Information Systems

Describe how information systems have changed the way businesses operate ND their products and services. One of the more popular topics that I have been asked how the information systems have changed the way businesses operate and their products and services. In my point of views I think they have major three ways in which information technology has brought about a huge change in the way in which people conduct business in different parts of the world. One of the most important problem is â€Å"time† So the advantages of using technology is that time constraints are eliminated.Since updated information can be provided to the staff and existing or potential customers at remote locations on a real mime basis and more business can be done. Company can save much more money because they don't have to pay for their staff to travel to meet either customers or other executives. Meetings held through the Internet are as good as the traditional ones. In fact, companies also involve thei r customers in the meetings so that the products can be designed according to their needs.Since information from all parts of the world can collect and merged with the inventory management system of the company, the process of accepting orders and supplying the materials has become far more perfect. If the time taken between invoicing and shipment can decrease, customers will bind to much more satisfied. As more and more people start using the Internet for business and personal reasons, if companies don't adapt themselves and use the upcoming technologies, they will bound to fall behind. Today customers expect goods and services to be available 24 hours, seven days a week.E-commerce is a mode of business where the product is sold through the website of the company. This means that people do not have to step out of their homes to make purchases. Last but not the least whether you are a business to business or business to nonuser concern, you should make use of information technology to maximize pronto b) Describe the characteristics of a digital firm. A digital firm is a firm which nearly all of the organization's major business relationships with customer, supplier, and employee are digitally enabled.Axis business processes are accomplished through digital networks spanning the entire organization or linking multiple organizations. Business processes refer to the set of logically related tasks and behaviors that organizations develop over time to produce specific business results and the unique manner in which these activities are organized and coordinated. Digital firms involve both time shifting and space shifting. Time shifting refers to business being conducted continuously, rather than in narrow â€Å"work day† time bands of 9 a. M. To 5 p. M.Space shifting means that work takes place in a global workshop, as well as within national. Questions 2 a) List and describe the organization, management, and technology dimensions of information systems. 1 . Organization: The organization dimension of information systems concerns issues like the hierarchy of organization, culture, processes of business, functional specialties and political interest groups. 2. Management: The management dimension of information systems concerns issues like Job attitudes, staff training, and management behavior. 3.Technology: The technology dimension composes of computer software, hardware, data management technology and networking technology. B) Distinguish between data and information and between information systems literacy and computer literacy. Data vs.. Information Data which is a move of raw fact representing events occurring in the organization before the organization have been organized and arranged into a form that people can use and understand. Information which is a data that have been came a form that is meaningful and useful to human being. Information systems literacy vs.. Imputer literacy Information literacy is more care for create infor mation useful to an organization and its staff, on the other hand computer literacy satisfied the simple use of computer. As technology uses spread beyond traditional computer, information literacy enables staff and organization to gain an edge over their competition. Question 3 a) List and describe six reasons why information systems are so important for business today. Six reasons about information systems are so important for business today include: 1. Operational excellence 2. New products, services, and business models 3.Customer and supplier intimacy 4. Improved decision making 5. Competitive advantage 6. Survival Information systems are the basis of conducting business. In 21st century, in many companies, survival and even existence without extensive use of IT is unimaginable, and IT plays a critical role in rising productivity. Although information technology has become a daily, when organization have complementary changes in , it can provide the basis for new product, servi ce, and ways of conducting business that provide firms with a strategic advantage. ) Describe the esoterically perspective on information systems.Optimal organizational performance achieved by together optimizing both social and technical systems used in production can help them to avoid purely technological approach. So it can produce their product much more better. Question 4 a) Define business process and describe the role they play in organizations. Business process which is a use computer's logic to substitute staff to handle related set of activities; Business processes are the ways in which organizations coordinate and organize work activities, knowledge to produce their valuable product or service.Business processes have four different areas. 1 . For the manufacturing and production area include product assembling, quality checking, and producing bills of materials. 2. For the sales and marketing area. Business processes include identifying customers, making customers aware of the product, and selling the product. 3. For finance and accounting, business processes includes paying creditors, creating financial statements, and managing cash accounts. 4. For human resources, business processes include hiring employees, evaluating Job performance of employees, and enrolling employees in benefits plans. Describe the relationship between information systems and business processes. Between information systems and business processes, their relationship is they can substitute each other. Whatever in management, finance, sales or marketing etc†¦ Question 5 a) Define collaboration and teamwork and explain why they have become so important in business today. Teamwork can raise productivity. Teamwork requires each team member to work together while allowing their individual interests to become a subordinate concern. As a result, team members focus on the goal at hand and contribute their knowledge, resources and skills to reaching the goal. Information Systems Describe how information systems have changed the way businesses operate ND their products and services. One of the more popular topics that I have been asked how the information systems have changed the way businesses operate and their products and services. In my point of views I think they have major three ways in which information technology has brought about a huge change in the way in which people conduct business in different parts of the world. One of the most important problem is â€Å"time† So the advantages of using technology is that time constraints are eliminated.Since updated information can be provided to the staff and existing or potential customers at remote locations on a real mime basis and more business can be done. Company can save much more money because they don't have to pay for their staff to travel to meet either customers or other executives. Meetings held through the Internet are as good as the traditional ones. In fact, companies also involve thei r customers in the meetings so that the products can be designed according to their needs.Since information from all parts of the world can collect and merged with the inventory management system of the company, the process of accepting orders and supplying the materials has become far more perfect. If the time taken between invoicing and shipment can decrease, customers will bind to much more satisfied. As more and more people start using the Internet for business and personal reasons, if companies don't adapt themselves and use the upcoming technologies, they will bound to fall behind. Today customers expect goods and services to be available 24 hours, seven days a week.E-commerce is a mode of business where the product is sold through the website of the company. This means that people do not have to step out of their homes to make purchases. Last but not the least whether you are a business to business or business to nonuser concern, you should make use of information technology to maximize pronto b) Describe the characteristics of a digital firm. A digital firm is a firm which nearly all of the organization's major business relationships with customer, supplier, and employee are digitally enabled.Axis business processes are accomplished through digital networks spanning the entire organization or linking multiple organizations. Business processes refer to the set of logically related tasks and behaviors that organizations develop over time to produce specific business results and the unique manner in which these activities are organized and coordinated. Digital firms involve both time shifting and space shifting. Time shifting refers to business being conducted continuously, rather than in narrow â€Å"work day† time bands of 9 a. M. To 5 p. M.Space shifting means that work takes place in a global workshop, as well as within national. Questions 2 a) List and describe the organization, management, and technology dimensions of information systems. 1 . Organization: The organization dimension of information systems concerns issues like the hierarchy of organization, culture, processes of business, functional specialties and political interest groups. 2. Management: The management dimension of information systems concerns issues like Job attitudes, staff training, and management behavior. 3.Technology: The technology dimension composes of computer software, hardware, data management technology and networking technology. B) Distinguish between data and information and between information systems literacy and computer literacy. Data vs.. Information Data which is a move of raw fact representing events occurring in the organization before the organization have been organized and arranged into a form that people can use and understand. Information which is a data that have been came a form that is meaningful and useful to human being. Information systems literacy vs.. Imputer literacy Information literacy is more care for create infor mation useful to an organization and its staff, on the other hand computer literacy satisfied the simple use of computer. As technology uses spread beyond traditional computer, information literacy enables staff and organization to gain an edge over their competition. Question 3 a) List and describe six reasons why information systems are so important for business today. Six reasons about information systems are so important for business today include: 1. Operational excellence 2. New products, services, and business models 3.Customer and supplier intimacy 4. Improved decision making 5. Competitive advantage 6. Survival Information systems are the basis of conducting business. In 21st century, in many companies, survival and even existence without extensive use of IT is unimaginable, and IT plays a critical role in rising productivity. Although information technology has become a daily, when organization have complementary changes in , it can provide the basis for new product, servi ce, and ways of conducting business that provide firms with a strategic advantage. ) Describe the esoterically perspective on information systems.Optimal organizational performance achieved by together optimizing both social and technical systems used in production can help them to avoid purely technological approach. So it can produce their product much more better. Question 4 a) Define business process and describe the role they play in organizations. Business process which is a use computer's logic to substitute staff to handle related set of activities; Business processes are the ways in which organizations coordinate and organize work activities, knowledge to produce their valuable product or service.Business processes have four different areas. 1 . For the manufacturing and production area include product assembling, quality checking, and producing bills of materials. 2. For the sales and marketing area. Business processes include identifying customers, making customers aware of the product, and selling the product. 3. For finance and accounting, business processes includes paying creditors, creating financial statements, and managing cash accounts. 4. For human resources, business processes include hiring employees, evaluating Job performance of employees, and enrolling employees in benefits plans. Describe the relationship between information systems and business processes. Between information systems and business processes, their relationship is they can substitute each other. Whatever in management, finance, sales or marketing etc†¦ Question 5 a) Define collaboration and teamwork and explain why they have become so important in business today. Teamwork can raise productivity. Teamwork requires each team member to work together while allowing their individual interests to become a subordinate concern. As a result, team members focus on the goal at hand and contribute their knowledge, resources and skills to reaching the goal. Information Systems Describe how information systems have changed the way businesses operate ND their products and services. One of the more popular topics that I have been asked how the information systems have changed the way businesses operate and their products and services. In my point of views I think they have major three ways in which information technology has brought about a huge change in the way in which people conduct business in different parts of the world. One of the most important problem is â€Å"time† So the advantages of using technology is that time constraints are eliminated.Since updated information can be provided to the staff and existing or potential customers at remote locations on a real mime basis and more business can be done. Company can save much more money because they don't have to pay for their staff to travel to meet either customers or other executives. Meetings held through the Internet are as good as the traditional ones. In fact, companies also involve thei r customers in the meetings so that the products can be designed according to their needs.Since information from all parts of the world can collect and merged with the inventory management system of the company, the process of accepting orders and supplying the materials has become far more perfect. If the time taken between invoicing and shipment can decrease, customers will bind to much more satisfied. As more and more people start using the Internet for business and personal reasons, if companies don't adapt themselves and use the upcoming technologies, they will bound to fall behind. Today customers expect goods and services to be available 24 hours, seven days a week.E-commerce is a mode of business where the product is sold through the website of the company. This means that people do not have to step out of their homes to make purchases. Last but not the least whether you are a business to business or business to nonuser concern, you should make use of information technology to maximize pronto b) Describe the characteristics of a digital firm. A digital firm is a firm which nearly all of the organization's major business relationships with customer, supplier, and employee are digitally enabled.Axis business processes are accomplished through digital networks spanning the entire organization or linking multiple organizations. Business processes refer to the set of logically related tasks and behaviors that organizations develop over time to produce specific business results and the unique manner in which these activities are organized and coordinated. Digital firms involve both time shifting and space shifting. Time shifting refers to business being conducted continuously, rather than in narrow â€Å"work day† time bands of 9 a. M. To 5 p. M.Space shifting means that work takes place in a global workshop, as well as within national. Questions 2 a) List and describe the organization, management, and technology dimensions of information systems. 1 . Organization: The organization dimension of information systems concerns issues like the hierarchy of organization, culture, processes of business, functional specialties and political interest groups. 2. Management: The management dimension of information systems concerns issues like Job attitudes, staff training, and management behavior. 3.Technology: The technology dimension composes of computer software, hardware, data management technology and networking technology. B) Distinguish between data and information and between information systems literacy and computer literacy. Data vs.. Information Data which is a move of raw fact representing events occurring in the organization before the organization have been organized and arranged into a form that people can use and understand. Information which is a data that have been came a form that is meaningful and useful to human being. Information systems literacy vs.. Imputer literacy Information literacy is more care for create infor mation useful to an organization and its staff, on the other hand computer literacy satisfied the simple use of computer. As technology uses spread beyond traditional computer, information literacy enables staff and organization to gain an edge over their competition. Question 3 a) List and describe six reasons why information systems are so important for business today. Six reasons about information systems are so important for business today include: 1. Operational excellence 2. New products, services, and business models 3.Customer and supplier intimacy 4. Improved decision making 5. Competitive advantage 6. Survival Information systems are the basis of conducting business. In 21st century, in many companies, survival and even existence without extensive use of IT is unimaginable, and IT plays a critical role in rising productivity. Although information technology has become a daily, when organization have complementary changes in , it can provide the basis for new product, servi ce, and ways of conducting business that provide firms with a strategic advantage. ) Describe the esoterically perspective on information systems.Optimal organizational performance achieved by together optimizing both social and technical systems used in production can help them to avoid purely technological approach. So it can produce their product much more better. Question 4 a) Define business process and describe the role they play in organizations. Business process which is a use computer's logic to substitute staff to handle related set of activities; Business processes are the ways in which organizations coordinate and organize work activities, knowledge to produce their valuable product or service.Business processes have four different areas. 1 . For the manufacturing and production area include product assembling, quality checking, and producing bills of materials. 2. For the sales and marketing area. Business processes include identifying customers, making customers aware of the product, and selling the product. 3. For finance and accounting, business processes includes paying creditors, creating financial statements, and managing cash accounts. 4. For human resources, business processes include hiring employees, evaluating Job performance of employees, and enrolling employees in benefits plans. Describe the relationship between information systems and business processes. Between information systems and business processes, their relationship is they can substitute each other. Whatever in management, finance, sales or marketing etc†¦ Question 5 a) Define collaboration and teamwork and explain why they have become so important in business today. Teamwork can raise productivity. Teamwork requires each team member to work together while allowing their individual interests to become a subordinate concern. As a result, team members focus on the goal at hand and contribute their knowledge, resources and skills to reaching the goal.

Customer Lifetime Value †A Case Study Essay

A Your manager asks you what you think might explain the differences in p, r, and AC between the three groups. What would you say? i Group 1’s higher â€Å"p† could be due to the fact that this group of students doesn’t have the meal plan that undergrad students who live on (or close to) campus have. Additionally, some MBA students may have longer classes than the typical undergad student, especially on weekends. The MBA students may be more inclined to buy more food to save and snack on during class sessions. The retention probability through a certain time â€Å"r† is expected to be higher for undergrad students who live on or closer to campus and can easily walk to the sandwich shop. MBA students still have a high retention rate, but following the completion of their MBA program, they’re less likely to drive to Ike’s for food since they commute to school (especially if they have a good sandwich shop from where they commute). Regarding â€Å"AC†, the cost to promote Ike’s for people familiar with the area (Group 2) is expected to be lower because the Bay Area natives already have some knowledge of Ike’s. The â€Å"AC† for Groups 1 & 3 are higher because Ike’s must promote their business to people who have most likely never heard of the sandwich shop through ads, Facebook, or coupons. b What do you think could be done to improve CLV for any of the groups? Describe a specific action that can be taken by Redhead and explain how it alters the variables and CLV in the table for one or more groups. ii I expected the CLV for Group 3 to be higher considering the distance from the school. It could be so low due to the meal plan those students might have, but by decreasing the â€Å"AC† from 25 to 20, â€Å"CLV† will increase from 2. to 7. 5. The can be done by focusing their advertising efforts aimed at students to strictly on campus efforts. Perhaps they could also utilize social media for free advertising and introduce a â€Å"punch card† where after a certain amount of sandwiches bought, the customer can get a free one. This would possibly help increase the retention rate of all groups, especially Group 1 where these MBA students don’t have an on campus meal plan and often look for good food and money saving incentives off campus. Additionally, if the retention rate for Group 1 went from . 0 to . 825 through the use of the â€Å"punch cards† and even coupons for a free drink or chips, the CLV would increase from 7 to 11. 667 – almost putting Group 1 even with Group 2. And if the retention rate for Group 3 went from . 825 to . 85 through the use of the â€Å"punch cards† again, the CLV would increase from 2. 5 to 6. 875. I believe that by using more free social media advertising (decreasing AC) and increasing retention rate â€Å"r† through â€Å"punch cards† and coupons, the CLV for all groups will increase.

Psychology for law enforcement Essay

Starting a Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) in local law enforcement would benefit the community in many areas. Criminology and psychology working together can help in understanding crime that is happening in our society as well as in our own communities giving better means of attending to victims, law enforcement as well as the criminals. The study of behavior began in the late 1800’s but it was through the work of B. F. Skinner. Behavior theory is the basis for behavior modification and one approached used in institutionalized and non institutionalized settings for changing behavior. The primary thesis is that all behavior is learned and can be unlearned. The approach is concerned with observable behavior in contrast to the traditional psychoanalytic emphasis on deep, underlying personality problem that must be uncovered and treated. Behavior theory is based on the belief that it is not the unconscious that is important but, rather, the behavior, which can be observed and manipulated. It is assumed that neurotic symptoms and some deviant behavior are acquired through an unfortunate quirk of learning and are rewarding to the patient. The undesirable behavior can be eliminated, modified, or replaced by taking away the reward value or by rewarding a more appropriate behavior that is incompatible with the deviant one. It is argued that behavior is controlled by its consequences. In dealing directly with behaviors that are undesirable, behavioral therapy attempts to change the person’s long-established patterns of response to himself or herself and to others (Schwartz, 1989). The starting of the BSU would only help to strengthen this theory. The unit should be staffed with individuals that have an educational background that had strength in the area of social psychology for the unit to give greatest benefit. Social psychology is the scientific study of how the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of one individual are influenced by the real, imagined, or inferred behavior or characteristics of other people. The focus of social psychology is on social cognition, attitudes, social influence and social action (Miller, 1984). Certified psychologists in counseling should be incorporated in requirements for employment. Depending on the budget for the program at least 2 psychologists on call for smaller departments to having a full time psychologist with a staff working for larger departments. This type of unit should be considered a focus on prevention of crime in and around the community. Peacemaking criminology would be the efforts of this unit. With this it focuses on the prevention rather than the repression of crime. Although crime prevention often means different things to different people, practitioners in the public health community have delineated three general approaches that I would like to use for this discussion: primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention (Moore, 1995). Primary prevention attempts to keep criminal behavior from arising in the first place; it is directed at the entire community and not just at individuals who are seeking or who need treatment. Secondary prevention concentrates on early identification and treatment of vulnerable or at risk youths, and tertiary prevention entails interventions that protect society from offenders and that reduce the likelihood of recidivist behavior. The most effective prevention strategy is one that combines all three modalities. Efforts to address the social disorganization often found in inner-city areas will also be required. We need to put an end to racially segregated and densely populated housing projects that concentrate poor minorities, socially isolating them from the middle class and depriving them of the resources necessary for stable communities: strong families and positive role models that reinforce conventional values and provide networks of informal social control. Well funded investments like a Behavioral Science Unit can better refer the part of society most in need to the social programs best suited for the individual or individuals (Barkan, 1997). Community based corrections, facilities and programs from those that may be located in the community but are not, strictly speaking, community based such as BSU will help the society as a whole. The degree to which a corrections stem is community based can be measured by the frequency, quality and duration of community relationships as well as by the number of commitments to large state institutions, the extent to which other community services are used, and the degree of involvement by local groups and individuals. Some community correctional centers comprise a wide variety of programs including residential and nonresidential facilities (Miller, 1984). The BSU can help to bridge the gap law enforcement has with these larger community correctional centers. Social scientists continue to work toward understanding the causes of crime. Some look for a general theory to explain all crime; some of those approaches that look at the social structure or social structure theory. What we do know about crime is that men commit the most, but that some crimes have been increasing among women. We know that most crimes are committed by persons who are mobile residentially and who live in a large city. . We know that among juveniles, those who are bonded closely to their families and schools are less likely to commit delinquent acts or crimes than those who are not bonded. We know that those who are unemployed and hovering at the bottom of society’s social class structure are more likely to be involved in property crimes than those who are at the top of the social structure. But that knowledge of the serious property crimes as defined by the FBI must be considered along with data about white collar crime. This is where the Behavioral Science Unit would be very helpful to local law enforcement the most. Helping the officers to better understand just who they are trained to deal with, criminals (Messner & Rosenfeld, 2001). Biologists and chemists were not the only professionals to link behavior to physical characteristics. Some early psychologists attempted to explain criminal behavior by means of the inherited trait we call intelligence. But the social psychologist look at environment, social interaction as well as biological to look for answers to behaviors and possible ways of deterrence. A society that permits deviation can expect negative deviation or crime. Laws emerge because societies understand the need to institute a more formal system of social control. Behavioral theory helps to make the formal system flow more easily and work more efficiently. Laws emerge out of this consensus. Laws are enacted by the group in power as a means of controlling those not in powers. Criminals do not differ necessarily from non criminals, but the difference may be in the way society reacts to their behavior. That is why a Behavior Science Unit incorporated into law enforcement offices will only increase the efficiency of the ability of that department to effectively enforce the laws our society has created and to connect the community to these offices in an effort to improve crime in and around the surrounding communities.

Abrahamic Religions Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Abrahamic Religions Review - Essay Example istrust between the West and Islamic states can be traced to biased Western media and government authorities that started from the Iranian Revolution up to the Gulf War, and even to the present. Clearly, there are political and economic agenda involved in these misrepresentations of Islam by Western media. In chapter eleven of Global Islamic Politics, Husain shows that Western media and administrations have a love/hate relationship with Islamic states, where America supported authoritarian Islamic regimes that reinforced the former's political and economic hegemony, and then the U.S. was forced to support new administrations that the people themselves established, like what happened after the Iranian Revolution. The War on Terror demonstrates that though Bush differentiated peace-loving Muslims from terrorists, the political and media rhetoric emphasized suspicion against Islamists, which as a whole, as Husain stresses, cannot be generalized as violent revolutionaries. Chapter twelve addresses the growing anti-Americanism attitudes and practices in the Middle East, due to the historical interventions of the U.S. in Islamic states that predominantly served the former's interests and assisted in the repression of these states' subordinates. Quinn traces the history of prejudice and discrimination against Muslims much farther into history, because of lack of information and interaction between Christians and Muslims during the early times. This ignorance and poor experience of Muslim religion and culture created a wide range of bigoted images about Islam. Quinn asserts that non-Muslims' local needs and aspirations became the ?rism(Quinn 161) by which Islam and Muslims are perceived, which affected how the former created and spread Islamic images. Said confirms the... Abrahamic Religions Review These resources also demonstrate the vast misrepresentation of Arab and Muslim cultures and religions in the Western media, because of political and religious agenda of core state nations. Some articles further provide feasible and simple solutions that can help alleviate the distrust between the West and Islamic societIslam and Christianity are different religions, but their â€Å"common root† (Quinn 172) should be enough to bind their believers in the modern world. Bulliet, in The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, provides a broad historical and comparative analyses of the rise of Islamo-Christian Civilization and he contends that Christianity and Islam should be viewed as â€Å"fraternal twins† (15). He concentrates on the co-existing growth of Islamic and Christian thinking during the ninth century and even several centuries after that. He emphasizes the importance of understanding that the â€Å"past and future of the West cannot be fully comprehended withou t appreciation of the twinned relationship it has had with Islam over some fourteen centuries. The same is true of the Islamic world† (Bulliet 45). ies and to potentially foster multicultural and multireligious tolerance and respect, while also helping Islamic societies achieve domestic goals and interests. Said confirms the negative and incomplete images of Islam projected by Western media and authorities in â€Å"Covering Islam.† He complains on how some influential Western journalists have successfully equated â€Å"fundamentalism† and Islam, and how political interests colored and slanted Western news reporting about any news that concern Muslims or Islam.

Functional Health Pattern Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Functional Health Pattern - Essay Example Functional Health Pattern is used in the process of collecting data that are helpful in formulating the diagnoses and inventions of planning. Community Health Assessment (CHAT) article, addresses issues associated with community nursing and diagnosis, and how health promotion projects should be implemented and evaluated. With the emphasis of current issues about health promotion among people, nurses need to get acquaintance with various activities that should be used in the promotion of various health issues in society. It is important for the students undertaking baccalaureate to learn the assessing process of the community these enable them to promote community health needs (Rankin et al, 2005). In the senior level of the promotion course, students mostly work in very small groups when assessing a community. They develop nursing tips and plan interventions basing them on diagnosis. Each of the students selected the health promotion in the community, implement and evaluate the results (Fitzpatrick & Meredith, 2006). The data collection was utilized to acquire usable and important information about the client population and society’s health. The tools used to obtain the data are as follows; firstly, demographical data acquired through census data, agencies, magazines, website, and public health department. The tables used included age, sex, ethnicity, persons as per the homestead, a structure of the house, education attainment, level of income, and access to health facilities. The table was to be included in the assignment. In the narration of the assignment, one had to interpret the data used in the tables. Secondly, Windshield Survey was used to find all the details and information necessary when obtaining data.

God exists OR God doesn't exist OR We should believe in God OR We Essay

God exists OR God doesn't exist OR We should believe in God OR We shouldn't believe in God - Essay Example The planets, the stars and the suns move in certain direction that their gravitational systems do not collide with each other. In our own solar system, planets revolve around the sun in an orderly and predictable manner which makes us wonder, who created all these things to move in such controlled and orderly manner? If there is no God out there who created the universe and all the creatures that exist on it, then, who created all these things? The universe is so vast and almost impossible to comprehend and it revolves along logical paths that are exact and well defined. Many scientists and scholars suggest that the universe was created through some kind of random engineering design but if we take a close look at the solar system (Peacock, 1999), the planetary system and all of creation, there is nothing random in these things and everything has to be in their right places to achieve balance and harmony. If it was not God who created all the heavenly bodies and set the rules as to how they should move around and produce elements that sustain life, then, who created all these things? If the universe has been created by an accident of nature as some people would like to believe, such accident would have been of phenomenal magnitude that it created order in the universe. Besides, if we go with the idea that the universe and us who live in it, are created by accident of nature, then we are not as special as we are supposed to be. If we do not believe in God, then we do not consider ourselves as made in the image and likeness of God. By believing that we are created by accident is like denying our own divine beginning. On the other hand, by accepting the existence of God, we also accept our divine nature. In arguing against the existence of God, many scientists suggest that at the beginning of time, the chaotic first elements ordered themselves to form a complex system that we now call the universe (Singh,

Virtual Local Area Networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Virtual Local Area Networks - Essay Example Ns, properties of LANs and broadcast domains, the advantages of using VLANs compared with older router based networks and finally discuss the situations in which VLANs are not appropriate or indispensable. Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) is a logical group of workstations, servers and network devices that share the same broadcast domain without need to be geographically located in the same area (Chowdhury and Boutaba, 2009). This means that the network administrator can logically divide the LAN into different VLANs each with its own broadcast domain instead of having one broadcast domain shared between all devices in the network. For instance, an organization with different physically separated departments can segment its network into multiple VLANs based on the departments for special purposes. Hence, only hosts that belong to the same particular VLAN can exchange data or share network resources. In addition, different VLANs can communicate only through a router which has to be connected to both of them, hence reduced congestion of traffic in the network that originates from a broadcast frame (Hartpence, 2011). Therefore, splitting a network into VLANs boost the performance, securi ty and reduce the clogging on a large LANs (Yadav et al., 2013). The enhancement of today’s Virtual LAN has been achieved through different stages. According to (Cullen, 2001) the development of LAN switches began in 1990; bridges were used as a layer 2 devices to segment networks and to solve the consumption of bandwidth used in broadcast traffic. After that, it was replace by segmenting networks at layer 3 using a number of routers between segments and a chain of hubs inside each segment to forward frames between devices (Hartpence, 2011). The problem of using hubs is that, it deals with all frames as a broadcast frame and forward incoming frames to all devices in the shared segment. Therefore, the increased number of hosts in each segment leads to increased demand of bandwidth

Rigid Bodies and Application to Snooker Assignment

Rigid Bodies and Application to Snooker - Assignment Example In this project I made a study of main laws and principles of rigid body dynamics from the practical and theoretical point of view: as solutions to theoretical and practical exercises are provided. It required review and deeper study of vector analysis and analytical geometry. Rigid body in mechanics is a system of material points, which doesn't change in time. So it's an idealized system for which the distance between its particles remains constant in time under any motion. Phenomenological mechanics considers rigid body to be a solid matter, in which particles are subjected to internal forces in the form of normal and tangent tensions. Such tensions are caused by external deformations. In case they're re no deformations, there are no tensions inside rigid body. In many cases deformations are so small that can be neglected. So such model is an idealized rigid body, which is not able to deform and even though internal tensions can take place because of external forces. Rigid body is a mechanical system with six degrees of freedom. In order to define the position of a rigid body it's enough to know the position of at least 3 points: A, B, C, which do not belong to one line. In order to prove that rigid body is described by six degrees of freedom we have to take point D. ... (XA-XB)^2+(YA-YB)^2+(ZA-ZB)^2=AB^2=const (XC-XB)^2+(YC-YB)^2+(ZC-ZB)^2=CB^2=const (XA-XC)^2+(YA-YC)^2+(ZA-ZC)^2=AC^2=const Because the lengths of sides of triangle ABC remain the same. So only six coordinates are left independent - rigid body has 6 degrees of freedom. If the body has fixed points the number of freedoms degrees reduces. If rigid body is fixed in one point - it has 3 degrees of freedom, if rigid body can only rotate around one axis is has one degree of freedom, if a body can slide across axis it has two degrees of freedom. In order to understand how x(t) and R(t) change over time we should remind the following formulas: Resultant is v= V+ [w, R] (using vector properties). Kinetic energy of a rigid body is total kinetic energy of rotation plus total kinetic energy of motion: T=.5 mv^2 + 0.5Iw^2 Where I is moment of inertia of a rigid body (mass analogue for rotational motion) Moment of inertia is defined as I=miRi^2. Moment of inertia is additive so moment of inertia of a rigid body is formed from the sum of inertia moments of its parts. Any body, independently from rotational motion or rest has definite moment of inertia. Mass distribution in the limits of a body can be characterized by density: p=m/V So moment of inertia can be expressed as I=piRi^2Vi, if density is constant: I=pRi^2Vi In limit it can be expressed in the following integral: I=R^2dm=pR^2dV The inertia tensor is a set of nine values (which can be written in the form of 3X3 matrix), which shows the dependence of shape and distribution of mass in the rigid body caused by its rotational motion. It's often explained as a scaling factor between angular momentum and angular velocity.1 Inertia tensor matrix has the following structure and its components are calculated

Passover as a Popular Jewish Holiday Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Passover as a Popular Jewish Holiday - Essay Example The belief and celebration is Passover. Passover is a popular Jewish holiday and festival commemorating the exodus story during which the oppressed Israelites were freed from the harsh Egyptians, under Pharaoh the dictator. It is usually started at the day 15 of the month of Nisan, in the Jewish calendar. Actual narration of the day or the exodus reveals the means God used to rescue His children from Egypt. It talks about the ten plagues, the night before departure as well as all the activities that took place during that night. Further description also reveals that God led the Israelites in crossing the mighty Red Sea by giving them a charismatic leader who showed them the way by using a stick to strike the water allowing them to go through easily. Passover is one of the Jewish celebrations that go across the entire Bible. There are several occasions in the bible where the word is mentioned and its significance can be drawn from there. In the book of Genesis, God’s creation i s accompanied by the creation of man in the last day, sixth day of creation. Human beings are considered the most important creatures among all creatures that God created. He gives them some of the abilities that are not present with other creatures. Genesis continues and in some chapters, Joseph, Jacob’s most preferred and loved son is sold to the Egyptian by his envious brothers. They return to Jacob, Joseph’s clothes claiming that he had been killed and eaten by an animal. Jacob mourns his son bitterly. In Egypt, Joseph faces numerous challenges as a staunch believer in God. He is tricked and lured by Potipha’s wife into sex. His refusal renders him arrest after the woman claimed that he wanted to rape him. Joseph is jailed but freed after his interpretation of King Pharaoh’s dream. Joseph grew an important person in Egypt and raised a family of the Jews or the Israelites. He was eventually put in high position. He was second in command to Pharaoh. He moved his whole family to Egypt and offered them protection there. 4 centuries later the Israelites had grown into a large population, hitting the 2 million mark. The high number of Jews in Egypt made the new pharaoh becomes afraid of their power. In order to maintain control of the land, he decided to turn them into slaves and oppressed them with harsh labor, ruthless and inhuman treatment. God came to rescue the Jews through a man named Moses who was a great grandson to Jacob. Moses was born during the time when Pharaoh had made an order that ensured the death of all Hebrew male. God, however, spared Moses when Pharaoh’s daughter found him near the Nile River bank. He was given the best care in the Egyptian most royal family. Moses later killed an Egyptian who had killed his fellow Israelite. After the incidence, he escaped to Midian. Expectedly, God appeared to Moses in Midian, in the form of a Burning Bush telling him, â€Å"’I have seen the misery of my people. I have heard their cries, I care about their suffering and I have come to rescue them. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people out of Egypt (Exodus 3: 7-10). Moses gave out some excuses but finally obeyed God’s command and went to Egypt in the company of Aaron as a spokesman. Pharaoh, as expected became adamant to Moses request to set the Israelites free. God punished him with ten plagues after

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 36

Case Study Example ase idea will benefit travelers in that they will be able to book a full package in that; if they are touring a region they can get all the services at one stop. Services such as the airline to use, the vehicle to use when on land and hotels are inclusive and easily accessible. In this exhibit, there will be benefits both to travelers and the travel agencies in that; the traveler can travel according to their potentials where there is a category for budget travelers who do not require using a lot of money, while the luxury travelers will require more comfort. Decision making will be easier for the travelling agencies due to the classifications of travelers (Mohinder, 2009). This classification will be beneficial to the agencies in that they will be able to make decisions based on the ability of their clients and consequently treat a client fairly and thus increasing their customer base (David & Nancy, 2012). This exhibit according to the case idea demonstrates the customer base beginning from 2007 when a new CEO is hired. Considering the vertical axis as the customer base in hundreds of thousands and the horizontal axis as the years moving forward, it illustrates that in the year 2007 the customer base was at 600,000. The figure increases to 800,000 customers in 2011 resulting from the acquisition of 16 percent by Tencent Company. This figure is predicted to rise in 2017 due to the recommendations made and the figure is projected to be at one million customers. This means the customer base in the projected future life will increase accordingly (Mohinder, 2009). Considering exhibit 5, the case idea recommends that the increase in the customer base through the methods stated earlier, will lead to increase in the profits due to increase in the travel activities above (Harvard business review on thriving in emerging markets,

Organizational Change and Development Assignment

Organizational Change and Development - Assignment Example This discussion identifies three perspectives, people, approach and method of change implementation at the broader level that impact change management process.  Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, is known to be the first person who touched upon the ‘changing’ nature of the world, in his words, â€Å"you never step into the same river twice,† (Cameron & Green, p.10) and â€Å"all is in flux† (Stetson & Conti, p.29). This concept is equally apt to the world of business with increasing competition, meeting customers’ expectations, and finding new opportunities for growth in business, career and sustaining the competitive edge in the changing markets (McGrath & MacMillan, 2005). Organizations will have to embrace these challenges in order to sustain in the competitive world. In order to achieve their goals, while catering to the changing demands of the industry, organizations adopt strategic changes, appropriate for achieving every single objective. These strategic changes are meant to bring about radical or transformational change to the established ways of working from both organizational and employee perspectives. Nevertheless, bringing about change at the workplace, whether structural, procedural, technological or financial, in order to improve the situation or for better business results entails more efforts than planning the change and its implementation.   The forces that cause organizations to opt for radical transformations could be external such as technological advancements, government regulations, increasing competitiveness, and/or changing demands; and internal such as organizational bureaucracy and complacency.   Usually, implementing change is impacted by factors such as time and investment required; the impact of change on the financial performance of the business; return on investment; an intensity of improvement; and importantly, its impact on the end customers.   At an organizational level, planning for the c hange and change management as a responsibility rests with, or is the function of, specific project management team or division, but its implementation at an organizational level requires the involvement of various, or all, other functions/departments failing which the proposed change itself may fail.   This failure can be disastrous for the organization or business and/or to the people associated with the change and the organization, which includes all stakeholders, i.e. employees, customers, and all shareholders. Therefore, bringing about a change should equally be balanced by the way change is being managed in order to succeed.   Michael Dell believes that companies that learn to manage change are in the best position to continue to take the risks needed to stay out in front (cited Matejka & Murphy, 2005; p.19).

Daoism and Confucnaism Notes Essay Example for Free

Daoism and Confucnaism Notes Essay Daoism is the Pinyin transliteration Taoism was the earlier Wade-Giles transcription of the same word. The sacred rituals are called li. They are essential because the ancestors will help their descendents, if treated with proper respect, or cause trouble if ignored. They beleive in nature spirits such as plants, animals, rivers, stones, mountains, stars, all parts of the natural world are vitalized by cosmic energy personified and honored as deities. Shangdi (Shang Ti) is the Lord-on-High, ruler of the universe, the supreme ancestor of the Chinese. He was a spiritual being. Deities governing aspects of the cosmos and the local enviroment are subordinate to him. This deity is conceived as masculine and closely involved in human affairs, but not a creator God. qi (chi) is a belief that the cosmos is a manifestation of an impersonal sel generating energy which is called qi. This force has two aspects whose interplay causes the ever changing phenomena of the Universe. Yin is the dark, receptive, female aspect: Yang is the bright, assertive, male aspect. Wisdon lies in recognizing their ever shifting but regular and balanced, patterns and moving with them. This creative rhtym of the universe is called the Dao (Tao) or way. Yijing ( I Ching) or the Book pf Changes it is a common source for both Daoism and Confucianism and is regarded as a classic text in both traditions. The more mystically religious ways, which are collectively called Daoism, and the more political and moral ways, which are known as Confucianism. Like yin and yang, they interpenetrate and complement each other, and are themselves evolving dynamically.

Business Plan For Hot Dog Mania Marketing Essay

Business Plan For Hot Dog Mania Marketing Essay Being one of the most popular food type in the world, hot-dogs are sold in enormous quantities worldwide. In the US alone, people eat around 16 billion hot-dogs every year. Because of the high demand on this type of food, companies are created every year with the purpose to satisfy the people need to eat a very simple, but fast and tasty food. Hot Dog Mania is a start-up company that will be entering the Romanian food-service industry with a worldwide known product that is not used by any of the ten big companies in this industry the hot dog. The competitive advantage of this product is that it will use different culinary recipes from famous hot dog countries and it will offer its customers the possibility to customize their own hot dogs from scratch, while being able to taste different world flavors. A French company named Gira Foodservice (Ionescu, C. (April 22, 2009), Radiografia pieÃ…Â £ei foodservice din Romà ¢nia [Radiography of the Romanian food service market], http://www.foodandbar.ro/actualitatea/1481-radiografia-pieei-foodservice-din-romania, Retrieved January 05, 2010) published a Romanian country report regarding the food-service industry, in which it stated that the market revenue for 2008 is approximately à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬3.4 billion, and it predicts that the market will increase annually with a two-digit percentage. The domestic market of the company is Romania, and in the future, after a country development to at least five major cities, it will address to other Balkan countries like Bulgaria. The primary customers of the hot dog products are people living in the urban areas, which have a high value for time and mobility, and prefer to eat fast food in order to be able to spare time for other activities. Other customers that will be targeted by HDM will be people who will visit large touristic resorts in the country. The last customer type that HDM targets is the one that is keen on social events like concerts, various exhibitions, fairs, and sport games, and would like to have a snack during a short break. The main priority of this business plan is to set up a fast-food company that will establish various outlets, starting with one on the seaside, with my personal equity. Later on, between three to six months, there will be a further development, were other business partners will be required. Company Description The company name will be Hot Dog Mania, and it will be a registered trademark together with the company logo and slogan at the Romanian State Office for Inventions and Trademark. The internet domain name will be http://www.hotdog-mania.com and it will have numerous links that will redirect customers to it, depending on the country. For example, the Romanian customers will access the website http://www.hotdog-mania.ro and they will be instantaneously redirected to the .com site, with the Romanian language interface. Hot Dog Mania will be a privately held company, registered as a Limited Liability Company, with myself as a sole shareholder. Upon further development to other countries, when the brand will become a franchise, the company will be a franchisor and will have franchisees as partners in other locations. We will focus on selling mainly hot dogs and drinks. The hot dogs will have different variations from the original Frankfurters and Wieners to the hot dogs eaten in various counties in the US like Alabama, New York State or in Seattle Washington, or even the Patsos from Turkey. Besides the predetermined hot dogs, the customers will have the opportunity to customize their own hot dogs from scratch, by choosing the sausage, the bun type, the condiments, vegetables, and spices. The drinks will vary from the well knows juices, mineral water, and some beer assortments. HDM will also have a small merchandise activity, where it will offer its customers hats, badges, T-shirts or various hot dog clothing, in order to remain in the customer attention at all time. Besides the products, the company will try to provide the best quality services in the fast food industry, using the Just in Time method in order to always serve its customers as they make an order. Our main objective is to provide the high quality tasty food to our customers faster than a regular fast food. This mission is sustained by some values like: highly trained professionals, quality food, and faster than fast. The staff will be initially trained for two weeks, and then the store managers will permanently supervise the staff in order to make them provide the best services. These managers would have a higher success rate in the supervising activity because there are a few staff members necessary to run a location. The quality food will be assured by the suppliers, which will be chosen by annual auctions, so the suppliers with the best food quality will be selected. Faster than fast the generic service name that HDM chose for representing the Just in Time food preparing strategy, used by McDonalds. This way, there will be calculations of food demand depending on some factors like location, month, date, hour, events or Holidays, and media. The Just in Time method implies that every employee will have its own activity, and it will be perfectly related to the other employees activity, in order to have no time loss between product preparing and supplying. When there will be high customer queues, one member of the staff will use a Palm PDA to collect orders from the queue, and it will automatically send it to the food processing display, so other employees will be able to make the food before the clients arrive to the cash register, in order to make the waiting time lower. The mission of the HDM company providing high quality tasty food to the customers faster than a regular fast food, will be accomplished by this three main activities. The initial management activity will be conducted by me, and after the opening of another location, two of the staff members will be promoted as store managers one for each location. This means that in the first months I will need to work a little harder in order to both manage the first location, and the company as a whole. After undertaking an ambitious expansion plan, there will be area managers, which will supervise five different management locations in order to assure the correct operations between store managers and employees. Possible management positions will be added later after development, when it will be indispensable to have a Marketing Manager, a Sales Manager, a Store Operation Manager, Human Resources Manager, and Purchasing Manager. Regarding the personnel plan, each location will have two cooks, two cashiers and one store manager that will handle every situation required. Hot Dog Mania locations will be represented by medium and large caravans, that are both mobile and space sufficient for this kind of activity. The first location will be at the seaside, targeting a large number of potential customers, closest to the beach as possible. The fact that the company is using caravans offers the high mobility, which allows us to create new locations in just a few hours. One day the store can be at the seaside, and the other day at a concert event in Bucharest. The location will use large LCD screens to display the products and menus, and it will have its own originality in displaying the tasty hot dogs. We will equip the stores with modern technology, and we will aim for maximum cleanliness in order to attract the customers to maintain it. Another facility is to equip the store with umbrellas and tall bar tables, to allow them to eat the food just in front of the store. The mobile locations will be settled with priority to major events, like soccer games, concerts, exhibitions, fairs. There will also be seasonal locations, on the touristic areas, and fixed locations in the major cities, close to downtown. The initial funds will be covered from my own capital, and it will reach and approximate investment of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬50,000. The start-up funding necessary is shown in the table on the next page: Start-up Funding Start-up Expenses to Fund 800 Start-up Assets to Fund 43000 Total Funding Required 43800 Assets Non-Cash Assets from Start-up 0 Cash Requirements from Start-up 43800 Additional Cash Raised 5000 Cash Balance on Starting Date 48800 Total Assets 48800 Liabilities and Capital Liabilities Current Borrowing 0 Long-term Liabilities 0 Accounts Payable 0 Other Current Liabilities 0 Total Liabilities 0 Capital Planned Investment 50000 Additional Investment Requirement 0 Total Planned Investment 50000 Loss at Start-up 800 Total Capital 48800 Total Capital and Liabilities 48800 Total Funding 50000 The milestones and timelines of the company have been made on a five-year time interval, and they represent objectives of the company. They are shown on the table below: Task Timeline Milestone Make a sales volume high enough to reach the break even 1 month Reach break even Acquire the necessary licenses to set locations on events 3 months Obtain location licenses Set up the second location of hot dogs 6 months Acquire second location Set up the third location of hot dogs 12 months Acquire third location Expand the company to fixed locations in other major cities 3 years Develop in other cities Create a franchise to the company to have franchisees countrywide 3 years Create a Romanian franchise Expand the company to other countries in the Balkans area 5 years Expand abroad Industry Analysis and Trends The main characteristics of the fast-food industry are the following: Low cost in comparison to a traditional restaurant; The mobility that it offers to its customers, having them the opportunity to eat the food as they go; Specific demographic identities for customers: usually young people, sometimes families, driven by children; living in urban areas, and having medium or lower medium income, although recently young people with high income have developed a sympathy for this kind of food; Faster times in the food preparing, up to a few seconds after the order has been taken; Development in many locations, which are very important for this kind of activity; High competitiveness among companies, based on the fact that customers are not always loyal to a brand, and will consume the products based primarily on the location of the establishment; The fast-food industry in Romania has developed sensitivity to seasonality. In this respect, the industry cycle has fluctuations especially during the Holidays. For example, at the end of December, during the Christmas Holiday, the Romanians have developed a food cult, when they prepare specific Romanian dishes, which they eat for approximately two weeks. During this time, the fast-food industry suffers a dramatic sales drop. The same phenomenon occurs during the Easter Holiday, when Romanians have a highly valued religion holiday. Although these industry cycles are occurring every year, the companies in the market are aware of it, and they are not very affected by it, having time to prepare for these seasonality cycles. The industry life cycle has not yet reached the maturity stage, being in a constant growth for the last ten years. This is happening because the young people, like students, prefer to eat fast food in order to associate to a social trend. Afterwards, even if they have matured and have jobs, they still feel attracted to this food because of the high mobility that it offers. Nevertheless, the state will have a high influence on this trend in the years to come, since they have various campaigns against fast food. Future regulations will impose a vice tax to boost the fast-food prices, and the Ministry of Health is working together with the Ministry of Finance to increase the VAT for this economic sector. Since now, no law like such has been approved in the Romanian Parliament, and it will need the consent of the European Commission. The Romanian fast-food industry is having an accelerating rate of increase, according to a survey made by Euromonitor International (Stoica, A. (May 24, 2007), Fast-food-urile inghit doua miliarde de euro [The fast-foods are eating two billion euros], http://www.romanialibera.ro/bani-si-afaceri/a96203-fast-food-urile-inghit-doua-miliarde-de-euro.html, Retrieved January 05, 2010). According to them, the average growth rate is about 26% every year, and in 2005 the industry reached total revenues of $2 billion, and in 2007 it reached more than à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2 billion. Bucharest is the Romanian city with the highest revenue in this market. The fast-food industry is consisted on many types of food, from the well-known hamburgers, to chicken, pizza, fries, hot dogs, and the Turkish kebab, called Shaorma in Romania. There are a total of more than 900 fast-food outlets in Bucharest alone, so there is a fierce competition. According to a local newspaper called Romania Libera (TOP 10 fast-food-uri in Bucuresti [Top ten fast-foods in Bucharest] (November 10, 2007), http://www.romanialibera.ro/a110940/top-10-fast-food-uri-in-bucuresti.html, Retrieved January 05, 2010), there are ten major competitors on the fast-food market in Bucharest, among them being McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Gregorys, Snack Attack, Burger King, Spring Time, and there is a rather new competitor, on a retail store specialized in furniture, Ikea, that offers food at competitive prices. We will make a detailed analysis of these competitors on the following pages. All of these major competitors can offer products that represent substitutes to the HDM hot dogs, but they have some differences. McDonalds represents the most important competitor that can offer substitute products, being the most appreciated fast-food company in Romania. Their products are not similar to hot dogs, but they have many stores all across the country. Their products have a high demand from customers because of the quality of the food and service. The only drawback of this company is that their food is standardized, and they rarely bring new products on the market. Having the nearest prices to the HDM food, and the same delivery speed, McDonalds is the most significant competitor that can offer substitution products. KFC and Pizza Hut are other competitors that can offer substitution products, although their products are completely different from the hot dogs. In fact, they are very different from another, too. One of them offers chicken recipes, and the other one offers pizza. The only main advantage of these products is that they have a very good taste, and they have various options to choose from. Besides that, the service type is different. Their companies offer customers experiences closer to restaurants, taking long times to prepare, and because of the food type, the customers need to stand at a table in order to eat them, and it takes quite some time to do so. Another drawback represents the high prices of their food, being at least three times more expensive than a traditional hot dog. The only reason that we can say that these two companies offer substitution products is the fact that they are major players in the fast food-industry. Gregorys and Snack Attack are two fast-food companies offering cold sandwiches with salami, ham, cheese and some vegetables. They have a few assortments, but their food is cold. The queue time is low, but the prices are considerably higher than a hot dog. Snack Attack has recently developed and is now supplying food to supermarkets, mini markets, and other stores that might have access to events. Ikea has a fast-food division that returns annual revenues worth of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬5 million. Although they are specialized in another industry, they have created a fast-food in every store to develop a differentiation competitive advantage, and this strategy has proven to be very efficient. Their food is very cheap, and they are the only competitors that can offer a similar product to HDM. Their hot dogs have the most competitive price on the market, with a price of only à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬0.25 per unit. The only reason why Ikea cannot become a very strong competitor is that they only build fast-food outlets inside their stores, and at this time, there is only one store in the country. Spring Time and Burger King are two other competitors that can offer substitution products for the HDM hot dogs. While Spring Time has reached a company life cycle of saturation and decline, Burger King is not appreciated by the Romanian consumers, and thus they cannot develop, as they register constant loss every year. Other fast-food firms that are selling hot dogs are insignificant, having just a small stand in the street, with no strategies and development plans, being managed by only one self employed person in general. After this analysis of the competitors, we can observe that the fast-food industry has multiple market segments. These market segments are shown in the chart below: As shown on this empirical made graph, the hot dog segment in the Romanian fast-food industry is not yet developed, and a strong competitor on this market segment would be able to benefit from this opportunity. McDonalds has had a continuous market share growth because the customers want to eat faster every year, and they were able to provide that. But a hot dog product can be eaten even in another manner, which would not necessary involve fast eating: doing it on the street. As anyone can see in socially developed countries like USA, Germany and Austria, the hot dog products are bought in the middle of the street, and are eaten on the street. This would provide the Romanian customers an even bigger mobility. The product customization will offer them a bigger flexibility. These two advantages combined with the fact that there are no major competitors in the segment, offers to the hot dog product every prerequisite necessary to become a successful brand in the Romanian market. Even if the market trend shows continuous growth every year, the Government regulations might lower the industry growth rate in the upcoming years. But offering a relatively new product in the market, which have not been exploited by other major competitor, will increase the customer interest to it, and will allow a fast development. Country Report Expansion is a problem which every developing company its asking to itself. Because there are various methods of expanding a company, the financial risks are lowering, and thus allowing growing companies to think about such measures. The first advantage that HDM would benefit from expansion is the fact that it will create an economy of scale. By increasing the total number of customers, than it will increase the order volume that it will make from its suppliers, and then the power of negotiation will increase, and thus, the costs with raw material per unit will be lowered. Another advantage that the company will have is a wider access to the customers, through more fast-food outlets. This should be identified as an opportunity, because at this point a marketing campaign would have expected results, attracting more customers to the stores, and creating a public awareness. If the customers are content with the products and services, then they will become devoted to the brand, although in general this happens to a relatively small number of customers. Higher revenues can be efficiently transferred into management budgets, and allow the company to hire professionals to manage activities with broader instruments and more time than one single manager for all the operations. A Marketing Manager, a Sales Manager, a Store Operation Manager, a Human Resources Manager, and a Purchasing Manager will be key positions to create a professional strategy of product improvement and expansion. By accessing a large number of customers, than the revenues will grow, and the profits will be increased as well, allowing the company to have future expansion at higher rate, because of the increasing capital. One other advantage that expansion brings to the company is the access to lower cost workforce, and especially in Bulgaria, lower raw materials. Expansion to more than ten different locations can bring in an optimistic financial hypothesis the possibility to create a production factory, where the company will have complete access to the raw food processing and it will acquire a complete quality control of the food. Besides, a vertical development can considerably lower the company fixed costs. There is a high opportunity to expand a hot dog company in Romania and even in the Balkans, because the markets have not reached their maturities, and being emerging countries, the middle class will expand in the upcoming decade. This way, the product lifecycle will be extended to at least five to ten years. The major opportunity of expansion to Bulgaria is that the country has similar fast-food industry segmentation as Romania, where the major competitors are addressing different segments, while the hot dog segment is only represented by small companies with low retaliation power. Another opportunity of expansion is represented by the fiscal measures regulated in the foreign countries. Bulgaria has lower taxations than Romania, and it will allow Hot Dog Mania to increase its gross profits. Hot Dog Mania will have two different methods to enter foreign markets. The first method is the foreign direct investment which consists in using the companys own capital to expand to foreign markets. The main advantage is that the expansion will have a high profit potential, while it will have a full control of the operations. The disadvantage of using the foreign direct investment is that the company will have higher financial risks than if it had used other expansion methods. In the foreign country, the company will have exposure to political risk, macroeconomic risk, authority abuse risk, and Government regulations. Setting up new headquarters also involves a managerial investment, but with a higher complexity because of two main reasons: if the manager is Romanian, than it will have to become accustomed to the foreign country culture, habit and measures of communication; and if the manager is foreign, then it will probably have a different perspective over the home country vision, which will be adjusted in a large period of time. The other method that HDM will use to enter foreign markets is the franchise. This is a very easy and financial risk free method to enter other countries. HDM will ask for a monthly franchise tax, and will supply the franchisee with the raw materials as a subcontractor, in order to maintain the food quality and higher income. The company will assess the country potential and will obtain know how about the foreign market, which will allow the company to extend to the country with risk free foreign direct investments. Nevertheless, the franchise method also has some disadvantages. Even if it will act as a subcontractor to the franchisee with the food supply, it will still have low margins to allow the franchisee to have competitive prices on the market. These low margins will offer a lower profit than a profit potential of a FDI. Having a franchisee creates dependence with him, because the home company will always need to supervise and check if the quality is maintain at the company standards. Another risk is that the franchisee could learn the know-how of the hot dog company, and create a new company adapted to its market, and act as a competitor. In the first expansion stage, the HDM company will select the franchise method, because its less financial risky than a foreign direct investment, and it will provide every necessary information that will allow the company to create a future FDI. The primary legal issue of HDMs target country, Bulgaria, is that the judicial system is not fully independent. According to the Heritage website, in Bulgaria Weak property rights, lingering corruption, and inefficient bureaucracy hold down the countrys overall economic freedom. According to the same website, The non-salary cost of employing a worker is high, but dismissing a redundant employee is costless. Even if these regulations are negative to the legal aspect of Bulgaria, the Investment Promotion Act offers equal treatment to both foreign investors and local ones. Another regulation that represents a good opportunity to extend to Bulgaria with a foreign direct investment method is the fact that EU members can buy land in this country. This way, opening new locations will allow HDM to have wholly owned subsidiaries. Starting a business in Bulgaria takes approximately 50 days, in comparison to the EU average of 38 days. According to the Heritage website, Bulgarias economic freedom score is 64.6, which is well above the world average. This is primarily because they have high fiscal freedom, with a flat corporate tax of only 10%. The general time lines for going global represent a projected plan, being subjected to different changes in the upcoming years, due to changes that may occur in the financial status. As in the timeline for the company description, I will use some of the milestones in order to project appropriate timelines for the distant future. The first two milestones that will lead to the extension of the company will be the expanding of the company in other major cities of the home country as a wholly own subsidiaries or franchises, to allow our management to gather enough experience and know-how for future, more complex expansions. After expanding to Bulgaria, the Hot Dog Mania will search other potential locations in the Balkans, with similar people patterns, and similar Government regulations. Considering the fact that the start-up year of the company will be in 2012, the expansion to other countries will take place in 2017. This information is shown on the following table and graph, shown bel ow: Event / Name Start End Length Expand in Other Romanian Cities 2014 2015 1 Create a Franchise 2014 2015 1 Expand to Bulgaria 2016 2017 1 Search for Other foreign Countries 2016 2018 2 Expand to Serbia 2018 2019 1 Expand to Slovakia 2018 2021 3

Operations Management Of The Hard Rock Cafe

Operations Management Of The Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe is one of the worlds leading and well-known brands in restaurant industry. Hard Rock cafe is a chain of casual dining restaurant. First Hard Rock was opened in London, 1971. It was found by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton. The mission of Hard Rock is to provide their customers with unique experience and attract new clients. In the 1980s, Hard Rock Cafe was the most popular when some people engaged in the hobby of visiting as many locations as possible and collecting a Hard Rock t-shirt bearing the Cafe logo and the location name. The chain began global expansion in 1982 when Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton agreed to develop their own cafes across the world. At current date, it has 169 venues in 51 countries worldwide (Hard Rock, 2010). And it continues to grow with several more in the works. The question being raised here is how has a small Hard Rock restaurant that originated in London, England become one of the most well-known brands over the world? Differentiation Strategy The trick is not to play the game better than the competition, but to develop and play an altogether different game. -Professor C. Markides of the London Business School And, yes, Hard Rock has played a different game the experience game! Hard Rock Cafe is using differentiation strategy to achieve competitive advantage on the market. It is considered a smart strategy. They find the ways to differentiate that create value for customers and that are not easily matched or cheaply copied by competitors. Hard Rock sells meals and sells hotel rooms. Many others also do that. Even there are other music related restaurants. But what make the Hard Rock different from others is that it sells a full Rock Roll experience. There is an insatiable appetite for music as a reminder of the moments in ones life and music can generally bring peace in mind and happiness to people. A 20-year-old can come in there and see memorabilia from Godsmack or a 60-year-old can come in and see something from Buddy Holly or Elvis Presley. Music is the tie that binds, regardless of your age. It is also about creating a soundtrack to the brand that people recognise. When the customers go inside, it feels familiar and that is not just because of how it looks, it is the sound. Hard Rock is built on that concept. That is how a brand becomes multidimensional. And they are successful! Hard Rock products are highly valued by customers. Customers develop loyalty to brand and it helps to beat competitors in the marketplace. 10 Operations Management decision making Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and competences with the aim of fulfilling stakeholders expectations. The main target of any firm is to create competitive advantage over competitors. To create this advantage, firm has to find a right strategy. Hard Rocks strategy is to provide not only a custom meal from the menu, but the whole experience with a unique visual and sound experience. The customers can find this experience at nowhere else in the world but Hard Rock. And it can be achieved when managers make effective decisions in 10 Areas of Operations Management. They are collectively known as operations decisions. Goods services design: Hard Rock Cafà © provides a unique experience with their goods and services offered at the restaurants. Hard Rock gives many amenities from cafes, to hotels to casinos, to live music and to huge Rock fest concerts. Furthermore, when Hard Rock expanded to global, it specified its menu for local taste due to the social norms. For example, when they expanded their chains to the Unites Stated, they modified their menu with Classic American foods such as hamburgers, chicken wings, and include higher-end items such as stuffed veal chops and lobster tails. And as for the menu of Hard Rock Cafà ©s in British, they focuses more on fish and lobster and less on hamburgers and beef (Heizer Render, p.83). Hard Rock also keeps continuing upgrade their menu to meet the customers requirement. One of the special things about Hard Rock is its music memorabilia collection. Throughout the years, Hard Rock has collected a collection of items which are part of the Rock history. They not only solicit donations of music memorabilia, but they also go around the world and purchase a number of items at auctions. Nowadays, Hard Rock becomes the worlds largest collection of such items. Another key that contribute to the success of Hard Rock Cafà © is the inclusion of its own brand merchandise. About 48% annual revenue of Hard Rock comes from merchandise sales (Heizer Render, p.83). The classic Hard Rock t-shirt was created when the original cafà © sponsored a local football team. The shirts became a popular item and lead to the creation of the line of merchandise that is an important part of Hard Rocks business today. Besides the classic tee, there are many different styles of shirts, hats, jackets, glassware, shot glasses, etc. Many of these items are considered to be collectibles and the customers can generally purchase at Hard Rocks cafà ©, hotel, and casino specific or from its website. Quality: Hard Rock Cafà © defines quality within their properties by conducting numerous surveys to get an honest evaluation from its customers. They pride themselves on quality from the music, food and atmosphere. Their survey is on a scale from 1-7, and anything less than a 7 is considered a failure (Heizer Render, p.56). It means that they want to reach to the customers highest satisfaction. Base on customer surveys and feedback, their menu will be changed with the times to fulfill customer recommendations accordingly. In addition, Hard Rock Cafà © not only focuses on the actual quality of food and merchandise, but also focuses on the visual and auditoria quality as the quality of the unique experience. The experience itself is their product. The employees at Hard Rock Cafà © are responsible for giving the best quality of their services and products to its customers. The waiters, chefs and crews give their effort by means of their services through catering customers and providing them also the best food which meet their taste and preferences. Process capacity design: The process and capacity design is what drives the decision of the locations of their facilities. Hard Rock Cafà © creates products in an efficient manner, by analyzing them for cost effectiveness and by labor requirements. Location selection: Understand that location is a major long-time, and can make or break business strategy; Hard Rock has to choose the right locations strategy to expand its cafe chains. Because of Hard Rocks customers are those who not only patronize the foods they offer, but also love music, Hard Rock Cafà © chains need to choose places which is convenient to its valued customers. In addition, they also should be place in the areas that are fewer competitors as to their line of business. Another important that needed to be concerned is the location decision also needs to be concerned with some challenges such as: political risk, currency risk, and social norms. Hard Rock Cafà © has expanded to more than 157 locations throughout the world. And approximately a 70% of Hard Rock customers are tourists. This is good as far as the best tourist regions are traditionally good markets; however, this strategy also makes Hard Rock to depend on the tourism. For example, when the economy goes downturn, there would be less people who spend their money for travel, it will effect to the productive of Hard Rock. Seeing this disadvantage, Hard Rock develops another strategy is signing a long-term lease for cities that are not standard tourist destination such as Manchester and Birmingham. This is a good move for Hard Rock because it can make Hard Rock less dependent on the tourists (Heizer Render, p.83). Layout design: Hard Rock cafà © exist for 39 years and it expand its business to a global power managing 129 cafes, 12 hotels, casinos, live music venues and a huge Rockfest concert (Heizer Render, p.56). Each cafe is a museum in the environment of a bar-restaurant. The company also added new layouts and memorabilia to its place in order to capture more customers. Lighting, sound, screens, contemporary music and circulation plans are designed to show memorabilia and expose merchandise to customers. Human resource and job design: The layout, memorabilia, music, and videos are important elements in the Hard Rock experience but it falls on the waiters and waitresses to make the experience come alive (Heizer Render, p.445). Hard Rocks philosophy is to hire only candidates who are best qualified. The human resource department supports the overall theme restaurant strategy by giving aggressive screening, including an evaluation of how the employee will contribute to the Hard Rock experience. Their hiring decision is not only on experiences and qualifications, but also on the candidates passionate about music, their ability to tell a story, and convey the experience to customers. These decision criteria ensure that their employees interests and right fit with the company. And that can avoid the hiring mistake, thus reduce the turnover. They give great benefit package and effective indoctrination and training, empowerment. They also accept culture of diversity and focus on team world and even outside volunteer work. Hard Rock also creates a dynamic working environment so that employees want to be a part of a team. They know that as long as they can make the employees feel important and be a part of that team, the employees would want to stay with their employer. Using flexible schedules are also great strategy and could be the difference between employees staying and leaving the restaurant. The human resource department of Hard Rock recognizes that they responsible for a critical element in Hard Rocks strategy. So they must recruit and retain the human capital that is necessary to fulfill that mission and strategy. Supply-chain management: Hard Rock work with qualified suppliers to ensure fresh, quality meals. Menu item selection depends on supplying right amount of ingredients from qualified suppliers on time Inventory: Their inventory consists of unique objects related to rock history, the memorabilia, special decorations and a special menu. The collection includes 1,000s of pieces, worthed at $40 million valued memorabilia are catalogued, each piece is known where to be. Memorabilia of all cafes around the world are renewed each 5-6 years Scheduling: Understanding that scheduling plays an important role to the succesful of Hard Rock. A good scheduling can bring to the organization more effectively by serving customers promtly, and more efficiently by lowering cost (Heizer Render, 647). To have an effective schedulings strategy, Hard Rock Cafe used the scheduling software, and sales forecast. When forecasting sales in service industry, business must consider several factors related to their business. For Hard Rock Cafà ©, they need to take into these considerations: community events in the area, seasonality, holidays, time of day, day of week, sales trend in last couple weeks, and meals served is necessary for effective forecasting of sales. Events happening in the area, and using historical data for the year prior is also an effective way to the sales forecast. Hard Rock Cafà © must understand these factors directly affect sales in the restaurant because by accurate forecasting and giving the customer what they want, they can achieve successful in their business Considering seniority is important in staff scheduling. The employees who have worked for the company for a long time are more experience and more comfortable about the work. Thus, strategically scheduling each of them in each shift will distribute the experience and expertise. Also be noted that 70 % of their guests are tourists so this means that they have to have flexible schedules in their restaurants in order to provide services adapted to different cultures and demands. Maintenance: Hard Rock Cafe is redesigning its restaurant to accommodate the changing its tastes. Kitchen, bar, retail shop layout and equipment maintenance and maintenance of memorabilia. The menu review and surveys are also need to be maintenanced to meet the customers requirement. Expansion into Hanoi As we critically above, by using effectively operations management strategy, The Hard Rock Cafe has become such a successful business. Since the first Hard Rock Cafe opened in 1971, and its name has continued to expand and succeed. Nowadays, The Hard Rock Cafe has become a well-known brand in the world. Considering an expansion of its business into Hanoi, Vietnam there are operations management opportunities and challenges for Hard Rock to be considered. Vietnam is a developing country with a land of opportunities. It is a new emerging market, and is a potential investment destination. The potential for franchise in Vietnam is huge. According to global franchisers, Vietnam is a not place for franchises: a young consumer market, high economic growth and stable politics. The rise of the middle class in Vietnam also presents a growing market opportunity. Opportunities: Products and services design and quality: Vietnamese economy is among the most rapidly growing in Southeast Asia. The economy has been growing steadily at 7-8 percent in recent years. Growing economy point to accelerating poverty reduction, and is seeing living standards rise as disposable income increase. Moreover, Vietnam has a population of more than 80 million, and about two-thirds of Vietnamese aged below 30 years, who are brand-conscious, trendy and adore the Western lifestyle (Vietnam News, 2010). Particularly in the urban areas, consumers demand is surging for higher quality products and services. And the local production cannot satisfy them. Thus, franchising businesses that introduce high-end products and services with a Western lifestyle could help meet that growing demand. Therefore, as for products and services design and quality, Hard Rock is doing extremely well if they expand their business in Hanoi. Hard Rock brand name is well received by local customers who associate them with superior quality, excellent customers service, and a Western life style. Location: Vietnam is definitely a safe place to enter because of the politically stable. Understanding that franchises can create jobs for locals, and that they can help drive its economy, Vietnamese Government boost economic development and stimulus package in the Vietnamese market by using flexible policies, and welcomes foreign investment. In addition, Hanoi is a capital of Vietnam and is also a destination of tourism from many countries. And that is a good fix for Hard Rock because its main target customers are the tourists. Human resource: One of the advantage for Hard Rock open its cafà © in Vietnam is the low cost of labor. Also, there are many young Vietnamese nowadays are really passionate about Rock Roll music, and have the ability to convey the experience to the customer. So its totally not hard for the restaurant to find the right employees that fix to the image of Hard Rock Cafà ©. Supply-chain management: As for the supply-chain management, in Hanoi, Hard Rock can easily find the qualified suppliers to purchase raw materials with a cheap price but still ensure its fresh, quality meals to serve the customers. Challenges: Considering an expansion of its business into Hanoi, and to be successful in Vietnam, Hard Rock Cafà © should take the following concerns into account: Products service design: Hard Rock needs to aware of the cultural differences. They should take local culture, habits, and tastes into consideration and adjusts their market strategy accordingly to be successful in this market. They also have to be sensitive to product pricing and franchising fees for expansion in Hanoi. Vietnamese are very price-conscious and local incomes are substantially lower than many other countries in the region. Moreover, local investors may not be familiar with and are reluctant to invest millions of dollars in a new business concept. This specific of the market will require a flexible approach. Human resource: Another challenge for Hard Rocks human resource when it comes to decision expansion into Hanoi is picking the right master franchisees. This is the most difficult and time-consuming task of all in the global development of Hard Rock franchise. They need to take time to find, evaluate and conduct diligence on master-franchise candidates. They also need to consider the added cost of training and support across many times zones. Conclusion The strategy of Hard Rock has been led by the differentiation. The Hard Rock has made unique its products and its services. Hard Rock Cafà © has brought the concept of the experience economy to its cafe operation. At Hard Rock, the experience concept is not only to offer a custom meal from the menu, but also spread the spirit of rockn roll to its customers. It is successful by using this experience strategy, and Hard Rock Cafà © became a highly recognized brand throughout the world because of its operations management. After carefully evaluated the operations management strategy of Hard Rock Cafà © and considered all the opportunities and challenges for Hard Rock Cafà © when considering an expansion of its business into Hanoi, I strongly believe that the business will be going successful on this market. With a large young consumers market, growing disposable income, stable politic, and also as the locals are becoming more receptive to international brands; Vietnam is definitely a good destination and a perfect time for Hard Rock Cafà © to enter to the market and franchise its brand.

Fever: 1793 Coming of Age Book Report Essay example -- Laurie Halse An

At some point in a person's life, they must make the transition from childhood to adulthood. Many of a persons early life experiences can contribute to this transition, even if it is the simplest of things. Yellow Fever hit Philadelphia hard in 1793. It also hit hard in the book Fever: 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. In this book, fourteen year-old Mattie Cook?s life gets turned upside-down when Yellow Fever strikes Philadelphia. In her adventure, Mattie must show responsibility, and experience the pain of death before she matures into an adult. In the book, Mattie starts out as a lazy teenager who needs to be told what to do by her over controlling mother, but throughout the story, she becomes more responsible and adult-like. For example, at the start of their adventure, Mattie leaves P...

Dr. Linus Pauling - A Model of Courage Essay -- Argumentative Persuasi

The Strength of Character of Dr. Linus Pauling When it comes to moral courage, no one thinks of scientists. Moral courage brings to mind the Chinese protestor who leapt in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square, the conductors of the Underground Railroad who led slaves to freedom, and the freedom fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto, who fought to their deaths against the Nazis. The Chinese protestor, the northern conductor, and the Jewish resistance fighters were common people transformed by extraordinary times. Their moral beliefs led them into danger that was immediate, terrifying, and tangible. Some forms of moral courage are less obvious. In fact one of history's greatest examples of moral courage comes from a place no one would ever expect - the field of science. It may not seem possible to compare a man who worked in a laboratory to a man who guided slaves to freedom. After all, the Underground Railroad conductor physically risked his life day after day, but the danger that one brave chemist faced was just as real. A brilliant chemist, and a man of unshakeable moral convictions, Dr. Linus Pauling protected the human race from the unparalleled danger of nuclear war. Pauling's moral stand is a model for morality in science. During World War II the United States employed scientists on the top-secret atomic bomb program. Desperate for a weapon to use against Germany and Japan, the government recruited all the best American scientists. One of the few scientists to refuse to work on the bomb was Linus Pauling. It was a difficult decision because the Federal government was exerting a lot of pressure on him. In addition to the pressure, the project itself was hard to turn down. A scientist lives for a proj... ... will be responsible for using science morally. And that is why Linus Pauling is so important to me. In the face of great pressure and danger, he took a moral stand for his beliefs. He is my role model for his moral courage. Pauling's moral stand was not glamorous. It was not the glorious heroism of the movies. But if moral courage is supporting one's beliefs no matter what, then Pauling clearly was a hero. He was threatened by the atomic bomb no more than anyone else was but he alone decided to take responsibility for it. He knew the devastation of the bomb, and as a scientist, an American and a human, he refused to dodge his moral responsibility. Pauling is a role model and a moral hero because he bravely stood for morality on behalf of the human rare. 1 "Interview with Dr. Linus Pauling", Regents of the University of California, Berkley, 1996.