Connections between everything is illuminated and into the wild Essay

A common theme in both Into the Wild and Everything is Illuminated is an archetype of this Eden a final destination of journey. For â€Å"Alex,† it was his Alaska, for Alex, Jonathan, and Alex’s Grandfather it was Trachimbrod. An Eden in literature is a final destination or state that a character, or set of characters in the case of Everything is Illuminated, strives to achieve or find. Both books have the characters searching for their Eden’s for their own personal reasons. â€Å"Alex† takes on his journey to get to his Eden for himself and his constant goal is to make it to his Alaska, his final adventure. Despite all the people he has met and all the amazing things he had done and all the memories he made in his mind he was only set on his Alaska. Ironically, for â€Å"Alex† his final Eden was also his final resting place and he was not able to get passed his Alaska. For the group in Everything is Illuminated, they are searching for Trachimbrod as their Eden for their Journey. The idea of an Eden is a very common archetype in literature throughout decades and decades of writing. An Eden can also be a person or a state of being that the main characters are searching for but in both these works the archetype forms as a physical location that the characters are searching for. Socio-political In both books, there seems to be a topic of written word and the effect of it on people as a huge theme throughout the novels. For Into the Wild, â€Å"Alex† is constantly referencing different novelists that he relates too as a source of inspiration and motivation but more importantly, â€Å"Alex† seemed to use these works of written word as almost a sense of security and closeness to the authors in desperate times of loneliness. Everything is Illuminated also holds a sense of bond through written word with how a portion of the book is written as a letter from Alex to Jonathan. In society, the actions of written words and novels creates a closeness and bonds that spoken word or just everyday conversations seem to lack. There is a stronger sense of permanence to written word that gives off a bond from reader to writer that other forms of conversation can not accomplish. In society, it’s easier for a reader to bond with a writer through their words because of how they can take the time to contemplate and try to understand what the author was trying to mean. In Into the Wild, after â€Å"Alex’s† death his books were found written all over and highlighted and all his feelings even his last dying thoughts were poured into these books. He obviously felt a bond with these authors in his months of isolation in Alaska, an even stronger bond then than at any other time.

Mobile Phone Life Cycle

Samsung Electronics is a semiconductor mobile phone and mobile phone component manufacturer. It exists in the most dynamic end of the consumer product industry. It cannot succeed without continuous incremental improvement and without constantly updating its product portfolio. The product life cycle for its premium product the Samsung galaxy S3 is estimated to be only 9 months. This occurs because customers withhold purchasing a product for which they know is going to be updated and replaced imminently.Samsung is a conglomerate in multiple markets, with the main profit centres being mobile telecommunications and information technology manufacturing. Samsung has posted record profits in its most recent financial quarter. Samsung is a dynamic but reactionary company; it emulates innovations by other manufacturers such as Apple but it operates in a marketplace where such things are common. It manufactures components for most other manufacturers of mobiles tablets and PCs. Samsung has an adversarial relationship with Apple who is Samsung’s both Samsung’s main competitor in mobile telephony and one of its biggest customer’s.Samsung has an advantage over Apple at present in that it has the infrastructure and dynamic capability to manufacture the components required. This leaves its main rival Apple requiring Samsung’s co-operation. Samsung is seeking to increase the price which it charges Apple. Strategically this is a wise option as switching costs for Apple essentially having to retool its entire operating network and refresh its product’s. Samsung is a company that prefers to grow organically. It has been suggested that the firm engage in a purchase of Blackberry maker Research in Motion. This would be characterised as a defensive acquisition.It would be merely adding to its portfolio of assets and gaining ownership of a mobile operating system. Currently it licences the Android from Google. Samsung has a strong diverse product po rtfolio and is capable of competing in numerous markets from the low end smartphones to the Premium Galaxy range; Samsung has a product for every possible price point. Samsung partners with other providers and builds phones and other devices for them such as the Google Chrome book. In an industry where there are numerous rivals and whereby Product Life Cycles are becoming progressively shorter.Samsung has an advantage in that as a semiconductor manufacturer it can respond to changes in the market dynamic quicker. A disadvantage for Samsung is that is does not have the same prestige as Apple and therefore cannot charge such premiums for its products. Samsung has to offer more at a lower price point than Apple does for its competing products. Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Range has 2 rivals for Apples iPhone the Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy NOTE 2. These combined even though they are of similar quality and differentiated towards different market segments than the iPhone 5 sales are sti ll less than Apple.Could Samsung drop the Samsung nomenclature and market its high end models as Galaxy? This could enhance the appeal of the high end premium line. In the technology business Samsung is a rare beast in that it rarely makes acquisitions. Very few technology acquisitions are deliberately earnings generative. Facebook buying Instagram and Microsoft buying Skype are considered to be primarily defensive plays to enhance and protect certain advantages each of these companies had. Samsung could purchase a rival chip maker, though logistically and practically there would be little point in doing so.Another concept potentially to consider would be merging with Google to create an all in one hardware and software company. While logistically this would be the ultimate defensive move by both sides, it would be very difficult integrating the different business cultures it would probably mean that Samsung would have to move its headquarters to the U. S. A. A merger to companies t hat are on friendly terms as it is would certainly produce synergies in financing, but as they both maintain large cash piles that are increasing every quarter it doesn’t seem that the risk would be worth it.Another option for Samsung would be Nokia this would give Samsung 30 per cent of all the patents for 4G networks which would give the firm a significant royalty stream from every 4G enabled phone worldwide over the next 8 to 10 years which is the expected length that 4G will remain as the most modern network. Samsung will however be paying for a brand name and significantly weak company . It would also have to fend off rumoured interest from Microsoft. It would be a costly acquisition at 30 billion dollars given the Market Capitalisation of Nokia today and the required premium with which would be required to be successful.Samsung could use its partnership with Renault Nissan in the automotive industry to create a suite of products automatically synchronised with the car. This would be similar enough the Tesla Model S. While this is a left-field suggestion it is leveraging assets that Samsung already has and utilising it in order to serve its main Profitable arm. This allows the firm to gain a competitive advantage over its main rival Apple. The struggling Nippon-French automobile manufacturing partnership might also be receptive to an outright takeover by Samsung.Samsung has heretofore been a trend follower, albeit a very adept and nimble one. It hasn’t necessarily been the most innovative company, however with product life cycles getting consistently smaller and the competition which Samsung faces at all ends of the market from the low end to very top is also getting more innovative. Samsung is one of only a small number of companies that could redefine the market. It already produces Smart TVs in large quantities. It could start selling phones laptops and tablets TVs in large bulk quantities by already pre synchronising them for customers.I ts steps like this that will put it ahead of its main rival Apple which is rumoured to be introducing a television that is expected to permanently alter viewing experience. In order to successfully manage this transition Samsung would have to be ahead in the U. S. A first and foremost. Gaining access to material is what blocked Apples entry into this new market. Aggressively Samsung could purchase a cable company or Netflix and control this content for itself, gaining such an imperative competitive advantage.Samsung if it wanted to be aggressive could stop supplying Apple severely hampering its main rival’s operations while aggressively increasing market share elsewhere by undercutting Apple. Another strategy would be to introduce a phone that would have enhanced abilities i. e. a class above its premium Galaxy range and equivalent iPhone 5 and Google Nexus 5. This would entrap Apple in a Pincer movement that would allow Samsung to be effectively the supplier of the latest ac cessory mobile phone, which at present is the iPhone 5 rather than the equivalent S3 and Note 2.The other strategy is to remain second the mobile phone market and a distant competitor to Apple in the Tablet market, this is the most conservative option and requires the least capital outlay, however it risks being overtaken in the same way Nokia was. In the technology market an aggressive approach would be beneficial, but as the relationship between Google and Samsung is seen as quite good the optimal strategy would be to jointly design products that would create a short term monopoly , such things exist in a world where second best is very often a distant second.Utilising inherent dynamic capabilities it was Apple who was playing catch up to the S3 and Note 2 but the iPhone 5 is outselling both products collectively, this could be because of the inertia derived from being introduced to a particular eco-system, in this way Apple has a first mover advantage in that it has a lot of loya l clients. Samsung primarily operates on Google’s Android operating system which is compatible with other Android users such as HTC and LG. At present Android has 68% of the market but the high margin clients have primarily tended to purchase Apple products.This is an issue that is only further compounded by time. In order to overcome this Samsung would have to be overly aggressive on a pricing strategy for a phone that would be significantly more advanced than its predecessors and its rivals. Samsung Electronics as a whole is a diversified technology company that should continue to grow unless it commit’s the cardinal sin of failing to innovate. It is a buy but it will have to alter its practices if it wants to surpass Apple’s profitability. S. Decker, 2012 Samsung Gets Review of Loss to Apple in U.S. Patent Case http://www. businessweek. com/news/2012-11-19/samsung-gets-review-of-loss-to-apple-in-u-dot-s-dot-patent-case Last Accessed 20/11/12 11. 25 http://www . investopedia. com/terms/d/defensiveacquisition. asp#axzz2ClJTl2OX Last Accessed 20/11/12 11. 30 Sam Grobart, 2012 Samsung's Four (Easy) Steps to Mobile Dominance http://www. businessweek. com/articles/2012-11-19/samsungs-four-easy-steps-to-mobile-dominance Last Accessed 20/11/12 11. 30 Samsung Annual Report 2011

Exploring the need for Department of Homeland Security in USA Essay

Exploring the need for Department of Homeland Security in USA - Essay Example This directorate is responsible to bring the operations of the major border security and transportation under one command , including: office of the domestic preparedness, Us customs service, immigration and naturalization service, federal protective service, federal law enforcement training center and animal and plant health inspection service. This directorate was made responsible to overseeing the preparedness for domestic disaster training and coordinating government response to disasters. This directorate was also responsible to bring the federal emergency management agency, the national disaster medical system and strategic national stockpile under unitary command. This directorate was made responsible to seek and utilize all scientific and technological benefits when the need for securing the homeland of USA is felt. The following assets accrued to this directorate included from the Environmental Measurements Laboratory (Energy), National BW Defense Analysis Center and Plum Island Animal Disease Center of Agriculture. This Directorate is made responsible to analyze intelligence and other relevant information from agencies, including the CIA, FBI, DIA and NSA. That involved threats to homeland security. This directorate was to bring together the federal computer incidence response centre, national infrastructure protection centre, national security and assurance program and critical infrastructure assurance office. Directorate of Secret Service and Coast GuardThis directorate had to be located in the headquarters of the department of homeland security and to remain directly reporting to the secretary of the department. The coast guards were responsible to protect the US maritime boundaries. The Secret Service had to remain intact and its fundamental mission would remain to be the safeguarding the President and other key government officials. The Secret Service was also to continue to consistently provide security for important national events. This is interesting to know that the DHS is a strong bureaucracy within itself. The functions performed by the directorates within DHS have to go through a lot of red taps. The emergency response and preparedness, remains, so often, questionable (Noam, Chomsky, 2005).The mission statement, objectives and real functions can only be realized, when there is democratic decision making process and, swift and easy response process. After establishment of the DHS, no

Movie Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Movie Assignment - Essay Example This paper shall candidly and comprehensively elucidate on virtue ethics and the issues that surround it by considering its application and/or violation in the movie â€Å"Iron Man 2." One of the scenes that can adequately be used to describe virtue ethics in the movie â€Å"Iron Man 2† is Iron Man (Tony) and his Stark industries. As an industry that engages in the production of weapons for the American military, Business in this sector can be a persistent quandary for those involved. As the movie begins, Tony Mark has no doubts and strongly believes that the missiles that he creates protect and support American paramilitaries (Casey et al., 12). When Tony goes to Afghanistan to exhibit a newly created missile, a terrorist cell bombs his caravan. Tony looks at the grenade and sees the label â€Å"Stark Industries† before it explodes. After its explosion, Tony ends up interspersed with shrapnel and the terrorists easily apprehend him. Even after arrest, Tony does not face the anticipated sufferings. He is saved because the terrorist wanted Tony to create a similar missile for them. Eventually, Tony seepages and returns to his home country where he takes time to essentially reason about what his business does. Through his statements, Tony expresses embarrassment. â€Å"I never got to say good-bye to my father†¦.I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did if he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts† (Casey et al., 24). It had dawned on Tony that the terrorists acquired his weapons and were fully using them against the Americans; whom the weapons were meant to defend and safeguard. After this recognition, tony wonders what to do with the company; ethical dilemma skulks in. Despite the sheer fact that his company engages in other activities, weapon production was the main income generating activities. Tony attributes most of his

Using PESTLE framework, analyse the impact of external business and Essay

Using PESTLE framework, analyse the impact of external business and economic environment of your focal organisation that affect its strategic decisions and performance - Essay Example The factors analyzed using PESTLE model includes political, economic, social, technological, and legal and environment (Henry 2008, P.51). Political factors in this case include government policies, conflicts, and wars, pressure groups, trading policies, grand, findings and initiatives and government term and change. Economic factors include general taxation, situation of home economy and trends, market and trade cycles, international economies and trends, factors affecting industries, monetary issues, exchange, and interest rates among others. Social factors analyzed include demographics, lifestyle trends, media views, consumer’ patterns of buying, Company, brand and technology image, lifestyle trends, consumer attitudes and preferences, and religious/ethnic factors. Others include major events and influences, publicity and advertising and changes in laws that impact on social factors. Technological factors include technological advancement, maturity of technology, laws governing technology, and consumer purchasing mechanism among others. Legal factors on the other hand include current and future legislations, European/foreign legislations and regulatory processes and bodies. Finally, environmental factors include corporate social responsibility expectations and awareness, environmental legislations, consumer buying patterns, public awareness on issues affecting the environment and political issues pertaining to the environment (Allen 2010, P.54). Wars and conflicts are some of the elements of the political factors that affect an organization’s strategic decisions and performance. Wars and conflicts usually come because of political instability and lack of democracy in a country. The UK is one of the most stable countries politically, which has witnessed minimal incidences of wars and political unrest for more than 3 decades. This trend is expected remain constant in the future following the measures

Art and the Patron Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Art and the Patron - Essay Example In the dying embers of this world, artists began to come into fashion, creating a refined position within culture. Artists have been subject to the morality, philosophy, and social construction of their time and American artists have had to navigate these frameworks in order to find their place within the cultural context. Art has had to balance a double sided card for most of its existence, the expression of the artist tempered by the desires of the patron or authority over the artist to dictate the theme and representations that the artist uses. It is a rare moment in time when an artist has true control over those things that he or she wishes to depict within his or her art. The hidden elements that are not always obvious to the patron or the controlling party have been one of the joys that artists have been able to use to express their individual point of view within a dictated framework. As time has progressed, the types of hold that patrons have had over the theme and content o f the work has changed, but artists are often subjected to control in order to appease those who are willing to support their work. The privilege of total freedom is rare and has been denied to artists even within the expectations placed upon American art. The nature of artistic freedom has been subjected to morality, flattery, and the need to represent themes that suited the national rhetorical discourse. The economic needs of the individual to survive have been in tension with the need to express artistic vision throughout history. In New England in the 17th century, the trend of portraiture followed from England as a form of artistic employment, artists needing the patronage of those who desired their portraits to be done by them in order to create a form of wage for their work. Craven (1998) discusses the idea that the concept of the portrait as a commercial product was dependent upon a sufficient number of elite in the region who were willing to spend money on such a transactio n. He goes on to discuss how very talented artists came to American with the realization that their former training and income resource was likely to not be profitable enough in the new land in order to make a living so they were forced to take on other similar work such as painting signs or the interiors of houses. Because of the influx of immigrants that were of Dutch origins, there is evidence of the influences of Dutch portraiture aesthetics in many of the works from the 17th century American artists. Therefore, there is a long history of competent and extensive studies on Dutch art from American scholars (Liedtke, 2000). The influences of Dutch portraiture can be seen in the beginnings of a developing style in early American-European settlements as in evidence by the Freake portraitures. According to Roark (2003) the Freake portraits, done by an unknown artist, is the largest existing collection of artworks from this region and from this time in American history. The paintings share similar characteristics that suggest training in the art of portraiture as well as a defined perspective on how to represent the individual. Craven (1998) discusses the nature of the paintings in reference to the way in which they make social statements about the subjects of the paintings, the hair of the patriarch of the family, John Freake wore his hair naturally and shoulder

CURRENT ISSUES IN FIRST LINE MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

CURRENT ISSUES IN FIRST LINE MANAGEMENT - Essay Example Robinson and Sons Limited† is concentrated then it will be realized that there are certain flaws because of which the organization’s performance is getting worst. On the first sight some of these flaws seem to be: But if we concentrate deeply on the scenario, we will find that these flaws often occur other organization’s life e.g. a clerk becomes ill, but these organization does not suffer from bad performance because of their better first line management. So in the case of â€Å"A.J. Robinson and Sons Limited† the principle cause behind the bad performance is, flaws in the performance of first line manager (John Jones), i.e. He does not allow his workers to give their opinion and asks them to â€Å"mind their own business† then how better employer or departmental communication could be developed. So because of this reason whole flow of work is disturbed and organization is suffering from bad performance. In the next sections we will put some light on current issues in first line management and some suggestion or recommendation to make the activities of first line management more effective. Creating a pool of well trained and capable first line managers is a key challenge for todays organizations. First line management can be one of the most challenging tasks within an organization. These are the managers or supervisors who are responsible for those who do not manage others, for ensuring goals are met, quality is improved, new working techniques are implemented and whether or not customers are satisfied.   Often first line managers have been promoted because of their technical expertise and can then find themselves holding a new title without the attributes and training to have this new and highly significant role. In spite of the challenges confronted by the first line management, it is a task that often gives great business satisfaction and can be greatly agreeable. The diversity of the tasks carrying out in the first line management

Earth Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Earth Science - Essay Example Catastrophism ultimately takes a ratchet approach and explains off much of the current formation of our geologic world through a series of sudden events which shaped our modern world. According to James (2001) the origins of this theory are largely based on the writings of Immanuel Velikovsky who postulated that many ancient myths could ultimately be attributed to a near collision between Venus and Earth. Whilst this represents a pseudo-science approach it could be further argued that Catastrophism does not have any universal guiding principles and catastrophist theories can run a wide range from impact events shaping our current biological makeup right through to the theories of Velikovsky. In terms of estimating the age of the earth, effectively people who subscribe to Catastrophism theories believe that much of the Earths development came in cycles and if one can trace back all of these cycles back to their origin they they can estimate the age of the earth (Though estimates vary widely). In contrast to Catastrophism is Uniformitarianism which postulates that most of the natural laws of science that play on our earth now, also applied since its origins. Meaning that the development of the earth has been a slow and gradual process, which is often compared to the erosion. In terms of the age of the earth, estimations can vary widely insofar as again there is no commonly universally held principles earth development. According to Tarbuck and Lutgens (2011) it is the case that both principles are not to be taken literally however it is the case that Uniformitarianism is more widely accepted amongst the geologic community today. James, B (2001) Catastrophist Theories of Life Gaining Ground It Came From Outer Space.. The New York Times [online] Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/23/style/23iht-sncat_ed3_.html Accessed on August 25th

Family and egalitrarian partnership with a family nurse Essay

Family and egalitrarian partnership with a family nurse - Essay Example The family also comprises of various individuals with dissimilar personalities; hence, uniqueness of each household. In the research study compiled by Bell (2009), family therapy by an egalitarian nurse is one that is aimed at sustaining and promoting health to those suffering from particular infections. This is an suggestion that family therapy is one that makes sure the broad well being of the family is put under examination as well as proviso of maintenance skills on a long term basis. On another viewpoint, it would be reasonable to indicate that some family conditions may be a simpler sign of what the entire family goes through. Dealing with the infection on an individual perspective, in this case, is an indication that the syndrome is dealt with on behalf of the family, which is not obliging. This explains why there is need to deal with the infection on the family level not the person, which is only possible through the help of an egalitarian family nurse. Services offered by a family nurse can, therefore, be indicated to break the sequence of recurrence of various conditions in the individuals. As a result, family nurses offer proper assessment and handling of family infections, a feature which reduces the effects of an individual affecting the entire family. A good example would be psychotherapy on one person in the family who is diabetic. Certainly, the whole family benefits if therapy is administered effectively by the family nurse. This essay shall aim at emphasizing that families are in the best position to decide their own health goals and to accomplish them through identifying and further developing their potency as an egalitarian partner with a family nurse. This means that the family members are free and are not restricted to inquire or interact with the nurse regarding their medical condition. Fundamentally, this work shall focus on bringing out the view that family nurses have been of huge benefit in dealing with family infections. Body In the argument by Bell (2009), family nurses have a chance to proficiently assess the family as a unit. The care offered at the family level has been termed as one that targets all the participants in the family unit, which is inclusive of the members of the family, the whole family and the cultural systems that surround the relations (Bomar, 2004). An analysis of these structural systems that surround the family, a democratic relationship between the family and the family nurse allows for open interaction in the course of offering medical help; and consequently, possibility for appropriate health interventions. The family, can in this instance, be interpreted as a complex unit that needs long-term intervention. On another point of view, Bell (2009) emphasizes that the relationship between the family nurse and the family members becomes a collaborative one, since the nurse believes in the legitimacy of the structural component of the family. The kind of therapy that is being offered by th is clinician at this moment is one that is directed towards ensuring the family becomes competent in administering the therapy proposed, as opposed to the general care that is more directed to pathology (Bell, 2009). Additionally, the family members feel that the nurse and the family members believe that information on the family is in safe hands, hence respect between the two parties (Bell, 2009). Confidence in the family nurse is reinstated as the family members

Strategy planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategy planning - Essay Example However, the younger generation between the age of 18 and 28 seem to be comfortable with the brands from crystal fashion. The idea is to ensure that brand that resonates with them such as scarfs, sweaters and dresses. Crystal fashion in pursuit for a credible customer base needs to be more radical than the other competitors in the market (Wittmann & Reuter, 2008). The young professionals from either gender who have so far embraced the brands from the fashions talk of the products as being unique and classic effectively revealing who they are are in the society (Kurtz, 2012). The company should be more interested in the secrets of the young people as a strategy for producing future brands. Crystal Fashion is an organization that deals with production of garments and clothes for both men and women. In the recent past the company has sought to venture into new markets and to expand its market portfolio as appropriate. Most of the brands from the company have found favor with most of the consumers in Saudi Arabia region and the strategy is to position the clothing and garment brands in the market to attract more loyal customers. Crystal fashion is an organization closely held, for profit and is medium sized compared to other entities in the market (May, 2010). The company has a substantial customer base with earn a profit of one million turnovers. The idea is to have the young people share their stories concerning their preferred brands and fashion to enable the company factor such issues in the production of future brands. The strategy is to obtain the secrets from the target group as a basis for coming up better and improved brands that are accepted by a majority (Dillon, 2012). The company needs to come up with diverse channels that enable the target group share their secrets, learn from other people then use the input from the individuals to improve on the brands. The

Blood Brothers Essay Example for Free

Blood Brothers Essay â€Å"Blood Brothers† is a play about two twins who are separated at birth, they do not only have different parents but have a whole different lifestyle. Eddie lives in a world of luxury and has opportunities to go to university and eventually owning his own business which is more than Mickey could have ever dreamed of. On the other hand Mickey is brought up in a working class family with no qualifications whatsoever, as soon as Mickey thinks he has finally settled down with a job he then finds himself fired and starts turning to crime. Towards the end of the play the differences between Eddie and Mickey begin to show as friction is caused between them. They begin to turn against each other and Linda is stuck in the middle as she has feelings for both Eddie and Mickey, this is when the question is raised asking whether Linda and Eddie have been having an affair. This is then what sends Mickey off the rails and ends up being the cause of the Johnstone twin’s death as Mickey shot Eddie in a rage of anger over Linda. Tension is caused at the end of the play when Mrs Johnstone tells Mickey and Eddie that they are brothers as the audience already knew this they just wanted to know when and how this would be revealed to the twins. Willy Russell wrote Blood Brothers to show how life was in Liverpool in 1980s and how being in a different class separated people. He also refers to the recession and how so many people lost their jobs and the only way for them to earn a living was to turn to crime like Mickey did as he needed money to support Linda and his child, Sammy did not help the situation as he was the one who had persuaded Mickey to earn money in that way. The end of the story is revealed to the audience by the narrator at the very beginning of the play. This builds up tension because people know what is going to happen so they are waiting to find out how it happened and what led up to that scene. Another thing that adds tension to the play is how the narrator keeps on referring back to the devil â€Å"the devils got your number, y’know he’s gonna find y’. Y’know he’s right behind y.† Towards the end of the play the narrator says how close the devil is getting, the devil being the devil inside Mickey when he shoots Eddie down. Mrs Johnstone sings a song about the price that she has to pay â€Å"Living on the never, never, constant as the changing weather never sure who’s at the door or the price I’ll have to pay† This song says that Mrs Johnstone has a price to pay, this could mean that she has to give up her baby in return for the money that Mrs Lyons gave her but the audience know that the price that she will have to pay is the guilt that she will suffer and that both her twins die. The constant weather indicates her life has been up and down like it’s raining when she is sad and sunny when she is happy and that everything changes as fast as the weather. Secondly when she says that she is â€Å"living on the never, never, Constant as the changing weather never sure who’s at the door† this could refer to the people who came to knock on her door to take away her possessions and that living on the never, never could mean that she knows that nothing that she has will stay with her forever. Another thing that indicates this is that when she says â€Å"It’s alright lad we’re used to it we were in the middle id our tea one night when they came for that table.† This means that she has had her belonging possessed before and because of this she doesn’t really mind when it happens again because it has happened so many times before. Willy Russell has made the audience sympathize with Mrs Johnstone because she has been through a lot in her life. At the beginning of the play she tells us how she got to be in that position in that moment in time. Mrs Johnstone describes her marriage and says â€Å"that I was six weeks overdue† which makes the audience feel sorry for her. It also describes the place of marriage which was at the registry office. â€Å"We got married at the registry and had a do†. This suggests to us the audience that the wedding was nothing too fancy, not too expensive and that the marriage was sudden and unexpected. She got married because she was expecting a baby, in difficult, circumstances to get married in. Soon after the wedding Mrs Johnstone wanted to go out and enjoy herself like she had done before but her husband wouldn’t take her anywhere because he became very conscious of her appearance and felt embarrassed to be seen with her. This is evident due to the fact that sh e gained weight and now perceived herself to be â€Å"twice the size of Marilyn Monroe†. The audience feels sympathetic towards her because she has seven children and low self esteem. This is shown by the fact that she describes herself to look like she is forty two instead of twenty five. This shows the physical strain that Mrs. Johnston has gone through. I understand why she gave her baby away to Mrs Lyons because Mrs Lyons emotionally manipulated Mrs Johnston in this terrible time she is going through. Mrs Lyons attempts to make Mrs Johnstone think positively by saying that â€Å"if he’s with me you’ll still be able to see him each day as you come to work† Mrs Lyons presents Mrs Johnstone with the idea that her son would have a much better life with herself â€Å"if he grew up here as our son†¦ he could have everything†. However this is why she may have done this for the benefit of the baby because she felt that Mrs Lyons could provide for him much better than she ever could and she just wanted him to have a better life. The purpose of the narrator is to explain some of the key action on stage. The narrator also involves the audience by asking them directly, to judge what they see. He reveals that the brothers die at the very start of the play and from then on he constantly reminds the audience of the twin’s fate. He presents the themes of fate, destiny and superstition throughout the play, but at the end he asks the audience to consider if it was social class rather than fate that caused the tragedy. In the play the narrator constantly reminds Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons about the devil â€Å"Y’know the devils got your number, y’know he’s gonna find y’, y’know he’s right behind y’, he’s starin through your windows and he’s creeping down the hall.† This makes the audience realise that when the narrator refers to the devil he means the devil that is going to cause the death of the twins at the end of the play this makes the audience anxious as to when this is all going to happen. In this play Mickey, Eddie, Linda, and Sammy play all sorts of games, I think that the games that they play influence them when they are older for example they play with pretend guns and Sammy says â€Å"It only fires caps. I’m gonna get a real gun soon, I’m gonna get an air gun† This later becomes true as Sammy does get a real gun which is then used to kill someone; both Mickey and Sammy were arrested for this. The arrest is also relevant as the children used to play cops and robbers. â€Å"Come on Eddie, you can have a shot at our target in the park.†This is relevant because Mickey and Eddie practised shooting and in the end Mickey shoots Eddie so the shooting practise came in handy. I think the strongest child was Linda because she stuck up for Mickey no matter what; she stuck up for him when he was getting told of by the teachers and she was able to have the courage to lie to a police officer. Superstition is a big theme in the play and Mrs Johnstone is shown to be superstitious right at the beginning of the play. â€Å"New shoes on the table. Take them off†.The new shoes on the table could result in the birth of the twins. â€Å"Plural, Mrs Johnstone, mouths to feed, you’re expecting twins.† The narrator uses superstition during the play to imply the loss of money or precious things. â€Å"An’ a spider’s been killed.† A main part in the play is when Mrs Lyons uses Mrs Johnston’s superstitions to stop her from telling Eddie and Mickey that they actually brothers â€Å"They say that if either twin learns that he once was a pair, they shall both immediately die.† As Mrs Johnstone is very superstitious she believed every word Mrs Lyons says to her. This superstition later becomes true, as at the end of the play the only reason why the gun got fired was because Mrs Johnstone told the boys that they were actually brothers as she thought that it would stop Mickey from shooing Eddie but in the end although it may have been an accident Mickey still fired the gun either over anger or rage over Linda or pure shock to find out that he was a twin. The narrator finishes his speech with the idea of superstitions and whether they are the cause of the traumatic story line and ending. â€Å"And do we blame superstition for what came to pass.† The first sign of tension is when he kids grow up and Sammy causes trouble on the bus as he gets a knife out and starts threatening the conductor to give the bag with all of the fair money in just because he wouldn’t give Sammy a ticket â€Å"Fuck off, now move, you move! Give me the bag† This creates tension because nobody has ever seen that side of Sammy before and even Mickey gets scared and tries to stop him from getting into to deeper trouble â€Å"Sammy, Sammy!† The repetition means that Mickey is really worried and wants to get Sammy’s attention. When both Sammy and Mickey are both fired tension is created when Sammy asks Mickey to help him out with a job, Sammy then produces a gun and says they will go and hold someone up for some money. Mickey is reluctant at first, but wants to be able to buy Linda something nice, and agrees to stand guard. The audience want Mickey to be able to say no to Sammy because they know that it probably won’t end well, because they know that Mickey wants to be able to provide for Linda and his child but he won’t be able to do that behind bars. Meanwhile all this is happening at exactly the same time Edward meets up with Linda, proclaiming his love for her. She explains she has always loved him in a way, but she is now married to Mickey, and very much in love. Willy Russell shows them talking at the same time so the audience can compare what both Linda and Mickey are saying, Mickey gave into temptation and was willing to help Sammy with a job for money whilst Linda had Eddie declaring his love for her but Linda was strong enough to say no because she couldn’t do that to Mickey. At the beginning of the play Mickey and Eddie had a very strong friendship and cared and looked out for each other, when one was sad the other asked why and wanted to help â€Å"Mickey what’s wrong?† Eddie saw that Mickey was upset so he wanted to know if there was anything he could do to help. â€Å"I Thought we were blood brothers† this shows that they were once very close and being blood brothers meant that they always stuck together. As the play went on and the kids grew up into adults the relationship between Mickey and Eddie had changed. Before they were best friends, which had then changed into a university kid and an unemployed man who had nothing to say to each other. When Eddie announced that he had everything he had ever wanted and offered to give Mickey money, Mickey’s jealousy got the better of him â€Å"You, you’re a dickhead†. This indicates that Mickey is angry at Eddie because he has everything including all the money in the world whilst Mickey had no job, no money and hated the thought that his old best friend had everything he didn’t have. Right at the start of the play everyone saw how close Mickey and Linda were but when Mickey was in jail it not only changed him, but it changed his mental health as he became attached to drugs and became insane and mad. â€Å"He said about, about me nerves, an how I get depresses an, I need to take these cos they make me better.† But when Mickey did use these drugs it might have made him feel better but it put a strain on his and Linda’s relationship as they argued all the time which then resulted to Linda turning to Eddie for comfort and supposedly romance. Willy Russell uses ellipses to show pauses or that t he character is being hesitant in sentences to create tension and also to make the reader hang on to the speakers words and waiting for the next instalment. In the final moments of the feel tense as Mickey is running round the town with a gun searching for Eddie and everyone is wondering if he actually will shoot his brother or if he will just threaten him. The confrontation between Eddie and Mickey is very dramatic as Mickey is shouting out the odds and Eddie is denying everything. Then the police come in demanding that Mickey puts down the gun down then when he starts to realise what he is doing he begins to lower the gun, then when Mrs Johnstone comes and announces that they are twin brothers â€Å"Mickey don’t shoot Eddie, he’s your brother, I couldn’t afford to keep both of you. His mother couldn’t have kids so I agreed to give one of you away.† Mickey despairs that he was not the one given away, because then he could have had the life given to Eddie. Mickey, distraught, gestures carelessly with the gun towards Eddie. This sad story ends when the police misinterpret this action and gun Mickey down as he accidentally shoots Eddie, killing him. I think Blood Brothers the musical is a fantastic play, I especially love the way that each song has a meaning and the emotions of the characters in the lyrics. But I thought the end was good as you would have never thought that Mickey would kill Eddie. How the play was set for the narrator to have told the end of the story and the beginning of the play created more and more tension as the play went. I liked the fact that Willy Russell was influenced by Liverpool in 1983, only some of the characters had a Liverpool accent these were Mickey, Sammy, Linda, and Mrs Johnstone these were all the people in lower class and the ones who didn’t have an accent were Eddie, Mrs Lyons and Mr Lyons as they were very well spoken and in upper class. I learnt how social class can get in the way of you want to be friends with because their parents might not approve of you. I think the play might still have a relevance for a modern day audience as some people still rely on their class to get things, for example if Mrs Lyons wasn’t in upper class then Mrs Johnstone would have been able to stand up to her because she wouldn’t have thought that she was so high up. This can make modern day audiences change their mind and know that the times have changed so they can be friends with whoever they want to be. Another thing that the audience would see is how Mrs Lyons gave Mrs Johnstone money for her baby and that still happens today, so they can see that if someone does give their baby away to someone for money then it might not always end in happiness.

Current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people Essay Example for Free

Current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people Essay Identify the current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people including e-safety. Legislation covering child protection can be divided into two main categories : civil law and criminal law. The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 – This is an older piece of legislation of which some parts are still in forced today. It includes a list of offences against children, these are referred to as Schedule One offences. The Children Act 1989 –The current child protection system is based on the Children Act 1989. The introduction of this act was intended to be the most compressive and far reaching reform in child law in parliamentary history. The main aim of this law is to ensure that the welfare of a child is always considered as the most important factor when making any decisions about the upbringing of a child. The act also considers the thought and feelings of the child in a situation and bases decisions on whether the outcome would be better or worse for the child. It introduced the concept of parental responsibility. Two guidance documents are available to help professionals to identify children that may be at risks and the steps to take to help prevent this occurring. These documents are intended to be used with The Children Act 1989. The first is called, Guidance on interagency cooperation under the Children Act 1989, which was first published in 1991. The second which was published in 2000 was titled The Framework for the assessment of children in need and their families. Below are listed the variations of the policy throughout the UK. Safeguarding children: working together under the Children Act 2004 – This is the current guidance for Wales. The Children Order 1995 – Northern Ireland. The Children Act 1995 – Scotland. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 – This includes the right for a child to be protected from abuse, the right to express their views and have them listen to and the right to care and services for disabled children or children living away from home. The Human Rights Act 1998 – This protects the rights of all human beings, in the eyes of the law children are seen as human beings and therefore the Human Rights act covers their rights as well. The Education Act 2002 – This was introduced to ensure that a schools governing body and LEA make arrangements for the safeguarding and welfare of children. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 This expands on the Children Act 1989 by including domestic violence in the definition of harm. The Children Act 2004 – This new act didn’t replace or amend the Children Act 1989, instead it set out the process for integrating services to children. Further acts that followed the 2004 Children Act include – The Children and Adoption Act 2006, Children and Young Persons Act 2008, The Boarders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 and the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. Legislation to protect children from adults that pose a risk. The 1997 Sex Offenders Act – Requires sex offenders to have their names and addresses added to the sex offenders register. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 – This was introduced to update the legislation relating to offences against children. It included the offences of grooming, abuse of position of trust and trafficking. Further policies include – The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 and the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. E-Safety A School’s e-Safety Policy reflects the importance it places on the safe use of information systems and electronic communications. e-Safety encompasses not only Internet technologies but also electronic communications via mobile phones, games consoles and wireless technology. It highlights the need to educate children and young people about the benefits, risks and responsibilities of using information technology. * E-Safety concerns safeguarding children and young people in the digital world. * E-Safety emphasises learning to understand and use new technologies in a positive way. * E-Safety is less about restriction and more about education about the risks as well as the benefits so we can feel confident online. * E-Safety is concerned with supporting children and young people to develop safer online behaviours both in and out of school. The Internet is an unmanaged, open communications channel. The World Wide Web, email, blogs and social networks all transmit information using the Internet’s communication infrastructure internationally at low cost. Anyone can send messages, discuss ideas and publish material with little restriction. These features of the Internet make it an invaluable resource used by millions of people every day. Some of the material on the Internet is published for an adult audience and can include violent and adult content. Information on weapons, crime and racism may also be unsuitable for children and young people to access. Pupils need to develop critical skills to evaluate online material and learn that publishing personal information could compromise their security and that of others. Schools have a duty of care to enable pupils to use on-line systems safely. Schools need to protect themselves from legal challenge and ensure that staff work within the boundaries of professional behaviour. The law is catching up with Internet developments: for example it is an offence to store images showing child abuse and to use email, text or instant messaging (IM) to ‘groom’ children. Schools can help protect themselves by making it clear to pupils, staff and visitors that the use of school equipment for inappropriate reasons is â€Å"unauthorised† and ensure an Acceptable Use Policy is in place. E-Safety training is an essential element of staff induction and part of an on-going CPD programme. However, schools should be aware that a disclaimer is not sufficient to protect a school from a claim of personal injury and the school needs to ensure that all reasonable actions have been taken and measures put in place to protect users. Legally an educational institutions e-safety policy ties into multiple laws and legislation.

Organizational Analysis of WalMart Store Inc

Organizational Analysis of WalMart Store Inc Introduction and brief overview of Wal-Mart store Inc. Wal-Mart store Inc. is not only the retail giant, but also is the largest grocery chain in the world. Wal-Mart store Inc. was founded in 1962. Samuel Walton and his brother J.L. Walton open their first Wal-Mart Discount City in Rogers, Arkansas (Wal-Mart History, 2010). For Wal-Mart store Inc., their common mission is: Save people money so they can live better (Wal-Mart corporate, 2010). Compared with their main competitors such as Target and K mart, Wal-Marts 2009 sales were almost 50% more. Because of its giant size and buying power, Wal-Mart can buy its products at very low prices, exchanging high purchase volumes for low cost then passing the savings onto its customers (Wikinvest Wal-Mart, 2010). Wal-Mart has 8,900 stores around the world in three different business segments of retail stores that including: Wal-Mart stores, Sams Club and Wal-Mart international. All of them offer different kinds of merchandises including electronic appliances, groceries, furniture, apparel and health beauty stuffs etc. For their business segment, they have over 54% of the companys stores are located in the United States, and the others international stores are mainly located in central and south America and China. The company mainly focuses on offering the lowest prices to attract its consumers. Wal-Mart totally earned $408 billion revenue in 2010, increase 1% compare to 2009 (Wikinvest Wal-Mart, 2010). REVENUE BY GEOGRAPHY  Ã‚  Ã‚   (USD) Annual FISCAL YEAR ENDING 31-1-2006 31-1-2007 31-1-2008 31-1- 2009 31-1-2010 Revenue International 59.2B 77.1B 90.6B 98.6B Revenue US 284B 303B Total Revenue 316B 349B 379B 406B 408B (Source: www.wikinvest.com/stock/Wal Mart_%28WMT%29/Data/Key_Metrics#Revenue_Breakdown) In 2009, Wal-Mart earned $255.7 billion in the domestic segment of the companys revenue. For Wal-Mart stores segment are further categories into three different formats including: Supercenters, Discount stores and Neighborhood Stores. For the Sams club, it is the second largest membership-only retailer club ( Costco is the first largest membership-only retailer) in United States belong to Wal-Mart Inc., their main customers mostly are offices, convenience stores, motels, restaurants and schools etc. (Wikinvest Wal-Mart, 2010). For now, Wal-Mart has total 3,121 international stores all over the world including in Mexico, Japan, Canada, China and countries in central and South America. However, recently Wal-Mart begins to slow down their growth rate in the United State and turn their main focus onto its international stores to develop growth. For international stores locations altogether earned total $98.6 billion revenue in 2009, compared to the sales of 2008, is increased 9.1% (Wikinvest Wal-Mart, 2010). Strategic History of the Industry The whole retail industry in the United States has over $4 trillion annual revenue. The main retail companies are including Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Kroger, Costco, and Target. Some of the large companies dominate some retail sectors such as mass merchandisers and grocery stores, other sectors like auto dealers and convenience stores are fragmented. However, retail industry still has many small and specialty retailers are single-store operations (Hoover, 2011). The economy deeply affects the retail demand. In other words, retail demand depends on the economy. Many different kinds of economic factors such as job growth, recession, personal income, consumer confidence and interest rates can strongly affect consumer spending behavior. When during recessionary periods, the bad economy can affect the retail sales growth rate slow drastically or even sales revenue decline. While the retail spending grows rapidly when in the period of strong economy growth, for example consumers will spend more on grocery when they have more income. However, the rising interest rates will affect consumer purchase behavior and consumer ability to finance large amount of purchase such as purchasing cars (Hoover, 2011). Strategic History of Wal-Mart Store Inc. In the early stage of strategic history for Wal-Mart, they always unchanged their vision always low price for their customers. Until 1990s, Wal-Mart announced that they planned to go global. They wanted to look for international markets for the reasons as following: First of all, Wal-Mart has facing very strong competition in United States such as Target and K mart. These two firms had aggressive expanding their business and had started sharing Wal-Marts market share. Secondly, the market in the United States is already saturated; it was becoming difficult for the company to continue its growth rate. Thirdly, the US population is accounted for only 4% of the worlds population and if they want to expand their global market, China had the potential massive growth due to their huge population of over 1.3 billion people. The last reason is, globalization opened up new markets in China and created opportunities for discount stores such as Wal-Mart (Wal-Marts Cost Leadership Strategy, 2004 ). On the other hand, Wal-Mart is using the strategy that cooperates with local suppliers to purchase their products, even though the organizational culture is standardized with the home country. This strategy is not only use to the products purchasing, but also adapted to the local cultures and stores decoration and designed are also changed to meet local taste all around the world (Wal-Marts Cost Leadership Strategy, 2004). Organizational mission statement As we know, the mission statement for Wal-Mart is every day low price. In order to insist their mission, Wal-Mart implemented three approaches in the market. First, it increased the local purchasing in order to reduce the purchasing costs and also suit consumers needs in different places. Secondly, it maintained a good relationship with their suppliers, satisfied them by paying within 3-7 days during its initial years. Thirdly, it established distribution centers (DC) and computerized its management system to improve efficiency and reduce costs (ICFAI, 2005). Business Level Strategy For these several years, Wal-Mart has been trying hard on expand its stores outside the United States. It through two different to expand their international business market: new store construction and acquisition. Acquisition strategy of supermarket chains had been a part of Wal-Marts entry and store expansion strategy in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, China and Great Britain (The Wal-Mart Puzzle, 2008). Over all, the Wal-Mart strategies were including: multiple store segments, lower daily prices, lots of name-brand merchandise, reduce operating costs, emphasized customers satisfied service, wide selection products, disciplined expansion into new geographic markets, and using acquisition to enter foreign market (Wal-Mart Store Inc., 2010). However, no matter Wal-Mart are in which foreign country, their company vision always low prices is never changed. The companys low distribution costs and cost-efficient supply chain management are the big reasons why Wal-Mart is so success and at the same time reduce the products prices. Wal-Mart has get into distribution efficiency compare with their competitors because of its rural store locations. Current strategy for the major operations/functions of the company Current strategies for Wal-Mart are including low costs, high volume, increase customer satisfaction and expansion strategy. Wal-Mart creates name recognition and customer satisfaction, and combined the retailer with the reputation of offering the best prices. They also expand their new business segments to different sectors such as pharmacies, automotive repair, and grocery sales to increase their sales revenue. Expansion strategy: The company realized that building a new store will allow for increase market share value. After their success in the rural areas, Wal-Mart moved to urban areas and then moved to surrounding areas. The expansion strategy made Wal-Mart the number one retail store in the United States. As Wal-Mart continue its expansion domestically, the firm decided to go international. Furthermore, Wal-Mart realized that acquiring an existing retail firm is necessary for expand domestic and international markets. Therefore, Wal-Mart by acquire retail store which enable to expand locally and internationally. Always low prices make customers live better strategy is believed the strongest strategy used by Wal-Mart. The firm developed the idea of dealing directly with the manufacturer and with the power control by Wal-Mart will enable it to get the best deal from the manufacturers and suppliers. Organizational structure, culture, and control systems (Source: http://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/wal-mart-stores) Saving people money to help them live better was the mission for Wal-Mart. Hence, Wal-Mart negotiates different suppliers and understanding their cost structure in order to reduce the price. Wal-Mart has to be certain that the manufacturers were doing their best to cut down costs. Also, Wal-Mart believed in establishing a long-term relationship with their suppliers. Wal-Mart had 129 distribution centers located at different locations all over the US. Over 80,000 items were stocked in these centers. Wal-Marts own warehouses directly supplied 85 percent of the inventory, as compared to 50-65 % for competitors. Shipping costs for Wal-Mart is about 3 % which is lower than its competitors, 5%. The distribution centers ensured a steady and consistent flow of products to support the supply function (Wal-Marts Cost Leadership Strategy, 2004). Wal-Marts logistics infrastructure was its fast and successful transportation system. The distribution centers were serviced by more than 3,500 company owned trucks. To make its distribution process more efficient, Wal-Mart also uses a logistics technique called cross-docking. In this system, the finished goods were directly picked up from the manufacturing plant from suppliers, and then directly supplied to the customers. The system reduced the handling and storage of finished goods, eliminating the role of the distribution centers and stores (Wal-Marts Cost Leadership Strategy, 2004). SWOT Analysis for Wal-Mart Store Inc.. Strengths Reputation Brand Name: Wal-Mart is a powerful brand and pioneer in the retail industry with the wide spread network of stores. It has a reputation for low price, convenience and a wide range of products all in one store for customers. Wal-Mart has captured about 10% of the retail market in the U.S. and continues to expand. Wal-Mart stores continue to open all over the country making Wal-Mart a household name. Wal-Mart has also been widely acknowledged for its social responsibility actions. The company has donated to a variety of charitable organizations and has been accredited for bringing jobs and wealth to less developed communities. Offer Low Prices: Wal-Mart uses its enormous size and buying power to pressure its suppliers into extremely low prices, offering orders of high volumes of merchandise in exchange for low prices. The good thing about Wal-Mart is that its shifts the low cost advantage to customers and available the products at lower prices. It has loyal customer base because it meets the expectation of customer by always delivering the goods at lower prices at compare to its competitors. Expand Global Market: Wal-Mart has aggressively expands its international market over the past few years and has experienced global expansion. For example its purchase of the United Kingdom based retailer ASDA. Technology: Technology is strength to Wal-Mart with its inventory control system that was recognized as the most sophisticated in retailing. The technology linked all the stores to the headquarters and the companys distribution centers. It also enables the warehouse of which the goods are ordered, and direct the flow of goods to the store and proper shelves. Supply chain and logistics management: Supply chain and logistics management are one of the strengths of Wal-Mart. This allows Wal-Mart to utilize the Just- in-time inventory concept and avoid the pilling up inventory to save the extra cost for maintaining inventories in the warehouses. Human Resource: Wal-Mart always keen to provide training to their employees to improve the customer service level. The firm hire locally, provides training programs for its employees. Wal-Mart also gets its employees involve and encourage them to make use of words like: we, us, and ours. It also provides stock ownership and profit sharing with great contribution from the H. R of the firm. Wal-Mart was named one of the best 100 firms to work for. Cross-docking inventory system: Using the cross-dock technique, Wal-Mart was able to effectively leverage their logistical volume into a core strategic competency. Wal-Mart operates an extensive satellite network of distribution centers serviced by company owned trucks. Its satellite network sends point of sale (POS) data directly to 4,000 vendors. Each register is directly connected to a satellite system sending sales information to Wal-Marts headquarters and distribution centers. Weaknesses Employee turnover: Wal-Mart has high employee turnover which costs more money and time for company to train the new employee. Bad publicity: Wal-Mart is currently facing a gender discrimination lawsuit. Their female employees accuses that they were discriminated against in matters regarding pay and promotions. And also, Their female managers were accounted for the minority group in the company. Lock of flexibility: Wal-Mart sell very wide range kinds of products for example like clothes, food, pharmacy or stationary which lack of flexibility compare with other more focused competitors. Other competitors may have the ability to make changes and improve on a certain product lines when the needs of their customers change. Wal-Mart, however, may have too much merchandise and not be able to focus in on sectors that need to be improved. Some products have poor quality: Although Wal-Mart provides low price of products, however, customers sometimes complain about the poor quality of few products. Facing difficulty in International market: It is hard for Wal-Mart to expand their business out of US to totally different countries all around the world. Moreover, Wal-Mart has to facing different culture and customer behavior in different countries, for example Wal-Mart facing difficulty to expand the market in China. Opportunities Customers: Because Wal-Mart provides low price to their customers, so they are able to attract more customers. Furthermore, customers basically are able to purchasing everything in one store that satisfied their needs. Wal-Mart 24 hours stores also satisfied their customers. Diversified store types: Wal-Marts different store types and new locations provide more opportunities to exploit new market. Stores diversified from local, small-based sites to large super centers. International Expansion: No doubt that continued expand the international market is a huge opportunity for Wal-Mart. Wal-Marts oversea stores have experienced significant growth. There are actually tremendous opportunities for future growth in developing countries and Asian markets than in the United States such as China and India. Creating strategic alliances and licensing agreements with other global retailers are ways to move into different countries. Threats Competition: Wal-Mart faces different strong competitions locally and internationally. Wal-Mart main competitors are including Kmart, Target, Carrefour and Costco wholesale. In 2010, the Net Profit Margin for Wal-Mart is 3.59%, Target 4.22%, Costco wholesale 1.69%, Carrefour 0.38%, respectively (Hoovers, 2010). Target is Wal-Marts direct competitor in the US, offering a range of general merchandise in a similar store format (Wikinvest, 2010). Economy Recession: The revenue for Wal-Mart is affected by economy recession. Good economy is an opportunity for great business, because customers will have more money to spend. If the economy is great, there will be more jobs and people will shop more. However, if the economy is bad, there will be fewer jobs and people will shop less. Also, with the high price of gasoline and its effect on the economy, Wal-Mart will certainly be affected the most. Strategy imitation: Wal-Mart strengthens its competitive advantage on low-cost products. Other competitors may imitate their low-cost strategy to take over their market shares. Low Brand Loyalty: In the retail industry, customers would like to choose the product with the lowest price. In other words, customers do not care about the brand or which retail stores, if Costco has the exactly same chips that sell cheaper than in the Wal-Mart, then customers will choose to buy the chips in the Costco not Wal-Mart. TOWS MATRIX STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Reputation Brand Name Bad publicity Offer Low Prices Lock of flexibility Expand Global Market Some products have poor quality Technology Facing difficulty in International market Supply chain and logistics management Employee turnover Human Resource Cross-docking inventory system OPPORTUNITIES OPPORTUNITIES-STRENGTHS OPPORTUNITIES-WEAKNESSES Customers Build on its already efficient distribution system to further expand in the U.S and globally. Wal-Mart should be awareness and strict to control of the quality of the product in order to keep their customers basis. Diversified Store Types Expand diversified store types to International market in order to increase profit in International market. Set higher employment standards through enhanced training to keep their employees have best performance. International Expansion Duplicated the successful delivery logistic management and the distribution centers into International market. Continue to build on cost efficient pricing and production due to expansion. Go into new markets and buy out their local retailers to gain market share. THREATS THREATS-STRENGTHS THREATS-WEAKNESSES Competition Buy raw materials or products from local suppliers to hold a better political status within the local community further to compete with their competitors. Human resource department should set a benefits long-term promotion program or standard and training program for their employees in order to decrease the employee turnover. Economy Recession Create their own brand of products and increase the quality of products in order to establish customers loyalty. Establish joint venture partnerships or long-term relationship with local retail companies to get the advantages in the International segment. Strategy imitation Develop strong RD and technology to enhance the competitive advantage and avoid imitation from other competitors. Low Brand Loyalty Five Forces Analysis for Wal-Mart Store Inc. Threat of entrances Low The threat of new entrance in the grocery and discount retailer industry is very low. New entrants have to face with the strong low-price competition among exist giant retail companies like Wal-Mart, Costco and Target. New entrants need to invest large amount of capitals to establish their brand recognition, service, and variety of product offerings that Wal-Mart, Target, and others competitors continue to improve on each day. In addition, existing companies can drop prices lower in order to force a new competitor out of the market. Therefore, the threat of entrances is low. Power of buyer-High Customers have many choosing opportunities and consider about products very details. They want the product now and they want it with the best service, best quality and reasonable price. Customers also enjoy increasing choice of products and choose one product that has the best quality and better price. For example, if customers find out Target sells an exactly product that has better quality and price than Wal-Mart, and then they will choose to buy it in Target instead of Wal-Mart. Power of Suppliers: Low The bargaining power of suppliers is very low. Wal-Mart is very famous on giving pressure to their suppliers to cut their price lower and lower in order to offer the lowest price to their customers. On the other hand, become the supplier of Wal-Mart is a very fierce competition. In 2004, about 10,000 new suppliers applied to become Wal-Mart vendors. However, only about 200, or 2%, were ultimately accepted by Wal-Mart (Gwendolyn Bounds, The Wall Street Journal). Therefore, the bargaining power of suppliers is low. Rivalry High The competition in the US grocery and discount retailer industry is very high. The main competitors for Wal-Mart in the local market are Kmart and Target. These companies also have to face competition from wholesalers such as BJs, Costco and even the international market such as Carrefour. Wal-Mart has adopted a cost leadership generic strategy. In the past, most companies have not been able to match Wal-Marts strategy everyday low prices. However, Wal-Marts barrier to entry (economies of scale) and strength (supply-chain management) can be easily imitated with sufficient resources. Therefore, retailers are in a fierce competition that see who can offer their customers the lowest price. Threat of substitute Low The threat of substitutes in this industry is low because only few companies have ability to offer such a variety of products available instantly and also low prices. One possible substitute is online shopping; however, customers usually do the online shopping for clothes or other stuffs but not for food or grocery shopping. Therefore, the threat of substitute is low. B. Strategic direction Key Strategic Issues Issue #1: Open too many new stores close to existing stores lead to new stores taking over the market shares from existing stores. Status Quo Wal- Mart depends on opens many new stores and expands into new market to increase the long-term sales and income growth. However, because of Wal-Marts large size of expansion, new stores are effects the sales on existing stores. For example, Wal-Mart builds a store relatively close to an already existing store, the new store might take away customers from the old store thus decrease the sales in existing stores (Wal-Mart, 2010). Evolutionary Change (Incremental Improvement) In order to solve this problem, Wal-Mart expands their business segment into international market instead of domestic market. For example, Wal-Mart opened 5 times number of stores in the international market in 2010 compared to domestic stores; most of stores are in Mexico, China, and Central America (Wal-Mart, 2010). Revolutionary Change (Huge/Drastic Change) Wal-Mart is also aggressively to open business segments in India if the country opens up the sector to foreign direct investment. India has retail market more than 1 billion; no doubt India is a huge opportunity for Wal-Mart. However, retailers that carry multiple brands (like Wal-Mart) are restricted to wholesale outlets in India. After Indias policy change, Wal-Mart is allowed to expand superstores and generate revenue in India (Wal-Mart, 2010). Specific tactics to implement the strategy Wal-Mart needs to establish long-term relationship or joint venture with local retail company to get into the market in India. Although in 2006, Wal-Mart announced that it had tied up with Bharti Enterprises Ltd. (Bharti) to get into the Indian retail sector. Bharti was a diversified company, and one of the biggest mobile telephone service providers in India (Wal-Mart and the Indian Retail Sector, 2007). However, because of the government policy, the small retailers groups and the Left parties against allowing the company into India are all the barriers that Wal-Mart has to face it. Issue #2: International competitors Status Quo In order to expand and improve the sales revenue for the economy recession especially in the domestic market, Wal-Mart has been aggressively expand its business segment into international market. However, the local big retailers or small retailers groups are against Wal-Mart to get into their market to take over the market shares because of its low price strategy (Wal-Mart, 2010). Evolutionary Change (Incremental Improvement) Improve its supply chain, logistic and technology segment to lower its delivery and operation costs in order to compete with local big retailers such as Britains Tesco, Frances Carrefour, and Germanys Metro (Wal-Mart, 2010). On the other hand, retail business segment is hard to create products differentiation, because commodity products are all the same for customers. The only way that gains the market shares for retail stores is not only low price but also quality of products. Therefore, Wal-Mart should awareness of its quality of products to attract more customers even in the international market. Revolutionary Change (Huge/Drastic Change) Wal-Mart should acquire and purchase the local retail companies in order to get into the international market. On the other hand, establish long-term relationship with local suppliers to have the win-win situation for their cooperation. Specific tactics to implement the strategy In the beginning of year 1, 2 and 3, Wal-Mart should first focus on improving its supply chain, logistic and technology improvement in order to compete with local big retailers on its lower operation, delivery costs and high quality of products. For the long-term tactics, Wal-Mart should deeply penetrate into the local market, understand different cultures and customers behaviors and then cooperate with local suppliers to establish long-term partnership. Personal assessment SWOT Analysis of myself in relation to the organization (What can I offer to the organization?). Strengths: International expansion (China): Wal-Mart is extremely aggressively penetrated into the market in China. Also, no doubt that China has 1.3 billion populations which accounted for the most majority population in the world, creates a huge business opportunity for Wal-Mart. Therefore, Wal-Mart needs a manager who can speak fluently Mandarin and English, and really understand about Chinese culture and Chinese customers behavior. Hence, I can offer Wal-Mart my knowledge to develop more opportunity in Chinas market in order to maximize the profits. Weaknesses: Lock of working experience: Even though I can speak fluently Mandarin and understand the Chinese culture and customers behavior; however, I still lack of working experiences. I do have some part time working experience such as working in starbucks, but do not have full time working experiences. Opportunities: Because of my professional knowledge (bachelor and master degree are both business management) are expertise on this field which can offer Wal-Mart a professional employees or manager. Moreover, my family also has business in China, Hangchow, which makes me has understanding and interested about China. I can provide Wal-Mart establish partnership with local suppliers and establish long-term relationship with them to compete with local retails competitors. Threats: Many applicants around the world: There is still having many talented applicants around the world apply to get into this company. Some of the applicants have high education degree and business knowledge and also have ability to speak many different kinds of languages. Therefore, I am in extremely fierce competition. Not every business segment in Wal-Mart is my expertise: I have weakened and lower advantages compared to local American because of the speaking and cultural differences. Furthermore, the company does business in many different retail formats, including supercenters, food and drugs, general merchandise stores, cash and carry stores, membership warehouse clubs, apparel stores, soft discount stores and restaurants. However, not every business segment in Wal-Mart is in my field of expertise. Financial Analysis 2010 Annual Sales (Figure2-1) (Source:Hoovers,2011,http://0subscriber.hoovers.com.leopac.ulv.edu/H/company360/competitiveLandscape.html?companyId=11600000000000) As you can see in Figure 2-1, this is 2010 annual sales for 4 main retail stores in the United States. They are including Wal-Mart, Target, Costco Wholesale and Carrefour. Wal-Mart has almost $400 billion sales in 2010. Compared to other competitors, annual sales for Wal-Mart was much higher than other companies. Carrefour annual sale in 2010 was around $100 billion. Annual sales for Target and Costco were just around $50 billion in 2010. 2010 Net Profit Margin (Figure2-2) (Source:Hoovers,2011,http://0subscriber.hoovers.com.leopac.ulv.edu/H/company360/competitiveLandscape.html?companyId=11600000000000) In Figure 2-2, net profit margin in 2010 for Wal-Mart was 2.98%. Target was higher than Wal-Mart which had 3.69% net profit margin in 2010. Other two competitors, Costco and Carrefour were both under 1.84% in net profit margin in 2010. Figure 2-3 (Source:Hoovers,2011,http://0subscriber.hoovers.com.leopac.ulv.edu/H/company360/competitiveLandscape.html?companyId=11600000000000) The Return on Asset ratio is useful in measuring how efficiently a company uses its assets to generate profit. By definition, ROA is calculated by dividing the Net Income by the total asset of a company. Refer to Figure 2-3, ROA for Wal-Mart from 2006 to 2010 are much higher than its competitors. Wal-Marts ROA were around 9% to 10% each year, compared to its competitors which were all much lower than Wal-Mart. This basically means that Wal-Mart utilizes its assets well enough to generate profit in comparison with their competitors. However, ROA in 2007 for Target is higher than Wal-Mart, Target 9.29%, Wal-Mart 9.05%. Targets major competitive advantage over Wal-Mart lies in its customer base: the average household income for Target customers is about $50,000 a year, whereas the average yearly income for a Wal-Mart customer is only $35,000 Figure 2-4 (Source:Hoovers,2011,http://0subscriber.hoovers.com.leopac.ulv.edu/H/company360/competitiveLandscape.html?companyId=11600000000000) The return on Stockholders Equity (ROE) ratio measures the percentage of profit earned on stockholders investment in the company. In other words, return on equity  measures a corporations profitability  by revealing how much  profit a company generates  with the money shareholders have invested.  Ã‚   In Figure 2-4, ROE for Wal-Mart were around 20% from year 2006 to 2010, compared to other competitors which are higher than others. Figure 2-5 (Source:Hoovers,2011,http://0subscriber.hoovers.com.leopac.ulv.ed

The Prevalence of Sexual Harassment on College Campuses Essay -- Exemp

The Prevalence of Sexual Harassment on College Campuses One night, â€Å"Amy,† a student at State, was hanging out with some friends in her room. â€Å"A bunch of people were there, and one guy I didn’t know was obviously drunk and kept asking me out. I tried to brush him off, and didn’t take it seriously because he was drunk. I left to go to sleep. â€Å"He followed me to my room and kept banging on my bedroom door, trying to push it open and asking me to talk to him. I talked to him for a little while just to appease him.† Finally, the guy’s friends coaxed him away from Amy’s door. â€Å"I don’t know if that’s sexual harassment,† she said. â€Å"I wasn’t worried that he was going to assault me. The whole thing was just annoying.† Judging by the numbers, this true story is not just an isolated case. Sexual harassment occurs in a variety of forms at State, and often goes without recognition. Harassment is difficult to define, and even harder to discuss. It can happen at Tap or Valentine, and it ranges from an unwanted advance to physical assault or rape. Particularly in a college environment, harassment is often both elusive and pervasive. Here at State, sexual harassment is making its presence felt. During the 2003-2004 school year, nine cases of harassment, seven cases of sexual assault, and five cases of rape were reported, compared to eight cases of harassment, seven assaults and five rapes last year. The statistics from 2002, however, provide a stark contrast to the last two years. These numbers may be part of a larger problem. Statistics show that there seems to be an increase in cases of sexual harassment at colleges around the country. Date rape has become the most common violent crime on college campuses today. About one out of s... ...ary action. Krull said, â€Å"I feel we are working towards a system which is supportive of victims/survivors, encouraging them to come forward to get emotional support for these painful situations.† What steps can be taken by both individuals and the student body in order to prevent and eliminate these occurrences? â€Å"My hope is that as a community we can treat each other with more respect,† said Krull. â€Å"The way to do this is to have open dialogues about how we deserve to be treated, what we think and how we perceive things differently.† â€Å"One of the most important things is to establish a no-tolerance policy,† said Bucknell-Pogue. â€Å"If people aren’t telling offensive jokes, the whole philosophy of campus life would change. We have to be supportive of each other and accept that different people are comfortable with different levels of contact and types of behavior.†

My Philosophy of Education Essay -- Educational Educating teaching Ess

My philosophy of education Throughout our school years we are told to decide what we want to do with our lives. I have had a hard time deciding on the right career choice for myself. During my field placement I learned that I really want to make a difference in children’s lives. The enjoyment that one gets out of seeing the looks on their students faces is rewarding. I enjoyed working with the students and now I know that becoming a teacher is for me. The purpose of education is to teach children that learning is valuable and that the mind wants and needs to grow by learning. All children can learn if they put their mind to it. Not everyone learns the same way, but we are all capable of learning. I have a cousin who is down-syndrome, he is the same age as my brother and graduated the same year I did. He graduated 4 years after he was supposed to, but he did it. His graduating class gave him a standing ovation, they were proud that he made it through. For this reason I believe that everyone can learn. He is just like a young child but he went to school and learned all that he could. Education is very important in life. Learning develops your mind and makes every person unique. As a teacher I hope to teach my students about everyday life, teach them math in a way that keeps their interests, and teach them to respect others. I want my students to respect me and look up to me and in turn I will respect them. My classroom is going to be an energetic room with students enjoying themselves, not unhappy because they have to do more math work. I hope that when my students leave my classroom they will have learned everything that I taught them. I once had a Math teacher whom all of her students loved. Sh... ...better understand. Bringing everyday activities into the classroom will be a part of my curriculum. After finishing school I would like to stay in Beckley. If there is a need for a math teacher some where else then that is where my plans will take me. After teaching for a little while my plans are to go back to school and receive a masters’ degree. One day I would like to teach college students, it would be an excellent experience in life. Teachers make a big difference in their students’ lives. One teacher could change the outlook of a student forever. Being able to make a difference is rewarding. Education shapes the world today. In any field that a person may choose there is some type of education behind it. A mechanic goes to a technical school for training, and a lawyer goes to law school. Every career available needs some form of education.

The Death of Women Wang by Jonathen Spence Essay -- imperial china, chi

It is a common myth to people of Western world that women in imperial China were closeted, constantly subjugated and not allowed to make anything of themselves beyond a good daughter, wife, and mother. To the contrary, women, as mentioned in The Death of Women Wang by Jonathen Spence, had come options open to them, and while certainly they were not as numerous or desirable as those open to men, they did exist [Spence 124]. Six Records of a Floating Life bu Shen Fu portrays women in quite a different light that women of imperial China are generally perceived with; the author's wife is creative, intelligent, spirited and active. She was educated to some degree and would make up spontaneous poems with her husband [Fu 31, 34]. In Chinese literary tradition, women authors are often only briefly touched upon or ignored completely, while in fact there were many of them, some of whom made a living for themselves by writing or painting. There are, in fact, over a dozen examples of women who were published for their writing skills, from the Tang to the Qing, but here the focus in on the Qing, which began officially in 1644 and ended in the 1900's. These short examples are all of 17th-century China, drawn from Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism, edited by Kang-i Sun Chang and Haun Saussy and published by Stanford University Press in 1999. The earliest example comes from before the Qing: Xu Cun, a poet born in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, 1610. She married Chen Zhilin, who became a jinshi in 1637, and later held the titles of Grand Secretary, Junior Guardian, and Grand Guardian of the Hair Apparent. He died in 1666 and five years later Xu Cu petitioned the emperor to have his remains reburied in his h... ... for themselves despite the repressive society they lived in. Women of the Qing and beyond were not all idle or disengaged from the world around them; as has been seen, a respectable number of them were active, engaged individuals with minds of their own and a firm place in the annals literary history. Works Cited â€Å"Qing Dynasty: Seventeenth Century.† Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism. Chang, Kang-I and Haun Saussy. Stanford, CL: Stanford University Press, 1999. 337-429. Print. Fu, Shen. Six Records of a Floating Life. Trans. Leonard Pratt and Chiang Su-hui. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc., 1983. Print. Mann, Susan. The Talented Women of The Zhang Family. Los Angeles, CL: University of California Press, 2007. Print. Spence, Jonathan. The Death of Woman Wang. 1978. New York: Penguin Books, 1979. Print.

Food and Beverage Management Essay

The food and beverage department plays a pivotal role in a star hotel. Such a hotel can hardly be convinced of without food and beverage section. Star hotels worldwide have costly and gorgeous bars which earns them significant amount of revenue. To extend the beverage provision of the hotel, there should be a strategy to procure and sell quality beverage at competitive price and serve the guests to their satisfaction in an ambient environment. For achieving the goal one should having a fair knowledge of different licensing regulations to achieve a great sale of different kinds of beverages and customer satisfaction. a) â€Å"The licensing framework and its implications on the hotel†. * Local licensing framework: There were various licensing laws in the UK governing sale of liquor in the past. The ‘licensing Act 2003’ came into existence on 10 July, 2003, which â€Å"provides for a unified system of regulation of the activity of sale and supply of alcohols†. * Some aspects of the licensing Act 2003 are explained below: i) Licensable activities and qualifying club activities. a) â€Å"These activities are the sale by retail of alcohol, b) The supply of alcohol by or on behalf of a club to, or to the order of, a member of the club, c) The provision of regulated entertainment, and d) The provision of late night entertainment†. ii) Licensing authorities: The Licensing Act 2003 mentions the bodies which consist of licensing authorities. Each licensing authority, with the exception of those which cover the inner and middle Temples is required to establish a licensing committee of between ten and fifteen members and also describe the objectives which the licensing authorities must promote. These objectives are: * â€Å"Public safety * The prevention of crime and order * The prevention of public nuisance * The protection of children from harm†. iii) Each licensing committee is required to â€Å"determine and a publish a statement of its licensing policy every three years. The licensing authority must consult: * The police, * The local fire authority, * People who represent holders of various categories of licenses, * Representative of local business and residents†. iv) This Act provides for four types of license namely: * Personal license * Club premises certificates * Temporary event notices * Premises license â€Å"A premises license This license authorizes a hotel to carry out licensable activities. It has details of operating conditions which requires the premises to carry out its operation in line with the licensable objectives. It lasts unless it is surrendered or revolved. It may be time if te applicant so requests†. * Some aspects of regulations of premises licenses: An application for a premises license needs to be made in prescribed form: An applicant for a premises license: * Will submit an operating schedule underlining curtain about activities to be carried out in the premises. * If represented against it by the police, the fire authority, the safety agency, or interested parties, the licensing authority will call for a hearing. After considering the hearing, the same authority may reject the application fully or partly or may attach some condition to the license. * Requires an appointment of an ‘authorized person’. * Requires a ‘designated premises supervisor’, a holder of personal license for the place where the premises license operates. * Identifies some categories of person, who, among others , may apply for premises license: * A person who is engaged or proposed to be engaged in a business involved on licensable activities in the premises. * Any individual aged at least 18 wishing to run a business on commercial basis involving the sale or supply of alcohol. * Provide for some mandatory condition which among others are: * Every supply of alcohol must be made by a personal license holder or person by him. * In case a premises license is stolen, lost, damaged or destroyed, the premises license holder may apply for a copy to the license authority. * Unless granted for a limited period on the desire or the applicant, a premises license will last until it is surrendered or revoked. This will lapse if the holder dies, mentally incapable and insolvent, the company is dissolved. A license holder may voluntarily surrender a premises license. * Some other aspects * Unlike the previous regulations, the licensing Act 2003 dose not fix up the days or the opening hours when alcohol may sell by retail for consumption on or off the premises. The licenses themselves decide when to sell and when to close the sale. * Centrally set, fees for license, certificates etc are fixed on the basis of full cost recovery. * The license authorities have the power to suspend or revoke a license. They can also modify operating condition. * The police are empowered to close licensed premises to deal quickly with unruly behavior and excessive noise. * Offences The following activities, among others, constitute offence under the Act. Ignorance of these offences will impede a manager’s function and duties. A few of them are: * Unauthorized licensable activities (section 136). * Exposing alcohol for unauthorized sale (section 137) * Keeping alcohol on premises for unauthorized sale (section 138) * Allowing disorderly conduct on licensed premises etc (section 146) * Sale of alcohol to drunk person . * Obtaining alcohol form a drunk person (142) * To keeping smuggled goods (section 144) * Admitting un accompanied children under 16 to certain premises (section 145) * Selling alcohol by retail on and moving vehicles (section 158) * Furnishing false statement made for the purpose of this Act (section 158) (Part 7 of the licensing Act 2003) * Implication of licensing regulation. In this age of high –tech technology when business operation are conducted within moments though electronic online system, processing of application for a beverage license rather a longer time. Granting such a license by the licensing committee is also equally time consuming. b) â€Å"Developing the drinks and wine list to achieve higher income and customer satisfaction, including non-alcoholic drinks†. * Developing drink Menu /List To extend the beverage provision of the hotel assistant manager has to focus on the sale tools of beverages, a primary requirement contribute to their sale. These tools are: 1. Beverages menus 2. Creating right and cosy ambience and decor in the room 3. Selling of popular and quality drink at competitive price. The common and main tools are the menus, popular and quality beverages themselves. To carry out the program of extending beverages provision the assistant manager must consider the following: * When customer are on the premise at hotel bar or restaurant, they look for: * An attractive and appropriate menu. * Good food and beverages in soothing and ambient environment. * The beverages menus. The beverages menus inform customers what drinks they have available and their cost. By presenting a well planned and nicely prepared menu, an atmosphere is created to target sale of alcohol to the customers and achieve a margin of profit. Therefore, it is very important to plan and present an appropriate menu so as to make the customers touch the menu with a sense of satisfaction that easily leads him to his choice. Using correct language and setting right location of the items in the menu, the management may skillfully entice customers to select their items comfortably. To carry out the strategy there is a need to fix up basic menu criteria that consists of the following factor: * General presentation General presentation of a menu identifies the image of the hotel. The following aspects of a menu are very important which should be: * Attractive * Clean * Easy to read * Complementary * Responsive to current awareness * Well designed * Menu content The content of a menu is very important. The for beverage provision the menu needs to be prepared and presented in the style and with features as discussed below: * Language The language of menu must be I line with the type of operation. If prepared in foreign language, it must be simple and accurate so that customers can easily choose items of their preference. * Accuracy The menu needs conveying the right price of the items and their availability. customers do not like wasting their time. So the menus must be accurate about pricing and availability. * Pricing Attractive and competitive, correct pricing of an item of food or alcohol is key to the extension program. Recasting the present price structure is essential to target sale at comparative price. * Sales mix Sales mix refers to composition of total sales as between main food and beverages. Designing a menu with potential sales mix of items the customers may select is important. If the sales mix is not satisfactory it will be hard to cover the costs of food and which eventually may fail the operation. * Layout of the menu It should neither be too short or too long. The length of the menu should be as such as will adjust itself to the liking and need of the customers, who prefer short and attractive menus. * Types of beverages menus Beverages menus are grouped as * Wine menus * Bar menus * Room service beverage menus * Special promotion beverages menus * Bar menus: These are two types, such as, large display of beverage menu and the small printed menus. The former should be displayed at the back or to the side of the bar while the later be available on the bar or on the table of the bar. * Room service beverage menus Depending on the standard of the hotel and the level of room service offered, these should be quite expensive to entice the customers. * Special promotion beverage menus It is essentially a promotion menu. This relates to advertising sale of a particular beverage either free or at a special price during an event. c) â€Å"The pricing policy for the new drink list†. More presenting attractive and well designed menus may not boost up beverage sale. Significantly important is adapting correct pricing policy. The beverage market is very competitive. Economic recession worldwide has to some extent the situation. The number of pubs has gone down but investment in the development of new premises has increased. Pubs, clubs and bars sector is largest employer in the world. The sector is very competitive. Considering the realities, the assistant manager therefore lays emphasis on the following aspects regarding pricing. * Pricing The price should include the operation cost, setting up cost, the cost of electricity, gas, washing, cleaning, the fixed cost such as staff cost, rates, loan payment, mortgages and VAT. The pricing should be based on the target market of the operation. Pricing also determines the type of clientele the operation has. A premium price demands not only a high quality drink but also high quality service, furnishing, decor, ambience or entertainment. The product and service, as received by the customers, must match the value of the money they spend, regardless of what the price may be. Pricing policy should attract customers even through by lowering profit. Pricing should be targeted to work a promotional tool. Offering special lunch or dinner with alcoholic drinks and offering wine on discounts to target group of users should be made for larger sale. The hotel management should aim at maximizing the number of customers. They should target the customers, they believes, they will have. The physical design of the premises, the human resources, the products themselves and the styles of service should meet the expectation of the customers. To maximize numbers of customers, gaming, betting, casino lotteries should be installed. Incidence of investment necessary in this regard should be included into beverages pricing. Cost of storage and control of beverage should invariable from a part of price. d) â€Å"Purchasing, storage and control of beverage stock†. * Purchase of beverage stock To sell any beverage profitably largely depends how it is procured, stored and preserved from damage, miss use and theft. Therefore the hotel management should adapt the following policy in relation to beverage purchase. * Purchase The hotel tied up with a brewery company like bass, white bread and brains. Beers may be procured from the parent company and other beverages from nominated suppliers. The drinks should be sometimes procured from nominated suppliers in bulk quality as to achieve significant discount. When beverage can be bought from a parent company at lesser price than supplier’s it should be bought from them. The hotel being a part of national chain, the purchase of all business is conducted by the purchasing department which should independently choose any suppliers it likes by negotiating maximum discount * An item wise strategy for purchases of alcohol is as follows. * Breweries Breweries are national, regional or local microbrewery. The hotel, even if tied to any brewery, should retain its option to source its purchase independently. When non-tied they can buy from any source by negotiating discount. * Cash and carry Specialist supermarket, cash and carry sells in bulk. The hotel may use them in emergency following normal practice: * General wholesaler The hotel may purchase alcohols or wines with competitive price from big wholesalers which buy from overseas and keep stock of beverage in their large warehouses. * Wine wholesaler. Like a general wholesaler, a wine wholesaler is specialized in supplying better quality wine. They can also sell premium spirits like Avery’s of Bristol. They may be used to procure wines for customers having higher socio-economic profile and disposable earning. Wines seller like Matthew Clark may be used as a significant source. * Brokers They specialized in sales usually from a specific region. To sell to both small and big operations. Both of them may use the brokers when needed and convenient. Purchasing from brokers through complex with cost factors, should be used during expediency. * Agency distributor As often cheaper and s they also offer after service they should be another source for beverage purchase. They are large wholesalers, often having licenses to manufacture international brands within UK. * Storage and control of beverage Procuring beverage at competitive price with satisfaction discount is an important skill in revenue earning from alcohol sale. Equally important is how the procured beverage are stored, preserved and their movement is controlled. If beverages are not properly stored, they will deteriorate and also may be stolen. This direct affects investment and revenue earning. As consumed by customers by customers food and beverage should be stored, preserved, maintained in a manner that they remain fit for humans consumption. The following factors in storing and controlling the beverage stock should be taken care of in relation to: * Sprits, liquors and some types of wine which have shelf lives. * Application of food safety Acts to control hazardous substances and beverages. * Cleaning of beers pumps and lines area as supplied through them. * The storage area should be clean as dry damp condition can harm label, cartoons etc. * Lightning should be low (40watts maximum). The beer storage should be 13 to 14 degree Celsius while a wine storage should have a temperature of 13 degrees. A significant variation let us say 3 to 4 degrees either way can effect deterioration. * All storage areas of all kinds of beverage should always be kept clean, tidy and be swept and washed. Empty containers must not be kept in the same place with the new stock as they are likely to accumulated bacteria from open containers. * A financial involvement in the wet stock being big, security aspect of stock should be taken care of. Access to storage record and movement of stock both internally and externally should be controlled, specific and designated. * Beverage beyond expiry dates cannot be sold. So it should be a regular practice to examine † the best before system on line information on stock control, electronic bar management, rapid order system point of sale , application of appropriate technology for control of beverage stores all these are effective control method of beverage stock .