Organizations that fail to plan are planning to fail Essay

Currently, the numerous organizations pour huge sums of capitals into competitive market in order to get a larger market share and seek more financial profits. Some of them are success, while others are eliminated with a huge financial loss by the fierce competition. However, the main reason why those companies failed is nothing but not having an all-round strategic planning. This essay will discuss that a company with an all-round planning in terms of external and internal environment of the business will help businesses achieve company’s objectives and survive from the intensive competition of the capital market. Planning for internal environment mainly based on company’s weakness and strength can increase the working efficiency and coordination for the purpose of reducing in the operation cost associated with production mistakes, while planning for the external in terms of company’s threats and opportunities can help the business effectively analyze local mark et and expand company in order to gain more financial benefits. It is undeniable that a formal planning for a company makes contributions to achieving organization’s objective under the assumption of unchanged and predictable environment (Robbins et al. 2012 p.87). However, it is commonly believed that the capital market is changeable and unpredictable (Kumar 2011, p.18). As a result, a well-constructed plan might not be able to fit in every circumstance of business. Some negative discussions on a formal planning have been issued recently (Robbins 2012, p.87). Firstly, a formal planning may create some rigidity to the working environment that makes management lack flexibility and selectivity, which leads managers to be simply tied on a specific course of action (Robbins 2012, p.87). Secondly, a formal planning may restrict staff’s creativity and intuition. As a company needs someone’s creativity and innovation to be improved, the result of formal planning may reduce the vision to an inflexible company routine, which will be a receipt of disaster (Robbins 2012, p.87). Thirdly, planning may limit managers’ strategic vision. There is a tendency that a planning especially for the strategic performance of business only focuses on how to maximize organization financial benefits in the capital market. As a result, the managers may simply focus on the field the company currently has, rather than re-creation or reinvention in aims of company expansion in the future (Robbins 2012,  p.87). Fourthly, a formal planning can enhance success that maybe a receipt of failure. According to Robins (2012, p.87), managers may follow some precedential business cases that succeed before. Thereby, it is hard and unwilling for them to discard the successful experience of precedents when make a plan for the company. However, this plan may keep managers from doing things in a new way that would be even more successful because successful experience cannot work in every company environment, especially in current uncertain and changeable capital market (Robbins 2012, p.87). However, for the business long-term success, the importance of strategic planning in terms of internal for a business is incredibly meaningful (Topfer 2011, para.1). Firstly, an internally focused planning can provide an internal analysis of organization that considers internal weakness of company (Ingram 2014, para.3). Through an internal management planning, managers of a company can immediately identify the lack of company’s abilities and resources and then analyze the weaknesses may exist in the future development at the first beginning of a company’s operation, such as the staff skill limitation, the limitation of its product design or the shortage of technical and financial support (Flott 1997, pp.42-3). Thus, remedial measures, such as employing higher educated employees or improvement of manufactory equipment, can be timely acted. Consequently, financial loss or resources shortage can be effectively avoided during the operation (Flott 1997, p.43). Secondly, an internally focused planning plays an effective role in helping managers identify company strengths as well (Robbins et al. 2012, p.90). Analyzing company strengths by finding out any unique resource or any performance the business does better than other companies, managers are able to discover some competitive advantages (Ingram 2012, para.5). For instance, the world largest mobile company, Apple, they know that they have abundant financial strengths, thus they fully take financial advantages by making considerable investment over $160 million annually in the area of innovation and design of products (Clark 2014, para.1). As a result, Apple attracts millions of loyal customers around the world and makes them willing to purchase the products constantly because of the highest quality and best performance of products (Clark 2014, para.2). Thirdly, internal planning helps managers do some internal adjustment for increasing working efficiency. For instance, by thoroughly analyzing staff working capabilities  in terms of education level, work experience and overall competence, managers can optimize the utilization of human resources. Effectively deploying different human resources into different working departments, where is suitable for each employee, can maximize their strengths in order to achieve higher work efficiency and coordination (Loton 2007, p.373). As a result, the errors of production and wastage that caused by staff’s working against during the operation can be substantially avoided and declined. In other words that the operation cost can be reduced and keep company moving effectively towards its objective (Robbins et al. 2012, p.86). Fourthly, it is also helpful for managers to determine whether the operation of organization is on the right track and check how far they have drifted away from the original objective by an internal planning (Topfer 2011, para.4). Internal planning is a reference point t hat can allow managers to return to any point of operation once the mistakes happened (Topfer 2011, para.3). The functions of a strategic planning which externally focused are critical for company’s success as well. An external planning can provide an analysis that examines the threats and opportunities of company that independently exists in the external environment (Olsen 2010, para.10). According to Olsen (2010, para.10), the threats are obstacles that prevent organization from achieving its objectives and have negative effects on future development in terms of external; while the opportunities refer to a positive condition in the external environment that will produce constructive contributions on organization’s success. Through analyzing company’s threats when makes an externally focused plan, managers are able to clearly identify, for instance, what the supply and cost of labor is in the location where operates and whether the labor cost will significantly affect the profit of products (Robbins et al. 2012, p.87). A remarkable example of this is Apple Company. Apple has currently occupied the market of mobile phone over 60%, so a large amount of labor force is required during the production (Worstall 2013, para.2). In order to have a lower labor cost, the production planning center of Apple decided that settled the factories into Asian countries because Asia have a relatively lower labor cost and plenty of labor supply (Worstall 2013, para.1). A latest statistical data has been carried out that Apple has to pay more $4.2 billion to the production staff if Apple manufactures iPhone in the US rather than in Asia (Worstall 2013, para.1).  So, it is obvious that a company analyzing its external condition when makes an external plan is crucial to its objectives in terms of financial benefits. Furthermore, having an external plan is helpful for managers to find out the company’s opportunities, such as a market gap that no organization is currently serving, a new field that can be stepped in for the purpose of exploring market to seek more financial return and developmental opportunities (Ingram 2012, paras 6-7). After analyze external environment of company, managers can timely know what pro ducts can affect market share and what changes are in consumers favor that may increase the sale of products (Ingram 2012, para.6). As a result, effective adjustments in terms of improvement and innovation of products and can be carried out in order to remain company’s long-term competiveness in the market and meet the customers’ demand immediately (Ingram 2012, para.6). Hence, the sales of product can be increased and more financial profits can be brought out. In conclusion, although having a formal planning may bring some negative effects on company’s success, a well-constructed strategic plan in terms of internally focused and externally focused makes contribution to its financial profit and surviving from the market competition. To an internal plan, combining company’s industry status with its strength, it can help company enhance its market position and do some positive adjustment in order to get a higher working efficiency and coordination, while identifying company’s weakness, such as scarcity of resources, some remedial measures can be acted in advance in order to avoid financial loss in the further development. To an external plan, analyzing company’s opportunities can help business explore new market in order to reach developmental potential. At the same time, an external plan can provide an external analysis that assist managers with identifying company’s threats, such as labor cost and supply. According to Apple’s example, choosing a most beneficial manufactory location not only can have a sufficient labor supply but also save plenty of labor cost. Overall, adhering a strategic plan both internally and externally for a company is constructive and meaningful in its long-term success. Reference List Flott, LW 1997, ‘Quality Control: Corporate Planning’, Elsevier Science, July, pp.42-5. Ingram, D 2014, ‘Internal & External Strategic Plan Development’, Chron, viewed 21 April 2014, . Kumar, B 2011, Capital Market, Anurag Jain, New Delhi, India. Loton, C 2007, ‘Using good business planning to ensure good governance’, Keep Good Companies, July, pp.372-5. Olsen, E 2010, ‘Internal & External Analysis’, OnStrategy, 5 April, viewed 1 May 2014, . Robbins, S, DeCenzo, D, Coulter, M & Woods, M 2012, Management: The Essentials, 1st edn, Pearson, Australia. Topfer, S 2011, ‘The Importance of Business Planning’, NASDAQ, 25 February, viewed 20 April 2014, . Worstall, T 2013, ‘If Apple Brought iPhone Manufacturing To The US It Would Cost Them $4.2 billion’, Forbes, 25 September, viewed 2 May 2014, .

Chateau Lafite Rothschild (China) Essay

Situation in China: China is one of the most important markets in the world, and with a growth of the Chinese economy in the past decades; it has encouraged international suppliercompaniess to enter the Chinese market. Living standards as well as purchasing power parity have improved since the countries openness to a market-oriented economy. Due to this openness foreign companies have attracted the consumption of wine from the middle-class, generating an increase in the last years of wine sales. Wine consumption continues to grow at a rapid rate in the country. The Chinese wine market is a complicated due to its numerous wine producers (local producers) and wine companies entering china to exploit the wine market. China as the most populated country in the world is a commercial paradise for all the enterprises wanting to expand to new markets. By the gain in market share by the introduction of new products to the Chinese market, foreign companies take advantage of a growing market. In the last years the French wine companies have been exporting to china expecting to gain market share in the wine sector taking advantage of one of the world’s fastest growing economy. For French wine export companies, it is important to understand the market, due to the Chinese wine companies and local wine production and how they have been gaining ground in the wine market. Due to the countries emerging economy and the growth in economical aspects the population in china have been entering a new era of consumption of foreign products, and due to this reasons most foreign companies have set up subsidiaries or the most common joint ventures with other Chinese companies to enter the country’s market and gain some ground on the major cities. One of the most important and emerging sectors in the Chinese society are the luxurious products. After the purchasing power of the individuals, luxurious products have acquired more interest and represent an improvement in status of the Chinese population either local or international status. The wine sector represents an important sector for upcoming expenditures for the Chinese population, although the purchase of wine is more business oriented than for personal consumption. The preferred wines for this type of consumption are the high-end French wines (Bordeaux and Burgundy). The market situation is very open nowadays due to the facility of the Chinese consumers o access wines imported from major foreign producing countries as well as local produced wines (France, Italy, USA, Chile and Australia). To have great success in the Chinese wine market the companies have to apply a strong marketing promotion compared to the local mass promotions by Chinese producers. The foreign brands have to apply a strong marketing promotion, but due to lack of resources the advertisements from foreign companies has a limited reach. To improve the image of foreign wine brands, foreign companies must intensify their promotions and advertisements, generate a consumer education by creating events, wine demonstrations and wine-food events, as well as lowering the prices to accommodate them to the population’s purchasing power (different levels of purchasing power). STRENGHTS: †¢ Luxurious and high-end wine. †¢ Renown wine company over the world. †¢ French presence and popularity in the wine market. Bordeaux and Burgundy wines considered one of the best wines in the world. WEAKNESES: †¢ Weak marketing. †¢ High product prices. OPORTUNITIES: †¢ Fastest growing market in the world. 20% growth from 2006-2011 and with a forecasted growth of 54% for 2015. †¢ Most populated country in the world. †¢ Economy has been growing at over twice the world’s average, generating future markets for imported products. †¢ Wine market in china is expected to continue its growth, placing itself in 4th place in the world’s markets. †¢ Elevated purchasing power from the Chinese consumers. Accelerated increase in consumption. THREATS: †¢ Corruption and smuggling from the neighboring countries. †¢ Chinese wine producers awakening. Chinese wine companies have gained the majority of market share in the country. †¢ Growth of china’s vineyards has surpassed the production from three countries combined (Australia, Chile and South Africa).

Comparison and Contrast Essay

If you were to compare and contrast going to a community college verses going to a university, they can be very different but also one in the same. Some similarities include activities and, class choices. Differences between these two subjects are class size, living, and cost. Going away to school can be a lot different from going to a community college, but in some ways they can be similar also. The first point in which I will discuss is class size. When going to a community college, the class sizes are much smaller than going to a university. With a small class size, it is easier to get more help understanding the subject because there aren’t so many students. Teachers can give their students more one on one attention this way. A similarity between community college and a university is that some universities do have smaller class sizes. There are some classes at universities that aren’t lectures, making class sizes smaller than the usual 100 or more students. Class size at a university is usually much larger because there are a lot more students, with fewer classes. The second point to make in regards to comparing going to a community college and going to a university is the costs are very different. At a university you are paying for all four years whereas at a community college, you only have to pay for a minimum of two years, which makes for saving a lot more money. At a community college, you don’t have to pay anywhere near what you have to pay at a university. Also, at a community college, you aren’t paying for dorm living, which adds on thousands more of dollars. The only similarity between these two different schools costs is the online classes. You have to pay for taking an online class, but of course with a university it will still cost a lot more. They both offer online classes however. Another similarity between going to a community college verses going to a university is you have to pay if you want to be on a sport team. Both schools require money. Participating in activities at school such as sports, clubs, and concert events can be different when going to a community college and a university. Some ways they can be different is at a community college, some based on the size, don’t have football teams. All universities have football teams and stadiums. Community colleges, since they are smaller don’t have big stadiums or a football team. Going along with not having football teams, this means that community colleges don’t have marching bands either. Also, universities have famous people who give concerts and community colleges don’t do that either. Some similarities between school activities are both schools have some kind of clubs where students can join groups and become friends with the people in their clubs. Both colleges offer clubs. They also both have music programs as in band or orchestra or chorus. Both colleges offer music in the music departments. They may not be as large of a group as a university, but they are still offered. As you can see, if you go to a community college you won’t be able to participate sometimes in football, or marching band. Also, if you attend a community college, you can save a lot of money from not living on campus. The other topic I mentioned was class size and how much smaller the class size is compared to a university. The differences between both colleges that I mentioned were at a university there are larger classes, football stadiums, dorm living, and you have to pay much more money for attending a university for four years. Finally, the last thing I talked about were how going to a community college and a university have some things in common such as both having chorus, band, and orchestra. Also, they both have online classes and similar subjects that a student can take. Both colleges have similar activities such as clubs and after school activities. Since attending a community is much smaller, and a university is much larger, there are going to be many differences between these two colleges. But since they are both colleges, there are some similarities between the two of course as well. Regardless, you can now see exactly what they have in common, and what they don’t more clearly now.

Urban Life in the Works of Monet, Degas and Seurat Essay - 1

Urban Life in the Works of Monet, Degas and Seurat - Essay Example The essay "Urban Life in the Works of Monet, Degas and Seurat" examines the representation of the urban life in the works of Monet, Degas and Seurat. Paris of the middle of the 19th century is first of all a place of relaxation and fun, a place where a lot of visitors come for pleasure and entertainment. Paris is full of operas, vaudevilles and cafes. This is a city of strangers. I would like to dwell on the paintings of Manet, Degas and Seurat in this essay - the artists who touched upon the topic of the modern metropolis in their works as well. They painted all kinds of people from street musicians to aristocrats, but the biggest attention they paid to the so called â€Å"bohemia† – artists, poets, journalists, etc. Manet’s painting â€Å"At the cafe† is one that depicts one of his favorite themes – cafes in the lives of Parisians. This is a place where people can be together, but yet alone. Or those who are lonely can get a false feeling of intim acy – because in the cafes people are in close proximity to each other. This is what modern city was about – loneliness amongst crowds of people, strangers being together, and people who are supposed to be together are from each other in their hearts and minds, if not physically. â€Å"At the cafe† shows three people, sitting together at the table. It seems like these three people are a family – husband and wife, and their daughter. Yet none of them seems to be interested in the other person, in what he or she is saying, in their feelings.

Ecotourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Ecotourism - Essay Example In addition, it will present two case studies of ecotourism. Ecotourism denotes a responsible form of tourism that promotes both environmental projects and the welfare of the people in the regions of interest (Baromey, 2008). It offers the tourism a great deal of pleasure and a connection with nature and people of different cultural diversities. Ecotourism seeks to create a unification front of environmental conservation, sustainable travel, and communities. Ecotourism operates within a variety of principles that act as guidelines in the venture. It seeks to minimize the impacts that come because of mass and uncontrolled tourism. It also focuses on creating an environmental and cultural awareness as well as respect. Ecotourism has the interests of the tourists as well and emphasizes strives to ensure that tourism derive a measure of satisfaction and have memories of good experiences. Moreover, ecotourism strives to provide the hosts with positive experiences. For ecotourism to prove effective, it must yield financial benefits towards all forms of conservation. The communities that surround tourist destination must derive benefits financially and a form of social empowerment. Ecotourism also focuses on highlighting the necessary sensitivity concerning a country’s social, political, and environmental climate (Buckley, 2004). According to Buckley (2009), ecotourism emerged in the 1980’s after a realization that majority of tourists preferred natural areas. Tourism trends were changing with increased visits to places that tourists interact and connect with nature. The debate and concerns about the environment gave ecotourism an enormous popularity enabling it to penetrate completely into the tourism industry. The term became very popular among tourism promoters. The growth of ecotourism progressed to maturity as many initial theories underwent the test of time and more realistic concepts adopted. The realistic concepts and definitions have come into p lace after evidence based on empirical data became available. Ecotourism has slowly become the most preferable form of tourism because of its sustainability. Sustainability in this context is in reference to its different aspects of promoting the environment, tourist experience, economic benefits and socio-cultural dimensions because of its sustainability, most tourist organizations on the national and international front advocate for ecotourism (Singh, 2010). Community-based approach is one of the strategies emphasize by some organizations. In this approach, the local communities inhabiting the natural areas considered a tourist destination often exercise a measure of control in the ecotourism project. They participate actively in the designing projects as well as the management. In addition, they receive a portion of the economic benefits. The level of contribution of different communities depends on the institutions in place. This implies that planning of a community-based ecotou rism requires an inclusion of initiatives within the community. Community-based have the potential of achieving several targets of ecotourism. From this approach, a community shifts to sustainable livelihood forms. In addition, the approach presents a community with the opportunity of direct contribution in conservation. Direct involvement of a community increases the benefits a community can derive from ecotourism and motivates the community to contribute more to conservation projects.

The Magisterium & Ecumenical Councils and General Documents Essay

The Magisterium & Ecumenical Councils and General Documents - Essay Example An Outline of Nichols’s Treatment of the Relationship between Theologians and the Magisterium According to the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, lumen Gentium, the magisterium, i.e the pope and the bishops of the Catholic Church constitute the teaching authority of the Church. Having direct apostolic succession from the disciples of Jesus Christ, the magisterium of the Church has legitimate authority from Jesus Christ himself to preach and to spread the Gospel everywhere, to the ends of the world. As such, the catholic faithful are expected to faithfully respect and obey the teachings and the directives of the magisterium. But, although the Magisterium derives its authority from Jesus Christ himself, due to natural human limitations, sometimes the directions and the teachings of the magisterium are in need of refinements and improvements. This fact has led to the debate and the controversy between the relationship of the theologians, who often propose refinements of the tea chings of the magisterium, and the magisterium, which constitute the legitimate teaching authority of the Church. The following is the outline of the relationship between theologians and the Magisterium according to Nichols. ... the Holy Spirit will always shower abundant spiritual gifts upon the members of the Magisterium, thus giving them the directives on how to lead the people of God in accordance with the will of God. In this view, the Holy Spirit will guide the Magestrium in all the teachings of the church and rid the Church of errors. The theologian therefore is expected to abide by the teachings of the Magisterium and to be guided by all the teachings of the Magisterium in all their interpretations of the Scriptures and the traditions of the Church. In this view, the theologian is not given any clear cut distinctive role in the Church because their functions is merely to make known/ to interpret the teachings of the Magisterium. The main problem with this approach is that, the rightful distinctive position of the theologian among the people of God is not recognized and respected. Theologians are treated merely as the other faithful. The work of the theologians is not viewed as an ecclesial duty given by God for the good of all the members of the Church and, therefore, the theologian is not viewed as possessing a divine calling for the good of the Church. For this reason, theologians are not accorded their rightful distinctive position among the members of the Church. With this approach, theologians, therefore, are not encouraged to come up with divergent opinions, but instead they are expected to limit their studies to what is already accepted by the Magisterium. The second view of the relationship between the Magisterium and the theologians is the view that the theologian’s work is a direct derivative of the ordinary Magisterium. According to this view there is a master- servant relationship between the work of a theologian and Magisterium. Magisterium is the master while the

Genre Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Genre Analysis - Essay Example Despite this however, the ultimate goal of all the reviews is directed to the customer. Other reviews are focused on the competitors of a particular commodity. For instance, in the electronics manufacturing industry, there are many companies which are involved in the manufacture of laptops and notebooks. All these compete for the same market share and the same customers. In order to win then trust of customers and win superiority in the battle for market share, companies can do anything including bribery of the review corporates and personnel to favour them in their columns. Reviews that are focused on the competitors are meant to show the level of success of a particular company and how best it has prospered in its innovation department, research and development activities. This is an enticing element for loyal customers of other brands. Business is business, and marketers, Chief Executives and management of all the companies are ready to do anything to increase the volumes of their sales. What makes the difference is how strict the company is while following the ethics of doing business. Apple Company which manufactures notebooks, laptops and iPads faces competition from other manufacturers such as, Harriett Packer Company which is a major manufacture of laptops, desktops and smartphones, Acer, Dell, Toshiba, Samsung, IBM, and Siemens among others. For apple to win competition in such a highly competitive market, it has to device many ways of winning in their competition. Free markets are faced by this problem as they desperately seek to find a way of marketing their products. When reviews are meant to help a company to make a sale or improve on its sales volume, they are mostly biased and do not portray the actual truth about the product. Such reviews are meant to attract customers to buy that product from the retailers and thus creating marketing opportunities for the company. Mostly, such companies pay product reviewers to come up with a review that favour s their company and products. As a result, people are led to believe that a particular review is genuine and actually portrays the actual condition and status of the products which is contrary to the reality. Such reviews include those that have a rating that is based on just a theoretical analysis with minimal tests. Such mischiefs by companies have increasingly rendered the reviews of products almost insignificant to the people. Whether used as a marketing tool or for generous reasons, reviews are now being viewed with scepticism by the people. Moreover, people rarely believe in the information provided by the reviews, a reason why most people opt to stick to the most popular and trusted brands. Most reviews cover the prices of the product, general performance and reliability, its improvement in case it is a series of production, features of the product and the availability. Moreover, others compare a particular product with that of other companies. In the â€Å"apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display† review by Cnet, the author takes a survey of various elements and features of the computer that are either appealing or annoying about the computer. Customers are mostly concerned with the reasons as to why the computer was awarded a rating of out of five by the editor, subsequently

International Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 8

International Business - Essay Example Many governments are developing national policies, which aims at attracting and facilitating foreign investment. Policy framework is an instrumental element to global investment and trade. However, governments are not adapting a blanket approach to this factor, but reinforcing regulatory policies on foreign trade with a view of accommodating industries policies that favor competitive business practices. The strategies developed at the national level should not only favor international investment, but also protect national business. Largely, the economic policies should focus on the individual needs. At the same time, present investment trends favor regional trade as opposed to the bilateral trade. Arguably, the bargain by regional blocks roots for common economic policies as opposed to the bilateral agreements that tend to favor individual countries. The developing countries are leading in foreign direct investment. This trend seems to suggest that new business openings are more in t he developing countries because of untapped business opportunities. It is apparent from the World Investment Report 2013 that global value chain has an impact on international and foreign direct investment. ... The developed and the developing countries tend to project varied investment trends in the global economy (World Economic Forum 2013). Specifically, countries such as Japan and United States have significant internal value chains and tend to rely less on the global value chains. China, Germany, and United Kingdom significantly depend on foreign trade. The foreign exports in these three countries contribute immense to their economy. A considerable population of these countries derive their income or wage from industries whose primary concerns is to manufacture goods or products for export. Elsewhere, the composition of exports and positions in global value chains depend on natural resources of various found in these countries. For instance, China is hub for manufacturing of nearly all the electronic products. Favoring factors influencing investment in this country is the cheap labor and availability of raw materials. Since the quantity manufactured supersedes the quantity demanded nat ionally, hence the quantity sent to the global market (Ma, Van Assche and Hong 2009 pp 655). Largely, favoring conditions for investment tend to give leeway for various investors to concentrate of investment for export purposes. Another factor that seems to explain the observable trend in the global market and the impact of global vale added chain is the concept of economic structure and export model (Gereffi, Humphrey and Sturgeon 2005 pp78). Players in the global trade seem inject varied input depending on favoring factors. For example, countries such as Singapore, China, and Netherlands derive significant amount of foreign benefit from the entreport trade. A review of Chinese economy for instance, shows that its economy derive considerable amount of foreign

Applied Immunology Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Applied Immunology Question - Essay Example They have also shown a decrease in general mortality and recurrence rate, both as a single agent and in synergy with conservative combination chemotherapy, witnessing high response rates of upto 30% (White 2007). Progresses in biotechnology: advances have been made in laboratory antibody engineering. Such have improved antigen binding and the capability to stimulate ordinary effectors mechanisms. Development of fresh and enhanced targeted antibodies is costly as evidenced in the price of antibody therapy. Some health economies may find this unaffordable. Uncertainty in establishing the best clinical use of MoAbs: The optimal clinical timing, setting, and dose programs for the application of presently available antibodies remain uncertain. Forthcoming studies observing kinetics and pharmacodynamics may better enlighten therapeutic use in the future. The use of MoAbs as first-line therapy requires additional trials. Developing combination strategies: many challenges are still faced in developing rational combination regimens which exploit the lacking cross-resistance and overlapping toxicities of various agents. MoABs might also be mixed with targeted diminutive molecules like proteosome

Managing Change in Complex Environment Essay Example for Free

Managing Change in Complex Environment Essay History and Background Introduction The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent government organization that generates income through mail services. It is currently the second largest civilian employer in the United States. Its primary task is to deliver mail around the country, at a standard price, regardless of geographic location. Over the last two centuries, the USPS has evolved into an efficient organization that financially sustains itself through its delivery operations. With a monopoly on the delivery of non-urgent mail, the USPS provides delivery service of about 40 percent of the worlds mail, or approximately 200 billion pieces of mail annually. Starting in the 1990s, the USPS faced increased competition from rival package delivery and courier services, as well as the Internet. Presently the USPS is facing a financial collapse. The USPS needs to undergo an essential and systematic change in order to maintain its significance in the 21st century. History/Background On July 26, 1775, members of the Second Continental Congress appointed a Postmaster General giving birth to the Postal Department of the United States. The mission of the U.S. Postal Department was much the same as today, process and deliver first class and non-urgent mail to individuals and businesses within the United States. Congress passed various laws that grant the post office a â€Å"statutory monopoly† on non-urgent First Class Mail and the exclusive right to put mail in private mailboxes. Although these laws grant the USPS a market advantaged they also restrict its ability to compete with rival package delivery and courier services, as well as the technological innovations. How it got started The Post Office Department has origins in America dating back to the 17th century, when there was a need for mail between colonial settlements and intercontinental exchange of information with England. In 1775, the Continental Congress named Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general and chairman of a committee empowered to make recommendations for the establishment of a postal service. On September 22, 1789 the post office became a new government branch of the United States. At this time there were 75 post offices and approximately 2,000 miles of post roads. The USPS was critical to national welfare and pivotal in facilitating communications for military, congressional representation and newspapers. From the very beginning, the USPS financed operations from revenue it earned and Congress gave it a monopoly to be the only courier service to deliver mail. Key points in evolution The main focus and the efforts of postal officials from the foundation of the Post Office to the present day have been finding the best methods of transporting information and directing mail. For example, in 1791 George Washington stated that that the importance of the postal routes had increased because the country wanted to distribute knowledge of governmental laws. Also, between 1791 and 1861, the U.S increased from 3.9 million to 31.4 million square miles and postal roads grew from 1,875 to 240,595 miles. The Board of Governors of the USPS sets policy, procedure, and postal rates for services rendered. Of the eleven members of the Board, nine are appointed by the President and confirmed by the US Senate. The nine appointed members then select the Postmaster General, who serves as the boards tenth member, and who oversees the day to day activities of the service as Chief Executive Officer. The ten-member board then nominates a Deputy Postmaster General, who acts as Chief Operating Officer, to the eleventh and last remaining open seat. The USPS is often mistaken as a government organization but it is legally defined as an independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States. Environmental context The external environment elements that significantly influence the USPS are the United States political system, workforce unions, changing technology and market forces. United States Political System In 1970 the U.S. Postal Department evolved into the USPS through the implementation of the Postal Reorganization act. This act required the USPS to be a â€Å"self-sufficient organization within the U.S. Government†. It also added an additional regulatory body into its chain of command, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), but did not make any modification to the Postal Department’s Board of Directors or regulatory congressional statutes. The USPS Board of directors is charged with directing the USPS through the control of expenditures, reviewing practices, long term planning and setting policies and service standards. The PRC has 5 commissioners, appointed through the executive branch and confirmed by the Senate, who have the authority to reject, modify and approve any USPS initiated congressional recommendations. Since congress alone retains the authority to change USPS’ rates, service frequency and employee benefits, any market related changes from the Board of directors is routed through the PRC and congress for consideration. Pressure from Unions There are 4 unions representing around 90% of the USPS workforce: National Association of Letter Carriers, American Postal Workers, National Rural Letters Carriers Association and National Postal Mail Handlers Union. These organizations have successfully contracted collective bargaining agreements for its members for compensation and benefits that have come to exceed the USPS’ ability to maintain with its current revenues. These labor unions are very influential in weighing in on most of the decisions that affect the well-being of the USPS labor force. Presently USPS employees enjoy 79% coverage of their health care costs; the most of any federal agency. Strategic challenge Over the years the USPS has transformed its operating model and is now set up and mandated to operate like a business entity generating its revenue through the sale of postal products and services. The largest issue with the current business model of the postal service is its lack of flexibility essential for a business in a dynamic market. Specifically the USPS has not been able to organizationally adjust to a large decrease in the demand for first class mail service has resulted in decreasing net revenue in recent years. Congressional Influence The USPS congressional charter came with both benefits and operating constraints. Among the constraints the USPS is obligated to provide a uniform price for its services regardless of the geographic location and dispersion of its customer base. The USPS is obligated to deliver six days a week to every mailing address regardless of its mail volume. Additionally the USPS is required to provide free mailing service to the blind and facilitate voting for overseas military personnel. A significant amount of the USPS’ operating costs comes from its requirement to pre-fund retiree health benefits (RHB) for future retirees. Key Issues The USPS is suffering from the combined effects of declining mail volume from new technology and increasing labor costs resulting in a loss of net revenue. These declines are projected to extend into the future. The addition of a significant number of new addresses in the United States each year increases the USPS’ operating costs although volume is decreasing. Business Model While the USPS has enjoyed the benefits of the monopoly on first class letter mail services that congress has bestowed, it has a stagnant business model that prevents the USPS from being able to adapt in the face of technological innovation and other market forces that affect its bottom line annually. The major source of revenue for the post office is the postage it charges for first class and non-standard mail. The advance of modern information systems such as email, smartphones, online banking, and other digital communications decreased the demand for traditional mail services. Compounding this issue is the basic economic principle of supply and demand. New technologies offer cheaper substitutes for the services that the post office provides. Stakeholders Postal Workers – The USPS employs more than 500,000 employees making it second only to Wal-Mart as the nation’s largest civilian employer. While every employee is represented by a labor union, employees are legally restricted from striking. Labor Unions The USPS unions are old, influential and politically connected. Collectively, these unions continually fight for increased employee pay, living allowances and health care benefits. Postal Regulation Commission (PRC) The PRC serves as the middleman between the USPS board of governors and congress. The PRC can reject or modify requests before they reach congress for final approval. Congress Members of Congress exercise control over many aspects of the USPS operations including approving the markets for which it competes as well as representing the interests of its constituents whenever the USPS requests changes to its business model. Public Consumer One of the mandates of the post office is to provide mail service of all addresses. The number of addresses has increased by nearly 18 million nationwide in the past decade and continues to climb as the country recovers from the past recession. A vast majority of the consumers are congressional constituents to whom member of congress are responsible. Competitors The USPS monopolizes, via congressional mandates, the delivery of first class mail, non-urgent mail and small packages. As such it faces very little direct competition from other businesses. However, the USPS has seen significant decreases in its mail volume over the years. The decreased volume of mail is directly related to the global acceptance of technology and use of digital communications which displaced traditional USPS services. Market Forces The USPS full time workers cost the USPS 80% of its revenue. Although they still enjoy a monopoly on first class mail, they are in direct competition with smaller, more efficient, companies who deliver large packages and urgent letters. Strategies Used What it Does Now The USPS has improved its efficiency and effectiveness through both technology and reorganization. The USPS made significant investments in the late 1990’s in fuel efficient vehicles and new facilities as well as a $15 million advertising campaign to improve its image as a progressive and modern organization. A decade ago it took 70 employees one hour to sort 35,000 letters. Today in an hour, only two employees process an identical volume of mail. Though the number of addresses in the nation has increased by nearly 18 million in the past decade, the number of employees who handle the increased delivery load has decreased by more than 200,000 (Potter 2010a). It launched delivery confirmation service and priority mail in order to compete with competitors. The USPS now operates more than 31,000 post offices and the largest vehicle fleet in the world, with an estimated 218,684 vehicles. What They Want to Do Concerned with increasing costs and decreasing revenues, the USPS petitioned for the following changes: * Stop Retiree Health Benefits prefunding – in 2011 the prefunding amount exceeded net operating losses. * Retirement System Overpayment – In 2010 Government Accountability Office disputed overpayment freezing approximately $6.9 billion. * Delivery Frequency – Shifting from six to five days weekly delivery would save approximately $3 billion annually. This measure is supported by 75% of USPS consumer base. * Change prices – Mandates currently cap the USPS ability to adjust to market conditions dynamically. * Restructure labor costs – Current collective bargaining decision do not consider the USPS financial health yet mandate compensation and benefits to be paid at levels comparable with private sector organizations with the burden falling on the taxpayers. * Consolidate infrastructure – A proposal in 2009 to close 3,000 postal outlets to reduce excess capacity yielded only a closure of 157 following consumer complaints and congressional intervention. Part II Diagnosis Lewis (2011) states that the USPS’ problems are a result of a restrictive business model and its inflexibility to operate in a dynamic market place. As stated earlier, the USPS response to this problem is a direct plan to cut expenses and increase revenues to overcome their mounting deficit. Although this plan does address the USPS’ immediate insolvency concerns, it fails to address their underlying issues. Through the use of Senge’s system approach and the McCaskey’s Organizational Design model, this paper will expose USPS’ root problems. Strategic Issues/Strategies/Goals-Objectives The USPS’ strategic issues are a loss of revenue due to declining mail volume, extensive costs due to a bloated and expensive unionized-workforce and the use of an outdated-legislatively constrained business plan. Their proposed strategy to mitigate these issues centers on cutting their expenses, consolidating infrastructure, renegotiating labor cost/employee benefits and increasing rates. In addition, the USPS intends to evolve their business plan to incorporate technological innovations. This strategy aligns with their long term goal of providing a â€Å"trustworthy, dependable, reliable and secure means to communicate on a national level† (Lewis, 2011), by implementing a long term sustainable business model that promotes flexibility and economic growth in a dynamic market. Environment In FY11 the USPS’ total revenues were $65 Billion dollars while their total expenses were $75 Billion dollars. Under congressional law the USPS is required to be a â€Å"self-sufficient government agency†. Under this direction the USPS is obligated to cover its costs without government assistance. The USPS does this by generating revenues from a monopoly market while operating more like a private business then a government agency. Its government backed monopoly advantage comes with extensive congressional restrictions on rates, delivery procedures and labor benefits. The USPS’ monopoly restricts the direct competition in the delivery of first class mail, use of specific delivery routes and personal mailboxes. It does not protect the delivery of urgent mail and large packages. FedEx and UPS are direct competitors in this market and have a competitive advantage due to their efficiencies, technological innovations and ability adapt to market needs. Key Success Factors The USPS’ key to success is their ability to meet their customer’s needs, generate enough revenue to cover their costs , maintain the flexibility to adjust in a dynamic market and optimize a scalable infrastructure that facilitates the efficient and economic delivery of their services. Task Requirements There are multiple ways that mail is accepted into the delivery process. For the purpose of observing the USPS organizational structure, the simple method of customers placing the mail in their residential, or post office, curbside mailbox will be examined. In either case this process begins and ends with the customer sending or receiving mail at a mailbox. The mail item is received by the postal carrier, and then consolidated at the local post office, where it is inspected manually or automatically checked for correct postage. It is then routed to a hub for delivery to a particular region in the country. The mail is then sent to a final processing plant where it is sorted for the specific route for delivery. Finally the mail is sent to the distant end post office for delivery to the end customer. The mail is moved in a linear manner between each node in the process chain. Along the interdependency continuum of the USPS’ functional units we observed a sequential relationship. Throughout the process each entity produces an output that is a necessary input for the next link in the chain. The USPS’ key to success in this linear process is the secure delivery of mail for a nominal fee. For their part, the workers must be honest and ensure mail is properly safeguarded as it makes its way through each step in the chain. The workers only have to be ‘good enough’ for their specific task in the process. This means that there is very little incentive for them to innovate or make improvements to the process from within. Any efficiencies gained, in any one link in the process, are not readily propagated throughout because of the sequential nature of the process. Because of the nature of change within the organization, and the employee compensation structure, their only incentive is to maintain the status quo. This analysis is represented in the interdependency/coordination mechanism model below. The analysis shows a misalignment between the levels of interdependence between the functional units and the coordination mechanism used. The USPS coordinates through rules and regulations. Using the systems approach of focusing on successes rather than the failures of the organization, we compared the USPS current coordination level to its closest successful competitor, FEDEX. As depicted FEDEX has a coordination level that aligns with it level of interdependency. The preferred and optimal approach is to align the organization’s level of interdependency horizontally with the coordination mechanism. The USPS needs a higher coordination mechanism to match the current level of interdependence in order to facilitate efficiencies in the system. Process/ Systems Snowfall and showers may not be able to stop postal carriers from their appointed delivery routes, but their financial problems may halt at least 50% of all postal offices. The U.S. Postal Service, weakened by a public turning to digital communications, is down 22 percent in volume from just five years ago, a decline which is expected to continue, driven in part by rigid competition from carriers such as FedEx and UPS. The Postmaster General has responded with a list of cost-cutting proposals, such as eliminating Saturday delivery and closing up to 3,700 local post offices which would be replaced with automated centers operating out of local businesses. The Postmaster General has also proposed laying off as many as 120,000 workers, and pulling workers out of more costly federal pension plans. Pre-funding retiree benefits has cost the Postal Service $21 billion in the last three years. The underlying issue is that all those moves cannot be made without congressional approval. In order to make these immediate and dramatic changes, the Postal Service would require access to its own funds as well as the authority to act as its own corporation. The transition from a government ran entity to a privatized organization requires Congress to give the USPS flexibility to take action and make changes without all the bureaucracy. The below modified Senge Model (Limit to Growth) demonstrates how the USPS is constrained from making changes. In short, the USPS is limited by congress to making quick and reactive changes that focus on the problem rather than the underlying issue. Creating change and making it work are all resisted by a condition called the â€Å"Status Quo† and the USPS is no exception. USPS employees feel protected under the current unionized culture. They feel threatened by the prospect of losing benefits and are unwilling to pay the high personal price necessary for change. We have demonstrated that this change is necessary for the long term health of the organization. The real question is, â€Å"does the current status quo fit the new change requirements?† An organization in dire need to make radical adjustments to become current cannot be fixed with antiquated congressional imposed constraints. PART III Change Management Plan The USPS acknowledges its need to cut costs and increase revenue. It believes this will fix the problems. USPS starts to address this by taking reactionary measures, but fails to take the necessary steps to address the root issue. We argue that there is a more fundamental problem within the USPS organization which requires a systems approach to identify and solve. Senge says â€Å"it is impossible to change the system from inside the system.† By â€Å"complicating up† the USPS management structure we identify the core problem and faults in its system. Due to the short time needed to enact this change we propose a top down approach that pushes change while mitigating assumed employee resistance such an approach will generate. Our plan uses the Lewin and Kotter models to shape the USPS organizational transition. Through the Lewin model we identify a three phase approach to address changes that simultaneously focuses on employee and organizational issues. Throughout each p hase an information plan is propagated to employees to facilitate transition to the next phase. Conclusion The bottom line is that the USPS current costs of doing business outweigh its current methods of productivity. Without changing the strategic management model, the USPS will continue to lose revenue and be unable to react effectively to market demands. Its proposed cost cutting solutions only scratches the surface of the underlying problem of restrictions on organizational management and coordination. Our uses validated organizational change models. We justify our plan which uses the Lewin model and shows a close association to Kotter’s organizational change model. Our plan leads the USPS to long term success, maintains its relevance in today’s market and allows it to make appropriate changes through periodic reevaluations. References Lewis, T., Montgomery C., Shuler, J. , (2011), The US Postal Service , Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA. Senge, P., (1990), The Fifth Discipline, Doubleday Publishing, New York 15May 2012: http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2011/pr11_124.htm 15 May 2012: http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj31n1/cj31n1-9.pdf 19 May 2012: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/industries/Transportation-Communications-Utilities/United-States-Postal-Service.html

Prospects and growth of the fast food industry

Prospects and growth of the fast food industry Tackling the blow of recession has not been easy for any industry. Its Attack was so strong that no industry has been able to save itself from its effects. If the hospitality industry is a measure of the wealthy and the rich peoples pockets then the news is very bad indeed. Many restaurants have went to the wall in the final quarter of 2008.The restaurants have been fighting with the reduction of corporate entertaining and the disposable income squeeze of consumers as well. Not only the restaurants and the hotels, but the pub industry has also been stroked by a number of factors over the past one decade and recession has put pressure on an already difficult trading environment. In the words of a renowned chef Dawn Sweeny, Creativity has always been a hallmark of professional chefs So to survive the blow of recession and to manage this situation a Lot of established chefs are getting in to street vending of their creations more efficiently to people who could only dream in their mortar and brick buildings. Low overheads, low labour costs and mostly cash based business is win- win situation for many. These mobile kitchen vans are saving these brand names from dying. The big brand names are selling their franchises to the people who want to earn a good amount of money by investing at one time. These vans have everything you need in the kitchen including all kinds of appliances and raw material. This food is comparatively cheaper as the mobile kitchen cuts down on the over heads and the labour costs. Street food is becoming a way to indulge pre-recession tastes on post-recession budgets At the same time recession in the US food industry has creating the new opportunity for the food sector in the US. In the recently released research report by RNCOS on US Fast food market outlook 2010even though there is gloomy economic condition in US, the fast food industry in US is growing rapidly because of inexpensive fast food and increasing number of working population. According to the report fast food market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years and will cross the US$170 billion by the end of 2010. Because of economic downturn people has reduced their expenses of going for dinner in the restaurant and fast food for the launch. Instead of going in the restaurant they have started buying the food from street food vans which cost them less as compared to the restaurant food and they can save that much money in this recession time. This trend is becoming more common in the urban areas where the demand of pre-packed food and readymade food has increased because of the f ast life of their people. This has become now new trend there because American people wants want to have food which can provide instant energy without wasting more time and they can also afford that. The new trend of franchising the existing brands to the mobile carts is look refreshing and a new concept in the States. Through the research will able to judge that will this trend will continue even after the period of recession? Street food is becoming very famous in the United States and till the date only small-scale outlets are driving the trend, but now large food maker have also started to enter the market to get on board with this new trend. The market research organizations Culinary Trend Mapping Report from the Centre for Culinary Development (CCD) examined the booming street food trend, which has seen Americans reaching for a variety of convenient, portable and affordable foods, often with globally inspired flavours and eco-friendly preparation (foodnavigator-usa.com). In the recent time street food has become very popular due to a confluence of larger social trends, mainly because of the economic downturn and the corresponding need for more affordable foods, growing snacking habits, greater interest in ethnic flavours and in local, sustainable foods. 1.2 Purpose This research attempts to contribute to the study of the current prospects and growth of the fast food industry on the wheel. The Food trucks in the NYC and other mobile food carts started by famous restaurants have been introduced. This research aims to find out what was the effect of recession on the food industry and how has it affected the consumer behaviour in this regard. The eating habits and the change in the actual income have affected the behaviour of the consumers and hence their frequency of dining out and their expenditure on food has been affected. So this research will throw light on this change as well. With the intention of exploring the possibility of the Food trucks endorsed by the restaurants that have seen a reduction in the number of customers due to recession, we will also study how these trucks are working and how do they cater to the needs of the people in the current situation. Whether the management and the way they are operating is different and how simila r their ways of operations are. In addition this research will study the advantages of the mobile food carts and if they can be a competition to the conventional style of dining and eating out. Or if these food trucks can add to the brand name of the existing restaurants and chains that have otherwise seen a decline in their business. 1.3 Development and structure of the research This research paper was developed in five steps 1. Define research aim topic Discussion with supervisor and explore possible interests within designated discipline. 2. Gather relevant literatures Begin investigation in existing literature to discover possible gap between academic research and reality. 3. Develop research structure Construct content of study and plan accordingly. 4. Collect the data and Data analysis Collect all required data from different secondary sources. Clear presentation of data in logical sequential arrangement and examine Validity of collected information 5. Develop conclusion from finding Present conclusion of this research and provide recommendation for further research CHAPTER- 2 Literature Review 2.1 Overview The chapter first begin by introduction of Food market in the USA and effects of recession on food market of USA then followed by the restaurant and fast food business in USA. Next consumers behaviour is discussed with respect to spending on the food. In the last section of this chapter significance of the mobile food van and its impact on the competition is discussed with respect to USA. 2.2 Restaurant and Fats food business in USA- Restaurant companies generally work to identify them self as customers retailers and not as a manufacturing meals. Restaurants are primarily retailers of two consumers product time and customers experience (Muller, 1999). People went to the restaurants and fast food providers to save their time from making the food and to get satisfaction of their needs. Restaurant is vast business in USA where consumers are less concerned about the where meal is prepared, they only concerned about the how the food is delivered and how they feel after meal is completed. While the fast food service is totally different they always concerned about building consumer loyalty and market awareness. There is vast difference between restaurant business and fast food service providers. Stalk and Hout (1990) described future economic competition as being based on a companys responsiveness to the time needs of its customer base. Currently, the restaurant industry accounts for four percent of the U.S. gross dome stic product and is the nations second largest employer next to the Federal government (Dumagan and Hackett, 1995). In USA restaurant holders are paying more attention to the growing trend in the eating habits of the people. According to the report of the NRI 2001 they have noticed seventy five percent increases in the restaurant customers as compared to 2001 in 2003. Even the rise of the convenience food in last 10 years can be seen by the growth of the fast food chain in the United States. The main reason behind the increase demand of fast food is these meals are ready to eat on the go and ability to hold these food in hands and to eat according to the consumers freedom. The main reason behind increased the growth of restaurant and fast food business is decreased in the food prices in the USA. Lakdawalla and Philipson (2002) attribute about 40% of the recent growth in weight to agricultural innovation that has lowered food prices Mainly technological change has made huge contribution in decreased price of the food price which eventually provides opportunity to the restaurant and fast food service provider to offer the food at cheaper rate and increased their business growth. The analysis draws on data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) between 1971 and 1974, the BLS food price in real terms increased from 1.012 to 1.134, an increase of 12.04%, followed by a decrease of 11.02% between the years of 1974 and 1986, when it reached a low of 1.009. This is reflective of the behaviour of food prices in that period of time (Food prices, 2007). Due to decreased in the food prices percentage of people has decreased and expenditure on the food away from the home increased and increased in working class people is also another reason for growth of the restaurant and fast food business. According to the survey data of the county business pattern number of restaurant provides full services increased to 213550 in 200 6 from 193024 in 1998 and restaurant which not provide service like cafeteria and bar increased to 204311 in 2006 from 172695 in 1998. Data from the Census of Retail Trade highlight the steady increase in the number of full service and fast-food restaurants since the early 1970s; between 1972 and 1997, the number of restaurants per 10,000 population increased 61% from 884 to 1427 (Chou et al., 2004; Rashad et al., 2006). In the rapid development of the restaurant and fast food business taking fist mover advantage through franchise has played very important role. The main of using franchise is to assemble resources making long chain and to get first mover advantage (Micheal, 2003). By giving franchise restaurant and fast food business try to create a premium on rapid expansion of geographic areas. In USA strategy adopted by restaurant and fast food business owner to expanding units rapidly through franchising has created superior outlet share which eventually lead them to have high market share and profitability. Therefore, franchising is one method of securing first mover advantage (Micheal, 2003). Franchising overcomes the moral hazard problem associated with the operation of a chain of dispersed units (Caves and Murphy, 1976; Rubin, 1978; Brickley and Dark, 1987). McDonalds, a famous fast food supplier, opened its first franchised restaurant in the US in 1955. Now it has become a phenomenally succe ssful enterprise in terms of financial growth, brand-name recognition, and worldwide expansion by using franchise concept aggressively. Currently fast food franchise in the United States generates income of more than $125 billion per year. According to latest numbers there are over 2000 fast food franchise in USA and more than 5,00,000 franchisor operated outlets in USA. McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut and Subway are among the more popular fast food franchises worldwide that rake in millions of dollars per year in profits. During the last four decade fast food industry has grown very speedily in American society. An industry that starts in south California has spread in every corner of the USA. Fast food is served not only at restaurants but also at stadium, airplanes, school and college in every part of the USA and it has brought the rapid change in the USA economy (Schlosser, 1998). Fast food business has overcome the restaurant business in last few years in USA and it has benefited from the demographic change, supplying the food at cheaper price and hiring people at lower rate of wage. One of the ironies of Americas fast-food industry is that a business so dedicated to conformity was founded by iconoclasts and self-made men, by entrepreneurs willing to defy conventional opinion (Schlosser, 1998). Now fast food has become the operating system of the todays service industry in USA and it has created millions of job opportunity for the people in the country   when the other businesses have been firing the workers. 2.3 Food Industry and the Recession The Recession hits all parts of the food system, from the producer to the processor; from the grocer to the diner! (Mary Turck) Recent sales of the U. S. eating and drinking place industry have been lacklustre. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons for this sluggishness, but the recent U. S. recession as well as 1986 modifications to U. S. tax law has to be considered factors (Stephen J.Hiemstra). This study aimed at finding out the factors related to the decline in the demand for the food service lately and to bring out the extent to which the eating and drinking place industry sales were declining due to this lack of demand. As it was difficult to pinpoint any single factor. Findings indicated that the decline in demand could be majorly explained by changes in prices, decrease in the income, and the drop in deductibility of restaurant food as a business expense. The economic recession has hit the food industry as much as any other industry in the international market. Food being the prime necessity cannot be avoided and hence is a bigger pain for the consumer whose income has decreased due to the economic downturn. The rising petroleum prices have affected the cost of transportation for the seeds and the grains and have hence added to the cost of production making the food expensive for the ultimate consumer. The food prices have gone up with the increasing dairy and grain prices entering in to the year 2007.By the end of 2009 the economists announced the rising unemployment. As a result Restaurants were also hit as hard as any other industry as the consumer stopped dining out and spending on food as compared to earlier. Hence the cost of living was cut on the cost of eating and dining out. Nearly two third of the restaurant operators reported a decline in their business in the end of 2008 as compared to the sales in the year 2007 (National Restaurant Association). Golden Gate Restaurant Associations (GGRA) presented a study of the economics of the San Francisco Restaurant industry looking at the conditions of the food industry in the recession in the year 2002 and 2003.According to the reports the hotel occupancy in San Francisco was dropped by 20% and the average daily room rates came down by 16%.The city lost 80,000 jobs nearly 14% of the total city employment (Kent Sims). However with time, the economy of San Francisco has improved with respect to the conditions in 2002-03. But there are areas where it remains well below the level where it was in 2000. Over all the economy is smaller than what it was before recession. Hotel occupancy in 2004 was 4% above its low point in 2002, but still 20% lower than in 2000. In 2005, the city driven US restaurants recovering from the recession in 2004 confronted the fact their customers were back again and their sales were back, but the profits did not come back. As the operating costs have raised at a greater pace than the gross margin on sales, despite the higher menu prices. According to a confidential survey conducted by GGRA (2006) the results mainly pointed out that half of the people considered San Francisco and other cities in the USA as the major culinary centre and half of the population also said that the stature of such cities as culinary centre is either diminishing or marking time. Business at traditional business-lunch spots, including the Capital Grille, Mortons, and McCormick Schmicks, is down dramatically this was reported by Chicago tribune in 2008. These researches have shown that Recession is a hard time for food industry as well as more and more people are finding it tough to stay in one job and they want to change their job and add to their income. But even in Recession the people cant avoid food so they started looking for cheaper options and the food industry tackled this by cutting out the middle man. This gave rise to the trend of fast food and the US fast food market started to rise. As people has started looking for less expensive. The Consumer expenditure on fast food rose sharply in these years, accounting for around 30% of total restaurant industry sales in 2008. With the busy life style, cost advantage and increasing demand of convenience food, the total fast food industry in the US is expected to grow at a CAGR of nearly 5% till 2010.(US fast food market outlook 2010, PR log press release). From the past few recent years McDonalds, Burger King, and other fast food restaurants have been scooping up the customers. B oth of the big burger chains are taking market share from competitors with higher price points, building on reputations for low prices and revamped dollar menus (Mary Turck). The Recession has brought about a trend in the menu cycle of the food industry as well.( Stages of the Industry Life Cycle (1919-1988) H.G Parsal). The preferences have changed from the formal full course dinners to quick food which is better known as the fast food. There has been a growth in the fast food business in after the recession (Industry research journal). In the phase of recession, fast food sales in US have increased. This is due to the fact that fast food in the country is comparatively inexpensive than the traditional food and thus, more and more people are shifting to fast food in this economic crisis. Also, hamburger and the Rools are one of the most preferred food items in the country. This represents the growth of around 5% in 2009 over 2008, and the same trend is expected to be seen in the coming years also. 2.4 Consumer Behaviour in USA food industry- Consumer behaviour is very important to know in any business to make it successful. Its very important to take proper care of the issue like consumers like dislike their health issue and consumer satisfaction. Consumer behaviour potentially deals with all of the ways people may act in their role as consumers (Schiffman and Kanuk, 1991) and it also include to focus on behaviour related to searching, buying and using product and service in the market. Generally restaurant and fast food business providers divide consumers in the groups based on the geographic characteristics, common attitudes, and behaviour so that they can provide better services to them. Food industry is closely concerned with food choice and quality, but at the same time has long been considered to offer a rich meal experience to which many other factors contribute (Campbell-Smith, 1967). Every customer has different perspective to rate the service of the restaurant and fast food service. Customers rate the service o n the basis of the food quality, service quality, ambience of the place, price of the food and facility provided by the restaurant and fast food providers like free home delivery. Becker-Suttle et al. (1994) and Williams et al. (1997), respectively, identify the dining preferences of older customers, and the factors that inhibit this group from using full service restaurants. Consumers behaviour is more important in service industry as if customers are not happy with the happy than it will become very difficult to sustain in the competition. In the development of the restaurant and fast food business globalisation has played very major role with respect to food supplies, food habits, and population health and food consumption behaviour. In this fast developing world consumers have adopted to save time and get job done in time. Changes in working and social life of the people have played very important part in the very high growth of the food industry in USA. In social context, gradually the numbers of families where both parents are working are increasing worldwide (Stamoulis, Kostas G. et al., 2004). Due to busy schedule of the people they are getting less time to make food and eat at home so they are diverted to the restaurant and fast food more in the recent years. In recent years the living standard of the people of USA has also changed before few years they used to take dinner together with the family on the dining table now most of the family likes to sit against the TV and watching programme. Number of gathering p rogrammes like birthday parties, anniversary parties has increased in last few years and people tend to arranged these parties in restaurants instead of at home which has also increased the demand of restaurant food in USA. This new trend has provide opportunities to the restaurant and fast food service business to offer varieties of the services to the people and which attracts more people to come to their place for the dinner and launch. Increase in earning of the people has also contributed to the rapid development of the restaurant and fast food industry in USA. According to the research data Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food in 1970, they spent more than $110 billion in 2000. Americans now spend more money on fast food and restaurant instead on higher education and new cars. National restaurant association has reported that Americans are buying 5.8 times average per week form a restaurant and per person spending on restaurant food is $1078. Now a days consumers are giving more importance to the quality of the food with respect to the health safety. Henson and Traill define food safety as the inverse of food risk-the probability of not suffering some hazard from consuming a specific food (Henson Traill, 1993). Consumers attitude towards food safety and practice related to it is more important for the restaurant and fast food service providers to take into consideration. Even government of USA has also formed very strict regulation and food policy which is necessary for the restaurant and fast food providers to follow. In May 1997, US President Clinton launched a National Food Safety initiative to enhance surveillance, improve risk assessment, inspection and compliance, educate the consumer and conduct important new research (Tent, 1999). Food quality awareness has made more responsible to the restaurant and fast food business towards peoples health issue and which has benefited them as they are offering low calorie food to the people. Mc Donald has already implemented its strategy for the consumer preference since last many years. McDonalds has pursued two strategies since 2003. To keep up with rapidly changing consumer preferences, demographics, and spending patterns, McDonalds has introduced new items Premium Chicken sandwiches and the Angus Beef Burger and also doing campaigns to create more healthy foods like Premium Salads in USA. The strategy reflects the philosophy that novelty, as opposed to loyalty to traditional products, is the key determinant of sales in the fast food industry . In the recent years consumers have started to give more importance to the nutrition food and salads due to awareness of their health and increasing obesity. The growing epidemic of childhood overweight and obesity is a major public health concern. Currently 15% of US youth are overweight, a prevalence nearly twice as high in children and three times as high in adolescents compared to 1980 prevalence rates (Rockville, 2001).In U SA size of the family has also played major role in development of the restaurant and fast food service and specially Hispanic American families. Hispanic purchasing power has influenced the marketplace. Hispanic shoppers spend more on food purchases because their families are usually larger. So consumer behaviour and consumer preference has played very vital role in the rapid growth of the fast food and restaurant business in the USA and they also got support from the economic development of the USA also. Mobile food service: Dabbawalas in India to Food trucks in NYC The origin of the Dabbawalas lunch delivery service dates back to the 1890s during the British Empire in India. Various people migrated from different parts of the India for work. Due to lack of canteens, the working class used to stay without eating lunch if they forgot to get it from their houses.. Invariably, lunch would not be ready when they left home for work. The taste of different communities was different; this could only be satisfied by a home cooked food. Recognizing the need, Mahadeo Havaji Bacche (Mahadeo), a migrant from North Maharashtra, 10 started the lunch delivery service. (Paul S Goodman ,2003) This service started with around 100 dabbawalas (workers) and cost the client INR 2 per month. There are around 5,000 dabbawalas in Mumbai today delivering around 200,000 Tiffin-boxes amounting to 400,000 transactions every day first delivering the Tiffin boxes and then delivering the empty boxes back home. (The Economic times 2008)Here nobody is an employer and none are employees. Each dabbawala considers himself a shareholder and entrepreneur .The entire system depends on teamwork and meticulous timing. Tiffin boxes are collected from homes between 7.00 am and 9.00 am, Various tiffin services also provide the service of cooked food and not just the transportation of the boxes. After the collection, these boxes are taken to the nearest railway station. various intermediary stations, they are hauled onto platforms and sorted out for area-wise distribution, so that a single Tiffin could change hands three to four times in the course of its daily journey..( Pradeep Thakkar,2005). Even in the economic crisis, Dabbawalas have been serving and are providing a necessary and recession-proof service as even in the tough economic times, people will always need lunch the dabbawalas are a cooperative that can boast a business record of reliability that would have any operation salivating with envy.(Dean Irvine,nov 2008)In the year 2008, Forbes gave the six sigma efficiency title to these dabbawalas. This six sigma rating the dabbawalas that was received by Forbes magazine precipitated a rush of interest from management supply companies and the various business schools searching for the secrets of its success. The rating means that these dabbawalas have a 99.9 percent efficiency rate.(Dean Irvine,2008)The concept of providing the food to their workplaces, without any need of going to the restaurants and wasting the time that can be otherwise saved for working is very suitable for the working class people of today. This is why these dabbawalas are serving well in the time of recession and people find it much better to get their food from them than going out and eating. The concept of mobile food service is not new to the countries outside India now. The Food trucks in the USA are the biggest example .The restaurant concept in the Country is going mobile! With the changing trends in the food and catering industry, the concept of moving food vans can be seen in the places like New York in the US.(Katherine Marginally., Dec 2009) Whether its because of the economy, cultural exchange, or plain demand, street food is making its culinary mark (International Chefs congress) A young chef Josh Ozersky calls these food trucks as one of the most definitive moments of this generation. Its not a fad like pet rocks or hundred dollar burgers. Its a great way for young chefs to get into the business without having a wealthy backer. Recently the savvy entrepreneurs and the chefs are getting to the streets with their culinary training and experience. This is partially fuelled by recession and a changing trend which is more inclined towards casual dining. The chefs have found more adventure and satisfaction in Global Street food in respect to the factors, cuisine as well as the concept. The new wave of mobile food vans are proving that you dont need a brick and mortar place for producing and providing high quality and high concept food for people. Lunch trucks also called as food trucks are mobile food courts which sell food items at different locations. They reap more benefits than the restaurants which are stationary as they have very limited number of customer base which provides limited amount of revenue. They can also be called as restaurant on wheels. There are different lunch trucks available in the markets which are specifically targeted to cater to the needs of different varieties of food items. From the daily breakfast to the dinner, desserts to juices you have wide variety to choose from.(Yew Chin) These trucks have more variety than any other stationary cafe or restaurant. From coffee to puddings, waffles to rolls and Indian curries to Arabic Falafel. They have it all. There are Coffee trucks, Snacks trucks, Dessert Trucks, Chinese food trucks and proper restaurant trucks that have a kitchen inside and have the same menu as in any other restaurant be in Indian or Italian. The cost of operating an established restaurant often handcuffs ones ability to go outside the box due to dà ©cor and tabletop package expense, high-end equipment in the kitchen that must be paid down and, in my case, our reputation as a classic historic inn which has a presumed menu style that pays the bills. The guerrilla trucks can much more easily think out of the box, since they are often serving out of a cardboard box.(Patrick Byrne,2009) Known for their profits, when compared with the stationary restaurants, these trucks have shown greater profit and a very good customer base. They provide the custome rs with good quality of food that they can afford. In return they get a loyal customer following in different locations that they plan to go around. As they move from one place to other, they have this opportunity to serve more people and with different menu options. There are plenty of hurdles that are faced by these food trucks owner along with the profits.The Initial investment consists of the vehicle followed by the Kitchen and the appliances and accessories used there in. These vans also require a Mobile food service license from the government before they can start their business. There are issues of permissions which vary from city to city and mostly in cities like New York and Manhattan allowing these food vans is not difficult.(Emilly Bell ,Dec 2009)However these rest on wheels should pay attention to providing the food on proper health standards and conditions.(Patrick Byrne,2009) The pedestrian snackers on the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn are accustomed to mobile eateries, but these new gourmet food trucks take the street-food game to a higher level. Unlike dirty-water dog stands, which often stick to the same corner, these meals on wheels have the freedom of mobility, websites tracking their whereabouts, PR representation and specialized offerings such as restaurant-quality desserts, tacos and waffles. So just like the previously mentioned Dabbawalas of India Food trucks in the USA are popular among the people who want to save on their time and money. Because the obvious reason for the preference of these trucks by the consumers over the stationary restaurants is the low cost food that has the same quality and the ease of getting the food on the go. Also according to George Ebinger, (International House of pancakes), It is unfair to its grossly unfair to allow trucks in close proximity to established businesses trying to make it in this economy. You can t compete with a truck when it comes to pricing and service And for the Owners The obvious appeal of bringing your food into a truck or cart is the low overhead-theres no rent, no getting a restaurant up to code, no large staff to pay. With the economic downturn, restaurateurs have struggled to find funding to open full-scale restaurants, said Tom Forte, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group in New York City.(Laura Isenzee ,2009) Jerome Chang of New Yorks Dessert Truck says that financially we

Free Siddhartha Essays: Theme of Unity :: Hesse Siddhartha Essays

Theme of Unity in Siddhartha In Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, Unity is a reflecting theme of this novel and in life. Unity is "the state of being one or a unit; harmony, agreement in feelings or ideas or aims, etc." Unity is first introduced by means of the river and by the mystical word "Om." Direct commentary from Siddhartha and the narrator also introduces the theme. Frequent allusions to the river correspond w/ Siddhartha's infinite thoughts of Unity and his initial plans to strive for it. Siddhartha has a number of specific goals during the course of this novel, but in no way does this detract from the bare nature of his ultimate goal. The accomplishment of specific goals was an important part of the progression approaching his absolute state of Unity. Siddhartha see things united and somehow entangled in a seemingly endless and meaningless circular chain of events. Allusions frequently show Siddhartha's conditions by means of clever imagery suggesting circular motion and an immobile state. Siddhartha is first compared to a potter's wheel that slowly revolves and comes to a stop. From here, Siddhartha meets the elegant and beautiful, Kamala, gets caught "off track" and entangles himself in a "senseless cycle" of acquiring and squandering wealth. In the final chapters, Siddhartha proves that achieving or over-coming obstacles do lead to better Unity. Prior to making a leap forward in reaching his goal, Siddhartha finds himself in despair. He speaks to Vasudeva, the ferryman. The ferryman smiles and says very little, allowing the River to speak for him. Siddhartha listens as the River reveals its first true, complete message. "Om." Siddhartha hears. His "wounds" heal, losing the attachment he had for his son. Siddhartha merges into Unity ; he attains his ultimate goal. The River is essential in helping Siddhartha come to an important realization of Unity. He hears the river laugh at him, making him realize that he is acting foolish. Free Siddhartha Essays: Theme of Unity :: Hesse Siddhartha Essays Theme of Unity in Siddhartha In Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, Unity is a reflecting theme of this novel and in life. Unity is "the state of being one or a unit; harmony, agreement in feelings or ideas or aims, etc." Unity is first introduced by means of the river and by the mystical word "Om." Direct commentary from Siddhartha and the narrator also introduces the theme. Frequent allusions to the river correspond w/ Siddhartha's infinite thoughts of Unity and his initial plans to strive for it. Siddhartha has a number of specific goals during the course of this novel, but in no way does this detract from the bare nature of his ultimate goal. The accomplishment of specific goals was an important part of the progression approaching his absolute state of Unity. Siddhartha see things united and somehow entangled in a seemingly endless and meaningless circular chain of events. Allusions frequently show Siddhartha's conditions by means of clever imagery suggesting circular motion and an immobile state. Siddhartha is first compared to a potter's wheel that slowly revolves and comes to a stop. From here, Siddhartha meets the elegant and beautiful, Kamala, gets caught "off track" and entangles himself in a "senseless cycle" of acquiring and squandering wealth. In the final chapters, Siddhartha proves that achieving or over-coming obstacles do lead to better Unity. Prior to making a leap forward in reaching his goal, Siddhartha finds himself in despair. He speaks to Vasudeva, the ferryman. The ferryman smiles and says very little, allowing the River to speak for him. Siddhartha listens as the River reveals its first true, complete message. "Om." Siddhartha hears. His "wounds" heal, losing the attachment he had for his son. Siddhartha merges into Unity ; he attains his ultimate goal. The River is essential in helping Siddhartha come to an important realization of Unity. He hears the river laugh at him, making him realize that he is acting foolish.

One Evil Summer :: essays research papers

One Evil Summer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It’s finally summer and a time to do what you want and have as much fun as you can. Well that’s not the case with Amanda Conklin’s who lives in a cruel and crazy town on a very scary street, Fear Street. Amanda was going threw a lot of bad tuff times, like when the town accused her of lighting an old mans house on fire, or the time when she was accused of stealing from her school gym. Amanda was also doing fairly bad in school and especially at the end of her school year. Amanda was so frustrated that she told everyone she would soon run away and a few nights that exactly what she did and on that night she was hit by car and the next morning she was sent to a mental hospital nearby her home. She then came out of the mental hospital a month later and went back to school. The bad thing was tat she didn’t know any of the stuff they were studying and there was only one week left of school. She was doing terrible in school and on last day of school she got her report card and it was terrible. When she came home he showed it to her mother and it was recommended that she should go to summer school. So the summer that Amanda thought would be the greatest summer yet was turned into the worst. Amanda’s family decided to move the family to a nearby beach in Seahaven. In Saehaven Amanda was sent to summer school and hated it. Amanda’s parents aid that they wer going on a 3week trip and already have everything planned. Amanda’s brother and sister were going to be baby sat by who was said to be the town’s best baby sitter, her name was Chrissy Meleings. Chrissy was known as the best baby sitter Amandas sister and brother loved her and so did the rest of the town but Amanda had a feeling there was something wrong with her. So Amanda started asking around to see if Chrissie was bad or not. It took long but she found out about her reacent babysitttings from her friend heather and found out that Amanda would kill any animals of yours steal toys and it is rumored that she killed some of the kids she babysat. Amanda was going crazy and it was the second week since Christie has been babysitting her sister and brother and Amanda noticed her cat was missing she then searched all around for it.

Is it glorious to die for your country? :: essays research papers

Is it glorious to die for your country?.... This question has been posed to many young people about to embark on war although the answer has usually been yes in response to their country due mainly to the fact that the government instills it in the people of the country to support one's country and one way is to send young abled bodied men into the army. If you were one individual that was not in favour of fighting for your country you would surely become an outcast by the countries people. To avoid ridicule and becoming outcasted by the people living around you, you would join the army just in the thought that you were obligated to for the sole sake of your country. Such thoughts were reinforced by the government promotion of propaganda. Glorifying death is not needed to be taught and should be up to the sole individual. School systems should teach an unbiased point of view of war to enable the child to make their own decision to fight for one's country. Is it Glorious to Die for your Country? Within the education system it was instructed to the teachers to teach the children at a young age during the brink of war to instill that their the life of the country and for them to defend their country against the enemy. Teachers showed being in a army was representing honour and the pride of the country. Guilt was laid on the students who showed rebellion by the teacher. Many times the teacher would try to show a soldier that looks happy and content trying to represent being a soldier makes you happy and content. Many young inexperienced soldiers were sent to training camps near the battle fields that they would soon be sent to fight, for their country and their life. The training camps were situated on similar enviroments that resembled the battle fields of where the fighting would take place. Reinforced displine to the young and ignorant men. Trench warfare is when many soldiers of opposing countries fight against each other across a vast desolate, dirt covered land, and the only sense of cover was to crouch in a usually water logged trench. The sense of death engulfed your very soul, the constant bombardment of shells echo in your mind long after it had ceased. On the Western front conditions

Tim Hortons Corporate Social Responsability

Tim Hortons Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a process with the aim to embrace responsibility for the company's actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities and stakeholders. Tim Hortons understands well this concept and the importance of corporate social responsibility. Making a True Difference is the way Tim Hortons defines sustainability and responsibility and the overarching framework that brings together all of our programs and initiatives.Making a True Difference helps guide us on our corporate social responsibility journey, supports our overall vision to be a quality leader across all sectors in Canada and sustain our mission to deliver superior quality products and services for our guests and communities. Making a True Difference initiative include the following programs to help individuals, communities and the planet: †¢Tim Hortons Children’s Foundation : The Foundation is a non-profit, charitable organization committed to providing a fun-filled camp environment for children from economically disadvantaged homes. Local Programs: Tim Hortons is proud to support local initiatives that make a difference like: Tim Hortons Smile Cookie, Free Summer Swimming, Timbits Minor Sports Program, Earn-a-Bike Program, Remembrance Day, etc. †¢Sponsorships: Tim Hortons believes in giving back to the communities by participating in events, such as community festivals, or partnering with groups, such as minor sports teams, that are important to the community as a whole. Coffee Partnership: The overall vision of the Tim Hortons Coffee Partnership is to help build sustainable coffee communities by supporting coffee farmers in key areas that will improve their coffee business and their lives. †¢Aboriginal Relations: Tim Hortons have been working on implementing a meaningful, structured and long-term partnership with the Aboriginal community. à ¢â‚¬ ¢Animal Welfare at Tim Hortons: Animal welfare is an important issue to Tim Hortons and all its stakeholders, including Restaurant Owners, suppliers, investors and guests.The company considers animal welfare to apply to all aspects of animal care of the farm animals within the supply chain †¢Waste Reduction: Tim Hortons promotes waste reduction through various in-store programs and continues to create awareness about the environment, litter, and the importance of keeping the neighborhoods clean. Tim Hortons CSR programs Achievements: †¢Tim Horton Children's Foundation (THCF) welcomed 13,414 campers in 2011. †¢In 2011, THCF gave out 243 bursaries for post-secondary education worth $600,000 to graduates of the Youth Leadership Program. †¢Approximately $9. million was raised on Camp Day in 2011, benefitting the THCF. †¢$16 million invested in community initiatives across Canada and the United States. †¢Smile Cookie program raised $4 million for local charities across Canada and the United States. †¢Developed and implemented programs and initiatives within the Education, Employment, Empowering Youth and Economic Development pillars of â€Å"Horizons† – Tim Hortons Aboriginal Relations Program †¢The number of restaurants diverting our hot beverage cups and other paper packaging increased by 22 per cent in 2011 to more than 800 restaurants †¢Achievement of a 6. percent increase in fuel efficiency of the company's distribution fleet since 2008. †¢9% reduction in water consumption at our corporate buildings in 2011 compared to our baseline year of 2008. †¢Animal Welfare Policy was revised and commitment made to source one per cent of system-wide eggs from enriched-cage hen housing systems as well as to encourage the pork industry to move away from using gestation crates over time.