Thursday, October 31, 2019

Discussion Board #6 Cool Jazz Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion Board #6 Cool Jazz - Article Example Pure musical devices have been used in the production of the recording and emotional expressions are correctly used. The recording is accompanied by a cool and detached concentration which encircles the performances that happens alongside the recording. In the recording, the rhythm section’s role is to provide the foundation over which the improvisers could drape melodies to accompany the recording or the album. The drummers and bassist have efficiently played their role in the recording as they have not interacted with the soloists; therefore, intensity in the recording has been controlled. The recording also posses’ incredible lines sound making it be a perfect match of the 21st century, this is because of the rhythmic activity used by instrumentalist in the recording. The recording thus reveals subconscious-Lee as musician of the past who has allowed and incorporated changes in the twenty first century to produce a form of music that is appealing to the present and future

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

The Business Proposal on ArabTV.com Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Business Proposal on ArabTV.com - Essay Example A significant number of people today use the internet to help them meet several needs such as shopping, employment chances, meeting their social needs, as well as for entertainment purposes such as watching movies or watching their favorite TV shows (Lescher 2008, p. 56). Consequently, creating a website that enables people to watch their favorite Arabic movies and TV shows is quite a great business idea because it is aimed at making the lives of people easier as they will be able to satisfy their entertainment needs through online. The uniqueness of this service is that it will enable clients to watch only the high quality Arabic television shows and movies right on their computer. And the most important and good thing concerning this service is that consumers have the chance of getting the quality programming and Arabic movies that will be appropriate for every person either within a family set up or as a group of friends. Furthermore, another unique or the difference of this servi ces is that, unlike the normal TV tuning, these Arabic channels will provide viewers the specific shows that they want to have and convert them right on their desktop. This website will ensure that it meets the various needs of the people ranging from entertainment channels, educational Arabic TV channels, Arabic music, programs on Arabic TV programs on home improvement, as well as relevant business programs for business people. The website also aims at providing several channels that show Arabic movies. This implies that a person may have a complete day of movie marathon particularly if he or she is a movie enthusiast who is presently on a day off and just desire to relax watching movies especially Arabic movies without renting DVDs. Generally, creating a website for Arabic movies and TV shows will provide consumers with all the television shows and movies that they want and even set up for their preference. As long as they choose this website, they will get the best providers for better value in terms of service and features (Strangelove 2010, p. 45). This will ensure consumers high quality Arabic movies and TV shows experience for a long period of time. With this service in place, a considerable number of problems will be solved. For instance, it will promote the lives of those people without televisions in their homes to enjoy Arabic television shows online. It will also simplify and help people save time in the process of searching for a place to rent DVDs containing Arabic movies, as well as save on the money spend on renting those movies. This is because as long as a person is able to access the internet, he or she will be in a better position to watch any Arabic television show of his choice, as well as enjoy his favorite Arabic movies at any time and at a favorable cost. It will also be advantageous particularly to those individuals who have membership cards with the website as they will be able to watch quality Arabic movies and TV shows all time onc e they pay their membership fee, which are quite affordable. In order for this proposal on creating a website to be accomplished successfully, there is need of employing different technologies such as standardized mark up that could either be hand coded or produced by editing software. Proprietary software founded on

Sunday, October 27, 2019

A Case Study Of Jennys Restaurant Marketing Essay

A Case Study Of Jennys Restaurant Marketing Essay Jeenys Restaurant is a national chain cafe restaurant with a dedicated customer base, which is known for its best service, good quality food and family dining flair. But in the past year, the company has seen a manifest decline in its sales. The decline in sales is increasing as every fiscal quarter passes by. The reason behind decline in sales is totally unknown to the company. The restaurant has not changed layout or menu options within the past several years. The hypothesized root cause of the problem is poor customer satisfaction. This research will help to analysis the main root cause of sales decline. The objective of this research is to find out whether or not customer satisfaction and experience is the issue, and if so how customer satisfaction can be enhanced. Research Objectives As impact of global recession is still affecting large number of household in United Kingdom with their buying behaviour, it is important to find out if customer satisfaction with particular restaurant is the main cause or there are other factors. This research is going to use primary data by developing questionnaire to the restaurant customers, which helps to find out actual problem and weakness of current situation of the restaurant. The purpose of the literature review is to analyse past experience relating to customer satisfaction elements of the food and dining industry while emphasising on the sales increment. As I am working as a Manager in this restaurant, this research with help of primary data will analyse the customers attitude towards its service and experience, which will help to find out main reason behind downward sales line. The main objectives of this proposal is as follows: To analyze Customer satisfaction and its relative importance (debate) and evidence about key factors influencing peoples choice of fast food restaurant. To identify the best suitable model to measure customer satisfaction for my primary research. To review exiting complains and comments submitted by customers over the past 6 months in order to find out the area of subject where most of the customer did raised the issue. To arrange the questionnaire to the existing customers in order to explore their attitude towards Jennys Restaurant, why they like to dine at Jennys Restaurant, their experiences of and attitude towards current management process and their views on possible changes that the company could make for better satisfaction. To make recommendation to the management at Jennys Restaurant about cost-effective and management strategy that could be implemented in order to increase customer satisfaction. Literature Review Realisation of customer satisfaction in order to get success in the business is essential elements. is How the customers get the satisfaction and how we can measure the different between service provided and customer expectation ? Researcher is going to look different theories, journals and articles to establish an analytical concept about customer satisfaction elements. According to Kotler (2000) a persons feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a products perceived performance in relation to his or her expectations. Also Hoyer and MacInnis (2001) said that satisfaction can be associated with fellings of acceptance, happiness, relief, excitement and delight. It is very important to understand the expectations of the consumers to make them satisfied. According to Hokanson (1995), these factors include friendly employee, courteous employee, accurancy of billing, billing timeliness, competitive pricing, service quality, good value, billing clarity and quick service. Additionaly, (Labarbera and Mazursky,1983) state that By fulfilling the customers needs and wants will helps to achieve customer satisfaction. So that it should be notice by researcher that the customer satisfaction can be occurred by understanding their expectation. After having idea about customer satisfaction, researcher want to know how it can be implement in fast food sectors. According to Farrel (2007) The quick service restaurant responds to the universal desire for inexpensive and reliable fare that is feshly prepared, portable and ready on demand. It explains that the quick service, freshly prepared and economic factors motivate the customers to shop in fast food restaurants. Also according to (Schroder and McEachern, 2005) Brand value, nutritional value, ethical value and food quality determine the customer satisfaction towards fast food restaurant. There are other factors,according to (Jang and Maltila, 2005) Monetary gratification and intangible benefits such as quality and convenience also received high rating in customer satisfaction. Researcher should give attention to the intangible things such as service quality, serving time, internal environment of the company along with the development of core product in order to get maximum customer satisfaction. According to (Katz and Martin 1985) If the firms can improve customers perceptions of the time they spend waiting to be served, then customers will experience less frustration and may feel more satisfied with the service encounter. Also (Ho and Zheng 2004) clarify that A firm might choose a delivery time commitment to influence its customer expectation. However, there are debates and discussion about the influencing factors which are affecting to less shop in fast food industries. According to (Goyal, Singh 2007), The young generation in India likely to go to Fast food restaurant for fun and changes. But they like house food much better than food served at fast food outlets because they have the highest value for taste and quality followed by hygiene. Adding with that (Bose, 2011) stated The most evident advantage of Fast food is that it save time and money for a busy life people, but fast food is unhealthy than home cooked meals, as they contain higher amount of salts, fats and calories . Most of the people today are usually aware that fast food is not the healthiest food to eat. People eat fast food because it is convieneient, cheap and taste good. Fast food is not just less healthy food, but sometime it can be dangerous for your health as well. Stacel (2009). So it is clear that despite of good service provided by the company, th ere is other factors such as health consiousness which affect the customer satisfaction level. Along with that there is hygienic factor which also affect the customer revisit in the particular restaurant. A survey shows, one in three people is worried about the level of food hygiene when buying fast foods. Cleanliness of staff and premises top the list of concerns, followed by the way food is cooked and handled. (Consumer question fast food hygiene, 2003). As a result it can affect the customer to discontinue or decrease there buying behaviour in fast food sectors. According to Hoyer and MacInnis (2001) dissatisfied customers can decide to: discontinue purchasing the goods or service, complain to the company or to a third party and perhaps return the item or engage in negative word of mouth communication. The above study based on previous research explains the reasons for choosing and avoiding the fast food sectors and the importance of customer satisfaction which can be fit or not in the problem statement of the Jennys restaurant. To get the more evidence and support, researcher is going to develop questionnaire survey by using SERVQUAL tools. According to (Stevens, Knutson and Patton, 1995) SERVQUAL method helps to produce a sequence of questionnaire appliance for measuring hospitality service quality in DINESERV. John and Tyas (1996) have also use the tool SERVQUAL for measuring the satisfaction of consumer in restaurant. According to (Lee and Hing 1999) SERVQUAL is an instrument which helps to measure and compare the service quality of the fine dinning sectors which is easy and inexpensive to occur. It showing that the researcher will get help to accumulate the findings and reasons of gap between customer expectation and experience they have had in their last visit. This tools also helps to find out the correlation between service quality, customer satisfaction and purchase intentions. According to (Cronin, Jr and Taylor 1992) There is correlation between service quality, customer satisfaction, and purchase intentions. Service quality is an antecedent of customer satisfaction and consumer satisfaction has a significant effect on purchase intension. Although the popularity of the SERVQUAL tools to measure the service quality level, there are some debate over the use of SERVQUAL instrument. Detractors argue that the difference score leads to unreliable measure and that the dimensionality and validity is erratic. Jiang etl, (2002). However, SERVQUAL measuring method is adopting by thousands of business to know the actual demand and expectation of current customers. Because it helps to explain many factors such as tangible, reliability, responsiveness, competence, courtesy, credibility, security, access, communication and understanding the customers. Parasuraman et. al. (1990). Besides of some disadvantages, SERVQUAL is good tools to understand the customer satisfaction elements. Fedoroff (2011). Methodology Method Approaches (Bryman and Bell 2007) Quantitative research is that research strategy which gives and relates to the quantification in the collection and analysis the data. This method is relates to the deductive approach in testing the theory and research. It takes the positivism epistemological orientation and natural scientific model. It focuses on the objectivism of the social reality Researcher intends to implement all quantitative research methods in a way to trace the best results out of the research. The entire research approach and methodology will be ethical and best at its level. Research will be conducted by keeping in mind the Research Question. The research will be performed using questionnaires. Justification Explanation Conducting survey/interview Analysing data 1. Justification: The advantage of choosing quantitative research method questionnaire Low cost in time and money: As my questionnaire is designed to take just 5 minutes and can be done by making photo copy of 35-40 questionnaire, will help to make it economic and time saving. Respondents can complete the questionnaire when it suits them: As I am going to conduct the survey by requesting them to complete the questionnaire with the time avaibility of the customers. Respondents anonymity: There is no personal identifying information is going to ask to protect the anonymity. Lack of interviewer bias: The disadvantage of choosing quantitative research method questionnaire The need for brevity and relatively simple questions: The most of the part of my questionnaire is going to be closed question rather than open question. Questionnaire development is often poor:. Poor design and concept of questionnaire will not help to find out the actual problem and track to the solution. Lack of control over order and context of answering questions: not to specific Question wording can have a major effect on answers. : one question ask twice with different format to check exact answers. 2. Explanation Preparing for the survey interviews. As I am the manager of the Jennys restaurant I have access to secondary data such as sales figures for the past two years and complain and comments made by the customers in the restaurant and can organise a survey by collecting primary data from a questionnaire given to the existing customers. I am going to choose random sample survey with help of SERVQUAL Questionaire and dineserv method to collect primary data from a questionnaire taking 35-40 customers from Monday to Saturday 9:00am to 9:00 pm. My sample size is going to be small. Requested participants of this study will ask if they are over 18 and willing to complete survey upon exiting the restaurant. Willing participants will be ask to read the informed consent before completing the SERVQUAL Questionnaire survey instrument. Developing the questionnaire. To collect the primary data from the customer, my questionnaire key themes will be to analysis their current experience, expectation and attitude towards the existing setup and behaviour of the organisation. In above literature review, I was trying to analyse and understand customer behaviour and expectation towards food and dinning service, which help me to link and study the existing customer of the Jennys Resturants behaviour and also help me to think analytically about whether customer satisfaction is only the key point in the success of business development or there are other important factors. 3. Conducting Survey/interview The questionnaire survey is going to held on the Jennys Restaurant premises from Monday to Saturday between 9:00am to 9:00 pm. The survey will be conducted by requesting existing customer with detail pre information about the reason of the survey while their visit in the restaurant to fill up the answers of the given questionnaire which will take 5 minutes . The maximise the response rate of questionnaire survey; I am going to use following techniques. Brief Questionnaire: The questionnaire is going to use not more than 20 words to make it less time taking for the respondents. Make the return time not to short and not to long: The questionnaire can be fill during their visit in the restaurant or can take with them by requesting them to return it within 2 weeks time in given address. Easy to read (clear language, good print): The questionnaire is going to use simple language which can be understandable and use of quality printing. Easy to answer: The questionnaire is going to use tick box to place their attitude towards the restaurant. Be clear about what the respondent should do to answer the question: The questionnaire is going to use likert scale format, which is going to clear to click their answer just one for one question in the top of the page. Easy to respond (return envelop): The questionnaire which has been taken by the customer to fill it in their home will be provided a free post return envelop with them. Do not offend the respondents: The questionnaire is not going to include any subjects which will offend the respondents. Trustworthy: The questionnaire will start from explaining about the purpose of research by not taking personal information of respondents and is just for the academic use by showing college identity card to them. Analysing data Statement of service provided (Independent Variable) Very Dissatisfied (Dependent Variable) 1 Dissatisfied (Dependent Variable) 2 Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied (Dependent Variable) 3 Satisfied (Dependent Variable) 4 Very Satisfied (Dependent Variable) 5 Food Quality Service Food Hygiene Price of product Survey: Survey allows the collection of large amount of data from a sizeable population in a highly economical way (Saunders et al, 2008).It was done by explaining questionnaires and handing out and collected during session The research is going to find out the correlation between two variables. One is dependent which is customer satisfaction and another one is independent which is service provided by the company. The changes in the independent variable are going to affect the dependent variable. There are some other moderate variables which influence the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Such as Age, Gender, Marital status etc. As the above questionnaire sample can be broken down to subgroups such as age, gender, marital status to analyse differences. And data can also analysed by looking at average scores for each category (eg. Food quality, service, food hygiene and cleaniness and product price) as categorized in questionnaire to see if there are noticeable difference in their averages. The formula to calculate average score is Average score= Sum of Valued dependent variable which has been ticked divided by No.of dependent variable allocated For example by taking above Table Average score= Food quality (3) + Service (3) + Food Hygine (4) + Price of product (5) divided by 5 =3 It can be broken down into subgroups for food quality, service, food hygiene and price of product to noticeable difference in their averages Checking the forms Spreadsheet Graph/table: Graph are going to allocate to explain and analyse the data. As taken example of above sample, the graph is going to be like. Analytical qs Statistics Ethical issue The questionnaire will start with explaining the purpose of the research which is only for the academic requirement by showing the college Identification card. And also questionnaire will start with explaining the subject matter of the questionnaire up-front. The questionnaire is not going to take any sensitive data, like personal details, history and background to protect there anonymity. The researcher does not use force and hard request to get response from the customers and the research confidentiality should be maintained in term of collecting the data. Timescales and Resources S.No. Phase/Milestone Start Date End Date Notes 1 Literature Review 2 Development of research instrument- final survey/interview Question Schedule 3 Data Collection-completion of survey 4 Data analysis- results of primary data analysis written up 5. Report Writing- finalisation of dissertation. Conclusion Appendix A Quantitative Survey (Questionnaire) Customer Satisfaction Survey: Academic Survey to fulfilment of Master Degree Program(Cavendish College and University of Wales) This survey is being carried out to find out the customer attitude towards the Jennys Restaurant. Please answer the questions freely. You cannot be identified from the information you provide, and all the information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence. The questionnaire should take you about five minutes to complete. Please answer the questions in the space provided. Try to complete the questions at a time when you are unlikely to be disturbed. Also, do not spend too much time on any one question. Your first thoughts are usually your best! Please tick one box for every question. When you have finished the questionnaire please return in to me in the enclosed freepost envelope. Nameà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. What is your age range (Please tick where appropriate) Gender(Please tick where appropriate) 18-30à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Maleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. 31-50à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Femaleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 51+à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Othersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. Question Very Dissatisfied Dissatisfied Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied Satisfied Very Satisfied Food Quality The food is served hot and fresh The menu has a good variety of item The quality of food is excellent The food is tasty and flavourful The food portion is enough The food provide balance nutrition Restaurant Service My food order was correct and complete Employees are patient when taking my order I was served promptly The menu board was easy to read Employee speak clearly Employee are friendly and courteous The service is excellent Value of price paid Quality of food Food hygiene and cleanliness The handling of food is good Restaurant Premises are clean Toilets are clean Product Price Food is good value for the price paid Prices are competitive If have any comments with the service of our restaurant please share with us. Thank you for taking the time to help us. If you have any queries or would like further information about this project, please call me on 07828857702. Thank you for your help. Activities Appendix B Gant Chart of Time ScaleMay 2011 June 2011 July 2011 August 2011 1st Week 2nd Week 3rd Week 4th Week 1st Week 2nd Week 3rd Week 4th Week 1st Week 2nd Week 3rd Week 4th Week 1st Week 2nd Week 3rd Week 4th Week Collection of literature review Critically review of the literature Meeting supervisor Review of project aims and objectives Questionnaire Process Interview the customer Accounting calculation of the breakeven point Meeting supervisor Analysis the accounting data Analysis and interpret qualitative data Analysis and interpret quantitative data Meeting supervisor Final report writing, Amendments, Binding of the project Referencing John. N., and Tyas (1996). Use of service quality gap theory to differentiate between foodservice outlets. Service Industries Journal, 16(3), 321-346. Stevens, P., Knutson, B., and Patton, M. (1995). DINESERVE. A tool for measuring service quality in Restaurants. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 36(2), 56-60. Alan Bryman and Emma Bell, 2007, Business Research Methods-2nd Edition, Oxford University Press Kotler, P., (2000), Marketing Management. 10th ed. New jersey, prentice-Hall. Hoyer, W.D. MacInnis, D.J., 2001, Consumer Behaviour. 2nd Ed., Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co. Hokanson, S., (1995). The deeper you analyze, the more you satisfy customers, Marketing News, p. 16. Labarbera, P.A. and Mazursky, D. 1983, A longitudinal Assessment of consumer satisfaction, Dissatisfaction: the dynamic aspect of cognitive process: Journal of marketing research, vol. 20, Nov, p.p. 393-404. Farrell, JP.,(2007). A management consultant @ large. The evolution of the quick service restaurant. [Online] 25th April 2008. [Cited] 1st of April 2011. Retrived from http://jpfarrell.blogspot.com//2007/11/evolution-of-quick-service-restaurant.html. Goyal, A. Singh, N.P. (2007). Consumer perception about fast food in India: an exploratory study. British food Journal. Vol. 109: Issue:2, 2007. Schroder, Monika J.A. McEachern, Morven G. (2005). Fast foods and ethical consumer value: a focus on Mc Donalds and KFC. British food Journal. Vol 107. Issue:4. 2005. Jang, Dongsuk. Mattila, Anna S. (2005). An examination of restaurant loyalty programs: what kinds of rewards do customer prefers? International Journal of contemporary hospitality management. Vol. 1. Issue:5. 2005. Katz, Karen L. Martin, Blaire R. (1985). Improving customer satisfaction through the management of perceptions of waiting. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bose, Debopriya. (2011). Advantage and Dissadvantage of Fast food. [Online] 2011. [Cited] 7th of April 2011. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-fast-food.html. Khilawala, Rashida. (2010). Unhealthy Fast Food. [Online] 2010. [Cited] 7th of April 2011. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/unhealthy-fast-food.html. Stacel, Richard. (2009). Why you should avoid fast food at all cost. [Online] 2009 [Cited] 6th of April 2011. Retrieved from http://www.naturalnews.com/025241-food-fast-food-foods.html. BBC News in U.K. Consumer question fast food hygiene. [Online] 17th Feb 2003. [Cited] 5th of April 2011. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/l/hi/uk/2769907.stm. Lee, Yun Lok. Hing, Nevilee. (1999). Centre for Tourisim, Southern Cross University. Vol. 14, Issue:3-4, Pg:293-310. Cronin, J. Joseph., Jr. Taylor, Steven A. (1992). Journal of Marketing: Measuring service quality: A reexamination and extension. Vol: 56, No. 3, Pg: 55-68. Ho, Teck H. Zheng, Yu-Sheng. (2004). Management Science. Setting Customer Expectation in Service Delivery: An Integrated Marketing-Operations Perspective. Vol: 50, No. 4, Pg: 479-488. Jiang, James. J., Klein, Gary. Carr, Christopher L. (2002). Management Information Systems Research center. Measuring information system service quality: Servqual from the other side. Vol:26, No. 2, Pg: 145-166. Fedoroff, Paul. (2011). Comparing service quality performance with customer service quality needs. 12 Manage the executive fast track. [Online] 2011. [Cited] 7th of April 2011. Retrieved from http://www.12manage.com/methods-zeithaml-servqual.html. Parasuraman A., Zeithaml V. Berry L. (1990). Delivering Quality Service, Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations.

Friday, October 25, 2019

AT&T Essay -- essays research papers

The dominant economic traits of this industry start with having an enormous amount of capital required for staying competitive. One is also required to spend lots of money on research and development, as the telecommunications industry seems to be the vision of the future. More and more companies like AT&T are trying very hard to combine their network services of phone line, video and data transfer, high speed internet access, and television cable via one line in the consumers homes. With a successful combination of the above stated services AT&T is hoping to be the industry leader in the near future.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In today’s telecommunication market there is a lot of competition by industry giants such as Sprint, MCI, and AOL, but simultaneously the very high cost involved with entering and competing in this industry also makes it very unattractive for new entrants. These are just some of the big names who are planning to and are presently providing parts of the pipe dream that AT&T seems to seek. In this industry it is very important to have customer awareness of the line of products you carry. Most of the public hears the name AT&T or Sprint or MCI and they think telephone bills but many consumers do not realize that these companies have expanded their field of services from cellular phones to wireless web services. The reason mainly being the lack of marketing, and direct consumer advertising provided by these firms on the other line of p...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Problem Solving and Decision Making Essay

Much of what managers and supervisors do is solve problems and make decisions. New managers and supervisors, in particular, often make solve problems and decisions by reacting to them. They are â€Å"under the gun†, stressed and very short for time. Consequently, when they encounter a new problem or decision they must make, they react with a decision that seemed to work before. It’s easy with this approach to get stuck in a circle of solving the same problem over and over again. Therefore, as a new manager or supervisor, get used to an organized approach to problem solving and decision making. Not all problems can be solved and decisions made by the following, rather rational approach. However, the following basic guidelines will get you started. Don’t be intimidated by the length of the list of guidelines. After you’ve practiced them a few times, they’ll become second nature to you — enough that you can deepen and enrich them to suit your own needs and nature. (Note that it might be more your nature to view a â€Å"problem† as an â€Å"opportunity†. Therefore, you might substitute â€Å"problem† for â€Å"opportunity† in the following guidelines.) 1. Define the problem This is often where people struggle. They react to what they think the problem is. Instead, seek to understand more about why you think there’s a problem. Defining the problem: (with input from yourself and others) Ask yourself and others, the following questions: a. What can you see that causes you to think there’s a problem? b. Where is it happening? c. How is it happening? d. When is it happening? e. With whom is it happening? (HINT: Don’t jump to â€Å"Who is causing the problem?† When we’re stressed, blaming is often one of our first reactions. To be an effective manager, you need to address issues more than people.) f. Why is it happening? g. Write down a five-sentence description of the problem in terms of â€Å"The following should be happening, but isn’t †¦Ã¢â‚¬  or â€Å"The following is happening and should be: †¦Ã¢â‚¬  As much as possible, be specific in your description, including what is happening, where, how, with whom and why. (It may be helpful at this point to use a variety of research methods. Also see . Defining complex problems: a. If the problem still seems overwhelming, break it down by repeating steps a-f until you have descriptions of several related problems. Verifying your understanding of the problems: a. It helps a great deal to verify your problem analysis for conferring with a peer or someone else. Prioritize the problems: a. If you discover that you are looking at several related problems, then prioritize which ones you should address first. b. Note the difference between â€Å"important† and â€Å"urgent† problems. Often, what we consider to be important problems to consider are really just urgent problems. Important problems deserve more attention. For example, if you’re continually answering â€Å"urgent† phone calls, then you’ve probably got a more â€Å"important† problem and that’s to design a system that screens and prioritizes your phone calls. Understand your role in the problem: a. Your role in the problem can greatly influence how you perceive the role of others. For example, if you’re very stressed out, it’ll probably look like others are, too, or, you may resort too quickly to blaming and reprimanding others. Or, you are feel very guilty about your role in the problem, you may ignore the accountabilities of others. 2. Look at potential causes for the problem a. It’s amazing how much you don’t know about what you don’t know. Therefore, in this phase, it’s critical to get input from other people who notice the problem and who are effected by it. b. It’s often useful to collect input from other individuals one at a time (at least at first). Otherwise, people tend to be inhibited about offering their impressions of the real causes of problems. c. Write down what your opinions and what you’ve heard from others. d. Regarding what you think might be performance problems associated with an employee, it’s often useful to seek advice from a peer or your supervisor in order to verify your impression of the problem. e. Write down a description of the cause of the problem and in terms of what is happening, where, when, how, with whom and why. 3. Identify alternatives for approaches to resolve the problem a. At this point, it’s useful to keep others involved (unless you’re facing a personal and/or employee performance problem). Brainstorm for solutions to the problem. Very simply put, brainstorming is collecting as many ideas as possible, then screening them to find the best idea. It’s critical when collecting the ideas to not pass any judgment on the ideas — just write them down as you hear them. (A wonderful set of skills used to identify the underlying cause of issues is Systems Thinking.) 4. Select an approach to resolve the problem When selecting the best approach, consider: a. Which approach is the most likely to solve the problem for the long term? b. Which approach is the most realistic to accomplish for now? Do you have the resources? Are they affordable? Do you have enough time to implement the approach? c. What is the extent of risk associated with each alternative? (The nature of this step, in particular, in the problem solving process is why problem solving and decision making are highly integrated.) 5. Plan the implementation of the best alternative (this is your action plan) a. Carefully consider â€Å"What will the situation look like when the problem is solved?† b. What steps should be taken to implement the best alternative to solving the problem? What systems or processes should be changed in your organization, for example, a new policy or procedure? Don’t resort to solutions where someone is â€Å"just going to try harder†. c. How will you know if the steps are being followed or not? (these are your indicators of the success of your plan) d. What resources will you need in terms of people, money and facilities? e. How much time will you need to implement the solution? Write a schedule that includes the start and stop times, and when you expect to see certain indicators of success. f. Who will primarily be responsible for ensuring implementation of the plan? g. Write down the answers to the above questions and consider this as your action plan. h. Communicate the plan to those who will involved in implementing it and, at least, to your immediate supervisor. (An important aspect of this step in the problem-solving process is continually observation and feedback.) 6. Monitor implementation of the plan Monitor the indicators of success: a. Are you seeing what you would expect from the indicators? b. Will the plan be done according to schedule?   c. If the plan is not being followed as expected, then consider: Was the plan realistic? Are there sufficient resources to accomplish the plan on schedule? Should more priority be placed on various aspects of the plan? Should the plan be changed? 7. Verify if the problem has been resolved or not One of the best ways to verify if a problem has been solved or not is to resume normal operations in the organization. Still, you should consider: a. What changes should be made to avoid this type of problem in the future? Consider changes to policies and procedures, training, etc. b. Lastly, consider â€Å"What did you learn from this problem solving?† Consider new knowledge, understanding and/or skills. c. Consider writing a brief memo that highlights the success of the problem solving effort, and what you learned as a result. Share it with your supervisor, peers and subordinates. Decision making is a key role for any manager or leader. Surprisingly many people struggle when it comes to taking decisions. This might be due to: o Fear of failure o Lack of a structured approach o Procrastinating o Lack of clarity Whatever the barriers, there are 6 steps that you can follow when taking any decision. 1. Problem Definition Before you can start to take any decisions, you need to be absolutely clear the problem you are trying to reach a decision on. One simple technique is just to write out in a sentence what the problem is that you need to take a decision on. 2. Assess the implications All decisions have implications. If it is a decision at work, it has implications for you, your peers, your team and your superiors. Depending on the decision (e.g. a promotion at work) it may even have implications for your family, especially if it involves relocation. 3. Explore different perspectives Perspectives are simply different lenses through which you look at the problem. By exploring different perspectives you start to get a feel for those that you are most attracted to. 4. Get clear on your ideal outcome When you are faced with a big decision, it is easy to get lost in the detail and circumstances. An alternative is to get clear on your ideal outcome and use this ideal outcome to inform your choices. Imagine you aspire to be a CFO of a Top 100 company. By having clarity on your outcome, you can make choices on promotions and experience linked to this ideal outcome. 5. Weigh up pros and cons Another way of looking at a decision is to consider the advantages and disadvantages of each of the options open to you. Simply listing the advantages and disadvantages of each option is a powerful way of moving forward on decisions. 6. Decide and act Once you have gone through the previous 5 steps, commit to a choice or course of action and start to make it happen. To avoid procrastination, give yourself permission to be okay with any failings that might arise. At the end of the day there is no magic formula for decision making. Following some simple steps and acting can however move you into the realm of effective decision maker.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Teen Suicide…Enough Is Enough

Teen Suicide†¦Enough Is Enough One day I will be getting a tattoo on my right shoulder that contains the phrase, â€Å"Live For More! † I want the words to be in an old-fashioned, yet fancy, script and the letters will be both black and bold. My reason behind that specific font is to make the phrase stand out as much as possible, so that whoever reads my arm can see exactly how meaningful life really is to me, as a teenager living in today’s highly competitive, responsible, and stress filled world! Teen suicide attempts and completions are at an all time high in these present days and there are many reasons contributing to its growth as years progress. I am sick of adolescents ending potentially happy and successful lives. Now is the time to address not only its growth and statistics throughout the years, but also to reveal the underlining causes and warning signs of suicide. Essentially, it is also the most opportune moment to discuss the many possible life saving solutions to end this serious, yet popular, problem. It is official that today teen suicide is at an all time high. Surveys have shown that more than 25 percent of high school students and 10 percent of college students have seriously considered taking certain actions to end their lives. This unfortunate problem has grown a rate four times that of 1950. In present days, girls are about twice as likely to attempt suicide, whereas boys are actually four times more likely to complete the act. To prove wrong the assumption that the problem is mostly based upon economic terms, statistics show that rich teens kill themselves as often as poor or middle-income adolescents. Statistics even state, â€Å"Today, an estimated 276,000 kids between the ages of 14 and 17 try killing themselves each year, and more than 5,000 succeed† (Roleff). Studies also show that, at one time or another, every person has already thought of or will think about suicide. These numbers are very disturbing, and yet they only partially convey the ultimate tragedy that each teen suicide victim truly contributes to the aching hearts of their family and community. The only possible way to stop this travesty starts with understanding the pain that the suicide holder possesses and to force them to understand that the juice really is not worth the squeeze. Due to these statistics, a culmination of confusion tends to ensue. The big question is, why are teenagers so willing and eager to end the most valuable thing that a person can possibly possess, which happens to be their life? I am sure you have asked yourself this question once before, I know I have. The truth is that stress is the most contributing factor to suicide. The fact is that growing up is more stressful in present times than it’s ever been before. Other reasons include the death of a loved one, overpopulation and the break down of family, obesity, increased parental pressure to excel, and the easy access to drugs, alcohol, and firearms. Personally, I view romantic relationships to also be a huge concern within this problem. It is commonly seen, that following a break-up, teens choose suicide to impose a point or to just cause the most severe form of guilt. Stress is the number one cause of depression. â€Å"Suicide is a major danger associated with depression. Because of the associated shame and secrecy with suicide, many fail to get or give help. † (Carpenter 353). There are three main warning signs and symptoms pertaining to the act of suicide. The first is behavioral changes, which include changes in eating and sleeping habits, social isolation, drinking or drug use, or the giving away of valued possessions. The second is personal changes, which includes the appearance of common moods associated with anger, anxiety, or depression. These moods lead to aggressiveness, hopelessness, hypersensitivity, boredom, or difficulty concentrating. The final symptom includes health problems, such as frequent headaches, weight loss or gain, or fatigue. â€Å"It has been proven that two-thirds of those who commit suicide give some warning signs first† (Gorman). It is really up to us†¦as friends, relatives, teachers, and parents to recognize these signals and symptoms. We must all work together to react and respond quickly and strongly, person to person! Furthermore, once we all understand the warnings and overall reasons behind teen suicide, many steps can be taken to prevent future cases. Overall the ultimate aim is to make suicide more difficult and less likely. Researchers say that suicidal impulses usually last only about fifteen minutes and making it past that time may be just enough to defuse the whole situation. This is obviously easier said than done! First of all, never keep suicide a secret. If there is ever suspicion, immediately seek parental assistance. â€Å"The use of a therapist is the most popular solution, yet sometimes money is a huge issue. In that case, get somebody involved whom you can fully trust, that will charge very little to nothing† (Manning). Another very simple prevention is the denying of availability of prescription drugs and alcohol by keeping them out of easy access. Since about half of all young people who kill themselves do it with guns kept at home, one solution is for parents to keep guns hidden and unloaded, with bullets stored separately† (Roleff). My personal solution would be that of bringing about the most apparent, yet hidden, importance and splendors within life. I would forcefully exp lain and emphasize that it is a blessing and privilege to be alive, and that people must make the most out of what they have. Of course it is easy enough to just give up, but there is really no point. Once you are gone then you can never again see the beauty of a sunset or the magic of growth in all living things, never again feel the excitement of a shooting star, never again smell the sweet scent of spring air, or never again experience the splendor of romance. After one is all said and done, then there is no coming back! Finally, I would ask once again†¦is the juice really worth the squeeze? Now is time for teens to stop committing the morbid sin of suicide! Cases have grown drastically throughout the years, mainly due to all of the stress that teens are forced to face each and everyday. The only true way to stop this grievous problem is to eliminate all depressants, such as alcohol and drugs, and to promote motivation and confidence to succeed no matter what obstacle stands in the way. The key is to live for more†¦to take what you have and make the most that you possibly can, which I do everyday of my life! If you ever prevent somebody from committing suicide, he or she may be upset with you for a while. But chances are they won’t be upset for too long. At least they will have a lifetime to change their mind!

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Hung Liu Artistic Work and its Contribution to Human Life

Hung Liu Artistic Work and its Contribution to Human Life Introduction Born in 1948 in China, Hung Liu is a famous Chinese-American artist who uses her paintings to present themes like gender, culture, politics, and war. Hung acquired her skills in the field of art from the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing, where she acquired a Bachelors Degree in Art, and later got a masters degree from the University of California.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Hung Liu Artistic Work and its Contribution to Human Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Hung uses themes like gender and culture to explain the challenges that women and young girls experience globally. In addition, Hung emphasizes the importance of her themes using paintings, which are very practical in presenting her themes. The fact that Hung is among the early immigrants to the United States gives her a firsthand experience of the gender disparity and racism. Thus, Hung is very vocal on aspects that focus on women, politics, culture, war, environmental crisis, and struggles of immigrants (Fichner 532). Moreover, the research also conducted through an interview with a colleague (Chiang Lee), who is a Chinese American, concerning his perspective of Hung’s paintings. Therefore, the research paper examines how Chinese-American artist, Hung Liu, addresses themes such as gender, racism, politics, culture, war, and immigrant struggles. Gender Discrimination Hung uses her fine works of art to explain the experiences that women and girls go through in their lives. In her famous work titled Goddess of Liberty, Hung employs imagery to demonstrate the effect of gender parity. Moser explains that the paintings of Hung show women who have been bound on the feet to highlight the challenges that the women encounters globally (80). Hung outlines the theme of gender discrimination from historic periods and stresses her historic presentation by using concubines of emperors to demonstrate that the issue of gender discrimination affects both medieval and modern women and girls. In her assertion, Hung argues that the emperors’ concubines wore masks to symbolize the authoritarian nature of men, who define the roles of the women. Moreover, Hung adds three cages of birds hanging on her painting to emphasize on the effects of gender discrimination. From a personal interview, Chiang explains that although discrimination against women has reduced compared to historic times, some individuals still perpetuate the vice. Advertising Looking for research paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Figure 2: Mother and daughter (Moser 94) Immigrant Struggles Another theme that Hung addresses is the immigrant struggles, which explains the dilemmas that Chinese immigrants who came to the United States in the mid-nineteen century experienced. According to Hung, many Chinese immigrants encountered different lifestyles and cultures in the United States. Therefore, most of the Chinese immigrants adopted the foreign cultures and compromised their native cultures. Some of the paintings used by Hung to explain the vital nature of culture include the portraits of Chinese self, Buddha’s hand, the rainmaker, and the controversial fortune cookie that symbolizes the importance of Chinese culture. The implication of her cultural paintings, which includes the fortune cookie, shows the vitality of culture from Hung’s perspective (Moser 83). Hung uses her artistic skills to encourage appreciation of native culture and lifestyles of Chinese people living in the United States. In the aspect of immigrant struggles, Chiang explains that since the lifestyles and cultures of people in the United States are different from Chinese lifestyles, many immigrants from China experienced immense challenges in the process of assimilating into the American culture and preserving their culture. Figure 2: Old Gold Mountains (Moser 92) Politics Hung addresses the theme of politics using her homeland of China. From her paintings, Hung demonstrates the importance of good politics and governance.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Hung Liu Artistic Work and its Contribution to Human Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More By using images of Chinese slaves taken captives in Japan after the Second World War and women working on dry fields to recover the lost glory of the Chinese republic, Hung depicts the need for states to exercise good governance and healthy politics. Using numerous wall paintings that are eye-catching and appealing, Hung outlines the past and present political status of China (French 23). In addition, to enhance the effectiveness of her paintings concerning the present political nature of her home country, China, Hung applies metaphors and figures of speech. Hung uses the figures of speech and me taphors to explain that the political system of China has challenges in terms of political balance. According to the interview, Chiang explained that although China is progressing politically, the country has to institute a number of policies to advance its political system. Racism Hung uses most of her paintings to show feelings, operations, and activities that individuals undertake in their daily lives. Since Hung is a Chinese American artist, some of her images depict things that concern her past life in the United States when the vice of racial and gender discrimination was highly pronounced. Although Hung experienced many instances of racial disparity, however, she used her images to demonstrate the critical nature of living together like brothers and sister irrespective of race. Whenever Hung encountered a situation, she would try to retain it in history using imagery. A good example of artwork that Hung used in addressing the issue of racism focused on the Chinese living in S outh Carolina. According to Guzman, Hung’s images are very practical in the study of racial discrimination practiced by some Native Americans during the 19th and 20th centuries (46). From the personal interview, Chiang notes that since Hung was a woman from China who travelled to the United States during the period characterized by high levels of discrimination basing on gender and race, her vulnerability to discrimination was high. Figure 3: A sketch that demonstrates the need to take care of each other as brothers (Moser 82)Advertising Looking for research paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Culture A number of paintings designed by Hung comprise of fine images that display rich and unique Chinese culture. In her artistic works, Hung displays both the past and the contemporary cultures of Chinese. Remarkably, her artistic works are multicultural, as she incorporates both Chinese and American cultures. The main motivation of multicultural paintings is her experience in the United States and the need to help young Asian Americans, who experienced cultural dilemmas. Moreover, most of her paintings that focus on Chinese culture are born out of traditional Chinese education, which is the foundation of her present artistic skills (Desmond 23). The contribution of Hung’s traditional Chinese education is evident from the majority of her images that either have their basis on Chinese photographs from the past or depict Chinese history and culture. The findings from the research also reflect a similar response, as Chiang states that Hung tried very hard to use her painting skills to educate individuals concerning Chinese culture and encourage the Native Chinese to appreciate and love their culture. War War is another theme that Hung addresses using her paintings. Most of the paintings that she designed show Chinese slaves captured by Japanese soldiers after the Second World War and the images of Chinese women working on dry plantations to recover the glory of China. The painting ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’ that shows refugees at the banks of a river running away from war is a good example of how Hung uses imagery to keep historic events alive in the minds of people. Since Hung spent most of her tender age living in China during the period when wars and revolutions were frequent, she uses some of the images to demonstrate the actual state of affairs to many individuals in the United States and globally. According to the research, it is clear that images of Hung educate many individuals on issues that touch on war and its implications (Ress ler 212). Chiang states that through the paintings of Hung, he had acquired a lot of information concerning war, especially in the Asian continent. Figure 4: By the Rivers of Babylon (Moser 95) Conclusion The famous works of art displayed by Chinese-American artist, Hung, are very important and practical in the study of historic events that have shaped human life. The paintings designed by Hung are appealing and attractive since she uses streaks and shadows in enhancing reality of images or photographs. Some of the major themes that Hung addresses include gender discrimination, immigrant struggles, politics, racism, culture, and war. Additionally, the interview with a colleague (Lee Chiang), who is a Chinese American, highlights the relevance of Hung’s artistic works not only to the past society, but also to the contemporary society. The themes addressed by Hung in her paintings bring to the fore the challenges that human beings encounter in their daily activities. Therefore , Hung’s paintings and images have an enduring influence as they touch on issues of the contemporary world. Chiang, Lee. Personal Interview. 8 Feb. 2014. Desmond, Kathleen. Ideas About Art. New York: John Wiley Sons, 2011. Print. French, Stephanie. In Plural America. New York: Hudson River Museum, 2012. Print. Fichner, Lois. Understanding Art. Mason: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Guzman, Rene . Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu. California : University of California Press, 2013. Print. Moser, Joann. â€Å"Interview A Conversation with Hung Liu.† Chicago Journals 25. 2 (2011): 76-103. Print. Ressler, Susan. Women Artists of the American West. McFarland, 2003. Print.

Monday, October 21, 2019

buy custom Business of India essay

buy custom Business of India essay The domestic finance, food and foreign trade appear to be shifting gears in manner of operation. It now operates in unorthodox style underscoring the Indias endeavors to come up with a sustained process of growth of economy. The theme has been studied by various economic experts and it appears nearly solved. The foreign exchange catastrophe that occurred recently is a perfect example of this menace Ruba (2011). In the last two years, Indias export as been operating at 40 and 50 %. This is a record higher than the previous years basing on Indias five year economic plan. The earnings from exports have too have stagnated. This is an indication of decline from the 1958 half. As at now, it has not gained above two thirds of imports. This contrast the 90% achieved in the 1950s and 1956. This export trade obstinacy is degrading when compared with the effort India is investing in promoting exports (http://business.mapsofindia.com/india-business/international-business.html) It is important to note that repayment burden of interest and capital on foreign loan now amounts to 2% less than earnings from exports which were expected to rise in the 1960s close to fourth of current exports Schaffer (2011). It is as a result of this that India is reviewing its performance on export over previous years and forecasting on future prospects of export. Indias export constitutes 1.5% of worlds export after World War II. Indias economy is negligible when compared to other large countries of the world, though it is a crucial domestic part of activities of economy Schaffer (2011). The cumulative value of Indias export does not exceed 6-7% of its national income. However, this plays an important role in Indias economy. They offer means for which the country can finance the most pressing needs of imports. Buy custom Business of India essay

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Capital Structure and Sustainability System

The transition planned by the organizations depends on the needs of their sustainability and growth. The understanding of the urgency helps the organizations to modify based on the internal and the external changes of trends in the society or the structure. The adaptability of the organization to determine the change helps in determining the capability of the organization to sustain in the markets. Various resources are required by the organization for maintaining its sustenance in the markets. However, there are issues faced by the organizations while undertaking the change in the systems and the functioning of the same. The discussion that is being undertaken will be helping in enhancing the perception of the sustenance of the organizations in the market. However, the issues that are faced by the organizations relating to their sustenance are also being enumerated as a part of the discussion. The week has helped me in understanding the different sustainability issues that are faced by the organizations while making the changes in the structure and the functioning of the business. According to Bogan (2012), the sustainability of the organizations is determined by the Triple Bottom Line, which helps in the determination of the concepts of sustainability conceived by the organization in the market. The introduction to the social and the humanitarian aspects of the sustainability of the organization is based on the proper functioning of the organization as per the norms of the society. On the other hand, the balance that the organization undertakes in its economic aspects helps in maintaining the position in the market. The proper understanding of the needs of conservation of the ecological resources has helped in maintaining the proper supply of the raw materials to the organization (Rosen & Kishawy, 2012). The instructor pointed out the issues that the organizations might face while determining the transition initiatives is dependent on the factors of the imbalance in systems and functioning of the organization relating to the aspects of sustainability. In certain cases, the organizations compromise the humanitarian or the social approach in order to gain economic superiority in the market. The instructor cited the example of Amazon where the company has taken steps to maintain its profitability (Milne & Gray, 2013). However, the company has failed to keep up with the promises of the humanitarian and the social based sustainability. Therefore, the organization faces a risk while retaining the human labor of the same. From the week’s lessons, I have learned the different aspects that are required to be taken by the organizations in order to maintain the sustainability of the same in the market. on the other hand, the issues that are being faced by the organizations while implementing the change based on the three faced model of sustainability has helped me in understanding the different aspects of the change in the market. We were introduced to the concepts of social, environmental and the economic sustainability and the manner in which the concepts affect the sustainability of the organization as a whole. The week has helped me in understanding the different capitals and their structures as they help the business in maintaining their sustainability in the markets. The different aspects of the capital are based on the understanding of the functioning of the business firms in the market (Benn, Edwards & Williams,   2014). Sustenance of the organization is mainly characterized by its smooth functioning in the markets and thereby the capitals help the organizations to maintain their functioning on a smooth and uninterrupted basis. We were assigned by our instructor to identify the different capital structure of different organizations, which has helped in clearing the concepts of the capitals that are required by the organizations to undertake the smooth functioning as per the needs of the market. The understanding of the internal and the external capital helps in the determination of capabilities of the organization to bring in the changes as per the needs of the market. On the other h and, the determination of the human capital of the organization helps in determining the supporting force that helps in the smooth functioning of the processes of the organization to being in sustenance in their systems (Ehnert, Harry & Zink, 2013). The determination of the capital and the manner in which they function as per the needs of the business helps the organization in maintaining the balance of sustenance in the markets. The week has helped me in understanding the different aspects of the capitals and the manner in which they are employed in the management of the organization in order to facilitate the sustenance. The difference in the capital structure and the management that is being undertaken by the organization helps in determining the change in the structure and the functioning of the organization in the market (Stoughton & Ludema, 2012). The week’s lesson has helped me in understanding the importance of the different capitals that are used by the organizations to bring in the changes in the functioning of the same. The week’s class has helped me in understanding the different approaches that are being undertaken by the organization in order to support their cause of sustainability in the market. The major aspects of the approaches are based on the understanding of the needs of the organization to undertake the means of sustainability in the market. According to (Benn, Dunphy   & Griffiths, 2006) the six phases of sustainability approaches undertaken by the organization are Rejection, Non-responsiveness, Compliance, Efficiency, Strategic proactivity and the sustainable organization. It helps in the proper understanding of the different characteristic factors where the company manipulates over the functioning in order to gain the sustainability in the market as per the needs of the same. The understanding of the objectives of the organization helps in maintaining the balance of the sustainable options that affects the proper functioning of the organization in the market. The week’s lesson has helped me in understanding the different approaches that are being undertaken by the organizations in order to maintain the sustainability of the same in the market. On the other hand, the instructor undertook steps in order to cite examples from various organizations to make us aware of the changes in the structure and the functioning, which has helped the organizations to sustain in the global markets (Smith, 2012). The citation of the companies that have failed to sustain in the market has helped in clarifying the objective of the approaches of sustainability undertaken by the organizations. Therefore, from the above lessons that we were taught in our class, which was held for three weeks has helped in the understanding of the different factors, that affects the sustainability of the organizations in the market. On the other hand, the classes have helped us in enumerating the different capital structure and functioning that helps the organizations in maintaining their sustenance in the markets. Benn, S., Dunphy, D., & Griffiths, A. (2006). Enabling change for corporate sustainability: An integrated perspective.  Australasian Journal of Environmental Management ,  13(3), 156-165. Benn, S., Edwards, M., & Williams, T. (2014).  Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge. Bogan, V. L. (2012). Capital structure and sustainability: An empirical study of microfinance institutions.  Review of Economics and Statistics,  94(4), 1045-1058. Ehnert, I., Harry, W., & Zink, K. J. (Eds.). (2013).  Sustainability and human resource management : Developing sustainable business organizations. Springer Science & Business Media. Milne, M. J., & Gray, R. (2013). W (h) ither ecology? The triple bottom line, the global reporting initiative, and corporate sustainability reporting.  Journal of business ethics,  118(1), 13-29. Rosen, M. A., & Kishawy, H. A. (2012). Sustainable manufacturing and design: Concepts, practices and needs.  Sustainability,  4(2), 154-174. Smith, P. A. (2012). The importance of organizational learning for organizational sustainability.  The Learning Organization,  19(1), 4-10. Stoughton, A. M., & Ludema, J. (2012). The driving forces of sustainability.  Journal of Organizational Change Management ,  25(4), 501-517.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Discuss the history and evolution, justifications for, and ultimate Essay

Discuss the history and evolution, justifications for, and ultimate impact(s) of Canadian content regulations in Canadian radio and television broadcasting from the industrys inception to the present - Essay Example the region’s largest media producer, Canadian broadcasting systems have found it cheaper and more convenient to buy popular American music and programs packages as opposed to creating original Canadian content. In response to this, the Canadian Broadcasting Act created regulations and specifications that Canadian programming broadcasters had to meet and fulfill. The aim with this was to raise viewership of Canadian content with the intent to promote national identity and increase support for Canadian talent. The final essay will have a dipper analysis of the Broadcasting Act, Section 3(1) that sets out the general requirements for the broadcast of Canadian content. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission is a key player in terms of broadcasting policy, ensuring that private and public broadcasting systems follow the requirements of the Broadcasting Act for Canadian programming. The essay will also explain the way in which the MAPL system is used to categorize which music is Canadian as well as the detailed airtime requirement for radio and television and what a program must do to get classified as a Canadian program. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation will be presented as an example of Canada’s national public broadcaster, which follows the requirements set for ‘Canadian content’ on radio and television. According to Armstrong (2010), in 2007-2008 the CBC aired 81 per cent Canadian programming during its primetime (p.116). The Broadcasting Policy in Canada and other readings in the course kit will provide a general idea about creation of radio and television broadcasting as well as serving as a guide to the changes that Canadian broadcasting went through. They will also help in taking a look at the different commissions that were established in order to make recommendations on Canadian broadcasting system. The use of outside sources such as journal articles by Johansen, Boardman and Vipond will allow an in-depth look into the

Vladimir Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Vladimir - Essay Example he conflict took the ugly turn of vandalism – an act committed in secrecy since the concerned person could not directly confront Vladimir, but he left enough indications of his ire in the message that was scrawled on Vladimir’s car. The easy way to resolve the crisis can be to dismiss the vandal and hand him over to the police together with the evidence, but such an approach would in no way improve the interpersonal relations within the team. On the other hand, it might exasperate the already tense atmosphere since the opposing camps feel justified in the ugly event and the resultant punishment. The conflict would linger and lead to repetition in due course, because no attempt is being made to rectify behavioral patterns. A better way to deal with the crisis is to address the root cause of the problem and iron out differences through counseling. This would be a learning or retraining process in the context of team work and common goals of an organization. According to Thompson, â€Å"Many conflicts in teams emerge because people feel misunderstood or ignored† (Thompson, as quoted in Halverson and Tirmizi, 2008, p.214). By bringing into open the behavioral aspects of the warring factions, a possibility ca n be created whereby misunderstandings can be reduced. In the proposed counseling session, the rough edges of Vladimir’s behavior would be exposed to sensitize him to the feelings of his teammates. In a similar manner, instances of Vladimir’s failed attempts to cope with his lesser-endowed colleagues would also be recounted to demonstrate that as a person Vladimir is not averse to correct himself and his behavior. The consequences of handing over the surveillance tapes to the police, dismissal and prosecution will be brought forth strongly to deter repetition of such behavior. Simultaneously, the counseling process would be demonstrated as the management’s goodwill gesture for the first time offence, provided both parties realize their shortcomings and

Review book reviews on the book By His own Hand The Mysterious Death Essay

Review book reviews on the book By His own Hand The Mysterious Death of Meriweather Lewis - Essay Example This review explains the book in terms of a courtroom setting in which Holmberg argues the case for suicide, Guice argues against it and Buckley gives instructions to the readers who are supposedly the jury. Morris then gives some details about the contribution of these three scholars in three different paragraphs. First it discusses Holmberg’s work on contemporaneous sources that support the case for suicide in addition to that Holmberg answers the questions raised by critics of the suicide theory. In the next paragraph, Guice’s work on regarding the details of suicide theory as unreliable are discussed. Finally the review takes note of Buckley’s work on presenting recent studies on Lewis’ death. The review then adds to the information of readers that there is a document section comprising of nine documents related to the death of Meriwether Lewis at the end of this book. This document section basically lets the reader of the book decide what actually hap pened. At the end of this review, Morris recommends this book to everyone who is interested in the case of Meriwether Lewis’ death. The next review is by Todd A. Herring from Lincoln University. This review starts with the instance of Meriwether Lewis’ death as well. It tells us that up till now this case has been a subject of surmise. The reviewer introduces the three contributors of this book namely John D. W. Guice, James J. Holmberg and Jay H. Buckley. The reviewer suggests that the analysis presented in this book leads the readers to the conclusion that Meriwether Lewis took his own life. However, in the previous review no such conclusion was drawn. The review talks about Guice’s work that supports the possibility of murder but considers it implausible. The review then talks about the factors that contributed to Lewis’ suicide, which involve, severe alcoholism, financial difficulties, manic-depressive disorder, failure as a territorial governor and i nability to find a wife. Herring makes reference to a recent controversial contention regarding Lewis’ death which according to the reviewer has not been mentioned in the book. This contention involves William Clark. This review describes the book as a compilation of Guice’s assembly of scholars’ theories, Primary documents and Jay H. Buckley’s bibliography. In the end the reviewer does takes account of the fact that Guice’s work does leave some doubt in the minds of the readers. According to this review this volume is an excellent model for historians and has come closer to the apparent truth than any other previous investigation. The review by Dennis Lythgoe starts with the mysterious death of Meriwether Lewis and the details associated with it. The review tells us that it has been assumed that Lewis took his own life but there were no eyewitnesses. Further the reviewer claims that even William Clark and Thomas Jefferson assumed that Lewis was no t murdered but committed suicide. Then the review moves on to the book and one by one introduces the four scholars and gives a description of their work that has been presented in this book. According to this review, Clay Jenkinson outlines the facts and describes the problems known from the evidence, Holmberg argues for suicide, Guice argues for murder and Buckley concludes the case after assessing both types of arguments. This non scholarly review also regards the book as a courtroom trial. Later in the review the reviewer highlights Buckley’

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Hypothesis and Conclusion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hypothesis and Conclusion - Essay Example The antiterrorism measures taken by security agencies following the September 11 attacks, discourages the citizens from volunteering relevant security information to security agencies (Hardin, 2003). This hypothesis will enable me define the scope of my investigation and method of conducting investigations through interviews. Although conducting interviews is an expensive research methodology, it the most appropriate in qualitative studies. This is because the method enables a researchers to answer several questions such as why certain occurrences or phenomenon occurs the way they do (Silverman, 2009). Interviews are conducted on a one-to-one basis and, this stand out as the main limitation of this research method. To utilize this method a researcher requires a set of questions and a means of recording information obtained from a respondent. Information or response of a respondent can be recorded through note taking, personal memory or using audio recording devices such as audio tapes. Questioners are the most important tool in research or investigations using interviews (Palgrave, 2011). Questionnaires have either open-ended questions or closed questions and the choice of question depends on the expected response. The first step towards achieving a successful investigation through interviews is identifying a sample. This is important since it is difficult or impossible to conduct an investigation using the entire population. The second step involves designing of questionnaires that involves setting a set of question that the researcher considers appropriate. The question should be tested before a researcher goes to the field in order to ensure that they are sensitive to the society. A pilot study is then conducted to establish the expectation of the actual study. Pilot studies also enable the researchers to refine the questionnaire and estimate budgetary requirements (Palgrave, 2011). A pilot study

International Trade and Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

International Trade and Finance - Essay Example A country can only be considered least developed if it fulfills the three criteria suggested by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) which include low-income, weak human assets, and high economic vulnerability (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), 2011). Due to the fact that international trade plays an important role for the development of LDCs, World Trade Organization (WTO) should also be considered. The main thrust of this paper is to have an in-depth analysis with regard to the trade and economy of LDCs from the perspective of the WTO, and determine how does it help LDCs. Nepal and the World Trade Organization (WTO) WTO is the â€Å"only international organization dealing with rules of trade between nations...the goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business† (World Trade Organization (WTO), n.d.). There are currently 153 WTO members worldwide and most of them have high performing economies ; however, they commit themselves to the objectives of WTO and reaffirm to the agreement that trade concessions and special provisions will be given to LDCs (World Trade Organization, 2001, p.9). ... Nepal is one of the poorest and underdeveloped countries in Asia, and become the first member of WTO among LDCs in 2004 (United Nations, 2007, p.75). Nepal’s application for accession to WTO had last for almost 14 years until such time that the organization decided to give the Nepalese government a formal hearing in the last stages of the accession process (Gallagher, 2005, p.54). The country bid for membership because it was â€Å"motivated by a desire to ensure predictable market access and become eligible for the special concessions available to LDCs under WTO rules† (Baumuller, et al., 2008, p.1). Aside from this, the country also wanted to enter the export and industrial sector in India and it needs to have a multilateral back-up that would assure its transit to the overseas market. WTO membership is the only choice for Nepal considering that it did not have the capacity to compete with the fastest growing economy in the world like China. As a result, Nepal is give n preferential access and bilateral agreement in the Indian market that made the country more competent to trade and take full advantage in the global trade opportunities. â€Å"Close collaboration between business, government and civil society gave Nepal access to the benefits of the global trading system in the midst of constitutional crisis† (Gallagher, 2005, p.55). However, the total benefits offered by WTO membership are not for free and not automatic because various efforts are needed such as the ability of Nepal to take advantage with the enhanced opportunities and learned to become an independent economic country. The membership is not a guarantee for Nepal to have a long-term economic

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Field of business and accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Field of business and accounting - Essay Example Even presently, I will not pay for any product that I consider unnecessary although those products are the popular items amongst youngsters. My friends always persuade me to buy an Ipod, but this item for me is considered an unnecessary purchase because I will not use it that often; I can play music whenever I want to, such as at home and in car. Gradually, I have developed an interest of trade and hence saving money. For me, learning is a process of attaining knowledge, value and skill; not only through study but also through working experience. As a result, when I started to see that I had an interest in the business field that was the time when I decided to work for my uncle’s company for a few months before I thought of pursuing my career in the United States. Although I worked as  the receptionist there, I learned that in order to accomplish a job, the same required diverse skills as well as knowledge from different individuals and more than that communication forms up as an important skill in the field of business nonetheless. In the year 2005, I started working in my father’s company as an accounting assistant. My job was to make a simple statement of different accounts, create wire and transfer money to those companies that we dealt with because I was one of the authorities in my fathers company. Other than that, I started to learn how to use information systems to track financial performance. Since working as an accountant assistant consumes a lot of time.

International Trade and Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

International Trade and Finance - Essay Example A country can only be considered least developed if it fulfills the three criteria suggested by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) which include low-income, weak human assets, and high economic vulnerability (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), 2011). Due to the fact that international trade plays an important role for the development of LDCs, World Trade Organization (WTO) should also be considered. The main thrust of this paper is to have an in-depth analysis with regard to the trade and economy of LDCs from the perspective of the WTO, and determine how does it help LDCs. Nepal and the World Trade Organization (WTO) WTO is the â€Å"only international organization dealing with rules of trade between nations...the goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business† (World Trade Organization (WTO), n.d.). There are currently 153 WTO members worldwide and most of them have high performing economies ; however, they commit themselves to the objectives of WTO and reaffirm to the agreement that trade concessions and special provisions will be given to LDCs (World Trade Organization, 2001, p.9). ... Nepal is one of the poorest and underdeveloped countries in Asia, and become the first member of WTO among LDCs in 2004 (United Nations, 2007, p.75). Nepal’s application for accession to WTO had last for almost 14 years until such time that the organization decided to give the Nepalese government a formal hearing in the last stages of the accession process (Gallagher, 2005, p.54). The country bid for membership because it was â€Å"motivated by a desire to ensure predictable market access and become eligible for the special concessions available to LDCs under WTO rules† (Baumuller, et al., 2008, p.1). Aside from this, the country also wanted to enter the export and industrial sector in India and it needs to have a multilateral back-up that would assure its transit to the overseas market. WTO membership is the only choice for Nepal considering that it did not have the capacity to compete with the fastest growing economy in the world like China. As a result, Nepal is give n preferential access and bilateral agreement in the Indian market that made the country more competent to trade and take full advantage in the global trade opportunities. â€Å"Close collaboration between business, government and civil society gave Nepal access to the benefits of the global trading system in the midst of constitutional crisis† (Gallagher, 2005, p.55). However, the total benefits offered by WTO membership are not for free and not automatic because various efforts are needed such as the ability of Nepal to take advantage with the enhanced opportunities and learned to become an independent economic country. The membership is not a guarantee for Nepal to have a long-term economic

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Bordeaux Wine Region Essay Example for Free

Bordeaux Wine Region Essay Romans †¢ In the mid-1st century, they introduced wine to the Bordeaux Region to provide wine for local consumption, and wine production has been continuous in the region since then. †¢ the popularity of Bordeaux wines in England increased dramatically following the marriage of Henry Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine. The marriage made the province of Aquitaine English territory, and thenceforth the majority of Bordeaux was exported. †¢ Grave; Clairet †¢ Dutch traders drained the swampy ground of the Medoc in order that it could be planted with vines, and this gradually surpassed Graves as the most prestigious region of Bordeaux. Malbec was dominant grape here, until the early 19th century, when it was replaced by Cabernet Sauvignon. 12th century 17th century 1855 †¢ the chateaux of Bordeaux were classified; this classification remains widely used today. 18751892 †¢ almost all Bordeaux vineyards were ruined by Phylloxera infestations. The regions wine industry was rescued by grafting native vines on to pest-resistant American rootstock and all Bordeaux vines that survive to this day are a product of this action. This is not to say that all contemporary Bordeaux wines are truly American wines, as rootstock does not affect the production of grapes. 1936 †¢ the government responded to the appeals from the winemakers and stated that all regions in France had to name their wines by the place in which they had been produced. Labeled with the AOC approved stamp, products were officially confirmed to be from the region that it stated. Terminologies †¢ The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 resulted from the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris, when Emperor Napoleon III requested a classification system for Frances best Bordeaux wines which were to be on display for visitors from around the world. Brokers from the wine industry ranked the wines according to a chateaus reputation and trading price, which at that time was directly related to quality. †¢ Cremant are produced using the traditional method, and have to fulfill strict production criteria. †¢ Grafting – or graftage, is a horticultural technique whereby tissues from one plant are inserted into those of another so that the two sets of vascular tissues may join together. †¢ Rootstock – is a plant, and sometimes just the stump, which already has an established, healthy root system, used for grafting a cutting or budding from another plant. †¢ Phylloxera is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. These almost microscopic, pale yellow sapsucking insects, related to aphids, feed on the roots and leaves of grapevines (depending on the phylloxera genetic strain). It gradually cutting off the flow of nutrients and water to the vine. Bordeaux Wine †¢ The major reason for the success of winemaking in the Bordeaux region is the excellent environment for growing vines. The geological foundation of the region is limestone, leading to a soil structure that is heavy in calcium. †¢ These rivers define the main geographical subdivisions of the region: ? The right bank, situated on the right bank of Dordogne, in the northern parts of the region, around the city of Libourne. ? Entre-deux-mers, French for between two seas, the area between the rivers Dordogne and Garonne, in the centre of the region. ? The left bank, situated on the left bank of Garonne, in the west and south of the region, around the city of Bordeaux itself. The left bank is further subdivided into: o Graves, the area upstream of the city Bordeaux. o Medoc, the area downstream of the city Bordeaux, situated on a peninsula between Gironde and the Atlantic. Climate and geography Red Grapes †¢ MERLOT Early-ripening Merlot is the most widelyplanted grape variety in Bordeaux. It expresses its full potential on cool soils, producing smooth wines with a great deal of color, roasted aromas, and flavors reminiscent of red fruit (such as plums) and figs after ageing in bottle for several years. Red Grapes †¢ CABERNET SAUVIGNON Cabernet Sauvignon is a traditional late-ripening local variety. The gravely soil of the Left Bank provides the necessary warmth for optimum ripening. This grape variety contributes structure to the wines as well as hearty tannins and a flavor profile including liquorice, black fruit (such as blackcurrant), and elegant aromas of forest floor with age. Red Grapes †¢ CABERNET FRANC Cabernet Franc ripens earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon. It is an excellent complementary grape variety that rarely makes up the majority of the final blend. It adds freshness, finesse, and aromatic complexity as well as hints of raspberry and violet. White Grapes †¢ SAUVIGNON BLANC Sauvignon Blanc, except in rare instances, is the most important variety for dry white wines. It provides the wines with the necessary acidity as well as minerality, aromatic freshness, and varietal aromas, such as citrus, boxwood, and fig leaves. White Grapes †¢ SEMILLON Semillon is the main grape variety for semi-sweet and sweet white wines and is almost always a component of dry white wines as well. It contributes roundness, richness, and apricot and honey aromas. When affected by  «noble rot », it develops an inimitable bouquet. White Grapes †¢ MUSCADELLE Muscadelle, which plays a secondary role in the blend for both dry and sweet white wines (generally no more than 10%), is a fragile but very interesting variety with musky floral overtones. Viticulture †¢ Bordeaux is a relatively humid region. Thus it is a place rife with diseases and other problems that afflict vines, compared with many of the worlds other wine regions, such as dry Chile or Australia. †¢ In Bordeaux, the pruning of the vine happens almost always as cane-pruning (as opposed to spur-pruning). There are two types of cane-pruning: guyot simple and guyot double. †¢ The use of chemicals and fertilizers has dropped in the recent decades in Bordeaux. Instead, the *lutte raisonnee method is gaining ground. †¢ When harvest time approaches the Bordeaux wine producers start getting anxious. Unlike many other wine regions, weather in Bordeaux is relatively unstable and sudden changes in weather can delay a harvest, force a harvest in bad weather (diluting the wine) or severely damage the harvest. †¢ In Bordeaux, hand picking is now common among the more prestigious chateaux. But while hand-picking is foremost, some classified chateaux still harvest by machine. Viticulture Hand-Picking †¢ the delicate and selective process of harvesting by hand is still the best way to secure a maximum quality harvest. †¢ One problem with manual harvesting is the sheer size of vineyards in Bordeaux (not to mention the labor cost of hand-picking), with tens of thousands of hectares needing harvesting within a few weeks. Mechanical harvesting †¢ flexibility: it makes possible harvesting at night, which is preferable during hot weather. †¢ The flatter geography of Bordeaux also allows for mechanical harvesting, whereas the steep slopes of wine-producing areas such as *Cote-Rotie make machine harvesting nearly impossible. Winemaking †¢ In Bordeaux, almost all wines are blended. Only a few producers make single-variety or varietal wines, though the lack of naming grape varieties on labels masks the fact. The typical blend consists of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon (and/or Cabernet Franc), with small additions of Petit Verdot and Malbec. Wine classification. †¢ There are four different classifications of Bordeaux, covering different parts of the region: ? The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, covering (with one exception) red wines of Medoc, and sweet wines of Sauternes-Barsac. ? The 1955 Official Classification of St. -Emilion, which is updated approximately once every ten years, and last in 2006. ? The 1959 Official Classification of Graves, initially classified in 1953 and revised in 1959. ? The Cru Bourgeois Classification, which began as an unofficial classification, but came to enjoy official status and was last updated in 2003. However, after various legal turns, the classification was annulled in 2007. As of 2007, plans exist to revive it as an unofficial classification. Wine styles †¢ The Bordeaux wine region is divided into subregions including Saint-Emilion, Pomerol, Medoc, and Graves. The 60 Bordeaux appellations and the wine styles they represent are usually categorized into six main families, four red based on the subregions and two white based on sweetness: ? Red Bordeaux and Red Bordeaux Superieur ? Red Cotes de Bordeaux ? Red Libourne, or Right Bank wines ? Red Graves and Medoc or Left Bank wines ? Dry white wines ? Sweet white wines †¢ The name of estate -(Image example: Chateau HautBatailley) †¢ The estates classification -(Image example: Grand Cru Classe en 1855) This can be in reference to the 1855 Bordeaux classification or one of the Cru Bourgeois. †¢ The appellation -(Image example: Pauillac) Appellation dorigine controlee laws dictate that all grapes must be harvested from a particular appellation in order for that appellation to appear on the label. The appellation is a key indicator of the type of wine in the bottle. With the image example, Pauillac wines are always red, and usually Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant grape variety. †¢ Whether or not the wine is bottled at the chateau (Image example: Mis en Bouteille au Chateau) or assembled by a Negociant. †¢ The vintage -(Image example: 2000). †¢ Alcohol content (Image example: 13% vol) Wine label †¢ http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Bordeaux_wine Credits †¢ http://www. bordeaux. com/us †¢ http://www. bordeaux-fete-levin. com/uk/programme/index2012uk. html THANK YOU! ?

Monday, October 14, 2019

Cross-cultural Communication and Marketing of Museums

Cross-cultural Communication and Marketing of Museums Museum is a place for leisure, education and protection of global civilizations. It is an important public service sector and tourism attraction. As an NPO (Non-Profit Organization), how it play in the context of globalization is an interesting and worth studying subject. Therefore, in this report, it will discuss the cross-cultural communication and marketing of the international museums in London. How the Science Museum and Victoria Albert Museum perform in the background of globalisation will emphasis on how to attract diversified needs and improve service quality. The study will come out with some implications, through analysis of the observation held in the museum. Research was carried out in the forms of data collection. It randomly picked up the issues the visitors encountered while visiting the museum, by using the problem-oriented approach. This approach indeed added a lot of fun in my research, on one hand. A case in point, I saw an elder woman, who pushed a baby carriage, was wandering in a channel. In the beginning, I thought she had some problems and was in need for help, I stepped forward to ask her, and humorously was told that she just wanted to make her grandchildren sleeping. On the other hand, it is an effective, stimulated and enjoyable approach, so that I was encountered in the process. Later, I will describe four special events that meaningful for me and for this observation of globalization. The first thing happened in a gallery of jewellery and other ornaments in the Victoria and Albert Museum, I met a Chinese tourist who was going to take a photo of a pair of sword. At that moment, an administrator blocked him. I went to talk to the man immediately and discovered that he just could not help to photograph the precise sword. In addition, he also mentioned that although the majority of the exhibits in this museum allow photographing, but there is still a small part of non-photos area. However, which are specific non-photos areas, he was not very clear, but he believed that there must have some reminder in those areas and if inappropriate, the administrator will told him. So he did not care about the rules and regulations of the museum, which is not a big deal for him and do not want to spare some time to note down these regulations. The second incident occurred during my visit to a Chinese art exhibition. It is about the understanding of a French visitor towards a Chinese collection ?C a statue of. The tourist asked me about the history of this person, who is admired by most of the Chinese. When I was talking about the public faith of Kuan Kung as the God of Wealth in China, he interrupted me and said that this belief is very interesting. Then he explains his opinion that people need to success by themselves, but not ask for god for help and he also doubt that this was why Chinese doing business through Guanxi made sense. After this, we kept going on this topic. The third thing is about a Japanese mother and her daughter in Science Museum. They are living in London for couple of years. This time, she planned to take her daughter to practice zone, named Launchpad to play a game called the Big Machine. Many people were there and every parts of the game were occupied. She said that she used to bringing her daughter to the Science Museum because children can practice the knowledge there, but every time they just enjoyed one or two parts of the game. Luckily, she said, today we play the four parts of the game and this is due to a very kind American parent who let us play after noticing that we are waiting for a long time. I ask her that why she did not grasp opportunity by them. The explanations she gives to me are impressive. The first one is, in her opinion, she did not want to disturb someone enjoying the game. Second she said that the child is too shame to play with others, she is now seven 7 years old. Finally, she said they had time to visi t this museum, so she did not worry about any chance to practice. The last one, it is very simple, but worth for analysis. It is an Australia woman. She came to me and asked me for the time. After I told her, she complain that the root design and layout of the exhibition in the Science Museum are so bad that she cannot use time efficiency and missed many collections. It is a pity for the tourist. Although there exist the anti-globalization voices, such as German Martin and Schumanns (1996) The Global Trap, the British author Alan Rugmans (2001) the end of globalization, , for now, Globalization is an indisputable fact and continually affects everyones daily lives. As Held and McGrew (2000) emphasized that globalization is currently does not have a universally accepted definition by the world. In the past, the globalization is far more defined as the formation of the global market, where the goods, technology, services; capital can flow and trade freely in the world (Theodre Levitt, 1985). However, the results of theoretical research on the current point of view, this is only part of globalization. From Roland Robertson (1992), has started to pay attention to the broader implication of globalization. That is globalization is a set of globalization among economic, political, cultural, technological and other processes. Here we will focus on cultural globalization, and some of the theories on cross-cultural communication and marketing. Giddens and others transformationlists (2001) thought that globalization is a comprehensive process of development and the economic globalization is bound to lead to the globalization of culture and value. Along with the acceleration of globalization, the impact of globalization on culture has also been keen to explore by scholars. The first understanding believes that cultural globalization is the formation of a common or a single culture, which can be described as a cultural homogeneity (Stephan Dahl,). They explored that cultural globalization refers to mutual penetration, absorption of the worldwide different lifestyles, consumption patterns, ideas, and awareness, thus the development of culture will show the trend of homogenization. The second major theory insists that cultural globalization is the parallel process of homogenization and heterogeneous, or the dialectic of globalization and localization in parallel (). The third main study directly denies the existence of cultural globalization. Samuel Huntington () is an important critics of globalization discourse. He made his famous clash of civilizations theory, which Demonstrate the development of world history will strengthen the differences and conflicts between civilizations. Throughout these theoretical insights, in line with materialistic point of view, cultural globalization is inevitable. Moreover, in reality, we can find the subtle changes are taking place in the worlds civilizations, whatever the western or oriental. (David Herder, 2001). Therefore, this cultural is still diversified in the context of globalization. Cross-cultural communication and marketing of an organization will determine whether it is able to compete in the global market to survive. Cross-cultural communication is to study how people from different cultural backgrounds communicate effectively with each other through language, behaviour, etc. (Cross-cultural communication, 2008). Cross-cultural communication involves a lot of the edge of disciplines, including psychology, ethnology, culture and science. Cross-cultural communication theories are the mainly base on theories that study difference between the values of the culture. These theories include the Geert Hofstedes (2001) five dimensions of culture, Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turners seven dimensions culture model. The following will be further elaborated in Fons Trompenaars models, combined with the investigation to analyse how museums manage and market in cross-cultural environment , both of the achievements and shortcomings, through our investigation, although very simple and not comprehensive. First of all, will be a brief introduction of Trompenaars model(). This model, like other onions model studies the culture by dividing into seven dimensions. Five dimensions of them are reflecting how people interact with each other. The first dimension is Universalism versus Particularism(). Universalism is more emphasis on the importance of the rules and regulation system. As described in his book, Americans do not tend to lie when disobey the regulation or rules. The second is Individualism versus Collectivism, which show whether the relationship between the individual and the collective is an Isolationism, or collectivism. The next is Neutral vs. Emotional expression is a measure of whether the emotion is naturally revealed. The fourth one is the Specific versus Diffuse. These are being considered when weighing the participation and responsibility of individuals in the organization. The fifth is the recognition of the position, named Achievement versus Ascription. Trompenaars arg ues that some people believe the position embody the personal contributions, but not your organization. In other words, they measure the loyalty towards organization. The last but one is a Sequential versus Synchronic, mainly to reflect the concept of time of the different cultures. The last one is Internal versus External Orientation, which are to examine the different cultural attitudes on the external environment. There are two arguments, some think that people are controlled by environment, while the others insist human being Dominate the environment. These seven dimensions are well defined and being used to analyse how cultural differences in the museum. However, there is a need to introduce one management framework to help us figure out some implications from the cross-cultural analysis. Therefore, we would also like to use SERVQUAL theory() to study customer perceptions of service quality in the museum. SERVQUAL is based on the theory of total quality management theory and puts forward in the service industry. The core of this new service quality evaluation system is the Service Quality Model or 5GAP model. Firstly, SERVQUAL divides service quality into five levels: physical Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy, including total 22 small questions. The method used to analyse is to measure the gap between customer perception and expectation. Whereby, the company need to fix up the other four gaps ,which are less understanding of the customers expectation, wrong service design and standards, failure to standards of service delivery, not match between service performance and service promise. While some reviews on the theory argue, it needs for appropriate modifications when applied in cross-cultural study (Smith Reynolds, 2002), nevertheless, beca use of time and a limited extent to research, we will still stick to the original theory. The first step of analysis will focus on the customers cultural differences. From the above, it suggests that the cultural differences still exist, as the transformation theory argues. However, following the Trompenaars model, we can examine these differences specifically. Above all, the photograph incident indicates that the Western view on rules and regulations are different from the oriental. As usual, most Western tourists have not the habit of taking pictures in the museum. This is because of their awareness of the requirements in the museum in one hand, in the other hand, that they pay more attention to understand the exhibits, rather than simply to mark the travel. Of course, we cannot judge the person who take photos in the museum is fault, but it did tell us that how different values and norms conveyed by different persons. The Chinese tend to disregard the rules, although he knew. In the meantime, there are many other tourists spend some time looking through the maps and rules in the brochure. This is somehow referring to the first dimension that Trompenaars said whether to obey the rules. Easily, the query of the French visitor that I met in the Chinese gallery, make me feel uncomfortable. However, it can refer to the fifth dimension and reveal the distinction between west and east towards personal achievement and the environment. The French person, represent the West, prefer to success by his own effort, but not the god. We can say westerners are more pragmatic and rational. In other words, Chinese rely more on the external environment, while westerners desire to control the environment much more. Followed by, the Japanese mothers shyness is unlike the West, where the parents who can speak calmly of ideas, more open and proactive. This is about the personal liberty. The westerners used to and dare to express their ideas, because in their opinion, everyone is equal to the world, besides the game in the museum. Yet, the mother did not think by this way, she was worry about the others or maybe avoid some risks that disobey their norms. As cite in the model, the mother is more neutral than the American parent is. Eventually, the Australian woman seems to care about the quality of her visit and hope herself has enough time to look around and explore more about the exhibits. Unfortunately, she did not make it. As she complained, she does not like the open form of display in the museum, especially the large museum. She even regards this as time consuming. We can suggest that she takes time serious and tend to not to do one thing at one time. As indicated in the VA Report on Cultural Diversity 2007() , the manager has insight the trend that more BAME(Black, Asian Minority Ethnic) background audience visit the museum(, but there is little forces on impact on service quality by the cultural differences, even more there is no reports for 2008 and 2009. Recommended by the SERVQUAL model, that can offer some implication on five fields. For one thing, the museum needs to make more effort on tangible aspect, to avoid the irregularities. For example, Rules need to be modifying in a clear and well delivering and more clear signs are demanded, too. This not only makes the visiting smoothly for visitors, but also protects the heritage in the museum. To accommodate the customers who are not emotional, there is better to employ some advisors or rules in the practice zone. In addition, it can use some systems, like booking system for this kind of customers to book in advanced or when entry. This will assure the customer right to enjoy the facilities in the museum. Many of tourist use no more than one day to look around in the museum, this is a pity for them. How to make up this perception difference of service quality is worth analysis. In China, museums prefer to make some valuable roots for visitors, this will save time and value for custom ers. This is related to the reliability of the service, because if the visitor can not well experience the service, or the exhibitions provided by museum, that means the museum has neglect its aim due to responsible for its own loss and profit. To conclude, this is just a small observation in museum. The result turns out without enough supportive evidence is a disadvantage of this paper. Over all, it is beneficial to discuss about how a NPO, as well as the public sector to face the globalization, especially manage in the cross-cultural environment. Reference Iris V. and Linds B. (2000) Intercultural Business Communication in the Global Workplace (second edition). McGraw-Hill Stephan Dahl () Communications and Culture Transformation Benjamin Barbers McWorld vs. Jihad Finola Kerrigan, Peter Fraser, Mustafa Ozbilgin (2004) Arts Marketing Butterworth-Heinemann Alan M. Rugman (2001) The End of Globalization: What it means for Business (Paperback). 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