The value of using the writing process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The value of using the writing process - Essay Example The value placed on writing and reading arises out of the individual’s shared need to become literate which is an important function in the culture and the society. It is crucial for the writers to generate quality works (Kamehameha Schools, 2007). The value of the writing process is that it requires us to think critically, reflect on our experiences, and examine what is important to us as individuals. Through the natural process of examination and self-reflection, we begin to see ourselves more clearly. The writing process has proved to be valuable for both personal and professional growth. Effective writing process starts with the pre-writing process.When conducting research to form ideas, it is important for the individual to obtain credible academic sources, evaluate opinions, beliefs and biases as relevant to the sources, consider his or her audience, and brainstorm the information gathered. Capella University (2007) states that it is important for the individual to keep track of all the sources and bibliographic information that will be applied in the writing. It is important that the audience be analyzed appropriately in order to meet their expectations. The writer should think hard about the person who will read his piece and what they expect to accomplish from it (Goddard and Hatcher, 2005). To brainstorm the ideas gathered, the individuals should write those ideas in phrases and resist the desire to make any changes or corrections (Capella University, 2007; Bovee and Thill, 2007). Developing a draft is crucial for research and organizing ideas. Most people have issues with their drafts because they either overvalue it or undervalue it. After organizing the points, one can go ahead and begin the draft (Goddard and Hatcher, 2005). Paraphrase the information gathered by presenting it comprehensively, but make sure that the information is rewritten in own words. Paragraphs with similar ideas should be structured together. Each first sentence of the paragraph should be taken as the topic sentence or a mini-main idea (Capella University, 2007). It is important to share the drafts with others and to determine clarity of the points given. An important component of the writing process is revising and editing. The step entails big changes only. In the revising process, delete or move segments that are in the wrong place or unnecessary, and mark the sections where you have omitted something crucial or where you need to support or expand a point (Goddard and Hatcher, 2005). It is also crucial to consider effective synonyms and ensure that thoughts and sentences are complete. This ensures that the phrases or words flow in a logical manner. During editing, one should work on things like word choice, spelling, punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure. In this process, it is important to find someone worthy to read and comment on the piece of writing. One can create a good mutual-aid group who can assist in proofreading the work and making suggestions(Goddard and Hatcher, 2005). The writing process is applicable in all writing to grow and self-respect. Writing skills will assist individuals to succeed in any setting whether academic, professional or personal. In the professional setting, the writing process enhances basic and detailed written communication skills (Bovee and Thill, 2007). Confidence is increased by good writing pieces. Confidence leads to greater success and the pride in own writing initiates the process of self-reflection. Writing is an important learning process because writing skills involve creativity, and informed writing improves knowledge. The knowledge gained is applied to daily interactions. Fitzgerald, Graham, and MacArthur (2008) state that the writing proce

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Essay Example for Free

Mustafa Kemal Atatà ¼rk Essay The movie Midnight Express written by William Hayes, is somehow accusatory that has shown a picture of ruthless Turkish politics at an extreme. The movie has depicted the Turkish jailors and officials as inhumane and bizarre. Hayes seems to have a dynamic personality that could be seen in the climax; where his behavior changed from a calm person to a dreadful being. Although the movie justifies the brutality of the Turkish government, yet Hayes does not sound to have guilt of the crime he has made. Smuggling is a serious crime that was not supposed to be committed, and Hayes was aware of it. The tone in the movie is constantly dark and dreadful, which indicates terror and enrage. The prisoners are beaten brutally if caught escaping from the jail such as Jimmy, who loses his testicles in the end. Max is also beaten by the in charge Lutheran, due to Rifkey who blames him for bringing in drugs. There is also a sense of homosexuality in the movie, which is shown between Eric and Hayes. The point where Hayes loses his conscious and kills Rifkey has a bit of shallowness in it. Moreover, the movie describes more of a stereotypical belief about the Turkish rather than persuading the message to either discourage the legal system or abide by it. A.Flavio being a young child is very responsible and selfless regardless of being unfit. He was responsible for cooking, cleaning, and caring of his parents and siblings. Q2. Where is Parks staying in Rio de Janerio and why does he include a description of his accommodations? A.Parks has grudges for poverty and he included a description of his accommodations to compare what circumstances one has to go through in order to survive in poverty. He compared the life he was living where everything is accessible with that of Flavio who is striving hard to live another day. Q3. According to Parks, what sort of future awaits Flavio?

Client/Server Architecture and Attributes :: essays research papers

Client/Server Architecture and Attributes The client/server software architecture is a versatile, message-based and modular infrastructure that is intended to improve usability, flexibility, interoperability, and scalability as compared to centralized, mainframe, time sharing computing. A client is defined as a requester of services and a server is defined as the provider of services. A single machine can be both a client and a server depending on the software configuration. This technology description provides some common client/server architectures and attributes. The original PC networks were based on a file sharing architecture, where the server downloads files from the shared location to the desktop environment. The requested user job is then run (including logic and data) in the desktop environment. File sharing architectures work if shared usage is low, update contention is low, and the volume of data to be transferred is low. In the 1990s, PC LAN (local area network) computing changed because the capacity of the file sharing was strained as the number of online user grew (it can only satisfy about 12 users simultaneously) and graphical user interfaces (GUIs) became popular (making mainframe and terminal displays appear out of date). PCs are now being used in client/server architectures. As a result of the limitations of file sharing architectures, the client/server architecture emerged. This approach introduced a database server to replace the file server. Using a relational database management system (DBMS), user queries could be answered directly. The client/server architecture reduced network traffic by providing a query response rather than total file transfer. It improves multi-user updating through a GUI front end to a shared database. In client/server architectures, Remote Procedure Call (RPC’s) or standard query language (SQL) statements are typically used to communicate between the client and server. The following descriptions provide examples of client/server architectures. A unique structure is a two-tier architecture. With two tier client/server architectures the user system interface is usually located in the user's desktop environment and the database management services are usually in a server that is a more powerful machine that services many clients. Processing management is split between the user system interface environment and the database management server environment. The database management server provides stored procedures and triggers. There are a number of software vendors that provide tools to simplify development of applications for the two-tier client/server architecture. The two-tier client/server architecture is a good solution for distributed computing when work groups are defined as a dozen to 100 people interacting on a LAN simultaneously.

Butler Lumber Essay

After thorough review and analysis of Butler Lumber’s financial reports, I believe that it is in the best interest of Northrup National Bank to not only approve the requested $465,000 loan, but look to increase the loan amount. A review of the 5 C’s will show in more detail the decision to approve this loan: 1. Capacity/Cash Flow: Butler runs a lean operation that has allowed them to have success due to competitive pricing. They have met their financing needs by increasing their debt (notes payable) in order to keep up with the demand. However, their borrowing had led conjunctly to an increase in sales. Net sales have increased 59% over the 1988-1990 timeline and have been projected to increase by another 34% in 1991. From 1988-1990, for every $1000 borrowed, net sales increased by $4,278.96. By utilizing leverage, they have been able maintain their free cash flow and maintain their current ratio over 1.0. Although Free Cash Flow and current ratio have dropped over the past year, Butler has made large investments which have proven able to give a higher return, which will have significant payoff in the long run. By doing this, they will continue to have the ability to pay interest to debtholders, repay debtholders, and buy short-term investments. As business continues to grow, debt obligations will decrease and their current ratio will be back on the rise. (See Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2). Based on this analysis, I believe the estimate for the loans requirements is light. I believe it would be in the best interest to pursue rolling the $247,000 owed to Suburban National Bank onto this line of credit. With the increased projection in sales, you are also seeing an increase in cost of goods sold. However, that number could be dramatically reduced if Butler had the appropriate capital or credit line to take advantage of the 2% discount for payments made within 10 days of the invoice date. If total cost of goods sold will be roughly $2 million in 1991, you could reduce that by over $40,000.00 simply by taking advantage of the 2% discount. Having quick access to capital will allow Butler to run their business more efficiently. 2. Capital: Butler has a good level of net worth compared to total assets. This has been continuously increasing from 1988-1990 and will be even higher in 1991. The reason for this is going back to their use of leverage. They increased notes payable from nothing to $247,000 in the three year span. By doing this they have been able to increase total assets at a much faster pace than their borrowing. Butler will be able to continue to increase its capital ratio with their new line of credit. Even with an increase in liabilities, Butler should have no problem repaying their debts, even if there were to be an economic downturn. They hold very little long term debt, so even with a decrease in sales they should be able to meet their financial obligations. They have equity in their plants and land and could utilize that if need be. Also, they have the ability to weather a crisis because of the amount of business that they have in home improvements. If there is a housing boom, people will lo ok to build new houses, where as if there is a backup in the housing market, people will stay in their house and do improvements. 3. Collateral: With rolling the almost $250,000.00 loan into this line of credit, and pursuing the increase in the total line of credit, I believe that this loans should be secured. I would keep the loans secured by the assets of the company and do not see the need to pursue personal collateral. We know that Mr. Butler currently has objections to using collateral, but if we can show him how having a large credit limit would be able to have a substantial positive impact to his bottom line, he should be comfortable with putting up company collateral and nothing personal. I would secure this using the company’s property as well as their inventory. At the end of the first quarter of 1991, Butler’s inventory was valued at $556,000 and its property at another $162,000. Because it would be such a large line that could help Butler Lumber, it needs to be understood that when working with that level of volume, some sort of collateral needs to be put up. We will be able to show how taking advantage of the 2 net 30 option, you can decrease cost of goods sold and increase net income with no strategic changes to business. Using this collateral would be a good way to recover some of the funds to reduce the loss if the company were to go bankrupt. However, when evaluating the performance of the company, it is believed that this company should be able to continue to produce strong results regardless of the economy and that the securitizing of the loan is an added safety precaution due to the increase size of this line of credit. 4. Conditions: The first thing that needs to be determined is the limit on the credit line. It was originally requested to obtain a limit of $465,000. However, it is recommended that we, as part of the approval process, refinance the current $247,000 loan to Suburban National Bank. If there were to be an issue, we do not want there to be a conflict on who needs to be paid first. Mr. Butler has had a working relationship with Suburban National Bank, but we do not see this to be an issue due to the fact they are capping him at $250,000. It is recommended that the limit exceed $750,000.00 but be no greater than $1,000,000.00. There needs to be enough capital infusion that they can meet all needs, take advantage of supplier discounts, and take advantage of short term opportunities. However, we do not want to exceed $1,000,000.00 because we do not want the company to become overly aggressive and invest more an inventory then can be sold, leaving them overleveraged and at bigger risk of de fault due to economic downturns. Next, we need to determine an appropriate interest rate for this line of credit. Based on economic outlook, it would be in the best interest of Northrup to make this a fixed loan based on the prime rate of interest. From February of 1989 to January of 1991, the prime rate of interest has dropped almost 2% and we believe it is going to be downward trending for the next three to four years before going back up (See Exhibit 3). Therefore, we believe we should do a prime plus 1% loan, giving an interest rate of 10%. As rates continue to drop, the value of this loan will continue to increase. If at any point we fear that this loan maybe paid off through an outside bank refinance, we can look to restructure this line of credit to a lower rate. Because this is a lower rate, we can pursue adding the balance of the loan to payoff the obligation of buying out Henry Stark. This is at roughly a $70,000 balance, which is secured by land and buildings with an 11% interest rate. This will lower Butler’s current debt obligations and will result in an increase in profit. Because this business appears to be in a growth phase, controls operations costs effectively, and has the ability to weather economic crisis better than others, this would be a good company to invest in. Next, we need to determine the duration of this line of credit. We need to clearly state that this will be reviewed every two to three years to revisit creditworthiness as well as ability to repay. If need be, the limit could be lowered. However, if the company continues to grow we can also evaluate the possibility of a credit limit increase. When determining fees, we need to realize that this is a competitive situation and they should be somewhat minimal. The commitment fee should be .50% per year. This falls right in line with the average. We will keep the closing fees at .25% in order to ensure they are on the low end and we can keep his business. We want to establish a working relationship with Mr. Butler so that we will be his only source of borrowing. We will not put a prepayment fee on this line of credit, but should continue to keep his business with reviews and potential changes and increases every two to three years. We also need to negotiate in appropriate covenants into this loan agreement. This will carry forward the reps and warrants that we have Mr. Butler sign. By adding the following covenants, we will be able mitigate risk for the bank and allow us to detect any signs for potential default early, allowing us time to evaluate our next steps before it is too late. The following covenants should be documented: * Notification of borrowing outside of our bank * Detailed description of usage of loan proceeds * Quarterly Financial Reporting sent to Northrup * Maintain ethical and legal responsibilities * Notification of any major business impacts such as mergers, acquisitions, and business model changes. By installing these conditions, it will allow us to properly forecast and negative business impacts and allow us to make appropriate modifications. We believe that because over 55% of Butler’s business is in home improvement, economic downturns should not impact them as much as other businesses. Also, by now being able to take advantage of the 2 net 30 discount, the company will be able to instantly lower expenses and increase net income. 5. Character: The character of Mark Butler is strong and it is believed that he would be a conscientious borrower. He is an extremely hard worker and takes a lot of pride in his business. He knows the business inside and out and possesses sound judgment. He is well respected by his peers. All of this things make him a strong candidate for lending, because it appears that he will do everything in his power in order to pay this loan back and on time. This includes tapping into personal equity form his home, his life insurance policy, or the interest that his wife has in a separate property.

Argumentative Essay on Tattoos

Many students especially college students do have a tendency of tattooing their bodies as they believe that tattoos are beautiful and acts as an identification mark or it may have a great meaning in their lives. Many youths especially the black American teenage boys and superstars have many tattoos all over their bodies. Some tattoo themselves just because their friends in the neighborhood or at school have tattoos thus I can argue that tattooing is an act of peer pressure.There are so many question asked on the importance of tattoos that’s why scholars have researched and wrote argumentative essay on tattoos that try to answer the many questions. There are variety of argumentative essay on tattoos that show the best methods that tattoos are drawn on peoples bodies outlining the methods which are less painful that the others and those whose tattoos are more visible and attractive than the others. Other argumentative essay on tattoos shows the pricing of various types of tattoo s and the people who are professionals in tattooing and why people should hire there services than others.This argumentative essay on tattoos are even published and sold in bookshops and social places that the youth frequently visit. Advertisements are everywhere in billboards to show the most well drawn tattoos the place where the tattooing is done and who does the tattooing as well as the pricing. This has become a booming business in some parts especially the urban centers were the tattooing services are easily accessible and were the influence is rampart. Some teenagers buy the argumentative essay on tattoos to show their friend and convince them how tattooing is fashionable.

Introduction to the Dirac Delta Function

Introduction to the Dirac Delta Function The Dirac delta function is the name given to a mathematical structure that is intended to represent an idealized point object, such as a point mass or point charge. It has broad applications within quantum mechanics and the rest of quantum physics, as it is usually used within the quantum wavefunction. The delta function is represented with the Greek lowercase symbol delta, written as a function: ÃŽ ´(x). How the Delta Function Works This representation is achieved by defining the Dirac delta function so that it has a value of 0 everywhere except at the input value of 0. At that point, it represents a spike that is infinitely high.  The integral taken over the entire line is equal to 1. If youve studied calculus, youve likely run into this phenomenon before. Keep in mind that this is a concept that is normally introduced to students after years of college-level study in theoretical physics. In other words, the results are the following for the most basic delta function ÃŽ ´(x), with a one-dimensional variable x, for some random input values: ÃŽ ´(5) 0ÃŽ ´(-20) 0ÃŽ ´(38.4) 0ÃŽ ´(-12.2) 0ÃŽ ´(0.11) 0ÃŽ ´(0) ∞ You can scale the function up by multiplying it by a constant. Under the rules of calculus, multiplying by a constant value will also increase the value of the integral by that constant factor. Since the integral of ÃŽ ´(x) across all real numbers is 1, then multiplying it by a constant of would have a new integral equal to that constant. So, for example, 27ÃŽ ´(x) has an integral across all real numbers of 27. Another useful thing to consider is that since the function has a non-zero value only for an input of 0, then if youre looking at a coordinate grid where your point isnt lined up right at 0, this can be represented with an expression inside the function input. So if you want to represent the idea that the particle is at a position x 5, then you would write the Dirac delta function as ÃŽ ´(x - 5) ∞ [since ÃŽ ´(5 - 5) ∞].   If you then want to use this function to represent a series of point particles within a quantum system, you can do it by adding together various dirac delta functions. For a concrete example, a function with points at x 5 and x 8 could be represented as ÃŽ ´(x - 5) ÃŽ ´(x - 8). If you then took an integral of this function over all numbers, you would get an integral that represents real numbers, even though the functions are 0 at all locations other than the two where there are points. This concept can then be expanded to represent a space with two or three dimensions (instead of the one-dimensional case I used in my examples). This is an admittedly-brief introduction to a very complex topic. The key thing to realize about it is that the Dirac delta function basically exists for the sole purpose of making the integration of the function make sense. When there is no integral taking place, the presence of the Dirac delta function isnt particularly helpful. But in physics, when you are dealing with going from a region with no particles that suddenly exist at only one point, its quite helpful. Source of the Delta Function In his 1930 book, Principles of Quantum Mechanics, English theoretical physicist Paul Dirac laid out the key elements of quantum mechanics, including the bra-ket notation and also his Dirac delta function. These became standard concepts in the field of quantum mechanics within the Schrodinger equation.

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buy custom Knowledge Measurement essay Knowledge measurement refers to the activity undertaken by an organization in order to assess the rating of its staff, technology, processes and content against the expected or peak performance. Mainly, knowledge measurement revolves around staff and is applied during hiring, training, and assessment of performance of staff members. Knowledge maturity refers to the production level of an organization, that is, how effective an organization is at achieving a task and how much risk one would be taking in investing with them. Determination of the knowledge maturity of an organization is done by carrying out knowledge measurement using criteria known as knowledge maturity models. These models describe the basic factors to consider in determining the knowledge maturity of an organization. Knowledge Management Maturity Models have been a topic of discussion for a long time. This is because although they provide a means of determining the dependability of an organization or individual, it is not agreed upon what factors should be considered and to what degree. KM spans across a wide range of different activities and at different stages. Furthermore, due to the varying nature of situations facing different organizations, finding an average of what factors should be considered will possibly end up leaving other important factors that may be very important to a particular organization or a particular situation. Another problem with KM maturity models is that it is hard to determine the average value even for compatible situations. This is because questions that may arise do not have definite answers. Rather, they bring up many other factors that have to be considered in order to determine the maturity level of the entity at hand. Different people have different perceptions about important elements to be considered. For Example, people will have different ratings on an issue such as a showering activity in determining how clean the subject is. In conclusion, it is hence derived that it is not practical to have maturity models in knowledge management. Buy custom Knowledge Measurement essay

Financial Rewards Are the Only Way to Gain Employee Loyalty

Financial Rewards Are the Only Way to Gain Employee Loyalty Financial rewards and incentives are the only way to gain employee loyalty because actions speak louder than words. People Like to See and Have Cash Money Let’s face this very important fact: Most people work for someone else – the owner of a business, and that business owner wants to make as much money as they possibly can off the work of their employees. This means paying them as little as humanly – not humanely – possible to make a profit. This is wrong, of course, but until we figure out, and pursue our dream, we’re pretty much going to work to fulfill someone else’s dream. And that means we have to work for what they will pay us, what the business itself is willing to pinch out of their fat wallets. Naturally, this terrible system is one-sided, a bit unfair, and employees begin to resent their employees for their greediness and lack of compensation. So people move on to other companies that will pay them more for their work and time. People need, want, like to see and have  cash money. So, therefore, financial rewards are the only way to gain employee loyalty. People are Apprehensive about Running out of Money For one, financial rewards and incentives keep employees loyal to a company because people are traditionally apprehensive about money – well, about running out of it. This goes back to the 1920s when it felt like, for some folks, money just poured in like champagne. Then the stock market crash of 1929 changed all that, the Great Depression set in – and money was never the same again. Even today in 2016, a few years after the Great Recession of 2008, people are worried about running out of money, so they work hard to find work at companies that will pay them well. Financial rewards, therefore, assure a person that the company they’re working for understands this apprehension and wants to keep the employee happy and paid well. Financial rewards – such as quarterly performance bonuses, yearly salary promotions and general monetary gifts and gift cards – are the key to keeping an employee’s loyalty, because more money is what people need and want . They’re afraid of not having enough of it, which is understandable. Actions Speak Louder than Words Secondly, financial rewards and incentives are the only way to gain employee loyalty, because actions speak louder than words. Any supervisor or boss can promise a promotion, a raise or a much-needed bonus. That may be enough to temporarily quell an employee’s apprehension at not getting paid what they want – but that certainly wears off. But until that check is given or that direct deposit made, when the employer actively demonstrates they want to keep an employee’s loyalty, the employee remains skeptical and increasingly disloyal. Actions speak louder than words. They begin to look for other jobs, better-paying jobs, at companies that do provide sufficient financial rewards and incentives. Companies have the revenue to pay their employees more money, but so many businesses fail to retain their employee’s long-time loyalty because these businesses are cheap and greedy. Employees don’t Need Emotional Support    They Need Money Lastly, a company that gives its hard-working employees well-earned financial rewards and incentives is one that will flourish and retain employees for life. Business owners know this – but they often take the path of the cheap, and exhibit extreme short-sidedness: they would rather hire younger employees who can do the same work for cheaper than pay their existing employees more for doing the work. This is how it is, unfortunately. What an employee needs, in order to retain employees long term and keep their loyalty, is to show an investment in the employee. Employees don’t need emotional support, a nicer office, better working conditions. What they need is money, cold, hard cash. People need cash in this economy. This world is getting more expensive by the second, so people want more money to add financial cushion to their lives, which is more than understandable, and companies must make this effort to retain their best employees. MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO AROUND In conclusion, we have here, in this argumentative essay, acknowledged the greedy, exploitative nature of capitalism in America. The corporate culture is going in the wrong direction; maybe it’s always been this way. Perhaps that’s why the one-percent keep their fortunes growing. Perhaps greediness and exploitation keep the capitalistic society going – or else we’d all be the same: and that’s Socialism, Communism. That’s not American. What is American, evidently, is not paying employees what they are worth, which results in unhappy people – those who flee to other companies because these other companies pay better and offer enticing financial rewards and incentives.

Antony And Cleopatra Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Antony And Cleopatra - Essay Example However, I take strength to write this letter before my suicide (if you call it so) in order to reveal some of the most fundamental facts in the life of this obedient servant of Antony as well as my master. As you know, I have been highly acclaimed for my judgments about the people and events of our lives, which were normally detached and objective. Therefore, this letter of mine, which is the last one in my life, will also make judgments that are detached and objective and I do not have any tainted intentions or strategies to write this truthful letter. The Roman triumvirate, formed by Octavius Caesar (or Augustus Caesar), Antony, and Lepidus, ruled the Western world and, when Lepidus decided to leave the triumvirate, Caesar and Antony shared the power over the world. I, Domitius Enobarbus, was known as Antony's faithful right-hand man and I have been honest, down-to-earth and full of common sense all through my tenure as a high-ranking soldier in Antony's army. Most often, Antony f ailed to pay attention to my sensible advices which caused several mishaps in his life. To tell about Antony, he lived in Alexandria, Egypt with his mistress Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, although he was married to Fluvia. Octavius Caesar (and even me for that matter) was disgusted at the lifestyle of Antony in Egypt. After the death of Fluvia of an illness, Antony left for home in Rome, at the request of Caesar who was annoyed by the wars caused by Antony's relatives. As a measure to amend the various types of tensions between the two, Caesar and Antony agreed upon the marriage of the latter to Caesar's sister Octavia. As I was greatly aware of the great obsession of Antony for the love of Cleopatra, I believed that this alliance would only cause disaster to Antony and his relation with Caesar. My thinking was proved right when Antony deserted Octavia rapidly after their marriage and returned to live with Cleopatra. As I understand now, this was the beginning of several tragic eve nts in the life of Antony and people close to him. Following Antony's abandonment of Octavia, Caesar was furious with the behavior of his partner and he decided to attack and regain control of Egypt from Antony and Cleopatra. This was a fatal decision as far as Antony was concerned, because Caesar's army was much more powerful and skillful compared to the army of Antony. I was sure that defeat of Antony was very close to him and I wished if Antony tried to make agreements with Caesar to stop the inevitable war. As I was sure that it was not possible, given the fact that Antony was very much passionate to Cleopatra, I decided to desert Antony, my best friend, and to join Caesar's army. However, I am now overcome with regret and remorse for leaving Antony, and I cannot bear the pain that I suffer now. Now, as I am near Caesar's headquarters, deserting my best friend in his tragic situation, I can do nothing else, but to end this pain. Death is the least penalty that I can make to the great mistake of my life and I should do at least this to make my mind happy.  

Design of a Production System Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Design of a Production System - Case Study Example Mexico has become the most favorable relocation site as it not only offers incentives of cheap labor but the low import duties to materials shipped into Mexico would help the firm to gain cost leverage in the manufacturing and production of subpacks. The proximity to US considerably reduces the transportation cost and time, while at the same time, the fluctuating rate of currency has also less impact on the production process as against Taiwan sourcing site In the rapidly changing environment of globalization, change is essential for development and organizations tend to adapt to the constantly evolving business environment. To exploit the emerging business opportunities, the organization needs to look forward to improve it performance outcome through diversification of its products and services using optimization of operational functions and effective supply chain management. Since supply chain helps coordinate the organization’s various linkages with the external agencies and promotes efficient receipt and delivery of goods and services, it has great potential to give Emerson Electric a competitive edge in the global and domestic arena. Indeed, the evaluation of operational logistics of relocation of company’s subpack production facility from China would greatly facilitate competitive advantage. The business relationship thrives on the modules of exploitation of knowledge gained through the strategic alliances. Hence, it is extremely important that the partners identify their core competencies and forge alliances on areas that either complements or supplements their competencies and market efficiency. Elements of product differentiation become the vital aspects for exploiting business relationships. In the tough economic scenario, the management would like to relocate the sourcing so as to cut cost and increase profit. ACP product line comprises of ceiling fans that are marketed under Northwind and 1895 brand names. Many components of the fans are

The Effect of Marital Interactions on Martial Satisfaction Research Proposal

The Effect of Marital Interactions on Martial Satisfaction - Research Proposal Example Researchers have classified different types of marital relationships based on a wide number of relationship variables. For example Miller and Olsen (1990) classified various couples according to their conflict and task leadership, while Gottman (1979 classified them according to ther communicative skills and interactions in problem – solving. In yet another study Shostrum and Kavanaugh (1971) categorized couples based on their anger – love and strength and weakness dimensions. Though Leo Tolstoy in his classic novel ‘Anna Karennia’ has stated that â€Å"All happy families resemble one another, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way†, yet research studies have proved that both happy and unhappy marriages are not alike. Marital satisfaction depends very much on the individuals involved and is of utmost importance for a steady marital relationship. Such a relationship builds strong bonds between couples and families leading to a good sense of well being and happiness. Marital satisfaction is measured as the degree to which spouses perceive that their partners meet their needs and desires (Bahr, Chappell, & Leigh, 1983; Bohlander, 1999; Fields, 1983) We will review the current state of research on marriage, marital satisfaction and interaction patterns exhibited by martially satisfied spouses as compared to martially distressed partners. We will take into account both the positive and negative interactions between couples which reflect the level of marital satisfaction they experience in their relationships Olson and De Frain (2003) contend that communication is the core centre of all intimate human relationships – and is the foundation on which all else is built and in marriage, which can be described as a linking or joining of two independent people in order to create something of value to both. Good communication skills hold the

Business policy-strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Business policy-strategic management - Essay Example The revenue of the airline has been falling. James Parker, CEO, faces the challenge to contain operation costs since the expenses almost outpace the earnings. The long-term objectives of Southwest Airlines, therefore, are significant in solving the relevant problems and issues effectively and efficiently. Southwest Airline has initiated distinct objectives to enhance its sustainability and future productivity in terms of good customer relation and proficient services. The objectives include, first, it aims to deliver superior service. The management aims at providing quality services to its customers in the right time. The issue of late flights is a concern to end. Secondly, Southwest aims to build employees’ commitment and connection. Morale of employees is considered a priority to enhance proficient delivery of products and services. Therefore, they are motivated and united. Third, it aims to develop new sources of revenue and to control costs. The capital base of Southwest airline has fallen due to several expenses. The management, therefore, aims to boost its finance by controlling irregular expenses and increasing the capacity base to raise more revenue. Southwest’s new push is to draw in new passengers beyond its faithful flyers with the message that it cares unli ke most airlines (Adaje 1). Besides, Southwest Airlines aims to expand its networks so that they can efficiently operate on a combined basis to enhance profitability (Velotta 1). Finally, the management aims to bring up international capability within Southwest. Karp, Gregory. Southwest Airlines has an unusual problem: delays. Seattle Times. December 27, 2013. Web. Accessed May 29, 2015 Velotta, Richard N. Southwest Airlines CEO talks about fares, fees, and new routes. Vegas Inc. 2013, Feb 18. Web. Accessed May 29, 2015

Social Worker Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Social Worker Skills - Essay Example As the report declares self-awareness is major requisite for every individual. People who are successful in their occupations know themselves. Successful people recognize their own abilities and their areas of weakness. Successful people are also self-confident. Because they see themselves as capable people, able to do a number of things well, employers and co-workers also tend to see them in this way. This paper stresses that social work is emotionally and intellectually demanding and being comfortable with oneself is vital in order to deal with clients. In this field, they will encounter more individuals who are stressed and often act as sounding boards and shock absorbers. It is imperative that the social worker is able to understand what creates stress for them and develop means of reducing stress where they can. This involves self- assessments of their own physical and mental health, and establishing a lifestyle that promotes their personal well-being. Part of this process is to understand one's own personality characteristics. This would enable the workers to conduct a personal self-assessment and determine how their own identities, beliefs and prejudices may affect their social work practice. The social worker must know how his/her values, attitudes, beliefs, emotions and experiences and how they cloud her judgement of his/her thinking, behaviour and relationships. The worker must be retrospectively be willing to examine and amend her attitude if it will be an impediment to effectively getting the job done.

Newspaper article evaluation and Gun control news Essay

Newspaper article evaluation and Gun control news - Essay Example CNN’s Smith-Park (2013) wrote an article entitled â€Å"Pope Benedict makes first appearance since resignation news† (Smith-Park, 2013); while authors Donadio and Povoledo (2012) of The New York Times: Europe entitled their article â€Å"Successor to Benedict Will Lead a Church at a Crossroads† (Donadio & Povoledo, 2013). Different reactions and responses were noted to have been elicited from the news since it was apparently reported that the pope’s resignation came at such as surprise due to the unexpected decision and that this particular course of action has not happened since centuries ago. As such, there were arguments that stemmed from the news determining the possibility of the resignation and verifying the validity of the reported decision. Both reports apparently used an interplay of rhetorical elements to entice readers’ appeal. Initially, logos was used through presenting logical arguments that established the rationale for the resignatio n and justifying the reasons as valid. As emphasized, â€Å"citing advanced years and infirmity, Benedict became the first pope in six centuries to resign† (Donadio & Povoledo, 2013, par. 2). There were evidences of using emotional appeal (pathos) through a remarked cited to have been communicated by â€Å"Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone (who) on Wednesday thanked Pope Benedict for his service. "All of us have understood that it is precisely the deep love that your holiness has for God and the church which pushed you to this act," he said† (Smith-Park, 2013, pars. 14 & 15).... 14 & 15). The statement is aimed at eliciting empathy and confirmation to accept the Pope’s decision and acknowledging his immense contribution to the advancement of the Catholic faith. Finally, the rhetoric appeal of ethos (credibility) were evident from the nature and popularity of the sources alone: CNN and The New York Times. Their credibility and reliability in providing unbiased and objective information has effectively been established and readers have acknowledged that information coming from these sources are worthy of respect. Gun Control News Two different news items on gun control were evaluated: one coming from the Myrtle Beach Sun News and the other from The New York Times. The article written by Wren (2013) was entitled â€Å"Statistics sometimes lost in emotional debate over gun control† published online in McClatchy for Myrtle Beach Sun News (Wren, 2013). Concurrently, the article published in The New York Times was a Times Topic news entitled â€Å"Gu ns and Gun Control† (Guns and Gun Control, 2013). Wren’s (2013) article aimed to take out emotional hype on apparently evaluating the need for more stringest policies and laws on gun control through the provision of statistics (logos). Accordingly, â€Å"despite the rhetoric from both sides over the need for stricter gun control regulations – and the fear instilled by a rash of random shootings in public places nationwide – statistics show relatively few people will fall victim to violent, firearm-related crimes committed by strangers, according to a new study by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics† (Smith-Park, 2013, par. 1). Through the use of statistical information, the author aimed to present a more logical argument that

Social Worker Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Social Worker Skills - Essay Example As the report declares self-awareness is major requisite for every individual. People who are successful in their occupations know themselves. Successful people recognize their own abilities and their areas of weakness. Successful people are also self-confident. Because they see themselves as capable people, able to do a number of things well, employers and co-workers also tend to see them in this way. This paper stresses that social work is emotionally and intellectually demanding and being comfortable with oneself is vital in order to deal with clients. In this field, they will encounter more individuals who are stressed and often act as sounding boards and shock absorbers. It is imperative that the social worker is able to understand what creates stress for them and develop means of reducing stress where they can. This involves self- assessments of their own physical and mental health, and establishing a lifestyle that promotes their personal well-being. Part of this process is to understand one's own personality characteristics. This would enable the workers to conduct a personal self-assessment and determine how their own identities, beliefs and prejudices may affect their social work practice. The social worker must know how his/her values, attitudes, beliefs, emotions and experiences and how they cloud her judgement of his/her thinking, behaviour and relationships. The worker must be retrospectively be willing to examine and amend her attitude if it will be an impediment to effectively getting the job done.

Project Planning Flow Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Project Planning Flow - Assignment Example The primary key to the success of a project lies in the thorough technical understanding of its main characteristics and goals as this will eventually facilitate the production of the project report and the meeting of the schedule(Lewis 45). The most important key to successful and effective project management is through planning. A logically constructed and orderly plan is essential to direct any type of project and to help in preparing a report from conception through completion. The key to good planning is in its turn founded on clearly defined project objectives. Project planning can begin with the identification of the client's needs, the development of a budget and work schedule that fit these needs, and the planning for resources, including staff and materials. Project Planning Flow A project manager's planning process begins with the full comprehension of the assumptions. The understanding of the assumptions is important given how the expectations for the final results of the project are based on the initial suppositions made. Furthermore, changing assumptions throughout the project can bring about lack of satisfaction about the final results among the senior management; a scenario that is rather frequent in the project management field. Therefore, and despite the fact that project length remains a critical factor in the eventual extent of satisfaction exhibited with regard to the final results, assumptions should be documented at project initiation and throughout using the project charter as a possible means. The project manager should from then on continue to challenge and revalidate the assumptions to ensure that the project is either redirected towards a different set of objectives or simply terminated fully in the event of changing assumptions. Among the assumptions that need to be considered are related to both enterprise environmental factors as well as organizational process assets. Assumptions related to the external environment, and which can affect any given project and should be therefore taken well into account, include for instance interest rates, changing customer demands and requirements, technology changes, market conditions, and even government policies. The assumptions about present or future company aspects which can impact the progress of a project include on the other hand the capability of a company's enterprise project management methodology, checklists, guidelines, forms, templates, and the project management information system. Other keys to effective project planning include the right sampling of the most effective people for the job. In fact, this is in many ways one of the most important first steps in building a human resource plan for one's organization or project. As a project manager you need therefore to determine the desired background of your team by setting up certain standards and requirements. This can include for example a specific amount of experience, knowledge and skills, the availability of the team and the ability of the assembled members to work well within a team environment. These set of standards will generally help in minimizing the number of possible candidates and the selection of the appropriate ones. Additionally, among the important considerations in building a project team is to establish the

Categories of drivers Essay Example for Free

Categories of drivers Essay Since the start of road transportation, there have been drivers of the varied kind. The modes of transportation changed from horses or horse driven carts to cars but these set of drivers have always remained since then. Drivers of automobiles can be categorized into three categories teenage drivers, old drivers which mainly comprises of senior citizens and drunk or substance abusive drivers. The safety on the road of a person is basically depended on the kind of driving one does. A person’s skill to drive depends upon a certain set of factors due which he gets categorized. Teenage drivers who use automobiles are mostly adrenalin driven and have a habit of being impatient on roads. Teenagers with attitude problems can indulge in major road mishaps and can cause severe damage to themselves along with the innocent car drivers on the road. A teenager cultivates his driving skills by looking at his parents or guardians and later on the pressure of his per group plays a massive factor in driving. It has been estimated about sixty five percent of passengers have had fatal injuries due to the reckless driving of an immature teenager. The habit of risk taking or trying to create impressions on their peer groups more often than not result in deadly crashes. If apart from impulsive behavior, a teenager also does any kind of alcoholic or drug abuse, then the combination of impulsive behavior with substance abuse not only makes them dangerous on the road, but also they risk of having the worst kind of crashes possible on road. As we age our reflexes and our ability to make life saving maneuvers also go down. This is a problem with all the old aged drivers in the world. These old drivers in their experience have a perfect mentality to drive safe, but because of ageing lots of occurrences physically take place like loss of good vision, or their loss of their ability for quick response time. These drivers won’t commit mistakes on purpose and would have a thinking of driving at lower speeds with an intention of attaining maximum safety. How much ever these drivers have good intentions, any physical bustle can cause them to crash anytime which sometimes makes a risky commodity on the road. The worst kind of a driver however is a driver who abuses alcohol or any substance and then drives a set of wheels. These are the kind of drivers who irrespective of their age which can comprise from being a teenager to being a senior citizen have the ability to kill and get killed depending on the amount of alcohol or drug they have consumed. These drivers knowing that they are not in right condition risk everyone’s life around and are equivalent of a deadly weapon on the road, as it become highly unpredictable about when they would crash and cost someone their lives. The following evidence will show the risk taken by these drivers and the amount of crashes that can take place because of their carelessness: ‘Nearly half a million people are injured in alcohol-related crashes each year. More than 15,786 of them die. Thats one death every 33 minutes. In 2000 in Kansas, 2,469 people were injured in alcohol-related crashes. Thats more than six persons injured each day’ (Courtesy: Kansas Department of Transportation, â€Å"Types of drivers†. Retrieved on November 24, 2008 from http://www. ksdot. org/burTrafficSaf/sns/Presentation/types. asp) It can only be understood that a safe and a good driver should always maintain patience while driving, as a small move from any of the three categories discussed above can cause them their lives for no fault of their own. Reference: 1) Kansas Department of Transportation, â€Å"Types of drivers†. http://www. ksdot. org/burTrafficSaf/sns/Presentation/types. asp

The Importance Of Research And Development

The Importance Of Research And Development New product design and development is more often than not a crucial factor in the survival of a company. In an competitive environment that is fast changing, firms must continually revise their design and range of products. This is necessary due to continuous technology change and development as well as other competitors and the changing preference of customers. A system driven by marketing is one that puts the customer needs first, and only produces goods that are known to sell. Market research is carried out, which establishes what is needed. If the development is technology driven then it is a matter of selling what it is possible to make. The product range is developed so that production processes are as efficient as possible and the products are technically superior, hence possessing a natural advantage in the market place. RD has a special economic significance apart from its conventional association with scientific and technological development. RD investment generally reflects a governments or organizations willingness to forgo current operations or profit to improve future performance or returns, and its abilities to conduct research and development. In 2006, the worlds four largest spenders of RD were the United States (US$343 billion), the EU (US$231 billion), China (US$136 billion), and Japan (US$130 billion). In terms of percentage of GDP, the order of these spenders for 2006 was China (US$115 billion of US$2,668 billion GDP), Japan, United States, EU with approximate percentages of 4.3, 3.2, 2.6, and 1.8 respectively. The top 10 spenders in terms of percentage of GDP were Israel (4.53%), China (4.3%), Sweden (3.73%), Finland (3.45%), Japan (3.39%), South Korea (3.23%), Switzerland (2.9%), Iceland (2.78%), United States (2.62%), and Germany (2.53%). In general, RD activities are conducted by specialized units or centers belonging to companies, universities and state agencies. In the context of commerce, research and development normally refers to future-oriented, longer-term activities in science or technology, using similar techniques to scientific research without predetermined outcomes and with broad forecasts of commercial yield. Statistics on organizations devoted to RD may express the state of an industry, the degree of competition or the lure of progress. Some common measures include: budgets, numbers of patents or on rates of peer-reviewed publications. Bank ratios are one of the best measures, because they are continuously maintained, public and reflect risk. In the U.S., a typical ratio of research and development for an industrial company is about 3.5% of revenues. A high technology company such as a computer manufacturer might spend 7%. Although Allergan (a biotech company) tops the spending table 43.4% investment, anything over 15% is remarkable and usually gains a reputation for being a high technology company. Companies in this category include pharmaceutical companies such as Merck HYPERLINK file:///wiki/Merck__Co.HYPERLINK file:///wiki/Merck__Co. Co. (14.1%) or Novartis (15.1%), and engineering companies like Ericsson (24.9%). Such companies are often seen as poor credit risks because their spending ratios are so unusual. Generally such firms prosper only in markets whose customers have extreme needs, such as medicine, scientific instruments, safety-critical mechanisms (aircraft) or high technology military armaments. The extreme needs justify the high risk of failure and consequently high gross margins from 60% to 90% of revenues. That is, gross profits will be as much as 90% of the sales cost, with manufacturing costing only 10% of the product price, because so many individual projects yield no exploitable product. Most industrial companies get only 40% revenues. On a technical level, high tech organizations explore ways to re-purpose and repackage advanced technologies as a way of amortizing the high overhead. They often reuse advanced manufacturing processes, expensive safety certifications, specialized embedded software, computer-aided design software, electronic designs and mechanical subsystems. Research has shown that firms with a persistent RD strategy outperform those with an irregular or no RD investment programme HenceI have chosen to analyze GSKs RD and focus how it achieved growth. Brief Company Background: Head quartered in the UK, GlaxoSmithKline was formed in 2000 as a result of the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. It employs over 100,000 people in 116 countries with over 15,000 involved in research. GSK has a broad portfolio, with projects in the fields of respiratory, central nervous system, and anti-infectives to name a few. In addition, GSK has an extensive vaccines portfolio. According to GSK, it supplied one quarter of the worlds vaccines by the end of 2006 and had a further 20 in clinical development With nearly 210 pharmaceuticals and vaccine, GSK has one of the most promising pipelines in the pharmaceutical arena. However, its current success appears to be not only due to the blockbuster merger, but also to the leadership and business acumen of its CEO, Dr Jean-Pierre Garnier (formerly CEO of SmithKline Beecham), and his strategy to prioritise RD activities. Additionally, the strategic bolt-on acquisitions, such as those of Corixa and Domantis, have further strengthened the business, adding specialist expertise to maximise future potential revenue. It is important to note that GSK is not only a world leader in pharmaceuticals, but generates significant revenue from its Consumer Healthcare division Lucozade and Nicorette, for example, are globally recognised brand. In all core areas of GSK research and development plays a very important role in the product pipeline, new product development, launch and timing of the product and the final release of the product. In all these stages other department coordinate with the research and development department to ensure that the product helps GSK maintain a strong market share. Interview: GSKs Research and Development and its strategic priorities While writing this report I conducted a brief interview with Faisal Mehmud , Director GSK , Global Research and Development , who has said that GSKS merger was a complete success and that the RD department of GSK is one of the best in the world and has been instrumental in making GSK a market leader. Why do you think RD department in GSK is important? Faisal: Research and development is nowadays of great importance in business as the level of competition, production processes and methods are rapidly increasing. It is of special importance in the field of marketing where companies keep an eagle eye on competitors and customers in order to keep pace with modern trends and analyze the needs, demands and desires of their customers How do you manage GSKs RD capabilities? Faisal: Research often refers to basic experimental research; development refers to the exploitation of discoveries. Research involves the identification of possible chemical compounds or theoretical mechanisms. GSK normally buys licenses from universities or hires scientists directly when economically solid research level products emerge and the development phase of drug delivery is almost entirely managed by GSK. Development is concerned with proof of concept, safety testing, and determining ideal levels and delivery mechanisms. Development often occurs in phases that are defined by drug safety regulators in the country of interest. In the United States, the development phase can cost between $10 to $200 million and approximately one in ten compounds identified by basic research pass all development phases and reach market What does the term RD alliance means? And who are GSKs partners in RD alliance? An RD alliance is a mutually beneficial formal relationship formed between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon goals while remaining independent organisations, where acquiring new knowledge is a goal by itself. The different parties agree to combine their knowledge to create new innovative products. Thanks to funding from government organizations, like the European Unions Seventh Framework Programme and modern advances in technology. GSK has many partners in research and development including the world health organization (WHO) and the Japanese government to name a few. Research and Development in GSK: A brief Literature Review. With the general growth of RD in many academic and business fields, it is hardly surprising that the relationship between research and development and growth has attracted considerable attention in recent years. In an attempt to go beyond traditional assumptions about how research and development helps achieve competitive advantage and market growth, studies have focused on anything from different traditional, analytical or structural uses of research and development to aspects of marketing, such as product launch and timing, and other interactions in the product life cycle. While some research has focused only on the description and functions of research and development, other work has sought to show how research and development helps a company grow in terms of gaining and then maintain a competitive advantage not shared by its rivals. Accordingly, Kuemmerle (1999) suggests that research and development can be divided into studies that focus on product development and those that foc us on innovation. Much of the earlier work emphasized product development. SL Brown (1995) pioneering work suggested that product development can be divided into three streams of research and development: product development as a rational plan, communication web and disciplined problem solving . Thus, he argued that the type of RD capabilities will later shape the structure of the organization since research and development is a key component of product development and new products are becoming the nexus of competition amongst firms striving to achieve a larger market share(1995, p.5). While there are clearly some problems with SL Brownss work his analysis was not based on empirical research, for example the automatic equation of product development with `three streams is problematic the emphasis on research and development has understandably remained at the Centre of much of this work. Research has shown how companies invested in RD dominated more, interrupted less often, held the market share for longer, and so on (see, for example, J Griffin , Journal of product innovation 1995). The chief focus of this approach, then, has been to show how research and development interacts between new product development and dominant market share Some studies, however, have taken a different approach by looking not so much at RD in product development but have focused how research and development helps innovation. In a typical study of this type, JF Reinganum (1989) developed lists of what he described as research and development features of innovation. He argued that For research and development to yield up new approaches, they must also be closely coupled to the problems and challenges where innovation is needed. Much of this research has focused on comparisons between, for example the competitive nature of businesses and the ways to acquire larger market share through innovation. While some of the more popular work of this type, such as GC Moore (1991), lacks a critical dimension, the emphasis on innovation has nevertheless been valuable in interaction between research and development and company growth Although Kuemmerle (1999) distinction is clearly a useful one, it also seems evident that these two approaches are by no means mutually exclusive. While it is important on the one hand, therefore, not to operate with a simplistic version of product development and to consider research and development only in product development and innovation, it is also important not to treat research and development as if it existed outside sphere of business studies. As AH Van de Ven, HL Angle, MS Poole (2000) ask, Can it be coincidence that only firms with a persistent RD strategy outperform those with an irregular or no RD investment pr (p.80). Clearly, there is scope here for a great deal more research that is based on empirical data of research and development; operates with a complex understanding of research and development and its relationship with other core functions of business management looks specifically at the contexts of RD use, rather than assuming broad categories; aims not only to describe and explain research and development but also to change the overall understanding of RD and its importance in growth and development of a company. How research and development helped GSK GSK adopted a resource strategy to grow a well diversified global business.GSK invested heavily in its research and development (Â £3.2 billion in 2007 alone) and linked IT with biology to retrieve, process, analyse and model the vast amount of information for optimum results. GSK also realised the growth potential of emerging markets and drove expansion in Japan. The merger of Glaxo and SmithKline Beeckham created a diverse range of product portfolio for GSK and allowed geographical expansion GSK also grew its consumer healthcare business; this was done by focusing more on innovations and scare resources where they could make the biggest difference. Patent protection ensures competitive advantage, however once patent protection is lost a company has trouble maintaining a products position in the market, for this reason GSK maintains one of the best research and development facilities in the world and has some 160,000 RD staff worldwide At any time GSK has some 150 projects in clinical development comprising new drugs, product line extensions and vaccines to ensure their comparative advantage and their position as a market leader. GSK stuck with its past product success. These products were targeted at its current customers in their current markets. GSK implemented a conservative new product strategy by making minor modifications and incremental improvements in the packaging of their current products. At the same time they adopted a strategy of exploring market potential of their established existing markets by targeting them with extended new products. These new products were commercialized to replace old products that were running out of patent protection or substituted by superior rival products from competitors. GSK also identified new markets for its products. GSK adopted all these strategies simultaneously to grow a well-diversified business. GSKs main competitors such as Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis also have a strategy of delivering more products of value however GSKs strategy of delivering more products of value is based on simplifying its clinical RD and by adding value to the supplies brought into the organization. GSKs strategy was to increase flow and improve the distribution of its products simultaneously they increased the quality of their products through research and development and creating global brands with a strong marketing initiative. GSK also compensated individuals who bought supplies for them and took strong steps to improve their supply-chain management. Unlike its main competitors GSK maintained a prescriptive resource strategy. GSK used its resources for maximum strategic benefit. If we link GSKs strategic priority of delivering more products of value with its prescriptive resource strategy we see that GSK significantly grew its biopharm capability. Biopharmaceuticals are medical drugs produced using biotechnology. GSK invested heavily to attract the best talent, compensated them and took maximum advantage of their human resources and development, which resulted in not just a growth in biopharm but also resulted in enhanced productivity for drug discovery. GSKs vision of becoming a undisputed market leader can only be accomplished if it has the right talent. Research and Development hence helped GSK achieve all its strategic priorities. Methodology I envision this project as an investigation of three primary issues: how research and development helps an organization grow, how research and development helps in product development and how research and development helps achieve innovation. In order to conduct my research effectively I chose GSK as a company to study and prepare a case study, there were two important reasons for choosing GSK. Firstly GSK has a very good research and development department that has contributed to its growth as one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Secondly GSK is a research based organization and hence maintains a very good RD capability which is worth researching. The first part of my research is primarily concerned with analysis of research and development in context with GSK. This is important because without this interrelation it becomes very difficult to understand the importance of GSK in a multinational business environment. I have also used this part to understand how research and development fits into a overall corporate strategy and goals of a company. This helps me understand why so much money is spend on research and development. It also answers several important questions from the point of view of shareholders who are often confused where these intangible costs are attributed and how the gains from spending on something non productive as research and development are maximized. The second part of my research is concerned with RD as a primary tool for production processes and product development as a linear function. As mentioned in the literature review this part is more theoretical than other parts as it involves research and development at the very core of product development. Figure 1 As shown in figure 1 Research and Development is at the very centre of product development in the product life cycle. Hence this area is of considerable importance in the field of business management and requires further research. It is a well established fact that any company that has a good RD department benefits in the long run compared to a company that gives little importance to RD hence in this part I tried to understand why research and development is so crucial in the long run for any company. By understanding product development with a case study of GSK I will begin to understand how research and development is linked with product development. Then with empirical evidence I will try and compare other companies whose research has helped them grow an impressive product portfolio. Next I will try and understand with analysis how other factors contribute to make research and development an effective force in product development, I will do this with a case study of GSK. The third aspect is how research and development contributes to innovation. For this it is important to understand innovation and study an innovative organization. Innovation helps an organization achieve competitive advantage which is a unique position a firm occupies with respect to its competitors. Innovation is a new discovery, which is commercially viable in a business sense, and which is not explored and marketed by anyone else. Innovation is protected through various mediums including trademarks and patents. I wanted to find whether research and development leads to innovation and if YES then how. For this I studied the basic model of the RD capabilities of GSK who have innovated many drugs and spoke with Dr Faisal Mahmud, Director RD, GSK. In this third aspect my focus was on the subjective side of research and development as a tool for innovation. It was observed that in an organization that devotes some and most of its energies in the primary research and development capabi lities do infect breed innovation. Also my research observed that most aspects of a business chain are integrated and linked with research and development. Research Methods. Primary Research: The fieldwork for primary research took place in two regions. I conducted an informal interview with Faisal Mahmud, Director Global RD, GSK. Also I conducted a SWOT analysis on GSK as a company, in general, and their RD department in particular. WEAKNESSES -Loss of patent protection. -Does not perform well on marketing practices. -Environmental performance. -External pressures. STRENGTHS -Size: Economies of scale -Patent protection. -Focus on innovation. -Good research and development. -Globally recognized brand. -Strong financial reserves. -Good return for investors. -Access to larger markets. -Experienced corporate management team. -Passion for achievement SWOT ANALYSIS DIAGRAM . OPPORTUNITIES -Expansion in developing countries. -Strong global influence. -Segmented market. -Product development -Growth in Japan. OPPORTUNITIES -Expansion in developing countries. -Strong global influence. -Segmented market. -Product development -Growth in Japan. OPPORTUNITIES -Expansion in developing countries. -Strong global influence. -Segmented market. -Product development -Growth in Japan. THREATS -Competitors. -Loss of key staff. -Political pressures. -Court cases. -IT development. -Legal controversies. THREATS -Competitors. -Loss of key staff. -Political pressures. -Court cases. -IT development. -Legal controversies. THREATS -Competitors. -Loss of key staff. -Political pressures. -Court cases. -IT development. -Legal controversies. OPPORTUNITIES -Expansion in developing countries. -Strong global influence. -Segmented market. -Product development -Growth in Japan. OPPORTUNITIES -Expansion in developing countries. -Strong global influence. -Segmented market. -Product development -Growth in Japan. THREATS -Competitors. -Loss of key staff. -Political pressures. -Court cases. -IT development. -Legal controversies. THREATS -Competitors. -Loss of key staff. -Political pressures. -Court cases. -IT development. -Legal controversies. OPPORTUNITIES -Expansion in developing countries. -Strong global influence. -Segmented market. -Product development -Growth in Japan. THREATS -Competitors. -Loss of key staff. -Political pressures. -Court cases. -IT development. -Legal controversies. I also conducted a survey of 10 GSK product users and asked them the following questions regarding the research and development of GSK Below a sample survey I conducted for my primary research Secondary Research: For my secondary research I conducted a judgmental sampling, this was done by the help of the BCG Growth share matrix model, which I used just for my research and the matrix allowed me to compare, along with sampling, different RD departments and their activities and link it, or compare it, with GSKs. This comparative studies was followed by many journals and articles I read online and many books including Corporate Strategy by Richard Lynch, which helped me not just in terms of comparison but also helped me conduct my research and analysis properly. Thus through my research I have tried to understand how GSK, through its RD, maintains a competitive advantage over its competitors. Apart from the above mentioned objectives, my project and research have answered the following questions: Globally diagnosis and treatments have improved, so people are using more medicines now than ever before. How does GSKs research and development help maintain demand for their products? Demand for safer, more effective, new medicines continues to grow. How does RD propose to integrate efficiency and safety? Ageing populations take long-term treatments. How does GSKs research and development propose to meet this challenge? Major healthcare challenges exist in the developing world with no easy solutions. Does GSKs research and development help improvised nations? It takes 10-12 years from the discovery of a potential new medicine until it is available for the patients. Can this time be reduced? The estimated cost of each medicine, from discovery to market, is $897 million but only 3 out of 10 new treatments recover development costs. Is it really worth it? Results Results As mentioned in the literature review and methodology the research conducted for this report focused primarily in three areas. How research and development helps an organization grow? How research and development helps in product development and how research and development leads to innovation. As mentioned this research was conducted with a case study of GSK. How research and development helps an organization grow? Results: From my research I found out that RD helps considerably for an organization to grow and expand. Based on facts until the merger of Glaxo and Smith to form GSK both companies maintained a highly productive research and development department but had opposite interests, while Glaxos main businesses were medicines Smithkline Beckham dealed in Vaccines primarily. Hence their research was limited in the sense of their strategy and their respective market share. After the merger both organizations integrated their RD capabilities and invested heavily in research and development. This led to many RD centers to be established across the world including in countries such as India and Australia which are considered emerging markets. This high investment in research and development created a diverse and unique product portfolio and led to groundbreaking developments in fields such as central nervous systems, bacteria, malaria and cancer. This helped GSK, a newly merged company in 2000 to become the second best pharmaceutical company in the world. Andrew Witty, CEO GSK, in an interview with the Financial Times in 2007 described the phenomenal growth of GSK to its outstanding research and development capabilities which led to a unique product portfolio and helped develop a strong position against competitors. From my research I found out that through RD GK developed a very good overall reputation for discovering new drugs which led to affiliations with organizations such as World Health Organization (WHO). Also RD ensures that new products not launched by competitors are developed and marketed which keeps the comparative advantage enjoyed by an organization and helps maintain a strong market share and growth rate in the long run. How research and development helps in product development? Results: Research and development forms the core and integral part of any product development. Business analysts evaluate gaps in the market and understand and comprehend market and customer needs. This information is then passed to the RD department who work vigorously to develop products which suit the requirements of the business models and corporate strategy of the organization. RD makes the designs, comprehends the requirements, conducts research and forms the basis and provides a prototype. This proto is then subjected to a number of tests to make sure the product meets the standard international health and safety laws and whether it is feasible. This process is very vigorous and time consuming. Once all the tests all positive then the organizational heads decide how best to market the product. Sometimes they even sample it to customers as an extension of the Testing process. It is established that not all RD leads to a standardized product and results in many wastages however without research and development constant changes which are needed for a product cannot occur and secondly product development process cannot start by ignoring RD costs and benefits. How research and development leads to innovation: Results: In my interview with Dr Faisal Mehmud he said Research often refers to basic experimental research; development refers to the exploitation of discoveries. Hence innovation is indeed a discovery and constant research helps solve unresolved problems in any field where research is being conducted. For example from my research I found that many updated versions of in market drugs that had limited cure in diseases such as malaria and cancer are solved by GSK . Many incurable diseases not have prescription. These are all innovations. Constant research invariably leads to innovation. Many innovations solve problems and are limited in scope for drugs for cancer. But constant research is the only way to solve these issues. Also as far as GSK is concerned most research is experimental and experiments lead to discoveries and innovations. Reflective Report: I started working on this report in November 2009. The fieldwork for this research took place in two regions and many academic journals, online materials, reference books and opinions were needed to complete this report. I faced a number of p-problems while writing this report and it was a big challenge. The first problem I faced was understanding RD. It is a very complex term and is used not just by firms but governments and even the military. Each RD capability has its own unique function that caters to the organization it represents. However what made this subject interesting to study was the importance of RD. When I first started my project, I remained in the forming stage for quite a while. It took me many weeks and many meetings to figure out what I was doing and split up into three broad categories. Although the forming stage did take a while, I was able to cover most of the norming stage at the same time because I started knowing the subject quite well. Once I finally formed my basis, the rest of the stages went much easier. I was able to finish up the norming and began performing rather quickly. This stage continued until recently as I was doing research, and reading journals, quite often. I performed quite well in research and spent very little time, if any, in the storming stage. Most of the storming I dealt with was with the help of other students and my academic teacher at Greenwich. I was trying to plan an interesting project, Another topic I was able to apply to my project was clarity and hardwork. Once I decided, I was able to take responsibility for different parts of the project. I learned to wor

Animal Farm, by George Orwell :: Animal Farm Essays

Hypocrisy on Animal Farm   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, the animals possess many traits that humans portray such as emotion and physical qualities and activities. The novel withholds many examples of hypocrisy among the animals. These acts of hypocrisy originate from the animals hatred for the humans, which eventually transforms them into humans in an animal form and the major downfall of Animal Farm. These acts of hypocrisy are primarily summoned by the pigs in many different fashions including the higher equality, the ban on human characteristics and activity and the basis of â€Å"four legs good, two legs bad†. The higher equality of certain animals was a major contribution to the general act of hypocrisy that takes place on Animal Farm. During the beginning of the novel, all the animals are equal and happy, but once the pigs gain total control, they decide to change the rules. : â€Å"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.†(90). This is hypocritical due to the sudden change of the animal’s views. During the beginning of the novel, all the animals are equal and agree upon equality as a group. After a while, the pigs begin creating rules that help to provide and advantage themselves. After the pigs make this statement, the other animals begin to see that Napoleon and his committee are very similar to their previous owner, Mr. Jones. While the pigs are living the simple life of relaxation, the other animals are doing slave labour to ensure that humans do not regain control of Animal Farm and ensuring that they don’t not lose control of their o wn lives. Another ac of hypocrisy located in the novel, deals with the ban on human appearances and human activity. During one of the first meetings after the rebellion, the animals make the rules clear and state that they will apply it to every animal on the farm. : â€Å"No animal must ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trade.†(6). Despite the rules agreed upon by the animals at the starting of the novel, the pigs decide to become more like the humans and gain complete control over Animal Farm. Things at first seem pretty reasonable, like the learning to read and write, but when the pigs begin wearing clothes and compromising with the neighbouring farm owners, the animals become suspicious of their motives.

Classism †institutional, cultural, and individual set Essay

Class is a relative social rank in terms of income, wealth, education, occupational status, and power. However, classism is the prejudice or discrimination on the basis of social class. Classism is the institutional, cultural, and individual set of practices and beliefs that assign differential value to people according to their socioeconomic class and an economic system that creates excessive inequalities and causes basic human needs to go unmet. I would define myself as being a member of the upper middle class. Upper middle class is a part of the middle class. Middle class is broken into three different parts consisting of the lower-middle class, middle class, and upper-middle class. The reason I would classify my family as upper middle class as opposed to other parts of the middle class is that both of my parents are accountants, which makes them have higher incomes due to professional jobs. In claiming this identity, I feel very lucky that I was able to grow up in a very comfortable lifestyle for myself. Coming into this class, I would have classified myself as middle class as I wasn’t even aware there where three different parts in middle class. One memory as a child that I can recall pretty vividly is while I was cleaning out my room every couple years as a child. I remember my parents helping me and I was trying on clothes and the stuff that didn’t fit, we folded and put into a big bag. I was very confused why we weren’t throwing them away and my parents told me that because I was very lucky I could have these clothes so we are going to give them to people less fortunate so they could have them too. At a young age, I just agreed and never really knew what that meant but as years passed, even without knowing, I could tell the differences in wealth in people that I saw. The high school I went to has three different towns that go to the same school and the amount of wealth in each town is different for the most part. You can tell for the most part in the types of clothing, and ways people acted in where they came from and how much money they had compared to you. This was interesting for me to learn about class at a young age without even knowing I was doing so. In the panel in this class, I didn’t relate to many of the stories, however I did find it very interesting in that people of such different backgrounds are capable of  achieving some of the same cultural capital. In my family, talks about money have never occurred. I remember asking my father how much money he made one day, and he said don’t worry about it and told me to not ask again. To this day, I am still unsure how much money my father and mother make. I am not positive about this, but the reason I think that they didn’t want me to know is so I didn’t talk about it with my friends. I know now as I get older more and more even without them telling me but I know my parents budget their money in a very smart way. When they moved to Suffern, where I live now, a suburb of New York City, they chose this town as the school district was vey good and they wouldn’t need to send me to public school to get a â€Å"better† education. Also, although they could have afforded it, they chose to live in a development of houses instead of getting a freestanding house, which would have been more money and more money in taxes. These were a couple examples of how my parents budgeted their money in order to give the whole family a better lifestyle in my opinion. This is because if I wanted something on the more expensive side, or needed something, they wouldn’t need to think about how they could afford it or pay for it. Personally, I think this is very smart of them and will definitely look to do the same in my future. Although my parents are upper middle class, I have still had a couple jobs. They knew that having experience would help me in the long run when I apply for a real job coming out of college. I have talked about how much money I made in these jobs with my friends but I feel as if these jobs that I have had, such as a camp counselor, and then the difference in starting my career job are totally different. I don’t see myself talking about my starting salary with my friends even though I am sure other people will. I think that this is something personal. My guess would be that this is because this is the way my parents feel and without knowing it, this is what they told me is normal. I don’t feel uncomfortable talking about money but through personal experiences, it is not something that I do very often. Class is only one aspect of ones identity. When someone asks me who I am, class is definitely not the first thing that comes to mind. I would say I  am a white male before I say that I am a member of the upper middle class. This being said that a person can have more than one identity, they do intersect with one another. Stereotypes have been made about the intersection of identities. For example, Jewish people are supposed to be rich. Maybe it is true that Jewish people will be wealthy and live a comfortable life, but this isn’t necessarily true. Jewish people are no different than anyone else, besides the fact that they practice that religion, in the sense that they are human and they don’t have to be wealthy just because they are Jewish. Personally, I believe that class does play a role in education. Back when my grandfather was eighteen, and thinking about college, he did not have a choice in where he was going to go to school. He did not have that much money at all in his family, so if he didn’t go to City College, which at that time was free, he was not going to go anywhere. He would have had to start working in order to help the family pay their bills. This wasn’t just the case for my grandfather either. My mother and father where told what schools they were going to go to strictly based on what their parents can afford. They both were able to go to college, and luckily for me they ended up being very successful people and didn’t have to put to many limitations on where I was able to go. The college process is very complicated nowadays. Some people get into schools because they are athletes, donate money, and other such acts even though they may not be academically meet the requirements for the school as Peter Schmit says in his article â€Å"At the Elite Colleges†. I was told since a young age that I was going to college and didn’t really have a choice about it. This is does not mean that I didn’t work to get to where I am today. Karen Pittelman and Resource Generation say in the article â€Å"Deep Thoughts About Class Privilege†, â€Å"Acknowledging how class privilege impacts our lives doesn’t have to mean abandoning pride in ourselves. Our hard work is still hard work.† This means that just because we have some sort of privilege in our lives, doesn’t mean it was handed to us on a silver platter. I, for one, still work extremely hard to do well in school. However, this is what I want anyway cause I know with this education I am receiving, I will hopefully become ve ry successful in the future and will be able to give my kids the same  opportunity as my parents did. When I get my bachelors degree in business administration, I will try and find a job, but if that isn’t the case, I will look to get my masters. I am lucky enough where I do not need to worry about debt coming out of school so my options are wide open and will make that decision when the time comes. I do not think that a world without classism is possible. There will always be different classes and for that matter, people will have the prejudice that people who do not have as much money as them are inferior. I think one huge step would be admitting you have oppressed people because of class, and realizing it is wrong is the first step you can take before trying to fix this ongoing problem such that Betsy Leondar-Wright does in her article, â€Å"Classism From Our Mouths† and â€Å"Tips from Working-Cass Activists†. I think that there can be actions, such as teaching this oppression so people understand it better, that can lead to less classism in the future but realistically speaking, I do not think there will ever be a time without classism. APA Citation Quotations: â€Å"Acknowledging how class privilege impacts our lives doesn’t have to mean abandoning pride in ourselves. Our hard work is still hard work.† Karen Pittleman and Resource Generation, Deep Thoughts About Class Privilege. Readings for Diversity and Social Justice. (pg 219) Sections in a book: Schmidt (2010) At the Elite Colleges. Readings for Social Diversity and Social Justice (pg 173-174) Leondar (2010) â€Å"Classism From Our Mouths† and â€Å"Tips from Working-Cass Activists†. Readings for Social Diversity and Social Justice (pg 214-218) Collins, Yeskel (2010) The Dangerous Consequences of Growing Inequality. Readigs for Social Diversity and Social Justice (pg 155-169)

Materials and Inventory Essay

In the S, T, and P facilities, it has been identified that some of the manufacturing processes are related with one another. Due to the interrelatedness and the other problems seen from the different facilities, it is seen that a problem from one facility affects the others. This is observed to be especially true for the area of the management and inventory control. Materials management is oftentimes associated to inventory control and this is defined as the act of â€Å"managing the organization’s raw materials, work-in-process, finished goods, and products in-transit† (Griffin, 2002 as cited in Adam & Sammon, 2004, p. 28). The primary focus of the materials and inventory management involve being accountable for all WIP and stock, coordination with the suppliers in order to organize production requirements, maintain a desirable inventory level, manage the processes related to physical inventory audits, establish automated forms of inventory systems, manage the condition and coding of the materials, coordinate with or manage the purchasing department, discuss with major suppliers regarding the prices and terms, choose new suppliers, ensure that the methods in existence are in sync with the changes in the environment (Charvet, 1997). The importance of these processes would lie on the need for materials and inventory in creating a long-term advantage in terms of competitive grounds (Jamal et al., 2007). Upon a review of the situation for the three facilities, there are several findings that are worth noting. First, the frequency as to when the accessory parts run out in S facility is seen to be declared on a habitual interval. The causes and implications of this could include that the T and P facilities are not able to meet the demands of the S facility because identification of the quantity is not fully carried out by the T and P facilities. Moreover, it could be that there are problems with the shipping schedule from the T and P facilities wherein the time as to when the accessories are needed in the S facilities is not clearly identified or unknown that is why shipments are not organized. Second, formal receipt of the materials needed for production in the T and P facilities is not present as well as a system in order to reflect this to have arrived at the T and P facilities in order to acknowledge the shipment from the S facility. The establishment of a system would also entail the need for the creation of a formal receiving dock where shipments pass through. It allows for the inspection of the shipments and the respective entry into the inventory system of the respective facility. Third, concerns arise, too, with the wasted productions due to malfunctioning equipment or wrong materials used. Incidences such as this could be experienced when routine maintenance on the equipment and evaluation of the materials is not carried out to ensure that errors are minimized. In light of the problems identified for the materials and inventory aspect, there are recommended measures that are used in order to resolve the problems. First, it is necessary for the facilities to have a computerized inventory system wherein the necessary parts are interrelated with one another. The benefit derived from having a computerized system for the inventory control is attributed to its ability to organize the data of the organization in an efficient manner and the reduced costs associated with inventory control (Palmer, 2005). Second, there is the need to provide for a receiving dock for the shipments wherein the materials shipped are immediately entered into the system to reflect both an acknowledgement receipt and confirmation to the other facility from which it came from. This makes inventory easier as it is done as the shipments are brought in which means that it is always update. Third, training with regard to the evaluation and maintenance of the equipment should be provided to the employees who are responsible for this. Likewise, there should be a regular schedule for assessment of equipment condition and materials to ensure that disruptions and errors are kept to a minimum. References Adam, F. & Sammon, D. (2004). The enterprise resource planning decade: Lessons learned and issues for the future. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Charvet, S. (1997). Words that change minds: Mastering the language of influence. (2nd ed. ). Author’s Choice Publishing. Dubuque, IO: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. Jamal, N. M. , Mastor, N. H. , Saat, M. M. , Ahmad, M. F. , and Abdullah, D. F. (2007). Cost and management accounting: An introduction. Johor Darul Ta’zim: Muapaat Jaya Percitakan Sdn. Bhd. Palmer,D. (2005). Maintenance planning and scheduling handbook. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Professional.