Environment Analysis Essay

Marketing Environment Analysis An underlying assumption of the introduction to marketing course is that students learn best and retain more when they actively apply and work with the concepts presented in the course materials rather than simply read about them. Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is to apply concepts and knowledge learned in class to real situations to enhance your understanding. A marketing environment analysis is an examination of the major external forces and trends that have impacted or may mpact a market and thus present opportunities and threats for marketers. It involves an assessment of the key components of a company’s task (micro) environment and macroenvironment (see Chapter 3). This information is necessary input into the development of a strategic plan for companies who are involved or plan to become involved in the industry. Project Summary Your short paper should contain the following two parts. Part 1. part 2. Examine the current market micro and macro environmental situation for an industry f your choice (for example, please see the list on page. 5). That is, explore the market, customer, competitive, distribution, demographic, economic, ecological, technological, political/legal, and cultural situations for the industry with particular emphasis on those changing environmental factors that may provide opportunities and threats for companies in the industry (see Chapter 3 for more details; This is primarily sections II and Ill below). Demonstrate your understanding of core marketing concepts that you have not incorporated into Part 1. A partial list of the concepts that should be addressed is provided below (Section ‘V). You are not limited to this list. Examples, both real (preferable) and conjectural (i. e. , things that you think are likely), should be provided to demonstrate your understanding. Most of these concepts should be addressed in your industry analysis (i. e. , Part 1). You do not need to repeat any of the core concepts that are covered in Part 1 . While all parts of this project are important, your demonstration of your nderstanding and ability to use core marketing concepts is particularly important. Regardless of the section (Part 1 or Part 2) in which you discuss the core concepts, please use bold type to highlight the concepts. Please note that this assignment will be completed individually. Your written report should conform (more or less) to the format listed below. The body of the analysis should not exceed six double-spaced typed (12-point type) pages. However, extensive use of appendices (such as charts, tables, industry-related ads etc. is acceptable. The page count begins with the â€Å"Task (micro) Environment Description† (point II. in the format given below) and not with the summary or table of contents. Each item in the appendix must be individually referenced in the body. References (i. e. , sources of information) must be cited in the main text (include author’s name, year) and listed in a reference section (section VI). As with all written assignments, your analysis will be evaluated on its professional appearance, readability, and apparent ettort, as well as on its content.

Happy Birthday Sal

Happy Birthday Sal!!!!! This is the part where I tell you about how much I love you and how you have always been there for me and that your like the sal to my pal which you are! But I'm going to keep it plain and simple†¦. With a rap Kush rolled, glass full, We prefer the better things Niggas with no money act like money isn't everything Were having a good time, they just trying to ruin it Shout out to the fact that its Sal's fuckin 18th Birthday! Hair did, makeup on, Hottest, everytimeSal ain't trying to pop that shit for pimp okay well never mind, I I I tried to told you, Colin still ain't nothin nice Bracelet saying believe, cars saying soccer mom life Okay now we outta here Happy Birthday to my bitch And if you hatin on my bitch I got the voodoo for you bitches Sal's to busy, She just wants trouble makes enough for two niggas boy daycare payin double Sal and pal is Famous like a drug that We've taken too much of I never ever trip Just that onceI got weed in these jeans, so t hey fit me kinda snug Plus the lighter is in my pocket, nigga this is what I does. I'm about your birthday man Fuck what they be talking about, Sal and pal are fuckin dope, We the only thing that matters (oooh) So we do it how we do it Happy birthday, man, I love ya sal you know how to do it I be up all night Cause I don't really know who Imma finish this rap (oooh) Man I love my sal Man I love my sal I would die for that nigga (oooh) HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAL .

Introduction Floyd

Defines communication competence as communicating in means that are effective and appropriate in a given situation. Practitioners of competent communication can be observed to share several common characteristics. I will attempt to surface 4 of these characteristics, with specific references made to Mr. Ian Low, flogger of The Silver Chef. Self-Awareness Self-awareness is defined as the awareness of how an individual's behavior affects others (Floyd, 2010).An effective communicator must be aware of his individuality and behavior and how others may be affected by his behavior, more specifically, whether it fits within the situation as well as social setting. Emotional intelligence would therefore be key and would allow an Individual to better comprehend the social behaviors and emotions of others, and In turn, translate Into competent communication. The Silver Chef blob was started in 2010 whereas 2 of the blobs he listed in his post, started a year after that in 2011.Despite being a more established food flogger, he demonstrates self-awareness in his posts and refrains from harboring on this fact. If he had, readers may not find his opinions to be credible. Adaptability This trait is defined as one's ability to modify one's own behavior to better suit a changing situation. A competent communicator must be able to adapt to changes in social settings and modify his own behavior appropriately. With reference to the blob, Mr. Low had previously posted a Top 5 Singapore Food Blob when he first started out as a food flogger.However, after 3 years of blobbing and galling more experience within the food community, Mr. Low Is adaptable enough to make a similar post, demonstrating adaptability as a communicator. Cognitive Complexity Being able to understand a given situation in multiple ways defines cognitive complexity (Floyd, 2010). To better understand what Is occurring In a specific situation, It Is Important for an Individual to be aware of the different perspective s. This would prevent him from misjudging what is going on in the said situation, leading to inappropriate responses.In his post, Mr. Low highlighted several aspects of The Dirty Stall such as short descriptions, simple cooking and infrequent blob posts. It would be easy to misconceive these facts and describe â€Å"alkaline† as lazy but Mr. Low demonstrates s a flogger who priorities quality over quantity. Ethics Floyd (2010) defines ethics as a set of ideas that guides us in deciding what is right or wrong. Fair treatment of others and honest communication are examples of ethical communication but cultural plurality may complicate one's understanding of ethical communication due to cultural differences.In his blob, Mr. Low demonstrated this when he admitted to not having met flogger â€Å"alkaline† in person before and that â€Å"alkaline† does not blob as often. It would have been easy to omit these facts to lend more credibility to his post but instead, he c ited to mention this fact. 494 words Question 2 The communication process possesses several key characteristics that would define it as being dynamic in nature. Apart from being irreversible, multi-dimensional and inevitable, communication is also transactional.Transactional communication involves simultaneous initiation and interpretation of messages by communicators (Dobbin & Pace, 2006). When an individual initiates a message, the initiator will look for feedback from other communicators. The initiator will then adapt his messages to the changing situation. This implies that communication can be a continuously changing process and that people may modify their behavior and messages throughout the process.With reference to the article, â€Å"1 in 2 Singapore residents do not have a close friend from another race: survey', I will attempt to provide examples to show how messages are coded and decoded effectively, or otherwise, to help me better understand the news reported in the ar ticle. Encoding and decoding of messages In the process of communication, encoding and decoding are two processes that enable communicators to initiate and interpret messages (Dobbin & Pace, 2006).Encoding is further defined as the initiation and creation of messages that enables a communicator to translate feelings, ideas and thoughts into symbols. Decoding refers to the interpretation of messages by deciphering symbols into comprehensible and meaningful feelings, ideas and thoughts by communicators. Effective coding and decoding Ideally, when messages are interpreted in the way they were meant to be conveyed, coding and decoding leads to shared meaning by communicators. This results in successful communication as the symbols would be meaningful and recognizable byExample 1 (Effective coding of article) Within the article, sub-headlines such as â€Å"No inter-racial and religious tension in Singapore† effectively summarizes the following paragraph into an easy-to- comprehend sentence. Effective coding of the article such as this, contributes to the effective decoding of the article by readers. Example 2 (Effective coding and decoding of postings) User Karl commented â€Å"the Divide and Conquer tactics deployed sure works, isn't it? Who is behind all this thing? † in reply to a post by another user Suffering Singapore.In reply User Suffering Singapore posted I was having that in mind and wanted to add to my posting but I thought that I should hear from others posters who share the same thoughts YES the divisive policies in the name of ethnic integration have created the reverse effect. What do you think? † In this example, Karl had effectively encoded his opinion that a â€Å"Divide and Conquer† strategy had been implemented leading to the problem previously highlighted by Suffering Singapore. This was then effectively decoded by Suffering Singapore, leading to shared meaning of the topic they were both discussing.Ineffective coding and decoding When messages are ineffectively coded and/or decoded, this could lead to the miscommunication as messages are misinterpreted. Example 1 (Ineffective encoding of article) When decoding the article's headline, communicators might misinterpret the article as focusing on an existing racial divide in Singapore. In trying to sensationalist the article to boost readership, the writer may not have effectively encoded the actual content of the article, which highlights several positives found in the survey. A reader may Jump to conclusions, assume the worst and let his opinions and feelings known n a post.Example 2 (Ineffective decoding of article) The article features a survey carried out with Singapore Residents on the state of racial and religious harmony in Singapore and focuses on several indicators such as inter-racial tension, discrimination and openness to embracing diversity. Several users have misinterpreted this article and user â€Å"BRB† in particular, comme nted the article as being racist in nature. The user posted â€Å"Wow.. This article is Just racist.. Why will my bestrides need to be of community something we never really thought much of or cared!.. â€Å"

Direct advertising Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Direct advertising - Dissertation Example Literature Review Direct Advertising There is a clear need for highly targeted marketing activities within the Internet environment. The Internet is a collection of smaller submarkets where developing and maintaining relationships with online customers generates sales, regenerates sales and subsequently profits (Norwood et al. n.d). However, applying this kind of marketing approach is not as simple as it looks. The online marketers may understand that marketing online only includes one-to-one promotion. The difficulty may be that the statistical data of the online consumers do not favour relationship building: 88 percent own a home computer and 67 percent of Internet newcomers are male, 39 percent have a college degree and 17 percent live in householders with only incomes of $ 80,000 or more (Norwood et al. n.d). Moreover, the reports suggest that the online consumers could be identified as impatient, having no particular allegiance to any particular websites. And more specifically, the on line users can be described as ‘switchers’, empowered to choose which site they want to visit so that when encountered with a barrage of on-line advertising, they simply switch to another website. This could subsequently be said that the on-line consumer may not prefer to enter into a relationship. In addition to that, there is a strong perception that a considerable number of online users and consumers believe that they the promotions through direct advertising cannot be relied as the frequency of fraud cases have enhanced to a dangerous level. Given these circumstances, the task of constructing and maintaining long term on line relationships has become a biggest challenge ever faced by the marketers. The key is to secure customer loyalty which would... This "Direct advertising" essay outlines the usefulness of this type of ad for companies and its effectiveness. Applying this kind of marketing approach is not as simple as it looks. The online marketers may understand that marketing online only includes one-to-one promotion. The difficulty may be that the statistical data of the online consumers do not favour relationship building: 88 percent own a home computer and 67 percent of Internet newcomers are male, 39 percent have a college degree and 17 percent live in householders with only incomes of $ 80,000 or more. The reports suggest that the online consumers could be identified as impatient, having no particular allegiance to any particular websites. And more specifically, the online users can be described as ‘switchers’, empowered to choose which site they want to visit so that when encountered with a barrage of on-line advertising, they simply switch to another website. This could subsequently be said that the on-lin e consumer may not prefer to enter into a relationship. In addition to that, there is a strong perception that a considerable number of online users and consumers believe that they the promotions through direct advertising cannot be relied as the frequency of fraud cases have enhanced to a dangerous level. Given these circumstances, the task of constructing and maintaining long term on line relationships has become a biggest challenge ever faced by the marketers. The key is to secure customer loyalty which would bring increased shareholder value and asset efficiency.

Preventing Alzheimer's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Preventing Alzheimer's - Essay Example Alzheimer’s Disease is an acquired disorder leading to behavioral and cognitive impairments that can interfere extremely in social functioning and is the most common form of dementia striking, both, elderly and, on occasion, middle age Americans. It presently is affecting approximately 5.4 million people n this country and is estimated to effect more than twice that number by the year 2050.(Anderson, and Hoffmann) There is nothing more precious to most people than the memories of the lives they have lived, the people they have shared it with, and all the details that make us the individuals that we are. Alzheimer’s and other sever dementia disorders threaten to take all of those things away. This disease does not solely affect the sufferer, but can have a profoundly disturbing effect on the families and caregivers of the Alzheimer’s patient. It can be unbelievably difficult for family members of sufferers to watch someone they care about degrade from the strong i ntuitive people they once were into someone who is a stranger, lost in their own homes and trapped in their own fading memories. Parents that no longer recognize their own children or grandparents that no longer know their own spouse of fifty years can be devastating. That is why understanding, treating, and entirely preventing the development of Alzheimer’s is absolutely imperative. This disease, not only, affects the body it steals your sense of self identity. To be clear, everyone shows a certain amount of decline in memory and cognitive ability as they age. This is a completely natural occurrence. However, there are individuals well into their 80’s that seem barely affected, while others can suffer far greater memory and cognitive loss at a much younger age makes a definitive statement concerning the disorder. Simply put,†...Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging.†("The Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation") This condition goes well beyond the normal degradation expected to appear as we age. That said, if it is not a normal, unavoidable part of the human aging, then it must be possible to eliminate it from effecting so many within the population and there must be a cause that can be addressed. Given the seriousness of this condition and its continual persistence within society finding ways to treat and prevent the disease is paramount. Unfortunately there are no current cures available but there are many suggestions as to how to prevent developing the disease. It has been determined that certain people carry a particular genetic mutation that can lead directly to the development of Alzheimer’s, so for a portion of the population prevention may be more difficult.(Kolata ) However, what we learn from these individuals may be a huge contribution into solving its origins and finding potential treatments. For the remaining population, where the development of the disease seems unfortunately random, there are many suggestions that can lower the risks of becoming a sufferer. One can lower the likelihood of developing the disorder by taking the same steps that are taken to avoid heart disease. Studies have shown that the same factors, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, excessive weight, and diabetic issues, which can contribute to poor heart health can, also, lead to Alzheimer’s Disease.("Mayo Clinic") The Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation had suggested that there are â€Å"4 Pillars† in the holistic approach to preventing the disorder. Again, they admit there are no guarantees, but following these steps is ideally essential in reducing your risk factor. The first is to, simply, get the proper amount of rest and nutrition on a regular basis. A diet involving large amounts of fruits and vegetables, consuming fish on a weekly basis, and avoiding foods high in trans and saturated fats will help you balance the body’s health.("Time Magazine-Health" 2) The second, involves controlling stress levels. Finding proper

Operation management Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Operation management - Dissertation Example In order to achieve sustainable competitive advantage, the organization will have to set benchmark by comparing its operational management strategies with those of industry’s best it was found that management skills and competencies are as important as the technical competencies. It was also found that in order to successfully complete a project, management as well as leadership skills of a project manager is an essential trait. Contents Contents 3 Introduction 4 OrganizationBackground: 4 The Assignment Objective 4 Approach and Methodology 4 Literature Review 5 Application to the organization 8 Analysis and Conclusion 9 Recommendation 9 Potential costs and benefits 9 Timescales and Resources 10 Risks or potential barriers to implementation 11 Appendix 14 Introduction OrganizationBackground: Occidental Petroleum Corporation is an oil and gas exploration and production company. It is an international company and it has two oil fields within Oman in both south and north areas. Ox y mukhaizna filed recorded high progress interm of production. In 2012 the gross daily oil production was 120,000 barrels per day which is 15 times higher than the production in 2005. There are some competitors companies in the same sector working in Oman such as Daleel petrolum, Petrogas, Oman Oil Company Exploration & Production and CCED. However, the Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) is the major competitor to OxyOman. The Assignment Objective The objective if the assignment is to evaluate an operational management theory of Oxy Corporation and application of the theory to provide solutions for the specific issue. The report will help in evaluating the current trends and issues pertaining to operations management and what are the reliable strategies through which operational enhancement can be achieved. Approach and Methodology Aqualitative as well asd quantitative approach has been used for the completion of the project. The report is an extensive application based review of the operational theory encompassing topics such as project management, quality management, skills and competency management and their various uses pertaining to oil and gas sector. The various sources used for getting information will include primary observations as well as secondary data from the company at study and extensive literature review of journals and articles. Some fundamental information about the organisation is as followed; Founded in the year 1920 (Oxy Corporation, 2013a). International gas and oil production and gas exploration organisation. Operates in United States, Latin America and Middle East Region (Oxy Corporation, 2013b). Headquarters in Wilshire, Los Angeles. Literature Review Operational management is one of the critical aspects influencing the successful competitiveness of any service or manufacturing organisation. Multiple queries and organisational issues such as product choice, manufacturing technology, capacity utilization, quality maintenance and material sourcing and costing and customer management are associated with operational management theories. Operational management can be defined as â€Å"a management systems in which several activities are performed to transform a set of inputs into a useful output using a transformation process† (Turner, 1999). Operational management of an organisation covers various aspects. Few of the important aspects include inventory management, supply chain and logistics management, facilities and

The Seeking of the Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) Essay

The Seeking of the Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) - Essay Example Consequently, this had resulted in endeavors to make the directors more liable for their strategies and actions. The inclusion of non-executive directors in the board of an organization has an imperative part to play in this context and will be the subject of concern in this study (Stewart, n.d., p.2). The non-executive directors (NEDs) perform multiple functions in an organization. In accordance to the Combined and the UK Codes of Corporate Governance together with the UK Stewardship Code, the NEDs seek to challenge the chairman and the executive directors in the board, offer expertise, knowledge and insight to the board, elevate principles of corporate governance, and guide the board on business strategy (Lewis, 2010, p. 5). The role of the non-executive director The latest financial disaster and the resulting bail-out of many financial organizations have impelled the discussion regarding the position and efficacy of non-executive directors (NEDs) in context of corporate governance . ... Fundamentally, the role of a non-executive director is to offer a resourceful contribution to the organization by presenting objective criticism to the board. The non-executive directors seek to bring in independent opinion on matters associated with strategy, resources and performance of the organization. Additionally, it is also expected that the NEDs would provide their independent verdict on key appointments to be made in the organization as well as its standards of conduct. The non-executive directors are inducted in the board of an organization owing to their wide range of experience, their apt competence and meticulous personal attributes. Furthermore, the NEDs might possess some expert knowledge and understanding that would aid the board by endowing it with helpful insights or key contacts in associated businesses. Nevertheless, the utmost objective of having the non-executive directors in the board is their independence with respect to the organization’s management as well as its involved parties. This implies that the NEDs bring in an extent of impartiality to the board’s discussions and negotiations, and hence play a crucial task of monitoring the management of the organization. According to the Combined Code of Corporate Governance (2008), the board of any business organization should comprise of ample number of autonomous non-executive directors having adequate calibre, so that their opinions carry considerable weight in the discussions of the board during strategy formulation and other important issues. In addition to providing added competence, proficiency and perspective, the introduction of NEDs in an

Joseph Conrad and his influence on other writers Research Paper

Joseph Conrad and his influence on other writers - Research Paper Example Most modern literature encompasses adventure tales as compared to romance as was noted in previous works before his time. Joseph Conrad inspired consequent writers such as; Scott Fitzgerald, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Heller, Virginia Woolf and Albert Camus who were inspired by the artistic works from the book ‘Heart of Darkness’. Others in his modern literary movement included Francis Scott Fitzgerald, D.H. Lawrence, Earnest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Malcolm Lowry, Calvino, Joseph Heller, Hunter Thompson and J.M Coetzee. With no argument, Conrad can be referred to the ‘Father of Modern Literature’ as his works were heartfelt and they reflected events that had happened are greatly referenced to and they act as a guide to all poets who would want to venture into the field of modern literature (Modern British Novel, â€Å"Joseph Conrad Biography†). History of Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad was born on the third of December 1857 where his birth name was Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. He was of Polish and French descent. As he was growing up, he learned English as a third language and that was when his name changed to Joseph Conrad. With his intrigue in writing, he turned out to be a fluent Polish English writer and master mariner (because he spent so much time in the sea) who had a great impact in modern English literature in the ages of 1850’s. His story writing skills were far much artistic and he expressed himself in a poetical manner. Some of the great books that Conrad wrote include; â€Å"Heart of Darkness† (1899), â€Å"The Secret Agent† (1907, â€Å"The Lagoon† (1896), â€Å"An Outcast of The Islands† (1896), â€Å"The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’† (1897), â€Å"Youth† (1898), â€Å"Lord Jim† (1900), â€Å"Amy Foster† (1901), â€Å"The End of The Tether† (1902), â€Å"Typhoon†(1902), â€Å"Nostromo† (1904), †Å"The Secret Sharer† (1909), â€Å"A set of Six† (1908), â€Å"The Duel† (1908), â€Å"Under Western Eyes† (1911) and â€Å"Victory† (1915). Since some of his books were inspired from sea life experiences. For example, â€Å"The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’† (1897) describes the ship Narcissus that got knocked down in the harsh waters, â€Å"Lord Jim† (1900) was inspired from a sailor character out in the sea and the experiences the sailor faced, â€Å"Youth† (1902) and â€Å"Nostromo† (1904) (ReadBooksOnline, â€Å"Work(s) of Joseph Conrad†). Conrad’s best works included â€Å"The Secret Agent† and the short story â€Å"Heart of Darkness†. â€Å"The Secret Agent† was a book that ranked 46th on the list of The Greatest Books Of The 20th Century. The influence of Joseph Conrad on other writers and his subsequent movements Modernism is a representation of what has occurred or wha t will occur and it is based on pure truism. Joseph Conrad falls under the greatest period called the Modernist Period in English Literature. His works were based on a new way of writing that was filled with expression, passion, human dignity, independence, self confidence and responsibility, terrors in the sea and a twist of fiction. For example, some of the works written in this period included writings from the aftermath of the World War 1 in Europe. His works unknowingly influenced writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Heller, Virginia Woolf and Albert Camus. â€Å"Heart of Darkness† inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald because he was an American author who specialized in novels, story writing and poet and his literary works were more of adaptive to modern literature. Some of the modernistic books Scott Fitzgerald wrote included, â€Å"The Side of Paradise†, â€Å"The Beautiful and Damned†, â€Å"The great Gatsby†

Play represents Asia Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Play represents Asia - Assignment Example This paper will argue that the play Bicycle by O Tae-sok provides the audience with a unique image of Korea that consists of a number of unusual as well as traditional elements. To begin with, one should define the concept of representation of Asia. It would not be a mistake to point out that this region is extremely vast an diverse; so, a detailed explanation is needed. This particular play represents Korea: a country which has retained some of its traditional ways of life, but has been following a socially accepted paradigm of development for a long time. Indeed, the piece of art in question might be viewed as a metaphor reflection into the past (Lee 211). In addition to that, the historical accuracy is what really makes this play moving (O 4). Thus, one is able to conclude that representation of a particular part of Asia is based on two elements: depiction of traditional elements of culture as well as representation of aspects of social order. The uniqueness of topic that will be discussed is apparent from the very first lines of the play: it puts great emphasis on the notion of duty in the Korean society. There are several examples that might prove it. Thus, the main character has a relative who have survived a horrible fire and considers himself to be guilty of his luck. However, unlike Europeans who would celebrate this, every year he cuts his face, reminding himself that his compatriots died at the hands of the enemy, but he survived. A similar focus on the social duty is seen later in the text when the main character confesses turning in his friend to police because he practiced medicine without license and had almost no knowledge about the topic. The dichotomy between friendship and duty is easily resolved in the Asian society in favor of the latter. Another point which shows a peculiar world of Asia focuses on the important place that is occupied by the bureaucrats in the society. To begin with, one should note

Frontline Employees and Ethical Dilemmas Assignment

Frontline Employees and Ethical Dilemmas - Assignment Example Nurturing Customer Relations Customer relation is imperative in business management. Experts posit that its effectiveness depends on top management’s commitment to exemplify leadership, strategic direction, and entrepreneurial goals (Cap Gemini and International Data Corporation, 1999). Business managers conjectured that customer-focused model demand management to train and improve workers’ skills and knowledge on customer relations. It is essential to motivate them and to become more responsive and sensitive to customer needs and behaviors (Chen & Popvich, 2003). It improves performance management skills and reduces some unnecessary protestation or disagreements. Reward and incentive program and team-building can also increase workers’ commitment to performing their tasks well (Chen & Popvich, 2003). The management must also use the driver for changes to be adaptive with trends, like the use of information technology to reach home-based customers and to develop a database on purchases made and products or services consumed (Chen & Popvich, 2003). ... This database provides an innovative dimension to understand customer behavior and to deliver their needs effectively and timely (Chen, 2001). Such innovations, radically changed the approaches to managing customers as business intelligence applications (Chen, 2001) allow interactive communication through heterogeneous sources. IT reduced traditional marketing research processes e.g. customer surveys and group-based discussion (Chen, 2001) and proved the accuracy of information in profit analysis (Chen, 2001). Ethical Dilemma & Some Empirical Examples Despite modernization aiding customer representatives, there remain many ethical dilemmas which executives must manage by setting procedures as support mechanisms. Ethical dilemma put a person in a situational reflection on moral imperatives. This oftentimes happens while workers are in a social interaction with customers or co-workers, especially when the workplace is serving a multicultural and multiethnic setting. A person is faced w ith a question: right or wrong? good or evil? Which to choose? However, business ethics vary depending on the vision, mission, vision and the ethical policies adopted by the company and of the management. In hospitals, for instance, medical practitioners adhere to Code of Medical Ethics which mandated them to consider foremost the welfare of their patients by adhering to honorable behavior and by providing the competent medical care to patients (American Medical Association, 2011). To cite Case 2, the surgeon was confronted with the dilemma about instituting euthanasia or not to a patient in a vegetative state following an accident. Family members of the patient requested the institution of euthanasia after learning the impossibility of patients’ survival.  

Game theory research paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Game theory - Research Paper Example While doing so, the player must always think about the good mechanism for selling the painting in that given game. When developing such a game, one may have to consider a single shot game in which each of the players is asked to states his or her sealed bid for the painting. Based on the bids presented, the painting will be given or awarded to the most suitable bidder or player in the game. The most straightforward way of awarding the painting would be giving it to the highest bidder and then charging him for the bid. Teo and Sethuraman however notes that taking such an approach may not been very helpful because the developed situation does not have any dominant strategy solution (881). In such a case, the best strategy for each of the player or bidder would be entirely dependent on what he knows or assumes about the bidding strategy which is going to be used by the other players. When the player takes a wrong assumption about the strategy that is going to be used by other players, then the strategy that they will opt for will not be the best one. On the other hand, when the player makes the right assumption about the approach that is being used by the other bidders, then his strategy will be the best available one. On this basis, it is quite apparent that deciding on the value which should be placed on the bid by the bidder will always be a very big problem. The compl exity of the situation will automatically result in unpredictable behaviour in the game. Regardless of this, there are several available approaches which can be employed to deal with such situations just as it is effectively done in other games which lack a dominant strategy. One of the main ways through which such situations can be dealt with is the use and the applications of the Vickery auction approach. Vickery mechanism is a very common approach which is used to deal with various gaming situations which do

Investigating Rates of Reactions Essay Example for Free

Investigating Rates of Reactions Essay Investigate which factors out of temperature, surface area and concentration speed up the reaction between magnesium and hydrochloric acid the most. Chemical reaction: Mg (s)+ 2HCI (aq)== MgCI2 (aq)+H2 (g) Prediction: I think the most effective factor to speed up the rate of reaction will be temperature, I say this because when the molecules are at a higher temperature they will have greater kinetics energy and move more rapidly, so they will collide more frequently and most importantly with greater energy. Then surface area will be second greatest effect, increasing the surface area of the solid increases the number of collisions between solid and particles in solutions. If we take into consideration a cube with each side 1cm long it has a total surface area of 6cm2, halve each of the cubes so that there are eight cubes each with 0. 5cm long sides and the total surface area has doubled to 12cm, now halve the size of these smaller cubes. Surface area of 1 cube, sides 1cm= 6 sides x (1cm x1cm) = 6cm2 Surface area of 8 cubes sides 0. 5cm= 8 sides x 6 sides x (0. 5 x 0. 5)=12cm2 Surface area of 64 cubes, sides 0. 25cm= 64 cubes x 6 sides x (0. 25 x 0. 25)= 24cm2 Having the average size of the particles in a given quantity of solid, doubles the surface area. So making a solid reactant in a lump form into powder considerably increases the surface area. Concentration will be the third greatest factor, which will speed up the rate of reaction. Any increase in concentration should also increase the rate of reaction; if there are more molecules present there will be more collisions. Increasing the number of collisions does not always increase the rate of reaction. What matters is the numbers of effective, effective collisions have to involve the relevant molecules, in the correct orientation, with energy at the least equal to the activation level. Equipment   Conical flask   Hydrochloric acid of 4 different molars (0. 1, 0. 5, 1, 2) Stop clock Basin of water   Bung with the tube   Magnesium   Measuring tube   Top pan balance Plan: Concentration Four different concentrations will be used. (0. 1, 0. 5, 1, 2) firstly I will use the 0.1 molar of hydrochloric, 6cm of magnesium in conjunction with the 15 ml of hydrochloric acid. When the bung is put into the conical flask the amount of gas given off can be read. I will leave the magnesium and the acid for 1 minute and I will check how much gas is given off every 10 seconds and I will record it. This will be done for all the other ranges of concentrations. Temperature I will be using 4 different temperatures (fridge 12oC, room 24oC, 50oC, 60oC). The high temperature acids will be placed in a water of their designated temperature. The other acids will be placed in their obvious places. The acid will be put in the conical flask with 6 cm of magnesium then the gas given off will be read and recorded as done previously for the concentration. Surface Area For surface I will be using 5 different lengths of magnesium ribbon, (6, 5, 2, 1, 0. 5cm) I will also be using 0. 06g of magnesium powder. Each measurement of magnesium will be used in conjunction with 15ml of hydrochloric acid. When both elements are put into the conical flask the gas given off will be read and record in the same fashion as the other tests. For each test I will do it twice to make sure my results are realiable. Fair test To ensure that I carry out a fair test I will make sure I will use the same amount of magnesium apart from when I am testing that particular variable. Also I will also use the same amount of hydrochloric acid, also I will use the same concentration apart from when Im testing that variable. I will also time each test for the same amount of time. Safety   Safety goggles worn at all times.   Precautions taken when dealing with acids.   Follow all the rules of the lab so that I can work efficiently alongside others when they are doing their experiments. Results  Concentration 2nd set of results Temperature  Fridge 4 Conclusion From doing this investigation I have successfully achieved my aim, my aim was to investigate the factors, which affect the rate of reaction. My prediction was also correct. For concentration the gas given off for o. 1 molar of hydrochloric acid was much less that what was given off for 2 molar. When powder was used for surface area ample amounts of gas was given off where as when 6cm was used not much was given off. When the acid was at a higher temperature more gas was given off, this hypothesis wasnt backed up with the results from the first test, which is why it was good that I repeated all the tests. Evaluation On a whole I thought I worked quite well, but the investigation could have been conducted in a better fashion. The particular method we used to collect the gas wasnt that effective. If a gas syringe in conjunction with a clamp stand was used our results would have been much better. I think doing the investigation twice was a good decision because doing this made it manifest that the first set of results werent as reliable, this is because when the first set of results were compared to the 2nd set of results they were quite different especially room temperature and 50oC. In the experiment the amount of gas given off for those specific temperatures were lower than the second experiment. Scientific knowledge proves that when the temperature is raised the rate of reaction will be faster. Also another thing I could of done was to do all experiments in the method we did to collect gas and also kept everything the same but the variable to change could have been the method in which we collect the gas. By doing this I could of seen which method to collect the gas would have been most effective. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Patterns of Behaviour section.

Workforce Obsolescence

Workforce Obsolescence The loss of critical skills, i.e., the disappearance of non-replaceable workforce, is a problem faced by many product sectors tasked with supporting critical systems. This problem is common for organizations that must manage the DMSMS-type obsolescence problems for hardware, software and materials discussed in the other chapters of this book. For some products, the loss of worker skills and experience can be mitigated by simply adjusting hiring rates and instituting training of younger workers, however, in other sectors experience can be very difficult to replace. This chapter focuses on the loss of critical skills that are either non-replaceable or take prohibitively long times to reconstitute. 13.1 Defining Workforce Obsolescence Mismatches between the skills possessed by the workforce and the skills needed by employers create a number of issues that complicate the long-term manufacturing and sustainment of systems. These mismatches have been classified into the following three general categories: skills obsolescence, skill shortage, and critical skills loss. Skills obsolescence (also referred to as human capital obsolescence) describes situations in which workers lack the skills needed to either become employed or remain employed, (De Grip and Van Loo, 2002). This often includes the segment of the workforce that have skills, but those skills are obsolete requiring retraining of the worker. Where obsolete skills refer to skills that are no longer needed. Skill shortage describes situations where there are insufficient available skill competences to fill the needs of an organization, e.g., (Green et al., 1998). Skills shortage articulates the need to identify, train and retain the workforce to fill current and expected future skill needs. Skills shortage has many causes including the speed of technology advancement, e.g., (Duan et al., 2002), training and education gaps (Skinner et al., 2004), and can also be the result of an organizations inability or failure to protect its core skill competencies over long periods of time or during economic downturns (Melymuka, 2002). Critical skills loss is relevant to this book and is the focus of this chapter. Critical skills loss refers to the loss of skills that either cannot be replaced or require a prohibitively long time to reconstitute, (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015). In this case reconstitution of the skills may require many years if possible at all. Critical skills loss is a special case of organizational forgetting, i.e., the loss of knowledge gained through learning-by-doing. Organizational forgetting can be caused by labor turnover, periods of inactivity, and/or failure of an organization to institutionalize tacit knowledge (Brsanko et al., 2010). Critical skills loss is a permanent and involuntary form of organizational forgetting that may be unrecoverable. Critical skills loss (in the context of legacy system support) is the result of long-term (20+ years) of workforce attrition where highly-skilled workers retire without a sufficient number of younger workers to learn their skills and take their p lace.[1] Critical skills loss is not necessarily the result of poor planning or lack of foresight (and although activity is light, it is not nonexistent); rather it is an inevitable outcome of the organizations dependence on a highly-specialized highly-critical skill set for which there is small, but non-zero, demand, (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015). It should be stressed that critical skills loss is a long-term phenomenon it occurs gradually over 20+ years, i.e., over the span of several generations of management coupled with mergers, acquisitions, and product line changes, critical skills often diffuse and eventually disappear. In the context of this book, the salient issue that defines workforce obsolescence for legacy mission-, infrastructure-, and safety-critical systems is critical skills loss. 13.2 How Critical Skills Loss Impacts Systems and Where it Comes From Critical skills loss is rarely a problem in high-volume low-skill manufacturing applications, e.g., assembly-line workers. For these applications, an appropriate workforce nearly always exists or can be readily constructed through training programs. However, managing human skills obsolescence is becoming a significant problem for organizations tasked with supporting legacy systems. These support organizations need to be able to understand, forecast and manage a highly-specialized workforce with potentially irreplaceable skill sets. The system support and management challenges created by the loss of critical human skills have been reported in many industry sectors including: healthcare (Waldman, 2004), nuclear power (Nuclear Workforce Planning, 2008), aerospace (Testimony of Elliot Pulham, 2002), and other enterprises(Leibold and Voelpel, 2002). In the IT industry, the shortage of mainframe application programmers experienced in legacy applications is very problematic, (Goodridge and McGee, 2002) and (Hilson, 2001); in this case the necessary skills are no longer being taught because demand has dropped and younger workers interests are elsewhere. The loss of critical skills is most troublesome for organizations that must provide long-term support for legacy systems. For example, for defense systems, the loss of critical skills is potentially devastating: Even a 1-year delay in funding for CVN-76 [aircraft carrier] will result in the loss of critical skills which will take up to 5 years to reconstitute through ne w hires and training. A longer delay could cause a permanent loss in the skills necessary to maintain our carrier force. (Congressional Record, 1994). The causes of critical skills loss include: education and training declines (e.g., universities no longer educate engineers in the programming languages that are used in many legacy systems, (Shead, 2013); younger workers may perceive that certain occupations are in decline, e.g., nuclear power (Nuclear Workforce Planning, 2008) and are therefore discouraged from entering them; similarly younger workers may perceive certain occupations as not cutting-edge and therefore not enter them (Ahrens et al., 1995) (Adolph, 1996); younger workers may leave jobs supporting legacy systems to pursue other positions that appear to be more lucrative and exciting (Figure 13-2 in Section 13.3.3 shows an exit age distribution for a legacy control system); the shrinkage of feeder occupations, e.g., historically the U.S. Navy has provided highly-skilled workers to the nuclear power industry (Nuclear Workforce Planning, 2008); older workers protecting their jobs by not passing knowledge along to younger workers, e.g., (AndolÃ…Â ¡ek, 2011); and fundamental differences between young and old workers regarding job perceptions (i.e., social and cultural influences) (Goodridge and McGee, 2002). 13.3 Quantifying the Impact of Critical Skills Loss Critical skills loss impacts the sustainment of mission-, infrastructure- and safety-critical systems. As the human capital that possesses the skills to support a system shrinks, the time that the system is down (non-operational) when the system requires support will increase. Downtime increases lead to increased business interrupt time, which results in a loss of revenue for manufacturing systems. Increases in downtime in the transportation, defense and service industries decreases system availability, which can lead to a loss of revenue, safety compromises, property damage, and loss of life (e.g., emergency vehicle unavailability). In this section, we briefly review the applicability of some existing models to quantifying the impact of critical skills loss and then describe one modeling approach that estimates the financial impact of the problem. 13.3.1 Existing Approaches Nearly all of the existing modeling and quantitative treatments address the problem of skills obsolescence, which is a different problem than the critical skills loss problem addressed in this chapter. Most skills obsolescence treatments assume that workers skills become outdated or are otherwise no longer useful, possibly as a result of automation and other advances in technology. These works focus on the mitigation of skill decay in a workforce over time. The only existing work applicable to critical skills loss focuses on knowledge preservation, i.e., the capture of non-replenishable knowledge, (Joe and Yoong, 2004) (Hailey and Hailey). Some applicable work has also been done on retirement wave planning (Friel, 2002); however, this work focuses on head count rather than skill content. The modeling performed by Bohlander and Snell (2010) addresses a situation that is similar to critical skills loss, however, worker attrition and the costs associated the unavailability of the workers is not considered. In Bordoloi (1999), a model for different skill level workers that enter and exit a company is developed; the model takes into account the rate at which the company gains and loses workers. However, the model in(Bordoloi, 1999) does not estimate workers experience as a function of time and therefore does not determine the impact of critical skills loss on supporting systems. In the planning model developed by Huang et al.(2009) the goal is the determination of an ideal hiring rate using differing worker skill levels. While this model uses workforce simulation and determines the ideal hiring rate, the model does not take into account the costs incurred by the unavailability of workers. The basis for most workforce planning models is the physical sum of people employed, (Holt, 2011). However, the model developed by Holt, however, does not consider the aging of individual workers over time. There are models that have some applicability to critical skills loss in the maintenance workforce planning literature, e.g., (Koochaki et al., 2013) (Martorell et al., 2010) (Ait-Kaki, et al. 2011) and (Ahire et al., 2000). These models focus on optimizing maintenance scheduling and resource allocation. Maintenance policies have the goal of maximizing plant or process line availability while concurrently minimizing cost through the timely presence (and appropriate skill set) of maintenance workers. Koochaki et al., 2013) points out that maintenance workers are usually highly skilled and therefore difficult to recruit and that the efficient and effective use of a scarce maintenance workforce is very important. The model in (Koochaki et al., 2013) addresses the impact of limited ma intenance workers (i.e., maintenance resource constraints) on the grouping of maintenance activities while comparing age-based replacement and condition-based maintenance (CBM). In (Ahire et al., 2000), the makespan (which is the total length of the schedule) is minimized for a groups of preventive maintenance tasks constrained by workforce availability. Other papers treat the influence of CBM on maintenance scheduling and workforce planning, for examples see (Koochaki et al., 2013) and the references contained therein. In general these references focus on the determination of the optimum size maintenance workforce. 13.3.2 Modeling Human Skills Loss A detailed model for the loss of non-replinishable maintenance resources has been developed in (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015) and (Sandborn and Williams, 2016). The technical development of the model is briefly summarized here, see (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015) and (Sandborn and Williams, 2016) for more detail. The model uses historical workforce data to forecast the size and experience of the workforce pool as a function of time. The workforce experience pool is then used to determine the cost of supporting (sustaining) a system as a function of time. The model was created to address the questions: what will todays skills pool look like in the future? and what impact will the future skills pool have on the organizations ability to continue to support the system? A key assumption in this model is that sufficient experience exists today to adequately support the system, and we wish to forecast the future workforce skills pools experience relative to todays skills pool. The model has four primary inputs: a current age distribution (fC), a hiring age distribution (fH), an exit age distribution (fL) and the hiring rate (H). Assuming a stationary analysis, the distribution of exit ages (fL) and the distribution of hiring ages (fH) and are constant. This does not mean that the same number of people are hired each year, but rather that the hired peoples ages are always distributed equivalently. The same assumption is made for fL. The distribution of current ages (fC) is used as an initial condition. To assess workforce pool size and experience over time, we must project the experience of the workers in the pool into the future. This projection starts with the initial conditions in the pool and accounts for age related loss and subsequent hiring. The level of experience within the skills pool changes over time and can be determined from: 1) the new hires added to the skills pool; 2) the attrition (loss) rate of skilled workers; and 3) the varying skill levels of the workers in the pool and how those skill levels (experience) increase as workers remain in the pool. The net frequency of people in the pool of age a during year i relative to year 0 is given by, (13-1) where, i is the number of years from the start of the analysis, a is age, and Hi is the fraction of new hires per year (fraction of the pool size at the start of the analysis period i = 0). The first term in the brackets in Equation 13-1 is the current workforce pool size (relative to year 0), the second term in the brackets in Equation 13-1 is the number of new hires (relative to year 0), and the multiplier accounts for the retention rate. Note, Equation 13-1 assumes that the hiring rate, Hi is the same for all ages, a. The initial condition for the model is that the fraction of people of age a relative to year 0 in year 0 is given by,. The cumulative net frequency of people in the skills pool, NNET, in year i is determined by summing Ni(a) over all the ages (y = youngest to r = retirement), (13-2) Calculating the size of the workforce pool (head count) over time is necessary but not sufficient to capture an organizations future ability to support a system because workers have different levels of experience. Because of the varying experience, not all workers provide an equivalent level of value to the support of the system. In this model, experience is defined as the length of time that a worker has spent in a particular position. The cumulative experience in the workforce pool in year i, Ei, is calculated using, (13-3) where, RE and IE map age to the experience measured in years (RE and IE are determined using a parametric model from actual data). Note, while experience has the units of time, Ei, which is used in this model, represents the cumulative experience relative to the initial condition. The time to perform maintenance in year i is found from the cumulative experience using, (13-4) where, is the time to perform a maintenance activity with a skills pool having E0 experience at i = 0. In Equation 13-4 the time required to perform maintenance increases as experience decreases due to the following factors: 1) less-experienced workers require more time to perform maintenance (learning curve effects), and/or 2) if the pool of workers capable of performing the required maintenance task shrinks, appropriate workers may not be available at every site and may have to travel from a different location, which takes time. The most significant impact of the loss of critical human skills for legacy systems is the ability to perform system support (corrective maintenance) in a timely manner. Corrective maintenance costs consist of: spare parts, labor, downtime, overhead, consumables/handling, and equipment/facilities. When a corrective maintenance event occurs, the cost of performing the required maintenance action is, (13-5) where is the fraction of the maintenance events of severity level j that result in a business interrupt, is the cost of replacement parts (if replacement parts are needed) in year i,is the cost of labor (per unit time) in year i (with appropriate overhead applied), and is the cost of business interrupt (per unit time) in year i. , and are assumed to be discounted using an appropriate discount rate. 13.3.3 Example System Support Case Study A detailed case study was previously published in (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015) and (Sandborn and Williams, 2016). In this section we only provide a few highlights from that case study. The case study considered the support of a legacy control system for a chemical product manufacturing company (the system was originally developed and deployed in the 1970s) and has over 2000 instances (plants) installed and currently operating and supported worldwide. In this case, because the process line availability is very important, unscheduled downtime cannot be tolerated. The model overviewed in Section 13.3.2 requires three distribution inputs: the current age distribution (fC), the distribution of hiring age (fH) and the distribution of exit age (fL). Two of these distribution inputs are readily available from organizations field data: the hiring age (fH) and a current age distribution (fC), Figure 13-1. The current age distribution (in Figure 13-1b) has a mode of 55 years, which is very close to the early retirement age in the organization, thereby demonstrating the issue that this chapter is focused on. The exit age distribution (fL) shown in Figure 13-2 for this case study was synthesized using the distributions for fH(a) and fC(a) in Figure 13-1 along with the assumption of a stationary process. Figure 13-2 is a bathtub curve. It indicates that workers either exit early or exit late (but few exit between ages 45 and 60. The younger workers exit because they are changing jobs within the company. The company modeled in this case study, has had difficulty retaining young workers (engineers) to support the legacy system. The younger engineers have a tendency to relocate to other job opportunities within the company that they perceive as having better long-term career prospects. Above age 60 the workers are retiring. Figure 13-2 supports the critical skills loss observation made in Section 13.2 that younger workers leave legacy system support jobs (presumably for other positions). The number of workers (pool size) is shown in Figures 13-1 and 13-2, but the experience contained within the pool is not reflected in these distributions. To get from pool size to the workforce pool experience, the mapping from age to applicable experience is needed. The parameters for the mapping function in Equation 13-3 were generated from the years of experience (on the control system) and the years of service to the company. The net pool size (number of workers) over time as a fraction of the pool size in 2010, NNET, is shown in Figure 13-3a. Figure 13-3b shows the experience relative to 2010, and Figure 13-3c shows the average age of the workers in the pool. The results in Figure 13-3 assume no hiring, H = 0. Figures 13-3a and 13-3b indicate that although a 10% drop in head count occurs in the first 6 years, the experience remains approximately constant (existing workers are gaining enough on-the-job experience to offset the drop in head count). After 2016, the experience drops as the oldest and most experienced workers leave and are not being sufficiently replenished. Assuming that the lost skills are replenishable (they are not for the real company treated in this case study), we can estimate what the future hiring rate, Hi, would have to be to preserve the initial level of experience, E0, in the skills pool. Equation 13-1 is used to determine the annual hiring rate, Hi, that is required to replenish the cumulative experience lost as a result of attrition and retirement. Figure 13-4 shows results for hiring rate, Hi, relative to the initial pool size P0as a function of the number of years from the start of the analysis. Figure 13-4 shows that no hiring is required in the first five years (we are not allowing hiring to drop below 0, a hiring rate below 0 would reflect a layoff situation). A hiring rate of over 6% is required starting in 2017 for 9 years and then settles to 2-5% for all the years thereafter. When H is greater than zero in (4), the hiring rate is applied to the entire hiring age distribution, fH. The required hiring rate solved for in Figure 13-4 accounts for both the time required for new workers to learn the skills necessary to support the system and the exit age distribution in Figure 13-1. Figure 13-5 shows the annual cost of supporting the legacy control system through year 2040 (all 2000+ instances of the system are costed here). The cost modeling is performed using a stochastic discrete-event simulator that samples time-to-failure distributions for the components of the control system to obtain maintenance events (determining the maintenance event dates and the components that need replacement). Subsystem-specific (and severity category specific[2]) failure distributions are sampled to obtain failure dates for the system. At each maintenance event, maintenance resources are drawn and a cost is estimated using Equation 13-5. Most of the maintenance events do not result in business interrupt time because they only impact one of the two parallel control systems and = 0, however, a small fraction (the most severe events) result in dual control system failures where > 0. The risk of dual failures and the resulting business interrupt is captured by the differing severit y categories. The specific data associated with the system count, the subsystem/severity category reliabilities, and the cost of business interrupt time is proprietary to the customer and therefore not included here. For this case study, was determined to be 0.54, meaning that when the number of people in the pool drops below 54% of the number that are in the pool initially (in 2010), the extra maintenance time penalty (modeled by (15)) is applied. Figure 13-5 shows two support cost results. The results demonstrate that there is minimal effect of skills loss prior to 2030. In year 2028 existing lifetime buys of spares parts (hardware) start to run out resulting in the cost step between 2028 and 2030. We obtain the lower curve in Figure 13-5 when there is no skills loss, Ei/E0 = 1 for all i in Equation 13-4. In this case there is still an annual cost increase caused by part obsolescence that is mitigated via lifetime buys of parts (these buys commit significant capital to the pre-purchase of spare parts and long-term holding costs). The higher cost curve in Figure 13-5 is the case where no replenishment of lost skills is possible (H = 0), this is close to reality for the company considered in this case study. 13.4 Discussion Workforce planning means ensuring that you have the right number of people, with the right skills sets, in the right jobs, at the right time. This chapter presents a model that enables workforce planning in cases where the workforce is non-replenishable. The model developed estimates both the number of skilled employees (workforce pool size) and the cumulative experience in the workforce pool. This information is used to determine the resources available to maintain a system as a function of time. Cumulative experience dictates the time (and the resultant cost) required for workers to perform the maintenance activities necessary to support the system. Because of the prohibitively large cost of legacy system replacement, these systems are rarely replaced unless a catastrophic failure occurs or their support costs become impractical. The model can potentially be used by companies to support the development of business cases for system replacement, see (Sandborn and Prabhakar, 2015). Numerous important assumptions were made in the development of the model. In the solution presented here, we assume that years on the job is the only way workers can gain experience. We have not accounted for methods that could be used to accelerate the rate at which workers become more experienced, e.g., capturing older workers knowledge in knowledge bases [29,30] could accelerate experience. We have performed a discrete-time analysis because the input data that was available to us only exists annually. A continuous-time solution could also be developed, but one must be careful to match the model to the form of the input data. There are several indirect consequences of the loss of critical skills that we have not addressed, and which would be challenging to quantify in terms of cost. The workers that are maintaining systems (particularly engineers) are likely to be performing other beneficial tasks in addition to corrective maintenance. Besides corrective maintenance, they may also perform: preventative maintenance, projects intended to upgrade the reliability and/or performance of the system, and knowledge transfer activities. As workforce resources decrease, it is reasonable to assume that all tasks, except corrective maintenance, would decrease. Even if sufficient resources remain available for corrective maintenance tasks, an inability to perform the other tasks that the engineers might do results in a loss of: maintenance efficiency improvements, system reliability improvements that could decrease future maintenance requirements, and system performance. Further, if the job satisfaction amongst the eng ineers that are forced to only perform maintenance decreases then their retention may be negatively impacted. There are other factors that may modify the case study presented herein. These factors include location (culture certainly impacts the likelihood that highly-skilled workers remain in system support jobs), gender, the product sector, etc. These effects could be analyzed with the presented in this chapter model if sufficient data existed. [1] For many types of legacy systems, 5 or more years of on-the-job experience may be required to become competent. [2] The level of maintenance required (which dictates the maintenance resources required) and the degree of business interrupt associated with the maintenance event are governed by the severity categories. See From (Sandborn and Williams, 2016) for details.

External Influences on Lenovo

External Influences on Lenovo The main purpose of this report is to show the way of Lenovo from just project to international corporation and to analyze their way using such methods as PEST and SWOT analysis as well as Porters Five Competitive Forces. Using PEST makes possible to determine the impact of external environment (politics, economics, society and technology) and indirect factors on company. SWOT reveals the strengths and weaknesses of given organization. Combining these two methods makes analysis even more precise. In its turn, Porters Five Competitive Forces helps to understand the competition within the industry. Lenovo is a great example of a company which used innovation and creativity, obstinacy and communication with customer as a tool to make their way to the top. Today Lenovo is one of leading PC vendors. They manufacture tablets, laptops, ultrabooks, All-in-One PCs, desktops, nettops and own accessories. Lenovo creates unique and durable products at really aggressive price point. And they are here to stay. Introduction Lenovo. The company was established in Beijing, China in 1984 by eleven members of the Computer Technology Research Institute, they called it the Legend Holdings. But in 2003, decision to expand outside Chinese market led to another one change the name of the company. Legend changed their name to Lenovo. Name of Lenovo is combination of Le- (as part of Legend) and novo Latin ablative for new. In Chinese it can also be understood as connected thinking or creativity. Despite the fact that current name of the company was introduced just in 2003, Lenovo already gained trust and loyalty of millions of customers. The company has started from budget of 200ÂÂ  000 yuan commissioned Liu Chuanzhi (founder of Lenovo) by Chinese government in order to distribute computers which are made in other countries. Lenovos first office was about 17 square meters. Mr. Chuanzhi once said: It wasnt easy. The lowest thing you could do in the early 80s, as a scientist, was to go into business. China had a strict planned economy and there was barely room for a freewheeling company like ours (Liu Chuanzhi for Asiaweek, June 13, 1997). First major win was a circuit board which enabled IBM computers to process Chinese characters Han-card. Later on Lenovo started to create and distribute computers using its own brand. In May 1988, Lenovo looked for employees for the first time. They have placed ads on the cover of the China Youth News. Out of all respondents, 280 were selected to sit for a written exam. About 120 of the candidates were interviewed in person. Despite interviewers had authority to hire only 16 people, 58 were given offers. 18 people of these had graduate degrees, 37 had undergraduate degrees, and three students did not have university-level education at all. Their average age was 26. Future CEO of Lenovo Yang Yuanqing was among this group who introduced new name and expanded company on Europe and USA. In 1994 Lenovo became a publicly traded company after listing in Hong Kong. Later in 2002 Lenovo Group made partnership with Xiahua Electronics Stock Company, giving the start of Lenovo mobile phone business. In 2008 Lenovo has sold its mobile department but then would pay $200 million to buy it back in November of 2009. Now Lenovo Mobile ranks third in terms of market share of mobile phones market in China. On May of 2005 Lenovo Group announced the completion of the $1.75 billion deal of acquisition of IBMs PC unit. That made companys annual revenue almost quadruple. Company which used to have $3 billion in annual revenue now had nearly $13 billion. They became the worlds third-largest PC vendor, behind Dell and Hewlett-Packard. But revenues are not the only benefit Lenovo got from this deal. They have acquired the ThinkPad brand. ThinkPad is ultra-resistant due to special casing, special keyboard structure that let water drain through the laptop. Moreover it was one of first laptops with hard disk block system, which could turn on emergency brakes thereby save data from being just lost because of physical damage of the disk when laptop is dropped. Later Lenovo would face the closest rival on their way to the top Dell. It was a hard competition, it was a complex competition. The main problem of Lenovo back in the days was a bit more conservative way of making business. Dell used new and innovative methods to produce, distribute and promote products. They spent on ads twice as more than Lenovo, their prices were lower and market share grew more and more. Dell even captured segments which used to be favorite ones of Lenovo. To overcome the enemy Lenovo started to increase value of brand. That means they started to raise name awareness among the customers, they delivered maximum possible customer satisfaction. They are still using those principles as core philosophy of the company. Nowadays, Lenovo has three main categories of laptops. ThinkPads are powered for productive work experience, uncompromised secured and ultra-reliable, solid and durable. IdeaPads are optimized for entertainment and multimedia. They have some enchantments in audio, video performance and possess both functional internal and beautiful external designs. The third lineup is Essential. These products have nothing unnecessary; they are always up-to-date, portable enough and reliable. The tablets are also divided on Idea and Think lineups as well as All-in-Ones and desktops. The principal stays the same. Idea for creativity and entertainment, Think for business and work. In 2012 Lenovo became the fastest growing company in the USA for 8 quarters in a row. Actually, they are the only one who has a growth. In the third financial quarter of 2012, shipments of the company expected to reach 15.7 per cent of world-wide PC shipments. Lenovo would surpass Dell and HP. The Mission and Vision of Lenovo Mission is the main goal, beliefs which push company to develop into new something more than just business. Mission is the reason why company does actually exist. Lenovos origins are in China; their name has meaning so their mission is strong and inspiring as well. Lenovo has a desire to become the leading company of new world that is respected for break-through innovation and award-winning designs, quality, to be loved for an ecosystem of devices, services. Become recognized as one of the best, most trusted and most well-respected companies to work for and do business with. And they are on the right way to reach the goal. Company strives to be one that creates extraordinary, innovative and exceptionally great PCs for its customers. They do not have formal restrictions and bonds which could distract or interfere from manufacturing best possible machines. Lenovo claims that they design exciting and innovative products, services to meet customers needs. And sometimes they even manage to exceed level of the expectations. Lenovo wants to do business from their own global point of view, own perspective and own commitment to building great technology for people who view technology as a tool to accomplish fascinating things. By having few categories of products, Lenovo does not put any effort on useless departments therefore does not waste resources and time. David Schmoock, President of North American Lenovo department said: What I want to do is get to number one and be sustainable as number one. At the very basic level of the company there is one core principle that is extremely important: We do what we say and own what we do. So far the main goals company wants to reach are serving customers, trust and integrity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. Lenovo. New World, New Thinking PEST Analysis PEST analysis in general measures a market, its potential, indicates growth or decline, thereby market attractiveness. Actually, PEST analysis helps to determine SWOT factors. PEST analysis is a model that can be used for describing the framework of macro environmental factors that a company should have in mind forming its long-term strategic plans. Of course, the external factors may vary in significance to a given company based on the products and services that it produces and also on the industry it is in. For any company which wants to win in the competitive marketing, such methods of analysis of the external factors and environment are the way to succeed. In this report PEST will be used in order to focus on analyzing external environment of the Lenovo Corporation and try to foresee major influence of those external factors in their business environment. The letter P stands for political factors influencing companys market. Those are level of bureaucracy, laws and regulations, legalization and policies, rule of law, freedom of press, tariff controls and trade. Nowadays, computers are tightly linked with peoples life. From the last century computers were used in business and other areas and help factories, hospitals and other structures to increase production and interest. At the same time, new technology caused some new problems such as pollution of the environment, health and energy consumption. Considering these problems European Union, China and other countries encourage the Green IT. That means computer must not produce noise pollution more than specified, energy consumption must be no more than required. In Lenovo groups, the isopsophic index is lower than 30dB. Therefore, Lenovo has achieved in noise pollution section. Since China has a population of one and a half billion, there is more than enough labor and payment would not be too high. That is the reason why many of assembly lines are Chinese, so Lenovo placed factory in China as well. When China joined WTO in 2005, the export tariff for IT products has decreased to 9.1%. So thes e policies are encouraging business organization developing to global. Next one is E. It stands for economic factors such as interest rates and inflation, disposable income, labor cost and supply, impact of globalization. Letter S is for social culture. It is social studies and education, lifestyle attitudes and choice, population growth rate and age profiles, etc. And the last letter is T. That is for technological factors such as impact of energy technologies, increase in remote working, and current level of technological development, impact of technology on the work process and productivity. For economic, influence by the 2008 economic crisis, the world economic tends to going down. But in the worst time, Chinese government published the new economic policy which was positive financial policy and loose and comfortable monetary policy. The government also offered four-hundred million RMB stimulates economic development (The Marketing Surveillance Center of China, 2008). For Chinas IT industry, this is a great opportunity to develop them. Then change the focus to the economic development. In 1950, the total trades of China include import and export was 11.3 hundred million dollars, but in 2008, it enhanced 25616 hundred million dollars. Also at home, the GDP increased with a high speed: So according to this chart, it very clear that Chinas GDP has achieved satisfactory level and the disposable personal income has increased also (stats, 2009). So the demand of products will increase with the economic enhancing. In the other words, the IT market becomes bigger and Lenovo also has strength to competitive the market share because Lenovo not only produce computers, mobile phone also produced by them. For society culture, the population growth, lifestyle choice and attitudes, population health, education, social mobility and attitudes are influence the demand of high technology products. 60 years ago, 80% people in China were illiteracy, but under the new government value, in 2008, the Einschulungsrate f. of different education level has achieved a satisfactory level: It is clearly that the education level has increased and the demand of high technology products also enhancing (Communist Party Learning, 2009). This situation also offered a huge market for Lenovo. On the other hand, because the globalization and influenced by the developed countries lifestyle, the Chinese people also become more international which live with a high level life and influenced by the education level, the lifestyle of Chinese people become more out-going and open enough (Human Geography Research Center, 2003). So the consumption custom of modern Chinese people also offers a good developing environment to Lenovo. Also in the next five to ten years, this situation will be increase. At the same time, the social culture of China has changed from traditional feudalism to modern lifestyle which is more science and high technology in life. For technological, Lenovo was set by 11 scientists who worked in Chinese Academy of Science which is a governmental organization. So this situation offered a good technology support. In 2005, Lenovo has finished the purchase IBM, so the technology transfer from IBM also helps Lenovo make the Research Development activities and produce high quality products with high technology (Lenovo, 2005). At the same time, with the technology development, the communications costs and increased remote work can help the different corporations share their techniques and also good for Research Development activities. So all of these technological factors can help Lenovo increase their competitive ability in the next five to ten years and the marketing share of IBM also belongs to Lenovo. For the legal section, here just mention two articles which can support Lenovo. Firstly, in light of article 6, Peoples Republic of China Consumer Protection, the government encourages and supports every person and organization supervises the illegal action which damages the consumers legal power (National Peoples Congress, 1993). So this law can reduce other organizations use illegal method to competitive in the marketing and its also a protection for Lenovo. On the other hand, in light of article 6, Peoples Republic of China Law on Product Quality, the government encourages apply scientific management method, advanced science and technology, support the products achieved or beyond the industry standard or international standard. And give the award to the organizations whose products achieved or beyond the international standard (National Peoples Congress, 1993). So as an international corporation, Lenovo links the technology of IBM, they will produce the high quality products and r eceived the government supports from the legal. Finally, for the ethical, because the increased of education level, the peoples diathesis also enhanced. So protect the legal power has become normal in the modern society. Then if the organization make illegal actions, it will be ejected from the market by customers, such as never buy their products. Also for an organization, the ethical problems are faith, fair and good service. As Lenovo, their value are serve consumers, innovation, faith and fair (Lenovo, 2005). So this entire ethical development tendency is good for Lenovos business environment in the next five to ten years. In summary, the policies which about green IT from European Union and the export tariff which from Chinese government are good for Lenovos improvement; at the same time, the economic development of China and the increased disposable personal income also offering a big market to Lenovos development in the future; as the modern society, the population of the world was achieved 67-hundred million in 2007 (Unctad Report, 2008). It offers a huge number of customers; also because the education increase, the lifestyle of modern customers is tend to high technology and high quality. On the other hand, the purchase of IBM also offers the technology transfer and the development mechanics of communication saved the communications costs and its good for international Research Development activities and international cooperation. At the same time, the law of Chinese government also supports and the ethical factors in the modern society are good for Lenovos improvement. So based on the analysis, in the next five to ten years, the likely major influences in Lenovos business environment are environment protection, international cooperation, the economic development, technology communication and Research Development, legal protection and ethical problems. But all of these tend to good for Lenovo in the future. So if the strategy department managers based on the external environment to make the strategic planning, Lenovo will take a great leap for their business in the next five to ten years. The PEST analysis is a model for reviewing and surveying a companys strategy or its position in the market. It measures the market, along with its competitors from the viewpoint of a particular business. It is also used to describe the framework of macro environmental factors that a company should regard and take into consideration. Of course, the external factors may vary in significance to a given company based on the products and services that it produces and also on the industry it is in. Political factors Economic factors Economic factor relates to the economy of the country itself, as well as market and trade cycles. Over the past years Walmart has had a stable economic condition and had 11% growth totalling in $6.5 billion. Why Walmarts figure has been doing so well so far is because it takes into account not only the economy of the company, but also of the countrys economy in which they are setting up their business. Another reason for its success is that Walmart prefers to first check the economical factors of the county before actually doing any business there. The main economical factors that are worth considering are economic stability and peoples purchasing power. Its crucial to acknowledge these factors for doing business in the third world countries because any change in economy can increase the actual price of the goods and services, which the company offers to its customers and of course the demand for these products will go down. Social Factors Social factors are made up of lifestyle trends, major events and various influences, religious and ethnic factors. Walmart has a tendency of evaluating and measuring social factors, just like economic factors, of a country they have chosen to do business in. Social values and frugality are also quite important factors. Walmart appeals to consumers with a rather low income, nevertheless, it ensures that the goods, products and services that they provide are apprised and accepted by their customers. It is a known fact that Walmart doesnt supply its stores with goods that are likely to cause various complaints from the clients and customers. The company makes good relationships with its customers in engaging and taking part in various public activities. Technological Factors Technological factors generally include various factors like maturity of technology, global communications and innovations, as well as technology legislation. Nowadays technology plays an immense part in the whole society. As a matter of fact, technology hugely improves quality of the products, however it tends to decrease the amount of time to promote and advertise the goods and services. Walmart was quick to accept new technology and to make effective and best use of it. It operates most of its logistics with the usage of a modern system called hub-and-spoke of its distribution centres. Customers that shop at Walmart stores get the most benefits out of it. Walmart believes that by introducing natural products on the market, it can have a big and positive impact on the atmosphere around us and the worlds natural resources. Walmart exploits the newest technology such as brad new cash register and security system. In short, Walmart keeps up with technology innovations and adjusts very well to the changes in the world. Porters Five Competitive Forces Porters Five Forces model is generally used in order to understand better the context of the industry in which the company is operating in and to see the attractiveness of an industry structure. By using this model we can see that Walmart is a strong independent company that has a stable growth, professional management and reasonably competitive prices. This model helps to look into the company more closely by assessing the potential threat of new entrants, the competitive rivalry within already existing companies, the threat of substitute products and goods, the bargaining power of suppliers and finally, the bargaining power of customers. Threat of new entrants Theres always a possibility of new companies coming into existence, however in order to compete with such strong company as Walmart they will need a relatively large capital. Walmart is expanding rather fast and it practically leaves neither chance nor room for other new companies to enter the competitive market. Above anything else, Walmart has excellent distribution systems, for example hub-and-spoke system that I mentioned before, as well as good locations and an enormous capital to be actually able to compete with new entrants. Competitive rivalry Walmart is a much larger and more profitable company than its competitors, so the competition inside the retail industry poses no threat whatsoever to it. However, there are a few other strong competitors such as Target, which can bring out some fair competition to Walmart. To sum up, Walmart is generally ahead of its competitors; it is a global leader in the retail industry and has a firm position in the competitive market. Threat of substitute products There arent a lot of direct substitutes to Walmart, because stores in the retail industry sell products for everyday use mostly. However, there are some substitute products that can be a threat to the sales of branded products. Another threat can be put from specialized retail stores like electronics and various garments. There are stores such as Carrefour and Target, which can offer same goods at a similar price or even lower. Still, when it comes to Walmart, there arent many other stores that can actually replace its convenience and attractively low prices. Bargaining power of suppliers Walmart is a huge customer to its suppliers and, thus, it has a lot of power, because in case it decides to switch to a different supplier, this would create a very scary tactic for its suppliers. It also has an option to purchase goods from many various suppliers so if they decide to drop out some, this wont make a significant difference. Walmart definitely takes advantage of being one of the largest customers to such international companies as Kraft Foods and Gillette. Because of its strong position in the market, suppliers are more than willing to satisfy Walmarts requirements, as well as provide them with favourable terms of payment and various discounts. We can see this good relationship between Walmart and its suppliers through its enhancing success. Bargaining power of buyers The customers will surely always be a threat to Walmart mainly because there are so many competitors. The buyers decision tends to be based on the price and quality of the product, and also on the convenience. Usually consumers are price sensitive and their decisions are based mainly on the price itself. And if products are similar this will increase the rivalry in the industry, which will lead to lower prices and thus, lower profit. Also, Walmart is not in a monopolistic market, but a competitive one, so the goods it offers can be replaced or substituted by its rivals. However, the company strives to please its clients by making the prices of their products and services similar to those of their competitors. Its profitability has proved that consumers are pleased with the chains reasonably low prices and its very convenient locations. Conclusion The purpose of this report was to analyze the external factors that have a certain impact and influence on Walmart. There are some significant factors that became clear after the PEST analysis and Porters Five Competitive Forces analysis have been made. I found out that Walmart is one of the global leaders in the retail industry, which has a great influence on various sectors. Walmart is still expanding to new locations and it is a growing strong company that has a firm position in the domestic market in the US and abroad as well. Unfortunately, Walmart, just like any other organization, isnt protected against the negative influence from various environmental factors, which may decrease the companys total revenues or even weaken the popularity of the whole company. However, despite all of the negative factors mentioned above, the positive impact of the external factors is much greater. Walmarts intention to help people save money so they can live better moves the company on the top position in the retail industry and makes it more attractive and appealing to existing and future consumers. Recommendations In my personal opinion the future success and survival of Walmart will depend on changing its attitude and becoming even more customer focused, as well as building even closer relationships that would broaden the product range and competitive prices. The company should take into consideration that the market is still rather new to foreign companies and that other retail stores are also expected to appear in the nearest future, which will probably result in reduction of clients Walmart is considered as one of the international leaders in the retail industry and I think it will keep its position for a certain period of time. However, I have to make a point that the company should also consider its promotion and shouldnt rely in the fact that they are one of the best in the market. Whats more Walmart should take into consideration that the market is still rather new to foreign companies and that other retail stores are also expected to appear in the near future, which will probably result in reduction of clients.

Prosperos Choice in The Tempest :: Tempest essays

Prospero's Choice in The Tempest In The Tempest, Prospero achieves his ultimate goals of exiting the island and regaining his kingdom without unnecessary killing, torture or deception. Both this choice, and his decision in the end to rescind his magic, allow him to morally reconcile with himself. Prospero's choice to refrain from murder sets his objectives above mere revenge. By using ingenuity and the spirit Ariel's help, he achieves the semblance of death without the reality thereof. He could have simply made the tempest so furious that it destroyed the ship, or subjected the offenders to lingering torture, but instead spends more time to separate the "survivors" into three groups to deal with them more effectively. Thus he avoids guilt and criticism for unnecessary death. The island magician also abstains from using his arts to force the evil men of the group into excruciating pain with possible death. We know he is capable of this - he has punished Caliban in such a way. However, no only does he refrain from torturing them, but also makes sure they are not uncomfortable! Alonso's group includes the pervasively cheerful Gonzalo, and is never kept away from food or water. Caliban knows the island, and helps Stephan and Trinculo survive. Ferdinand even fins the love of his life. Even though Prospero deceives the shipwrecked captives, it is never for his own personal enjoyment. Instead, he specifically aims to achieve his goals by putting pressure on Alonso and restricting Caliban's scheming. As if this were not enough, he further surrenders his powers and even begs the readers' help to assure his safety! It becomes obvious that Prospero has no desire to rule or lust for power to corrupt him, but only wishes a return to his previous status. Because he avoids death, torture and unnecessary deception, there is nothing to stain Prospero's long trek to return to civilization. He has given Ferdinand love, Alonso his son and recognition of his deeds, and Caliban a lesson in obedience. Thus, the long-suffering magician is able to reconcile morally with himself. PEER FEEDBACK Very precise and well-organized, although it doesn't address every aspect of the question.

Analysis of An American Tragedy and What Makes it a Classic :: An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser Essays

Analysis of An American Tragedy and What Makes it a Classic An American Tragedy is an intriguing, frighteningly realistic journey into the mind of a murderer. It is a biography of its era. And, it is also historical fiction. But what makes this novel a classic? While society has changed dramatically since 1925, Dreiser's novel, which shows the futility of "The American Dream" and the tragedies that trying to live it can cause, accurately summarizes social mores of this and any time period. Before Theodore Dreiser was born, his father, a devout German immigrant, lost everything when his large wool mill burned down (kirjasto.sci.fi 1). After a beam hit his head, Dreiser's father was subject to dramatic mood swings; this brain damage caused him to became an evangelist (Survey of American Literature 571). Theodore Dreiser, the twelfth of 13 children, was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1871. By this time, his parents were poor, nomadic preachers. Their nomadic lifestyle meant that Dreiser did not have any companions outside his family. While travelling, his mother taught him to avoid degrading and destructive experiences (Hart 236). Certain that his parents were failures because of their strong morals and their constant preaching, he rebelled. Dreiser had no friends, money, social status, or sex life, which he craved. For most Americans, these were collectively "The American Dream." For Dreiser and his most famous character, Clyde Griffiths, living the American Dream -- t he evasive pinnacle of success -- became an obsession. That obsession led 13-year old Dreiser to Indiana University, which he flunked out of. Instead of preaching, he instantly abandoned his unsuccessful family for the promise of riches and women in industrial Chicago. After living in abject poverty for years (Parker 203), he worked as a journalist for both Chicago Globe and St. Louis's Globe-Democrat, which gave him a glimpse of high society. There, he married Sara White. Within months, the two separated permanently, and Dreiser became a nomad. While wandering, he studied the writings of Balzac, Darwin, Freud, Hawthorne, Huxley (wwnorton.com 1), Poe, and Spenser, from which he created two philosophical theories: social Darwinism governs society (Parker 203), and man's greatest appetite is sexual (kirjasto.sci.fi 1). Dreiser followed his philosophy; he typically had several affairs at once. In New York, Dreiser started Sister Carrie, a brilliant naturalistic piece. The book was sold only 500 copies; it was so "scandalous" that its owned publishers censored its printing in 1900 (Bucco 5).