the lack of appreciation with respect to the tax consequences of passive index management. The capital gains, created during the year by a fully active index manager, is reported to the IRS, and the investor ends up being taxed. For a taxed investor, the buy-and-hold is a winning strategy. Turnover is the enemy of the investor who pays taxes. Conversely, most investors would be more than happy to pay taxes on the returns produced by active money managers during periods of declining markets. Not many investors prefer losses to earning some gains and interest, even with the tax man waiting. The effect of so many investors buying index funds is that they tend to guard the money market. An investor could actually, in a cost-effective manner, buy and sell the market. The asset funding of active managers, combined with the efficiency of the passive manager, allows one to implement strategies that provide an optimal mix of securities to match a particular scenario, objective, or risk aversion. From time to time, it is possible that the major assets can get out of balance. Investors can run up prices where the lawfulness market is overvalued. When this reaches a untrustworthy level, more self-corrective measures are needed. This is where the expertise of the active manager becomes useful. As an investor, you are always trading off what Jeremy Bentham, the British economist, referred to as the â€Å"pain-pleasure calculus. † Good returns produce pleasure. Bad returns produce pain. An active money manager is always balancing off the pleasure vs. e potential pain. The active manager tends to determine what that balance is and if it finds that the market is deployed otherwise, it works in balancing the portfolio. Tactical asset funding combined with a passively managed portfolio has been called the â€Å"holy grail† of investing by Jonathan Burton, of Dow Jones' Asset Management magazine. During declining markets, index funds take the full force of the market's loss. Managers of these funds are forced to sell stocks in order to meet the demand for redemptions as their investors got out of the market. During markets of very little movement, investors quickly drain of insufficient or no returns on their investment. Finally, a philosophy of capital preservation causes the active manager to raise cash, providing a cushion for portfolios during times of extreme risk. Active or passive? Both have their advantages and their risks, but the two are found to be the best long-term plans for both performance and safety. Index (passive) funds are likely to beat active funds, yet the Morningstar data show that 92% of all the money is U. S. stock funds is in active funds.

Rabies

Rabies It took a while to write Nice JobWhat is Rabies? Who gets Rabies? Rabies is a viral disease of humans and other mammals. It is most common in carnivores. The word rabies comes from the word 'hydrophobia', fear of water. Rabies is a potentially deadly disease.There are many things you can do to prevent yourself from meeting rabies. The most important thing to do, is to be certain your pets have updated vaccinations. Your pets can first get their vaccinations when they are three months old. After that booster vaccinations must be given every one to three years according to your state and city laws. It also depends on the type of vaccination.Most people associate rabies with dogs, cats, raccoons, skunks, wolves, etc. The most common animals to have rabies are dogs, cats, and raccoons. Rabies cases in cats have outnumbered all other domestic animals every year since 1988.Oral Rabies Vaccine (ORV) bait stationThere was fifty-three percents increase in cat rabies between 1991-1992. Most of the cases with cats have been unvaccinated strays.Even if your pets do not go outside, they should still be vaccinated. You cannot tell if you pet will accidentally get out or an infected animal will get in. Avoid close contact with any wild animal. Never feed, handle, pet, or take any wild animals in. Rabid animals will usually act in an abnormal way, have a foamy saliva around the mouth, and show a loss of hair or fur. If the animal is nocturnal, it may be out during the day. Rabid animals are usually very outgoing and aggressive.To keep wildlife away from your home avoid leaving pet food outside, and keep the lids on trash cans secure, or store them inside a garage or shed. You can prevent wildlife from your entering...

Immigrants in America

Immigrants in America Introduction People from different countries move to settle in the United States for various reasons such as seeking a peaceful life, job opportunities, and quality education.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Immigrants in America specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The successful incorporation of immigrants into the American society has always hinged on the potential for personal improvement through educational and economic achievement (Immigration in America Today: An Encyclopedia, Loucky et al.). Due to the complex process that legal immigrants have to go through to gain entry into the United States, most immigrants gain entry through illegal means. For a very long time, immigration has led to so much tension in countries that have ended up receiving the immigrants. Ordinarily, immigrants are hailed by governments and business tycoons for economic reasons. However, the unity of a nation can easily be interfer ed with when the number of foreigners is too high. Over the years, nations have been inviting business minded individuals from places such as China, Israel, and Germany in order to strengthen their economies. Recently, my family and I moved to settle in the United States in search of better education and a better life. To fit into the American community, we are all doing our best to learn the American way of life. Among others, this includes going to school and learning the English language. This paper looks at three myths regarding immigration in the United States. First, there is the concern that immigrants are never willing to learn English. Secondly, immigrants are blamed for taking jobs and opportunity away from Americans. Third, immigrants are regarded as a drain on the American economy (Top 10 Immigration Myths and Facts, NIF). Arguments on Immigrants not willing to Learn English According to NIF many immigrants work hard to learn the English language immediately they step in to the United States and within a short time, they are usually able to speak the language quite well. This claim may be supported by the fact that demand for adult English classes always creates a desperate need for institutions and teachers to handle teach the students. Looking at my personal experience, I am strongly convinced that this claim may not necessarily be true. When my family and I moved to the United States, it was all because we desired a better life and great job opportunities. To be fully integrated into the American community, my parents and I have to keep on learning the English language. Personally, I had to take a part time job while undergoing my studies at the university. In support of my ambitions, my parents set up a home studio as soon as they acquired a family house.Advertising Looking for research paper on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Arguments on Immigrants taking Jobs and Opportunities away from Americans The common myth here is that foreigners who enter and settle in the United States of America end up taking jobs and opportunities that are, allegedly, meant for the native-born Americans. However, studies indicate that immigrants greatly contributed to the growth of the American economy at a time when the nation was experiencing the lowest unemployment rate. As observed by the National Immigration Forum (NIF): â€Å"The largest wave of immigration to the U.S. since the early 1900s coincided with the country’s lowest national unemployment rate and fastest economic growth.† (Top 10 Immigration Myths and Facts, NIF). Clearly, the growth in the economy can easily be attributed to the increased number of immigrants into the United States. Immigrant business men and women contributed to the American economy by creating jobs for both Americans and foreign workers during this period. According to NIF, immigrant owned business can be found in places like the Silicon Valley, owned by Chinese and Indian immigrants. Apparently, these businesses managed to net over US$ 19.5 billion in sales besides creating close to 73,000 employment opportunities in the year 2000 (Top 10 Immigration Myths and Facts, NIF). The open door policy in effect until the 1920s had positive consequences for many. This is contrary to thinking of some natives that immigrants would take away their job (Keeping the Borders Open Does Not Harm U.S. Workers, Oppenheimer). During this period, much of the nation, particularly its industrial cities, greatly benefited from large scale entry by immigrants, whether legal or illegal. As immigrants took bottom level jobs, employment opportunities for skilled native residents increased tremendously. The cities of the Northeast and Midwest that became world class industrial centers during the nineteenth century owed much of their growth to these immigrants. In the decades following World War I, European immigrants comprised about a quarter of the workforce in America’s burgeoning industrial centers. Two cities, Chicago and New York, exemplified the contribution of immigrant workers who in 1920s, comprised about half their labor force. Both reached their highpoint of wealth and power during this decade. However, not everyone benefited. In the rural areas of South and Midwest, where few immigrants settled, economic gains were negligible. I cities where immigrants did congregate, benefits among the native born accrued largely to property owners, members of the middle class, and skilled workers. Unskilled workers, especially blacks gained very little. As a matter of fact, the flow of immigrants probably dampened the economic progress of blacks by slowing their exodus from the South. As the average income of American workers rose, the gap between the rich and the poor widened, fueling antagonism toward immigrants among citizens who were less well off.Advertising We will write a cus tom research paper sample on Immigrants in America specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More When, beginning in the 1920s, restrictions were imposed on immigration the impact was greatest in those cities with large immigrant populations (Employment Verification Will Deter Illegal Immigration, Rector). Natives who migrated to cities once immigrant flow ceased appear to have contributed less to urban development than did the foreign born population. Most probably, the decline of America’s large industrial cities, beginning immediately after World War II may as well be linked to the change in immigration policy (The New Americans: A Guide to Immigration since 1965, Waters et al.). The latest immigration surge, which began in the 1960s, has facilitated urban renewal by strengthening small businesses, providing low wage labor, and maintaining the population base necessary to sustain a high level of economic activity. Seemingly, the new immigrants w ho include unskilled workers, professionals, and entrepreneurs have encouraged the flow of investment, furnished workers for factories and service industries, and helped revive deteriorating urban neighborhoods (Employment Verification Will Not Deter Illegal Immigration, DeWeese). This has been especially true in cities serving as gateways to other continents such as Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and San Francisco which, since the mid 1970s, have sprouted new offices, added jobs, particularly I the service industries, reduced unemployment, and shown other sign of urban renewal. Apparently, these cities have the highest concentration of new immigrants in the United States. The most striking evidence of urban transformation has been the changing racial composition of major cities. In the 1920s, 95 per cent of the residents of dozen largest cities were of European descent. Today, non Hispanic whites have become a minority in most of those cities. It is quite obvious that additional imm igration into the United States will only hasten these changes. Arguments on Immigrants being regarded as a Drain on the American Economy Despite claims that immigrants generally drain the American economy, studies prove otherwise. As argued by NIF, most new workers in the United States during the 1990s were foreigners. Notably, immigrants occupied various positions left by native-born Americans (Top 10 Immigration Myths and Facts, NIF).Advertising Looking for research paper on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Studies by the National Academy of Sciences, Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, and Federal Reserves indicated that jobs in critical economic sectors in the United States were taken up by foreign nationals. Immigrants also work hard to start their own businesses and as a result, they contribute tremendously to America’s economic growth. Statistics also indicate that total benefit associated with immigration to America is a net of close to US$10 billion per year. In addition, most people who move to settle in the United States are working age. These are people who have already earned their education and are ready to use the skills they have acquired over the years to serve in different sectors of the US economy (Top 10 Immigration Myths and Facts, NIF). This argument clearly points to the fact that immigrants are not in any way a drain to the US economy. Instead, they are the very people who have contributed to what the American economy is today. It is also important to note that throughout the American history, immigration has been favored by American presidents interested with seeking economic expansion for their country (Immigrants and the U.S. Labor Market, Marcelli). These presidents were totally convinced that immigrants are a blessing to the American economy and as such, they should be invited in. Sadly, however, these presidents often met with great opposition coming from native-born Americans opposed to the idea of letting immigrants flow into the country. Despite the popular discontent that the presence of immigrants often provoked, leaders in the United States as well as other Western countries have acted in a manner likely to suggest that they are not ready to let their countries lose economic gains associated with immigration. Since the first Congress debated the issue of immigrants, immigration policy in the United States has been bound up with some very basic concerns which include economic well being, national ide ntity, internal stability, and the American role in the world. Over the years, public opinion on immigration has been marked by uncertainty. While some people see immigrants as productive workers who can be absorbed into the national mainstream without much disruption, others tend to take a much narrower view, regarding immigrants primarily as economic competitors or as foreigners with alien values. Most American presidents, viewing immigration from a national perspective, attach considerable political and economic importance to the large urban centers in which immigrants concentrate (Preface to Does Illegal Immigration Harm US Citizens?, Hanson). Although television has particularly become a major shaper of opinion, the images shown on the screen generally send conflicting messages. On one hand, immigrants are favorably portrayed as hardworking exemplars of the American dream. Whenever legislators consider revising immigration laws, dire predictions are issued regarding the economi c and social consequences of accepting more aliens. Apparently, these forecasts often turn out to be wrong. For example, two generations ago, restrictions were placed on the influx of Eastern and Southern European immigrants on the grounds that they were undesirable. Today, the nation proudly trumpets the achievements of these same groups. Indeed, Americans who favor continued immigration point reassuringly to the contributions of immigrants and their children as evidence of the nation’s ability to assimilate more aliens. Some people, however, view, with so much uneasiness, the growing number of immigrants, most of them from under developed nations. They fear that America will not be able to cope, economically or socially, with the multitudes of the poor and hungry people eager to cross borders into the United States of America. With the global population doubling every forty years, they see no end to the torrent of immigrants into their country. Seemingly, this fear extends to the countless refugees who flee their home lands when political repression becomes intolerable. Interestingly, however, fewer people express concern that the number of legal entrants is also growing primarily as a result of family reunification. In suburban areas across the nation, antigrowth sentiments are witnessed all over. Congestion has replaced the weather as a major topic of casual conversation. Complaints about traffic proliferate, but, like the weather, it seems beyond control. The nation seeks economic growth to satisfy material wants yet appears unwilling to deal with its adverse consequences such as too many cars and too few places to dump trash (Why Immigrants Come to America: Braceros, Indocumentados, and the Migra, Stout). In addition to these, national organizations are formed to support zero growth policies. In spite of the fact there is quite a huge population in the United States which is strongly opposed to the idea of welcoming immigrants into the country, im migrant business men and women are doing so much to help fuel the American economy through job creations and taking on jobs considered unacceptable by the native-born Americans (Immigrants: the Unsung Heroes of the U.S. Economy, Rayasam). Conclusion Notwithstanding the contributions of immigrants, American Central cities continue to face serious economic disruptions and social problems. The abandonment of massive public housing projects, many built on the foundations of tenements that housed earlier immigrants, stands as a constant reminder of the failed urban social policies. Over the years, violent crime has been on the rise, drug abuse continues to take its deadly toll of the young, and neighborhoods that house the underclass remain plagued by unemployment, poverty, and despair. Residents of formerly safe neighborhoods now fear to leave their homes. Restricting the flow of young immigrants could exact an economic price. America’s native population is aging, increasing the ration of non workers to workers. Also, as the base of the economy continues to shift from manufacturing to services, productivity gains in the coming years are expected to be modest. Unless there is an inflow of new labor, particularly skilled workers, the living standards in the United States could drop drastically. A report of the National Commission for Employment Policy suggests that, in order to meet projected labor demands, the nation may need to strongly encourage immigration. However, it seems unlikely that any such encouragement will be necessary since the United States still remains as attractive as ever to would be immigrants. References DeWeese, T. (2009). Employment Verification Will Not Deter Illegal Immigration. Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?failOverType=query=prodId=OVICwindowstate=normalcontentModules=mode=viewdisplayGroupName=Viewpointslimiter=currPage=disableHighlighting=falsesource=sortBy=displayGrou ps=search_within_results=action=ecatId=activityType=scanId=documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010227278 Hanson, G. H. (2012). Preface to Does Illegal Immigration Harm US Citizens? Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?failOverType=query=prodId=OVICwindowstate=normalcontentModules=mode=viewdisplayGroupName=Viewpointslimiter=currPage=disableHighlighting=falsesource=sortBy=displayGroups=search_within_results=action=ecatId=activityType=scanId=documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010499137 Loucky, J., Armstrong, J., Estrada, L. J. (2006). Immigration in America Today: An Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. National Immigration Forum (NIF). (2003). Top 10 Immigration Myths and Facts. Retrieved from immigrationforum.org/images/uploads/MythsandFacts.pdf Oppenheimer, M. (2010). Keeping the Borders Open Does Not Harm U.S. Workers. Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?failOverType=query=prodId =OVICwindowstate=normalcontentModules=mode=viewdisplayGroupName=Viewpointslimiter=currPage=disableHighlighting=falsesource=sortBy=displayGroups=search_within_results=action=ecatId=activityType=scanId=documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010615206 Rector, R. (2009). Employment Verification Will Deter Illegal Immigration. Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?failOverType=query=prodId=OVICwindowstate=normalcontentModules=mode=viewdisplayGroupName=Viewpointslimiter=currPage=disableHighlighting=falsesource=sortBy=displayGroups=search_within_results=action=ecatId=activityType=scanId=documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010227277 Stout, R. J. (2008). Why Immigrants Come to America: Braceros, Indocumentados, and the Migra. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. Waters, M. C., Ueda, R., Marrow, H. B. (2007). The New Americans: A Guide to Immigration since 1965. Harvard Yard Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Rayasam, R. (2007). Immigrants: the Unsung Heroes o f the U.S. Economy. U.S. News World Report, 00415537, 2/26/2007, Vol. 142, Issue 7. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=ebbab819-0e32-4438-9725-601871cd7d49%40sessionmgr12vid=10hid=12bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aphAN=24165745 Marcelli, E. (2005). Immigrants and the U.S. Labor Market. NACLA Report on the Americas, 10714839, Mar/Apr2005, Vol. 38, Issue 5. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=ebbab819-0e32-4438-9725-601871cd7d49%40sessionmgr12vid=12hid=12bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aphAN=16261289

Background Information Of Gems And Jewellery

Background Information Of Gems And Jewellery Disclaimer: This work has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work produced by our Law Essay Writing Service . You can view samples of our professional work here . Background Information Of Gems And Jewellery The global gem and jewellery industry over the past decade has observed significant changes and showed signs of growth, on account of increasing income as well as demand from the emerging economies across the world. Among the various types of jewellery, plain diamond jewellery accounted for the largest share of the global jewellery market, followed by plain gold jewellery. Diamonds being the world’s major natural resource is used in both jewellery and industrial applications. The growth in demand for diamond-studded jewellery has been due to the strong economic growth in key diamond jewellery consuming nations and marketing efforts of diamond companies. Traditionally, gold has held the leading position in most of the jewellery markets across the world because of its value as well as tradability factor. In 2008, although the total gold consumed as plain gold jewellery decreased in volume terms, the sales recorded gain in value terms . Demand for platinum jewellery has gained ground in the last few years, in not only the developed markets of the US and Europe but also in emerging markets like China and India, due to the ‘elite’ tag and ‘high-end’ value attached to the metal. Geographically, the US continues to be the largest consumer for gems and jewellery, followed by China/ India, the Middle East and Japan. In Europe, the UK and Italy are the largest consumers, and Italy is also one of the world’s largest jewellery fabrication centers. The emerging markets, like China, India which are traditional jewellery centers of consumption, are expected to develop as the largest consumption markets for both traditional as well as branded jewellery. The report analyzes the trends and challenges of the gem and jewellery and also outlines the opportunities driving the present as well as future industry growth. The report focuses on the retail jewellery sales, different jewellery segments and future potential of the four large consumers of jewellery – the US, China, India and the UK. The report analyzes the sales trends, demand patterns and future outlook of the three major segments of the jewellery industry, i.e. platinum, gold and diamond. The report also talks about the future outlook of the industry and its growth. By combining SPSS Inc.’s data integration and analysis capabilities with our relevant findings, we have predicted the future growth of the industry. We employed various significant variables that have an impact on this industry and created regression models with SPSS Base to determine the future direction of the industry. Before deploying the regression model, the relationship between several independent or predictor variables and the dependent variable was analyzed using standard SPSS output, including charts, tables and tests. Problems and Challenges faced by the local and global industry Currently, the local gems and jewellery industry is encountering trade obstacles and high competition. These include, The lack of local raw materials The rapid growth of the gem and jewellery industry in competing countries with lower labor costs the high rate of import taxes in those countries, including new tariff barriers which play an important role for international trade; the rules of origin for gemstones; the rules of product origin;

Pfizer Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pfizer - Research Paper Example The two principles that are covered for this submission is the Labor Principle 1: The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation and the Environment Principle 2: Encourage the development and diffusion of environment friendly technologies. These two principles cover the aspects related to the internal human resources policies followed by the organizations (Pfizer in this case) and the way in which the company goes about encouraging newer technologies to enter the market that are environmentally friendly and â€Å"green† according to the principles laid down by the global compact. If we examine the first principle of ending discrimination at the workplace, we find that Pfizer has been proactively reaching out to its internal stakeholders i.e. its employees and educating them about the need to foster a workplace environment that is free from harassment and gender specific targeting. Towards this end, Pfizer has undertaken a series of initiatives that deal with these issues. Some of them include the institution of a strict workplace policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of any factor be it gender, ethnicity, race or physical disabilities or lifestyle preferences. This has come in the form of a directive from top management with its implementation being tracked for success at all levels and grievance redressal mechanisms and anonymous complaint registration being made available to all the employees. As the following excerpt from the company’s website points out, â€Å"the education of employees has included executive memos, stories about the Global Compact on Pfizer’s online worldwide news service for employees, and a two-day global meeting of senior employees focused on stakeholder engagement. In addition, the company’s mandatory education for all employees on Pfizer’s Code of Ethics included segments on corporate citizenship, with reference to the Global

Antigone Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Antigone - Assignment Example Oedipus kills his father during a disagreement along the road. In addition he kills Sphinx making him a darling for the people of Thebes. The reward for the win and following the death of King Laius, Oedipus is given the throne leading to the interaction with the queen (Sophocles 1117). Oedipus marries his mother and gives birth of two boys and two girls namely Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone and Ismene. The tragedy of incest leads to blinding of Oedipus and leaving the city. The complex relationship between mother and son leads to the birth of four children who are also brothers to their father. The relationship between Antigone and Oedipus is complex in definition because of the complex nature of their relationships. Eteocles fights for Thebes while polyneices fights for the rebel (Sophocles 1118). In the battle the rebel group is defeated and the new king of Thebes orders that Polyneices should not be buried creating controversy between leads to death of Antigone for defying the rul e or order of King Creon. Sophocles was born in Colonus near Athens. Colonus was a city with unique culture which is evident in the approach of used in his drama. His father owned a business that manufactured armor. Sophocles studied music and was known for mastery in music. His father was called Sophilus. He married twice and became the father of two sons named Lophon and Agathon. His career as perfect because he became a treasurer of Athena. He was also invested with priesthood of Amynos (Sophocles 173). Sophocles had an impact on Western culture and even given a tribute for his achievement. The success of Sophocles is based on the educational background. Seamus Heaney is a poet of Irish origin. He was a playwright, translator and lecture. He won the1995 Nobel Prize in literature. He was born on April 13th 1939 at Castledawson, studies at queen’s university of Belfast and St Columb’s College. He won several rewards in the literature

Reading response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 21

Reading response - Essay Example The Allies were forced to sign off as post First World War the allies were dependent on the United States for not only military and arms but also for fuel, food and other basic requirements. However, only some of the Wilson 14 points made it to acceptance particularly five of them the rest were rejected on the event of being overly ambitious and unrealistic. The impracticality of these points dominated the Great European powers and the experiences of wartime. Apart from the Russian evacuation and the Belgium restoration the other points created more negative vibe than positive effects. For example, the settlement of colonial claims, the French disputed territories; the Italy border adjustments based on nationality etc. all caused more tension and new national disputes rather than solving any problems. Thus not all the points presented by the President were fruitful in generating world peace. The most important point in my view and according to the historical perspective is the last point. ‘Establishment of the League of Nations to secure mutual guarantees of independence and territorial integrity.’ ("President Wilsons Fourteen Points"). This League of Nations was formed through the start of the Second World War and aimed at diluting national sovereignty and creating global and international government. However, this did not materialize as per the speech but this point was the backbone of the 14 points speech by the President Wilson in

Performance Criteria Identified By Hillgren And Morse Essay

Performance Criteria Identified By Hillgren And Morse - Essay Example Hillgren and Morse (1998) established that similarities exist among high performing organizations. Their view of such organizations is based on financial accomplishments, employee motivation as well as service delivery and customer satisfaction. This paper critically compares the performance of Abercrombie and Fitch against the four performance criteria identified by Hillgren and Morse (1998). The multinational company deals with designer clothes. The paper highlights some practical examples related to the concepts, ideas and insights from their article titled â€Å"high performing organizations†. High Performing Organizations Direction is one of the basic elements identified by Hillgren and Morse (1998). Leaders need to ensure that the subordinates understand the organization’s principles. These are fundamental to its existence. The visionary leadership of Abercrombie and Fitch promotes a sense of purpose in the organization. The leaders understand the company’s vision and apply their skills to entrench creativity among the workers. Sensitization of employees regarding the achievement of the organization’s vision and core values is done regularly through staff meetings and weekly forums, which ensures that all team players in the various departments understand their roles in enhancing success. The sensitization approach corresponds to Hillgren and Morse’s assertion of â€Å"a clearly articulated and frequently communicated vision† (p 9), which is significant for high performing organizations. Behaviourization of values as proposed by Hillgren and Morse gives Abercrombie and Fitch a unique characteristic that enhances customer satisfaction. One of the core values is to ensure customer focused service delivery that is based on their needs rather than the company’s interests. Workplace diversity promotes strong interpersonal relationships among the staff, which helps in building talents and encouraging creativity. Exceptional contribution among staff is acknowledged and rewarded. The leaders act as role models of the organizational behaviour. Integrity is upheld and words correspond to the actions of staff members. The value metrics highlighted by Hillgren and Morse have been adopted by Abercrombie and Fitch. They help in establishing the level of customer satisfaction, which signifies the level of collaboration among staff. Value metrics are also significant in determining whether the organizational values have been upheld in service delivery to customers. Bhatt (2002) observed that â€Å"anything that gets measured gets done† (p 28). Abercrombie and Fitch’s value metrics are focused on the priority areas that are likely to be affected by the dynamics of the operating environment. For example, customers’ feedback offers a basis for the assessment of the level of satisfaction. After interacting with the company’s employees, the customers are given a chance to confi dentially rate and comment the quality of service offered to them. The management is able to determine the areas that require improvements as well as those that require reinforcement through assessing positive and negative feedbacks from consumers. The suggestion box also provides an opportunity to assess the organization’s leadership as well as the priority areas that need further consideration. Performance measurement is significant in assessing progress and planning for future improvements (Edwards et al. 2007). It helps in determining staff awareness regarding the direction of the organization. Abercrombie and F

A Comparative Analysis Of The Hotels Across The World Essay

A Comparative Analysis Of The Hotels Across The World - Essay Example A comparative analysis of the three hotels will be done to analyse the differences as well as the similarities between them. The first is Bellagio. Bellagio is one of the luxury hotels located at Las Vegas. The quality of art and architecture in Bellagio attracts the customers mainly. It portrays the Italian culture. The main goal of the hotel is creating an ambience which will help the customers to understand the true value of the hotel by means of its constructions. Bellagio focuses on attracting the upper middle class of the society. It tries to bring in the wealthy customers and retain them by providing excellent services. The wonderful fountain dance shows along with the art and architecture, quality services and the casino game shows have helped the resort to the AAA five Diamond Award for 11 times. The second hotel is Sheraton Macao Hotel. It is a hotel situated in Macau. This hotel consisting of 3896 rooms is the biggest hotel in Macau. Sheraton Macao Hotel is built using the modern concept where the Family Suites and the Club Rooms give the view of the renowned Cotai Strip. The brand new hotel provides guest rooms to the customers portraying the state-of-arts having a balcony. The hotel provides six restaurants, bars and a gym. The target market of Sheraton Macao hotel is the upper class of the society. It has designed its services in such a manner which is affordable by the rich section of the society mostly. It mainly focuses on the rich families and also the tourists who visit Macao during their holiday seasons. The third hotel is New York Hilton Midtown. New York Hilton Midtown is situated in New York. It is the biggest hotel of the city and the 101st tallest hotel of the world. The hotel is a walking distance away from the premier attractions of the city i.e. Times Square, Fifth Avenue shopping, Radio-City Music Hall etc. The hotel has been built based on the modern concept and contains spacious guest rooms to provide on demand entertainment. The location of the hotel is within the reach of the city’s most popular attractions and the local transportations. New York Hilton Midtown is a 24 hours business centre where all important business meetings are held. Thus the main focus of the hotel is the business travellers. Each of these hotels has different concepts as well as different target markets. It is due to this reason that the services offered by them differ to a great extent. Each hotel has been able to achieve a competitive advantage over its competitors by implementing own marketing and pricing strategies. They have maintained a successful position in the market by choosing the concepts and target markets in relation to the environment. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Concept 4 Target Markets 5 Market Positioning 6 Experience offered 7 Planning and Design Solutions 8 Response to the environment 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction The design of a hotel plays an impor tant role in achieving competitive advantage in the hospitality industry. It helps to give a separate identity to a hotel and draw the attention of the customers towards it. Moreover, the quality of services provided by a hotel also helps it to achieve success in the industry. The project deals with the comparative analysis of three hotels from different geographical locations. This will help us to identify the similarities as well as the differences between the 3 hotels which have enabled these hotels to achieve success. Bellagio is one of the luxury hotels located at Las Vegas. The parent company of the hotel is MGM Resorts International. It was opened on 15th October, 1998. The hotel has been built after the demolition of the hotel and casino named Dunes (Saving America's Mustangs Foundation, 2012).

Critique of Anand Hollas Article Entitled Obsessed with Your Cell Essay

Critique of Anand Hollas Article Entitled Obsessed with Your Cell Phone - Essay Example The article is timely because the author was able to determine that our dependency towards technology particularly cellphone has already developed to a proportion that is already a disorder. The author intended to create awareness among the readers so that they would examine themselves if they are already addicted to their smartphones by comparing their behaviors to the behaviors cited in the article. And if they are, they can seek help just like what the subjects did in the article. The good thing about this article is that the author made its audience realize that addiction towards cellphone is not healthy. Many people especially teenagers think that their dependency towards their smartphones are cool when it is in fact not. It would be difficult to ascertain with certainty if the author had successfully convinced its audience that smartphone use has already assumed a proportion of disorder. There no surveys included in the article that provided reader response. But personally, I t hink the arguments of the author are quite persuasive. I may not be that totally sold with the point of view yet because I am still looking for more literature to support his claim, but the article has definitely made me think and consider that smartphone dependency of many people is already troublesome. If the study is to be believed smartphone addiction is already â€Å"similar to drugs or cigarette addiction† which is already troublesome. To say that I agree already with the author would be quite premature considering that there is only one point of view that is presented to me and does not have anything to support or refute his arguments. Basing however from experience and observation, I think that the author made a good case and if presented with supporting scientific literature that is peer-reviewed, his case could convince me. Inferring from my observation, I see a lot of young people who are hooked not just with their smartphones but also to social media such as Faceb ook and Twitter. Some are even exclaiming that they cannot live without their smartphones or their Facebook or they could not imagine life without it.     

A Comparative Analysis Of The Hotels Across The World Essay

A Comparative Analysis Of The Hotels Across The World - Essay Example A comparative analysis of the three hotels will be done to analyse the differences as well as the similarities between them. The first is Bellagio. Bellagio is one of the luxury hotels located at Las Vegas. The quality of art and architecture in Bellagio attracts the customers mainly. It portrays the Italian culture. The main goal of the hotel is creating an ambience which will help the customers to understand the true value of the hotel by means of its constructions. Bellagio focuses on attracting the upper middle class of the society. It tries to bring in the wealthy customers and retain them by providing excellent services. The wonderful fountain dance shows along with the art and architecture, quality services and the casino game shows have helped the resort to the AAA five Diamond Award for 11 times. The second hotel is Sheraton Macao Hotel. It is a hotel situated in Macau. This hotel consisting of 3896 rooms is the biggest hotel in Macau. Sheraton Macao Hotel is built using the modern concept where the Family Suites and the Club Rooms give the view of the renowned Cotai Strip. The brand new hotel provides guest rooms to the customers portraying the state-of-arts having a balcony. The hotel provides six restaurants, bars and a gym. The target market of Sheraton Macao hotel is the upper class of the society. It has designed its services in such a manner which is affordable by the rich section of the society mostly. It mainly focuses on the rich families and also the tourists who visit Macao during their holiday seasons. The third hotel is New York Hilton Midtown. New York Hilton Midtown is situated in New York. It is the biggest hotel of the city and the 101st tallest hotel of the world. The hotel is a walking distance away from the premier attractions of the city i.e. Times Square, Fifth Avenue shopping, Radio-City Music Hall etc. The hotel has been built based on the modern concept and contains spacious guest rooms to provide on demand entertainment. The location of the hotel is within the reach of the city’s most popular attractions and the local transportations. New York Hilton Midtown is a 24 hours business centre where all important business meetings are held. Thus the main focus of the hotel is the business travellers. Each of these hotels has different concepts as well as different target markets. It is due to this reason that the services offered by them differ to a great extent. Each hotel has been able to achieve a competitive advantage over its competitors by implementing own marketing and pricing strategies. They have maintained a successful position in the market by choosing the concepts and target markets in relation to the environment. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Concept 4 Target Markets 5 Market Positioning 6 Experience offered 7 Planning and Design Solutions 8 Response to the environment 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction The design of a hotel plays an impor tant role in achieving competitive advantage in the hospitality industry. It helps to give a separate identity to a hotel and draw the attention of the customers towards it. Moreover, the quality of services provided by a hotel also helps it to achieve success in the industry. The project deals with the comparative analysis of three hotels from different geographical locations. This will help us to identify the similarities as well as the differences between the 3 hotels which have enabled these hotels to achieve success. Bellagio is one of the luxury hotels located at Las Vegas. The parent company of the hotel is MGM Resorts International. It was opened on 15th October, 1998. The hotel has been built after the demolition of the hotel and casino named Dunes (Saving America's Mustangs Foundation, 2012).

John Smith Essay Example for Free

John Smith Essay Dear Hiring Manager: In response to your recent advertisement for Customer Service Manager, I have enclosed a copy of my resume for your review. As you will note, I have spent more than five years in the Customer Service profession in different positions of increasing responsibility. I have a track record with assisting customers and am skilled in communication and computer applications. My career is chronicled by meritorious promotions and the fact that I am well versed in interpersonal skills is a significant contributing factor to the successes I have achieved. I am seeking to further my career in the customer service field where I can maximize my communication and organizational skills to further business goal and bottom-line objectives. In my candidacy, you will find: A team oriented professional with a positive work ethic and deep commitment to providing excellent results A track record of excellent performance as an employee at my various places of employment The proven ability to build genuine rapport. Your review of my enclosed resume to explore a possible match between your needs and my skills is much appreciated. I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you in person to learn more about your business and to explore employment possibilities. You may reach me at 802-555 5550 or via email at [emailprotected] com Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Sincerely, John Smith Enclosure.

How can Employees be Empowered to Increase Productivity?

How can Employees be Empowered to Increase Productivity? 1.Preliminary title: Empowerment is essential to increase productivity among employee. 2.Research purpose: The out come of employee empowerment in service industry can bring long-term success. The purpose of this research is to analyse and achieve in-depth knowledge and understanding on employee empowerment in the context of service industry by comparing the perspective of manager and employee. And provide suggestions to service industry how to gain more productively through empower the employee. This result will be obtained by testing the efficiency of the employee empowerment variables. The earlier discussion on employee empowerment in the service industry has lead to the main research question. How employee can be empowered for increasing productivity? What competitive advantage ‘employee empowerment can bring for the company? 3.Rational On this era, the arrival of an information-based, knowledge-intensive, service driven economy has forced a massive of change on companies worldwide, most dramatically in the way they must redefine their relationship with their employees (Bartlett 2002). Hill and Huq (2004) argued that specifically, it emanated from the realization that traditional hierarchical ‘command and control organizations were struggling to meet the growing demands for flexibility and demands for flexibility and quality. The employees respond most excellent and creatively not when management does tightly control them, placed in narrowly defined job and treated like unwelcoming necessity. But instead, when they are given broader responsibilities, and encouraged to contribute and help to take satisfaction in their jobs (Walton 1985). Thats why now a day, employee of organization and how management manages them are becoming more important because many other source of competitive success is less powerful than they once were. Traditional sources of success- technology, protected or regulated market, access to financial resource and economies of scale can still provide competitive advantage, but to a lesser degree now than in the past, leaving organizational culture and capabilities, derived from how people are managed, as comparatively more vital (Henry and Maryle, 2002). As, organizations sustainable competitive advantage is its people that why management need to engage all the human resource to active companys long time success. In the modern world Empowerment is one of the key tools, which a manager can use frequently to involve and manage organizations people to achieve competitive advantage. As Campbell (2009,p8) pointed out that ‘‘People are your most valuable asset. To get the most out of employees, empower is essential. 4.Literature review: 4.1.What is employee empowerment? The aim of Empowerment to create a culture where employee have freedom to express themselves and have the liberty to make decisions about how they work, where there is always the opportunity to give constructive feedback, and where everyone is equal and approachable (Beaven 2009). So Empowerment implies give up central control, which will encourage speed, flexibility and determination of the employee. According to Campbell (2009), main meaning of empower employees is to give up some aspects of control. In return for giving up that control, managers will have more scope and time to look at the big picture and engage in strategic thinking. Styhre (2001) illustrated that empowermentis depicted by its proponents as the common denominator for recent managerial techniques and activities that acknowledge the individual employee as an intelligent, accountable, creative being, and therefore a productive resource for the company. Lashley (1997) argued that it is intended that through empowerme nt employees will be more committed to successful service encounters and will have the necessary discretion and autonomy to do whatever is needed to satisfy the customer. 4.2 .How to apply empowerment to increase productivity among employee? Different organizations choose to empower their employees to different degrees; at the lowest level empowerment the employee has no autonomy to take decision. On the other hand, at the highest level the employee is given decision-making authority and can control their own performances( Daft ,2001). All these employees are often able to affect organizational goals, structure, as well as reward systems. In order to empower employees, four different factors are Important. Those different factor work as an element to empower employee. Which will give the employees space to act more independently in accomplishing their jobs. According to Daft (2000) those are: information, knowledge, power and rewards. Information: In any organizations where the employees are fully empowered, no information about the company is held secret for employee. Thats why employees must receive every information about the performance of the company. 2.Knowledge: Before and after empowering employees every company need to give training for increasing knowledge and skills of employee. Which build up their problem solving decision-making capability. As by having power of knowledge and skills, an employee can be able to contribute to the goals of the company. Power: To make substantial decisions, employees must have the power. Which will increase employee involvement, confidante. Rewarding: The employees need to get rewarded on the basis their performances and companys performance. The employees can be more committed towards the company by having true appreciation through psychologically and physically. 4.3.Advantages: According to the literature, empowerment bring many positive result for the company like, quicker response to customer, communication and teamwork, employee satisfaction and increase their working value, reduce costs and economic profits, involvement, customer satisfaction/ recovery, increased employee efficiency, customer loyalty and new innovative idea for the organization (Campbell, 2009; Beaven, 2009; Bowen Lawler, 2002; Styhre ,2001; Lashley, 1997). Empowered employee is more productive, psychologically and physically healthy, proactive and innovative, persistent in the work place, trustworthy, interpersonally efficient, intrinsically motivated, and have higher morale and commitment than employee who are not empowered (Whitten , 2007). Earlier literature review has illustrated that empowerment can play a very vital rule in order to increases productivity among employees. Research need to be taken in order to gain better understanding this phenomenon on the context of present service industry. Now, research method need to chosen in order to complete the research successfully. 5.Research Methodology 5.1.Research approach Rossman and Rallis (2003) stated that there are two different research methods that are frequently used when researchers are about to conduct research: the qualitative and the quantitative method. A quantitative method is mostly concern with measurements and to generalize the result.This means that qualitative research mostly humanistic research, which makes it possible to interpret as well as understand a phenomenon. The purpose of this research is to analysis and achieves depth knowledge and understanding on employee empowerment in the context of service industry by comparing the perspective of manager and employee. And provide suggestions to service industry to gain more productively through empower the employee. As this is a humanistic research qualitative approach will be very effective to do in-depth investigation. 5.2.Sampling The researcher will select two service-oriented company to carry on sampling process. The reason for exploring different venues is to gather valuable data from different source. The method of contact to manager of relevant company for arranging interview session with manager and employee will through face-to-face, phone, or e-mail. 5.3.Data collection method According to Silverman (2001), there are four main methods used in qualitative research are: Observation Analyzing texts and documents Interviews Recordings and transcribing. The data will be conducted for the research in two distinct stages by the researcher to carry on this research. A short period of observation there will be done in the first stage. Marshall and Rossman (1999) demonstrated that observation entails the systematic nothing and recording of events, behaviours and artifact (objects) in the social setting chose for the study. At the second stage of the data collection will be involved a series of semi-structured, in-depth face to face interview with employee and manager with in selected organization. 5.4.Data analysis procedures: Marshall and Rossman (1999) suggest that data analysis is the process of bringing order, structure and interpretation to the mass of collected data. Miles (1994) have demonstrated two models for analysis. The first one is researcher can analyze a separate case (within-case analysis). Then presents results by creating tables, checklists and matrix around collected, qualitative data by comparing the theory with empirical data in these tables and checklists. It will be easy to see similarities and differences on this model. At The second model, the researcher compares the results from different cases in a cross-case analysis. Researcher will follow the first model where comparison will be made between literature and empirical data which be collected from manager and employee. The comparison will be done in order to identify patterns that would similar or different from the theory or literature. 5.5.Data capture At the time of depth face-to-face interviews with interviewees, research will use voice recorder that he can give more attention on interview. Then researcher will transcribe date fordata analysis procedure, it has probable that the result would bring more accuracy. 5.6.Reliability and validity To ensure reliability and validity, every face-to-face interview will be recorded and transcribed. Silverman, D (2001) argued that the quality of recording and transcripts has important implications on the reliability of conversation analytical research. For this reason, every transcription will be coded. 5.7.Proposed time schedule Assuming 12 weeks of period has allocated for conducting this masters research. Following this a proposed time schedule would be as follow: Period Activity 1st 2 week Initial literature review Next 2 week Complete participant observation Next 4 week Arrange and conduct interviews; transcribe and analyse interview data Next 2 Literature and further analysis of data Rest of the week Write up and submit completed thesis Reference: Bartlett, Christopher A., Ghoshal and Sumantra (2002). BuildingCompetitiveAdvantage ThroughPeople. MIT Sloan Management Review. Vol. 43 Issue 2.pp.34-41. Beaven, D.2009. People make the difference.Logistics Transport Focus. Vol. 11 Issue 6, pp45-47. Bowen, D.E. and Lawler, E.E. 2002. The empowerment of service workers: What, why, how and when. In: Henry. J and Mayle.D.ed. Managing innovation and change, Open University Business School, in association with sage, pp.243-273. Campbell, G.2009.Employee Empowerment. Quality.Vol.48 Issue 4, p 8. Daft, R. 2001. Organization Theory and Design, 7th Edition. South-Western College. Thompson Learning. Henry, J., Mayle, D.2002. Managing innovation and change. Open University Business School, in association with SAGE.pp61-73. Hill, F., Huq, R.2004. Employee Empowerment: Conceptualizations, Aims and Outcomes. Total Quality Management and Business Excellence, Vol. 15 Issue 8, pp1025-1041. Lashley, C.1999.Empowering service excellence in service. London: Cassell Publications. Miles, M.1994.Qualitative data analysis: an expanded sourcebook / Matthew B Miles. : Sage Publications, Inc. Marshall, C. and Rossman, G.B .1999. Designing Qualitative Research. 3rd Ed.London; Sage Publications. Rossman, B. G. Rallis F. S. 2003. Learning in the Field: An Introduction to Qualitative Research.2nd ed. California: Sage Publications, Inc. Silverman, D .2001. Interpreting Qualitative data, Methods for Analyzing talk text and Interaction. 2nd Ed.sage London, p.14. Walton, Richard E.1985. Fromcontroltocommitmentintheworkplace. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 63 Issue 2. pp77-84. Whetten, David A and Cameron, Kim S.2008. Developing management skills. 7th edition, Prentice hall.