Effect of Socioeconomic Status to Education Essay

I. Introduction Thesis Statement The learning of Lasallian students are affected by the inflexible relationship between education and socioeconomic status. A. Background of the Study 1. The Socioeconomic Classes in the Philippines According to National Center for Economic Statistics (2008), when analyzing a family’s SES, the household income, earners’ education, and occupation are examined, as well as combined income, versus with an individual, when their own attributes are assessed. Family Income and Expenditure Survey of the National Statistical Coordination Board (2010) shows the statistics hierarchal socioeconomic classes of differences in the Philippines that the Higher Class Family or A class are the top 5% (5 million people) – P25,000 to, millions of dollars, and billions of pesos those are Filipinos that are Senior Politicians, Land owners, Large Business Owners and Middle Class Family or B class which comprises 10-15% population which estimated 10-15 million Filipino people with wages of P15,000 – 25,000 a month that consists of Mid-Level Politicians, Professionals – doctors, engineers, superv isors and lastly Low Class Family that composes of 20%, equivalent to 20million Filipino people with a salary of P5,000 -15,000 a month they are the skilled craftsman, teachers and nurses as well as bank clerks and retail shop assistants. 2. Education in the Philippines Dr. Romulo Virola of Philippine Education (2009) has shown that Philippine spend only 3.3% of GDP (Gender Disparity ) on public educational institutions for all levels of education ;this is lower than 7.4% for Malaysia , 4.0% for Thailand, 4.0% for all WEI (World Education Indicators) and 5.2 % average for OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. (Morgan, Farkas, Hillemier, &Maczuga, 2009). Education is the best legacy a nation can give to her citizens especially the youth; this is because the development of any nation or community depends largely on the quality of education of such a nation. It is generally believed that the basis for any true development must commence with the development of human resources if our government continue to develop this kind of education. The famous quotation (Dr. Jose P. Rizal, 1898) â€Å"The youth is the hope of our future† will only be just a collection of poetry from Rizal’s books. In the Philippines there is a two kind of schools the public schools which is under the supervision of DepEd (Department of Education)while the private schools which under the administration of CHED (Commission on Higher Education), and according to Willy Blackwell (2010) Private schools tend to have better funding than public schools. The additional funding from the private schools means more access to resources which could result to enhance better academic performance but hence most private schools in the Philippines have higher tuition fee than in public schools with 95 percent of all elementary students attending public schools, the educational crisis in the Philippines is basically a crisis of public education. The wealthy can easily send their offspring to private schools, many of which offer first-class education t o the privileged class of pupils. 3. The La Salle University in Ozamiz City La Salle University (LSU), formerly known as Immaculate Conception College-La Salle, is a member school of De La Salle Philippines located in Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental, Philippines. Its quality in Education and the best approaches had joined efforts of the school administration, faculty and staff in catering to the needs of their learners, provided the students the use of technology in instruction, and the system that the university is using in almost all of its tasks is computer-based. The campus is also equipped with Wi-Fi hotspots, computer terminals are also present inside, and to better facilitate learning, four audio-visual rooms are available for students’ and faculty use, each equipped with a high-end LCD/DLP projector and a laptop or a PC, these technologies equipped the students and the teachers with the skills and the knowledge in integrating technology for instruction. (www.lsu.edu.ph). While, For the past 2 years the socioeconomic profile of the students enrolled in LSU according to Mrs. Tagaylo that the number of students is approximately six thousand nine hundred forty-seven (6,947), whereas the number of working students according to Mrs. Prosadas and Mr. Saplad is nearly five hundred fifty-two (552), and as we subtract the number of working students to the total number of students enrolled it resulted that the regular students are approximately six thousand three hundred ninety-five (6,395), and it shows that the working students comprise only 1/3 of the total number of population in LSU, as a result the socioeconomic profile of the students in La Salle University, highly belong in upper level in the socioeconomic classes in the Philippines. A. Statement of Purpose The researchers want to learn the impact of the correlationship between socioeconomic status and education to the learning of the Lasallian students. Specifically this study aims to answer the following questions: 1. How do socioeconomic statuses of the students affect their academic performance? 2. How does socioeconomic status affect to the psychological aspect of the students? 3. How socioeconomic status and education correlate each other? B. Definition of Terms Socioeconomic Status (SES) – an economic and sociological combined total measures of a person’s work experiences (www.thesaurus.com). Quality of Education –degree of excellence in developing knowledge and skills (www.nb.edu.ph). Occupation – an employment of a person under service performed for payment (www.dictionary.com). Academic Achievements – the outcome of the education of the school extent that has attained an educational goal (www.nb.edu.ph). School – an institution for instruction of being educated formally to develop knowledge and skills (www.thesaurus.com). Socioeconomic Classes- social standing of an individual or group (www.journalclass.com). II. METHODOLOGY A. Research design This study used descriptive method where in the researchers gathered information about the target respondents. This study is investigative in nature the researchers made questionnaires. B. Respondents and Locale The respondents were randomly selected 15 male and 15 female working students and 15 male and 15 female regular students here in La Salle University Ozamiz City, enrolled in different colleges. C. Materials The researchers use questionnaires in order to conduct survey to the respondents. D. Test taking Procedure The researchers conducted surveys that were randomly given to selected 15 male and 15 female working students and 15 male and 15 female regular students in La Salle University, Ozamiz City. In addition, observation was constituted in order to determine the effect of socioeconomic status of the students here at La Salle University, Ozamiz City. E. Data Collection The researchers collected data from references that were found in books, internet sources and compress the ideas in the result from the survey they had conducted.

Comprehension of Prisoners Without Trial Essay

Roger Daniels’ book Prisoners without Trial is another book that describes the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. This piece discusses about the background that led up to the internment, the internment itself, and what happened afterwards. The internment and relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II was an injustice prompted by political and racial motivations. The author’s purpose of this volume is to discuss the story in light of the redress and reparation legislation enacted in 1988. Even though Daniels gives first hand accounts of the internment of Japanese Americans in his book, the author is lacking adequate citations and provocative quotations. It’s unfortunate that Daniels does not provide the more substantive treatment he used in the volume he co-edited with Sandra Taylor, Japanese Americans, From Relocation to Redress. The history that led up to the internment was basically an anti-Oriental prejudice that began on the West Coast. When the Chinese immigrants started immigrating to the United States, they posed a social problem. â€Å"As the numbers of Chinese laborers increased, so did the strength of anti-Chinese sentiment among other workers in the American economy. This finally resulted in legislation that aimed to limit future immigration of Chinese workers to the United States, and threatened to sour diplomatic relations between the United States and China.†[1] As a result of this social problem, anti-Chinese prejudice movements began all over the United States and the government fixed this problem by barring the immigration of Chinese immigrants. This prejudice was basically transferred over to the Japanese and this prejudice was felt by many United States citizens, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Daniels notes that, in California, â€Å"in the early 1900’s most of the political parties, the Republicans, the Democrats, and the third party, the Populist, along with the American Federation of Labor, were all against the Japanese immigration† because they believed that Japanese immigration was going to have the same result as the Chinese immigration.[2] The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper began a series of virul ent attacks on the Japanese in America during 1905, matching some of the â€Å"worst tabloid trash-type journalism† that anyone has ever seen. The result was to further inflame public opinion which the politicians were then more than willing to use to further their own purposes. Daniels states that â€Å"politicians from different states were trying to get elected by appealing to the populace and their views. Thus, presidents such as Woodrow Wilson publicly shared his anti-Oriental views. Woodrow Wilson released a strong statement opposing Oriental immigration. What is even less known is that Wilson’s statement was not his own, but was written for him by his chief California backer, James D. Phelan of San Francisco.†[3] According to Daniels, this episode is significant for two reasons: first, it reveals the strong anti-Oriental bias of the leaders of the Wilson Democrats of California; second, it shows the degree to which an unauthentic expression of opinion can delude both the voter and the participants themselves. A very interesting thing is a breakdown of the types of businesses persons of Japanese ancestry who were involved in the city of Seattle and in different cities along the West Coast. As Japanese immigrants came to the United States, they came to the West Coast because of the economic success awaiting there. They ran hotels, grocery stores, dry cleaners, market stands, produce houses, restaurants, barbershops, laundries or gardening services. A lot of them were also involved in farming in rural communities. The Japanese went to America for more opportunities but at that time, there were only two colors that people recognized. Those two colors were white and black. The Japanese really wanted to be a U.S. citizen so they could own land. After they get the land, they could start their own business and make a lot of money. Without their own business, they had to work for whites at low wages. Japanese believed that the way out of low paying jobs was a good education. There was too much discrimination against them so the second generation of Japanese in America had to follow the footsteps of their parents to low paying jobs. The Japanese were still very determined to make it big in America. They wanted to do whatever it took but the Japanese have to overcome a lot of discrimination from the white citizens. The Japanese were very smart but they weren’t able to do what they were capable of in the United States of America. The author talks about the war in Europe and how fast Hitler’s victories were. There was a belief in American government agencies that this happened because there was a vast â€Å"fifth column† of saboteurs and subversives that helped him, which was something that was totally untrue.[4] This same type of thinking, that the military of the â€Å"good† countries could not have lost so easily unless they were betrayed, was carried over into the attack on Pearl Harbor where, for a long while, the belief was that it was not our military’s fault at all for not being ready; it was all due to a massive number of persons of Japanese ancestry living in Hawaii that aided the attacking planes.[5] That, also, was totally rejected later, but was useful to the politicians for inflaming public opinion against the Japanese Americans. There was a proposal to let the Japanese Americans stay on the West Coast and just keep them away from any â€Å"sensitive† areas, but the politicians and hate-mongers were against such a limited program, wanting the â€Å"Jap problem† to be dealt with once and for all. Soon after Pearl Harbor the draft boards began classifying Japanese Americans as 4-C, which is a category reserved for enemy aliens.[6] Daniels also points out that, if it was so necessary for military reasons to remove Japanese Americans from the West Coast then that would have been even truer for the Japanese Americans in Hawaii where they formed almost a third of the population. The persons of Japanese Ancestry in California, though, only formed 2% of the population. Daniels later discusses the internment camp descriptions and places the events into four different phases: (1) Settling in (spring1942 – February 1943), (2) registration/ segregation crisis (February 1943-Janurary 1944), (3) draft crisis (January 1944- November 1945), and (4) leaving camp (summer 1946-March 1946). Overall, the book gives the reader a multi-dimensional view on the Japanese internment, which allows the reader to see the political and racial views behind the Executive Order 9066 and the internment of the Japanese. Citation: Daniel, Roger. Prisoners without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II. 1st ed. New York: Hill and Wang, 1993. ———————– [1] Roger Daniel, Prisoners without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II, (New York: Hill and Wang, 1993), 41. [2] Daniel I bid., 67. [3] I bid., 53. [4] Daniel I bid., 109. [5] I bid., 91. [6] Daniel I bid., 32.

Building consumer demand by using marketing

Marketing munication can be increased by using social media sites. This assignment will describe about the chosen article â€Å"The use of social media: an exploratory study of usage among digital natives†. The objectives of the study will be mentioned in this assignment. Electronic word of mouth and web 2.0 has appeared as an event of significant interest to marketers.   The article will be critically analysed in this assignment to get better understanding about the chosen article. Individual reflection shows the work advance knowledge of subject which can be utilized in real life by marketing practioners. The main object of the article is to analyze the importance of social media in the academic life of students. The research report has described about the knowledge of students regarding social media platforms and in depth notion of customer generated contents. Next section explains the digital natives in terms of age and behavioural characteristics. Another objective of the article is to understand about web 2.0 and word of mouth munication. The explicit theory framework is used in this research to describe the master phenomena. The description about the web 2.0 and electronic word of mouth is made under this theory. It has been analyzed that the term of web 2.0 defines the platforms that are connective and offer users with the ability to incorporate various media within their content creation. Analytical technique, instructional instruments, social media platforms, consumer generated message viewership and customer generated message creation are used in this article to analyze the article (Steyn, Wallstrà ¶m and Pitt, 2010). The central concept of this article is word of mouth in marketing munication. This concept is clearly defined in this article. It has been said in this article that word of mouth is mature exercise as are people municating with one another. They have b e the major part for the marketing mix for panies (Li & Bernoff, 2008). The discussion has been made about the web 2.0 world of marketing in which word of mouth happens on all municative digital media sites. It has been estimated that more than 85% firm in united states are applying the word of mouth strategy. The word of mouth strategy es out in the business when the orientation provider has no risk in the business (Li, 2010). The main argument has been made on digital natives and it has been argued in this article that a higher educating marketing firm defined that technology has b e so advanced and as recognizable as a knife to this college age market segment. On the other side it has been argued that customers gradually more use digital media not for researching the products and services but for engaging with organizations they buy along with other customers who may have effective insights (Williams, Crittenden, Keo and McCarty, 2012). The specific hypothesis of this assignment is that Generation C who born after 1990 is truly digital natives. The key attributes of Generation C is that they how to live in an adequate manner and they are much involved in the puters and latest technology. The main strength of this assignment is used methodology. The sample has been collected from millennial aged undergraduate college students of United States of America (Packaged Facts, 2010). The minimum age is considered as 19 years old and the eldest age is 21 years old. It is the strength because the selected age is perfect to analyze the tentative study of usage among digital natives.   It would encourage them to encourage the campus events or they can use consumer produced content as a need of their jobs. The weakness has been found in this article is that there are so many students in selected sample who utilized their social media ecosystem for the reason of promoting their goods and services for those panies for which they are working. The risk has analyzed that the credible power in this the network of word of mouth will be eliminated for the extended time if the orientation provider lose the chance of the growth in the business. The hypothesis of this article is defined below: Qualitative research has been chosen for this article in regarding content analysis which permits the examination of the experience of social without unambiguous prospects.   Sample, analytical technique and instructional instrument are used in the article for researching on digital natives. In the context of sample, data has been collected from a convince sample of the undergraduate students who were studied in the marketing class. 74 students were selected for sample in which the youngest student was 19 years old and the eldest student was 21 years old. Content analysis is being used in the analytical technique in mass munication research which was considered as appropriate analytical technique for surveying the descriptions of process within the phenomenon of culture of social media. Instructional instrument is a written assignment which was given to all enrolled students. The main concept of this written assignment is to get the response of students about the usage of social media for marketing. It was the big approach to motivate students for using the social media by sharing their experiences. Evidence is provided in this article to define the social media platforms and providers. The table has given which shows the social media platforms used by students. There are various digital social media platforms available which is helpful for marketing. It has been found that 50% students are engaged with blogging and 96% of the students are active on Facebook and twitter. 70% of the students were connected with text messages because text messaging was in the content prompt. Another table has been reflected in this assignment which was categorized in segments and number of students. Segments have divided into spectator, creator, joiner, collector and critic. 73% of the students answered to more than one of the five segments. For instance, an individual can have seen himself in the condition of critic as well as spectator. The literature is the description about the chosen topic which describes the scope of the topic. The article has defined the digital natives and electronic word of mouth which includes the web 2.0. It defines the stages that are extremely interactive and offer the aptitude to put together dissimilar media in their content formation. On the other hand web 1.0 was defined by one way and unreceptive munication. It is characterized by a process in which people are continuously the provider and giver of information. The social media platforms enable the opportunities for attract that did not survive a decade ago. For instance, it has been analyzed that more than 700 billion minutes are used by so many users on Facebook (Trainor, 2012). There are approximately 30 million stories, images, videos and contents are being shared by people on Facebook (Facebook Statistics, 2010). You Tube is another social media where the number of uploaded videos are high and the views has increased by two bill ion per day (YouTube, 2010). It has been found that millions of people building trillions of bonding by social media each day. In that scenario, the role of Web 2.0 has made the electronic description of unfounded information munications. The digital native is the person who born during the age of digital technology and so well known with internet and latest technology from an early age. The article has described the Generation C consumers who love content creation and mashing. Generation C consumers prefer to municate in an adequate manner. The tendency of generation C students is to work more creative industries (Gil-Or, 2010). Consumer generated content is not encouraged mercially but it is a form of electronic word of mouth (Muà ±iz and Schau, 2011). Essentially, the opinion of customer is about the product and services and after satisfying with the services and products, customers share their views, experience and beliefs with other people by using web. The ou e of this articl e is fit in to the wider literature. According to Hansen, et. al., (2011), there is numerous different social media platforms that provided to students as instance to quick their thinking in the term of text messaging, podcasts, and social networking and discussion groups (Zahay & Fredricks, 2009). Moreover, to discriminating the platforms utilized by this group of college student customers, the description about the particular providers were asked to respondents. The article is aimed at universities’ students of USA. The research shows that student should judge the true suggestions of liberty of speech (Crittenden and Klepper, 2010). Another audience of this article is Generation C who born after 1990. The credibility of author is trust worthiness because the authors David L. Williams, Victoria L. Crittenden, Teeda Keo and Paulette McCarty are professors of top USA universities. â€Å"The use of social media: an exploratory study of usage among digital natives† is credible as it has been published in Journal of Public Affairs (2012). This journal article is published online in Wiley Online Library which shows the credibility of the journal article. The credibility of this article can be judged by viewing the number of references which is authenticated. The used language of author is clear and concise which can be understood by readers. The predominate mode of this article is analytical as author used qualitative research to explore the research topic. Sample, analytical technique, instructional instruments, social media platforms and customer generated message formation are being used in this research to show the involvement of people in social media. It can be r mended that further research should evaluate the statistics and search for disparity between and among a multiple characteristics of demographics. The texts can be improved by using the more analytical data because it has been found that the study of this article was unable to connect different countries of source in the shown data. The analytical source has been chosen for collecting data in which the written assignment and content analysis were considered. These approaches and sources did not enable the pilation of the data. It has been r mended that further research should report for the effects of national so it can see if there are differences in country majorly in the utilization of the specific platforms and providers. The implications of the article for marketing practioners would be effective because it has described the use of different social media platforms for encouraging the market growth. This article assisted me to expand my knowledge regarding web 2.0 and electronic word of mouth which has huge contribution in the growth of market. I can use these social media platforms in my business as marketing practioner. The limitations and future research have been described in this article which assists me that the ment of personal social media should not be posted from any internet sources until and unless it is private. It concurs with my own experience because people has b e advanced and give preference to online marketing instead of going outside. By using these marketing munication techniques, marketing practioner can attract the customers towards the provided services and products. It has been concluded that the entire objective of this investigative research is to evaluate the multiple of electronic word of mouth in the context of Generation C market segment and this segment is generally defined as digital natives. The critical analysis of the article has been done by evaluating the objectives, methods, evidence, credibility, style and audience. Individual reflection has shown the position of social media sites in the life of marketing practioners. Crittenden, V. and Klepper, K., 2010, Social media and the b-school.  BizEd, pp.72-73. Facebook Statistics, 2010, Facebook statistics, accessed on 26 th February 2018, from: https://www.facebook / press/info.php?statistics.   Gil-Or, O., 2010, Building consumer demand by using viral marketing tactics within an online social network.  Advances in Management,  3(7), pp.7-14. Li, C. & Bernoff, J. 2008, Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. Harvard Business Press: Boston. Li, C., 2010, Groundswell. Winning in a world transformed by social technologies.  Strategic Direction,  26(8). Morrison, M. and McMillan, S., 2010, January. Oh, user, who art thou: an examination of behaviors and characteristics of consumers in the context of user generated content. In  American Academy of Advertising. Conference. Proceedings (Online)  (p. 77). American Academy of Advertising. Muà ±iz Jr, A.M. and Schau, H.J., 2011, How to inspire value-laden collaborative consumer-generated content.  Business Horizons,  54(3), pp.209-217. Muà ±iz, Jr, A.M. and Schau, H.J., 2007, Vigilante marketing and consumer-created munications.  Journal of Advertising,  36(3), pp.35-50. Packaged Facts, 2010, Millennials in the U.S.: trends and opportunities surrounding Gen-Y adults. accessed on 26 th February 2018, from: https:// www.marketresearch /product/display.asp? productid=2661911. Steyn, P., Wallstrà ¶m, Ã…. and Pitt, L., 2010, Consumer-generated content and source effects in financial services advertising: An experimental study.  Journal of Financial Services Marketing,  15(1), pp.49-61. Trainor, K.J., 2012, Relating social media technologies to performance: A capabilities-based perspective.  Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management,  32(3), pp.317-331. Williams, D.L., Crittenden, V.L., Keo, T. and McCarty, P., 2012, The use of social media: an exploratory study of usage among digital natives.  Journal of Public Affairs,  12(2), pp.127-136. YouTube . 2010, Youtube, accessed on 26 th February 2018, from: https://www.youtube /t/press. Zahay, D. & Fredricks, E. 2009, Podcasting to improve delivery of a project-based internet marketing course. Marketing Education Review 19(1): 57–63.

Discuss the role that governments have played in the development of Essay

Discuss the role that governments have played in the development of the Australian system of employment relations since 1980 - Essay Example Therefore, a sound employment relations system should create a favourable environment that is ideal for achieving maximum economic efficiency, motivation, productivity, employee development, and enhancing employee loyalty (Lewis, et al., 2003, p. 7). There are three main parties that make up the employment relations systems: employers, employees and the government. Employers have certain rights that are provided by their state labour laws. The main employer right is the ability to hire and fire employees. They also have a right to relocate, close or enter into collaboration with their company of choice. Moreover, employers have the right to introduce new technologies within the work place. Rights exercised by the employer may to some extent affect the employees adversely (Gardner, 1997, p. 6). Employees always aim at getting the best terms and conditions of employment from their employers. This process involves sharing their opinions with the management and also airing their grievanc es. Employees also use trade unions to fight for the right to take part in decision making at their workplace. Workers unions serve the purpose of presenting concerns of workers to the management, and they are as a result of workers uniting together against their employers (Gardner, 1997, p. 7). State and central government are particularly crucial in influencing and regulating employment relations through rules, laws, memorandums, and issuance of awards. Government includes tribunal courts, third parties and labour institution within the government (Gardner, 1997, p. 9). The three main parties in the employment system have their own representative bodies, which work on behalf of the entire party. Employers are represented by employers associations, employees by trade unions while the government is represented by the courts and tribunals such as Fair Work Australia (Forsyth and Stewart 2009, p. 4). The scope of employment relations is extremely wide, and there are five main issues c overed under the employment relations scope. These issues include collective bargaining, mechanisms for settling employment disputes, standing orders, involvement of workers in decision making process, and unfair labour practices (Rose, 2008, p. 11). Employers should be in the forefront in ensuring that there is a strong and healthy relationship between them and their employees. These excellent relationships can only be achieved through employment relations programs that are vital in the development of a motivated, competent, and loyal team of employees. This team can only be achieved through a well structured employment relations program that focuses on employee training, employee surveys, employee reward and recognition, and employee appraisal. Moreover, the program should focus on proper conflict resolution mechanism and hiring of most suitable workers (Lewis, et al., 2003, p. 27). Employment relations systems from various countries around the world operate in different styles, b ut the main aim is to maintain a healthy relationship between all the parties involved. Governments have contributed immensely in the creation of ideal working environments for the citizens. The Australian government is one such

Effective Performance Management System for enhancing employees Essay

Effective Performance Management System for enhancing employees motivation - Essay Example The paper tells that in order to enhance the performance of employees, it is important for Human Resource (HR) department to address the needs of every employee so that he/she is motivated to make valuable contributions in the organization. Motivated employees tend to work harder and also at times come up with an immense amount of creativity in their job performance. There are many motivational theories that can be implemented in the organizations for enhancing the employee’s performance but the best way is to identify each employee’s expectations from the job and to develop a performance plan that is compatible with their requirements. Some of the popular motivational theories are Taylor’s Theory, Maslow’ Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg’s Two-factor theory, Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, McGregor Theory X and Theory Y and etc.; the central crux of each of the theory is that employees’ performance can be enhanced only by identifying their req uirements from the job and providing them the opportunities of demonstrating their intellectual capabilities. The management of the organization needs to carefully review the resources required by the employee to perform the task in an effective manner and hence the management needs to ensure that the resources are provided to the employees. One of the integral processes or systems of HR department is Performance Management System (PMS). This is a system that ensures that employees’ performance is evaluated on an ongoing basis so that they can be provided guidance on managing their jobs effectively. With the help of an effective PMS, an organization can ensure that the employees are well-aware about the tasks that they have to perform, year-end goals that have to be achieved, factors on which their performance will be evaluated and the rewards and recognition that will be given to them for doing exceptional work. For the management, the performance management system allows th em to monitor the performances and accordingly work on the need and requirements of improving employee performances.

Organisational Culture of Google and How It Impacts Its Operations Essay

Organisational Culture of Google and How It Impacts Its Operations - Essay Example The researcher states that employee performance is enhanced by the existence of an effective work environment as illustrated by the case of Google. Google is an American based company that specializes in offering communication technology such as internet services. Since its inception, the company has been guided in its operations by valuing the needs and interests of the employees. The major strength of the organization, which can be attributed to its culture, lies in its ability to motivate the employees, which has contributed to its productivity. Employees are encouraged to be innovative, and they are rewarded for their ideas. An analysis of the case study, as well as the video footage, shows that Google is regarded as the best place to work in America as the employees are motivated and their needs and interests are satisfied. Motivation is seen as the key aspect of the effectiveness of the organization in its performance since the employees share the same goals with the organizati on. For instance, mistakes made by the employees do not warrantee a punishment, but they are treated as an effective tool for learning. According to Stahl & Mendenhall, culture is believed to shape the operations of the organization in various ways. It contributes to innovation and success, which allows the managers to be able to cope with problems related to adoption as well as integration. Organisational culture at Google is considered to be very effective given that it has recently been named the best company for employees by Fortune Magazine. The core values of the organization’s culture are intensely held and shared.

Genetic problems , down syndrome, hurlintong disease, diabetes, and Research Paper

Genetic problems , down syndrome, hurlintong disease, diabetes, and turner syndrome - Research Paper Example Sometimes errors can occur in the transmission of genetic material from parents to offspring or in the structure of the genetic material causing serious disorders in human beings. Structural chromosomal abnormalities arise when different enzymes are not able to repair several breaks in the pattern of chromosomes or even if they are able to do so these repairs are not specific enough to avoid the abnormality. These can be caused by chemicals, radiations, viruses, or any other type of abnormal event. These structural abnormalities are classified into four main classes respectively. These are Deletions, Translocations, Inversions and Ring Chromosome (Langman & Sadler 2006; Robbins et al 2005). Other names of deletion are gene deletion and deficiency mutation. Deletion is that type of genetic abnormality in which a sequence of DNA is absent in the chromosome or a part of chromosome is absent. It results in the loss of the genetic material from the chromosome. Translocation is also genetic aberration which occurs due to the rearrangement of the different parts of chromosome with nonhomologous chromosomes. Translocations are of two types that are reciprocal translocations and Robertsonian translocations. Reciprocal translocation is the translocation of genetic material between nonhomologous chromosome. These type of chromosomal translocations are harmless. When the two acrocentric chromosome fuse near the centromere resulting in loss of the short arm, this type of translocation is called Robertsonian translocation. In Robertsonian translocation the resulting karyotype in humans is 45 chromosomes. Inversion is that type of chromosomal abnormality in which a part of chromosome is split and introduced back to the same chromosome. Inversion is basically the aberration in a single chromosome itself and is not associated to other homologous or nonhomologous chromosome. Inversions are of two types paracentric and pericentric.

Interpretation of contract indemnity provisions Essay

Interpretation of contract indemnity provisions - Essay Example Indemnity can be broadly defined as the promise to pay money; with one party to a contract making a promise to be responsible for any losses which are suffered by other parties to the contract and this occurs when there has been a breach of a contract or a warranty. In the event that one party suffers a loss, the other party may have provided a guarantee in the contract to make up for such losses and would then be obliged to make good the losses which have been suffered, whether through damages or any other kind of loss which occurs. These losses can be compensated in the form of cash payments, repairs or a replacement of the item that has been lost or damaged. This study proposes to examine how indemnity differs from warranties and exclusion contracts and how the manner in which the indemnity provisions are spelt out can influence the manner in which such provisions are interpreted. According to Parker and Slavich, an indemnity is a contract between two parties in which one party agrees to be liable for the losses or damage that are sustained by another party, whether the party is a signatory to the contract or a third party, on the basis of a specified act or a condition or the damage that results from a claim or a demand1. The purpose of a contractual indemnity is to ensure that the risk inherent in the performance of the contract is distributed among all the parties to the contract, although in reality, the net result will be based upon the relative bargaining power of the parties. One of the different forms of the indemnity provision in contracts is the survival provision, whereby the survival of representations, warranties and indemnities are limited to an agreed period of time from the execution of the contract. Another aspect of indemnity contracts are releases, i.e., releases of claims and liabilities Indemnity clauses are offered in

Alfred Hitchocks Influence on the Moviemaking Essay

Alfred Hitchocks Influence on the Moviemaking - Essay Example Hitchock Alfred is one of the movie directors who have established a successful profession in the industry. He has produced a number of movies that have attracted serious popularities.His superb skills in the movie production are highly appreciated As a director, Hitchock has greatly transformed the movie making industry. He has substantially affected other film producers and his impact is evident in various present productions (Guilbaut 165). Earlier in his vocation, Hitchock worked in a German firm when the movie industry in German was promising. However, the financial challenges undermined producers from releasing quality films that could effectively challenge productions from Hollywood. To counter this condition, the producers in the Germany introduced exaggerated scenes to enhance expressions and emphasize ideas in their films (Guilbaut 195). The idea realized a positive attitude among the viewers and later this idea become very popular in Germany. This acted as the trial test f or Hitchock hence in his career at Hollywood; he sturdily believed that incorporation of the idea into American industry would be a lucrative venture. Afterward in his career, Hitchock secured a contract with the Hollywood industry. However, Hitchock’s earlier incidences in the German firm had introduced him to a style of expressionism. This style utilizes lavish sets integrating creativity, non-real and illogical scenarios which clash with the geometrical idea. This provided a cheap approach of presenting ideas in the films. These movies were irrational and horrific (Kova?cs 273). Initially, the Hollywood shows were cool and used realistic presentations. However, impacts such that propagated by Hitchock’s ideas have crept slowly into the industry and presently the industry presents a multivalent model. Hollywood producers had maintained a typical action adventure and passionate themes. However, with the influence of expressionists like Hitchock, basic themes propagate d by the group such as insanity and betrayal have navigated into the sector. Hitchock’s style has exerted a considerable impact on the movie-making industry. Extreme manifestation of the idea was so unsound hence was not encouraged by many. The viewers could dismiss the films as imaginary and illusion based productions. Therefore, the idea of extreme expressionism did not blend well with the industry’s concept and associated with rebellions. However, expressionists did not ditch the ideal instead, they minimized on exposure degrees. Incorporation of the ideas started to appear in the industry as from 1920s where minor exaggerations revisited the film industry for enhancements. Notably, Hitchock secured a contract with a London based industry in the year 1920, proving his probable influence. Hitchock background developed him a feeling that, the expressionism idea was a great mind. Therefore, at Hollywood Hitchock integrated some facets of the idea in his productions. Ac cording to Guilbaut (17), moments are identifiable where Hitchock has staged expressionist productions based on his stand and against his employer’s terms. Fortunately, Hitchock’s idea realized a welcoming response in the American market. Indeed, most of his productions that followed had some little expressionism ideas incorporated in them. A suitable example of the Director’s style is evident in the film like Psycho & Vertigo. Scenes of exaggerated shadows and irrational camera views are present in the film (Packer 173). Additionally, the film design has bases of expressionism concepts. The producer has acknowledged the incorporation of his German learnt skills in his films. The influence extended later in his productions through visual testing. For instance, his 1960s productions like The Birds, & Marnie utilizes the style extensively. Hitchock’s work has provided platform on which other directors have emerged and strongly advocated for the virtues in t he film making industry. His

Conflict paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Conflict paper - Essay Example e different forces or ideologies that there exists miss understanding between the individuals, groups, parties, or forces involved in the conflict (Raines, 2013). The two conflicting sides in a conflict are usually referred to as the protagonists and antagonists. There are various classifications of conflict, these include man against society: this is where man is in conflict with a social institution that is man-made. Conflicts that come under this classification, include the social conflicts, for example slavery, and bullying (Wandberg, 2001). The underlying principle here is that man is forced to make moral choices or is deeply forced by society’s moral values and rules that make him or her frustrated and desperately long for change. Man against man: this is wherepeople are usually against other people, it is also referred to as external conflict, and it may be in terms of direct opposition, for example, buy the use of weapons, for example, the Vietnam War, or World War II or reflect a subtle conflict of desires between two or more parties, for example, family disputes or a romance war (Dana, 2001). Man against nature: this is a type of conflict where man is in conflict with a particular force of nature, for example, animals; this has greatly been depicted in various parts of the world as man encroaches into territories that are usually in habited by animals (IrsÃŒÅ'icÃŒÅ', 2007). Additionally man could be experiencing weird forces of nature which include storms, tornedoes, snow storms as well as snow storms. Man against self: this is a classification of conflict where man tries too hard to overcome his or her own nature and follow a particular path that he or she deems desirable. It is also referred to as internal conflict and individuals apply the logic of good or evil, for example, a drug addict desperately trying to fight his addiction, a sinner desperately trying to avoid sin and embrace salvation (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). In this particular piece of work,

Stem Cell Research Essay Example for Free

Stem Cell Research Essay Introduction A look at the progressive societies today indicates that science is encumbered by moral and political considerations.   The world of science is yet to be democratized and viable ideas are being sent to the gallows to satiate conservative thinkers at the helm of leadership.   A glimpse at most of the useful vaccines that have evolved indicates a struggle between morality and modern intelligence.   Science is struggling to permeate an almost non impervious wall of ethical consideration before a certain well meaning project can be allowed into the mainstream. Since the research into stem cells was pioneered in the 1960s, it has elicited hue and cry from the public with some claiming that scientists are trying to play God.   Many however have remained marveled at the exploits of modern science and have identified the wide range of benefits that arise from this research. Stem cell research is indeed revolutionizing the treatment of various human impairments and diseases such as leukemia and Parkinson’s disease amongst a wide range of other benefits.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The fascination created by stem cells research is immense and has expanded the scope of scientific study.   It continues to elicit interest regarding how organisms are able to grow from just one single cell and also the ability of such single cells to multiply and replace the damaged ones. Immense research is being carried out focusing on the application of cell therapy in the treatment of a number of diseases. Definition Stem cell refers to a â€Å"generic cell that can make exact copies of itself indefinitely.† (Chad). Gerald (203) definition of stem cells is centered on the inherent characteristics that they have which make them outstanding in comparison to other cells.   He observes that â€Å"they are undifferentiated cells that renew themselves at the single cell level for many cell doublings.† (203). There are two types of stem cells; the embryonic stem cell and the adult stem cells. Types of Stem Cells Embryonic stem cells are derived from a fetus (blastocyst) before the cell initiates the process of differentiation. They posses a higher ability of differentiation compared to the adult stem cells.   Much of the controversy that has arisen centers on the embryonic stem cells due to their origin. Adult stem cells on the other hand are obtained from the bone marrow.   Their versatility in research is restricted by the fact that they posses a number of limitations in terms of differentiation and divisibility.   The research into adult cells commenced earlier than for the embryonic cells and although both possess a number of similarities, adult cells are less flexible and much research and furor has been focused on the embryonic stem cells. Properties of Stem Cells All in all, stem cells serve an important purpose of replenishing damaged cells in the body. They repair the body system due to their higher potential of dividing into many cells limitlessly and also their ability to adapt to the prevailing chemical environment.   As Pam et al (8) observes that, â€Å"when a stem cell divides, each daughter can remain a stem cell or adopt a more specialized role such as muscle, blood or brain cell, depending on the absence or presence of chemical signals†.   Indeed, stem cells have the ability to grow and metamorphose into a particular cell that possesses characteristics that are similar to the cells of the deformed tissues. It is this self renewal capability and their higher potency that continue to arouse much curiosity amongst scientists who see them as the answer to various health and medical problems facing humanity.   Self renewal characteristic of a stem cell simply refers to its ability to divide and form multiply cells without losing its initial original characteristics.   Potency of a stem cell revolves around the ability to differentiate into desired specialized cells.   Depending on the capacity of cells to divide, they are referred to either pluripotency or unipotency. Pluripotent cells have â€Å"the ability to differentiate into a vast majority.† (Bellomo 35) Such cellular quality has become a major source of scientific inquiry as piluripitent cells have demonstrated unmatched ability of transform themselves into any set of tissues. They can develop either into endodermis, mesoderm or ectoderms as has been outlined by research. Endodermis refers to the inner tissues that range from the lining of the lungs and also the other internal organs such as the guts.   Mesoderm is the middle layer of body tissues that range from blood and the marrow alongside others.   On the other hand ectoderm refers to the outer most layers. Medical Benefits of Stem Cells The multipotent characteristic of a stem cell endows it with the ability to produce other cells although limited in number. An example of the multipitent cell is the hematopoietic cells.   Such cells too can give rise to other blood cells but their nature of differentiation limits their ability to â€Å"form liver cells, kidney cells, nerve cells, or any other kind of cell except for a select few kinds of blood cells.† (Bellomo 37).   Research into the multipotent cells was intensified in the recent past upon the discovery that they possess the potential to be used in stem cell therapies hence easing the suffering of millions in the world. Further research into this will uncover even further limitless application. Such research will enable scientists to fathom the complex process that the undifferentiated cells have to undergo before becoming differentiated.   This mostly is because majority of ailments experienced in the body are as a result of the abnormal processes of cell differentiation.   Scientists are yet to understand â€Å"the signals that turn specific genes on and off to influence the differentiation of the stem cell† (The National Institute of Health Resource of Stem Cell Research).   A further grasp of such a process will no doubt provide knowledge of what causes diseases as well as the various strategies to treat such diseases. Hopes are high hence in the medical profession that advances in modern technologies will be able to find a lasting cure to diseases such as cancer and diabetes.   This is because there still exists a huge gap in the current knowledge of stem cell research as some of the processes are still shrouded by mystery.    The existing treatments, after a breakthrough of research in the past 30 years, have centered on offering treatment to cancer patient that have complications such as leukemia.   Chemotherapy has been used in the destruction of the malignant tissues.   This however has proved to be detrimental to other useful cells such as the haematopoietic cells.   Advances made in the stem cell research have will be able to address this problem. This is because stem cells will be reintroduced into the system in a bid to replace the destroyed cells during chemotherapy.   Further research will be centered on the treatment of cancerous tumors.   A look at brain cancer history and trends over time indicates it is one of the most difficult to treat due to the speedy spread of the malignant tissues.   Research that has been conducted in dogs indicate that drugs can be developed that will specifically target the cancerous stem cells. Stem cell research has also been found to possess a potential of curing spinal cord injuries. In a study conducted in Korea, scientists have been able to come up with â€Å"stem cells tailored to match an individual† (BBC News channel).   Further information on the research indicates that this will result to diseases such as diabetes being treated without a patient’s body rejecting tissues. This is a major discovery that has solved one of the major headaches facing the treatment of diabetes.   In addition to diabetes, heart damages and baldness too will be contained in future. This indicates that in the end a wide range of medical maladies facing humanity will be eradicated through stem cell research. Stem Cell Research Controversy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the face of all the above mentioned benefits, stem cells research has been largely hampered by the opposition that has raged on centering on the use of embryonic stem cells. As afore mentioned, embryonic stem cells have been found to possess unique characteristics that give them a high ability to multiply and differentiate. Research has indicated that they can self divide and be able to maintain their inherent characteristics. This has made them more viable in the stem based therapy than the adult stem cells. They are seen as providing the answers to various diseases facing mankind. This has attracted criticism from pro life activists. The Catholic Church for example has been very vocal in its opposition of the research citing a number of moral grounds.   The major argument has been that embryonic research devalues human worth.   Critics insist that â€Å"the embryonic human should have the same moral status as the fetus or the child or the adult† (The ebrary ebrary, 210). They criticize the notion that embryos are not yet human insisting that focus hence should be on adult stem cells which may posses the same differentiation and division abilities rather than on embryonic research.   This opposition insists that â€Å"the proper test of humanity should be if the embryo has the potential to organize itself into a living human whole† and not on whether it is yet living (Inc ebrary ebrary 210) Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   These arguments made against the stem cell research may hold some water when addressed on the context of morals.   Indeed it is important to accord embryos the respect they deserve in the recognition that it is a stage in human growth. However, such arguments fail to recognize the immense benefits that such a research accords to humanity. It hence defeats logic for critics of stem cell research to equate human embryos with human beings.   Though a human embryo is important in itself it is not always that it develops into a human being and if there is a way that it can be beneficial to humanity such benefit should be explored.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is hence important that the public in the understanding of the mentioned benefits urge the political regimes to allocate more funding to the stem cell research to uncover their full potential.       Works Cited. Chad H.   Stem cell research. Medical Encyclopedia. National library of Medicine. 2007.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Retrieved on October 30, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007120.htm Gerald P. Current Topics in Developmental Biology. Academic Press, 2006; 203 Bellomo M. The Stem Cell Divide: The Facts, the Fiction, and the Fear Driving the Greatest Scientific, Political, and Religious Debate of Our Time. AMACOM Div   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   American Mgmt Assn, 2006; 33-39 BBC.UK. Stem Cells Tailored to Patients. 2005. Retrieved on October 30, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4555023.stm Inc ebrary ebrary. The Debatabase Book: A Must Have Guide for Successful Debate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   IDEA, 2004; 209-211 Judith A., Erin W.   Stem Cell Research.   Congressional Research Service. 2004.   .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Retrieved on October 30, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.fas.org/spp/civil/crs/RL31015.pdf. Pam S., Gail P., Mary T. The Promise and Politics of Stem Cell Research. Greenwood    Publishing Group, 2007; 8

Charles Murray Essay Example for Free

Charles Murray Essay The New Right came from the work of the American Sociologist Charles Murray who viewed welfare payments has causing lone parenthood which in turn created an underclass. Charles Murray visited the UK in 1989 and said it has a developing underclass. Murray said: â€Å"the underclass are defined by their behaviour. Their homes are littered and unkempt. The men in the family are unable to hold down a job. Drunkenness is common. The children grew up ill-schooled and ill-behaved and contribute to a disproportionate share of juvenile delinquents† Murray saw underclass as behaviour a lifestyle choice, a disease which infects certain groups of people. When I use the term underclass I am indeed focusing on a certain type of poor person defined not by his condition, for example, long-term unemployment, but by his deplorable behaviour in response to that condition, for example, unwilling to take jobs that are available to him. This shows how members of the underclass define themselves as different by their own behaviour. Murray singles out three forms of behaviour that define underclass status: * Parenting behaviour * Criminal behaviour * Labour market behaviour Specifically, it is illegitimate births to young women, habitual crime and particularly violent crime, and the refusal of young working class men to enter employment that determines the existence of an underclass. If illegitimate births are the leading indicator of an underclass and violent crime a proxy measure of its development, the definitive proof that an underclass has arrived is that large numbers of young, healthy, low-income males choose not to take jobs. (The young idle rich are a separate problem). (Murray, 1990) Since, in his analysis, it is the poor themselves that are to blame for their poverty, because they either choose to act in a certain way, or are conditioned to do so by over-generous government welfare, the policy solutions that flow from this analysis are, not surprisingly, aimed at changing the behaviour of the poor. The alternative, improving the effectiveness of the welfare programmes, is not considered. Indeed for New Right theorists, the welfare state is a major part of the problem. What such theorists would seek is the dismantling of the welfare state, and a situation set up that would make it dysfunctional for individuals to act in deviant ways. David Marsland Sociologist David Marsland has adopted the new right approach and does not believe that poverty is as bad as others are making out. He claims that groups such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation purposely confuse poverty with inequality and completely exaggerates the extent of poverty. He argues that there is only absolute poverty and that relative does not exist. Marsland is very critical about universal benefits and services such as health care, education and child benefits. He believes that people who are on low income are results of the state being too generous in their benefits and services rather than the individual’s inadequacy to work (Haralambos Holborn, 2008). A quote from Marsland : the expectation that society, the state, the government, they, will look after our problems tricks us into abdicating from self-reliance and social responsibly (Marsland 1989). However, Marsland has been criticised by Bill Jordan who says that he is wrong to blame the culture of dependenc y to universal welfare provision. He argues that selectively means testing benefits can trap people in a life of poverty. It often turns out that people are better off on benefits than they would be in work. It also can exclude the individual from the rest of society and make them feel ashamed and embarrassed that they receive benefits. Also, if education and health care are private then people with disability and unskilled workers may not be able to afford or find work. Jordan also claims that societies that rely upon means-tested benefits and private health care, tend to develop a large underclass, who have little chance of escaping from poverty; this is the case in countries such as America. Jordan states that poverty is a result of societies being too harsh. He argues that the only way to break the cycle of poverty is by universal benefits that are at a high enough standard so people can afford to work and get back up on their feet (Haralambos Holborn, 2008). Despite this, the New Right approach has been influential across Western countries, and the Conservative party is in power in Britain today.

Oil And Gas Industry In India Commerce Essay

Oil And Gas Industry In India Commerce Essay The history of oil and gas industry in India started since 1867 from Digboi in the state of Assam. After the independence of the India the oil and gas industry were controlled by the international companies. At that time Indias oil productions were below 250,000 tonnes / annum which were contributed from Assam. At that time some of the oil experts doubted about Indias oil production ability and for the new oil reserves. But Government declared oil industry as a core sector in India under IPR bill in 1954, which helps to change the face of Indian oil industry Indian Government established the Oil Gas Industry in India. All the functions of the oil and gas industries are coming under various public sector organisations which are controlled and authorised by THE MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM NATURAL GAS of India. Structure of Indian Petroleum Industry (IBEF, 2009) Indian Oil and Gas industry holds an important role in Indian economy. It satisfies 42% of primary energy requirements in India and contributes around 15 % to the GDP. With an exciting combination of government and private firms, the industry is fixing their top position in domestic international markets. The report from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) shows that requirement for petroleum products increased by 4.4% to 144.35 million tonnes for the period of the financial year 2010-2011. Presently, Indias petroleum refining capacity is 144.35 million tonnes per annum. It is expected to increase by 240 million tons by Sept 12. Source (CGES, 2012) Indias economy is expected to grow at the rate of 7% per annum over the next five years; it means that demand for energy will also increase. 90% of coal consumption and 75% of gas consumption were met by domestic While Indian domestic oil industry can only covers 22% of oil consumption. This may drop in future years. This shows Indian oil and gas industry should have to depend more in oil imports, which will be 2.4 mbpd Major Players in Industry COMPANY PROFILE Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and its subsidiaries were consist of roughly 48% of petroleum commodities market share, 71% downstream division pipelines capability and 34% nationalized refining capability in India. Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Indian Mirror, 2012) Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) is the leading commercial ISO-9002 certified venture in India and it is the top public sector venture in India, Indian Oil Corporation Limited is the largest company by sales in India with a yield of  $ 85,550 million and profit of $ 825 million for the fiscal year 2011-12.  In IOCL is the first Indian company to reach at the 83rd position in latest Fortune Global 500 listings. Indian oil Corporation is the 20th largest petroleum company in the world. IOCL was established as Indian Oil Company Ltd. in 1959. In 1964 Indian Refineries Ltd. Merged in Indian Oil Company Ltd to form IOCL IOCL is an oil company based in India. Main operations of the company are refineries, marketing, Centre and Business Development, pipelines, enterprise and planning (EP), RD, petrochemicals and natural gas. 10 of Indian refineries and its cross-country crude oil network and gas pipelines are owned and operated by IOCL and its subsidiaries. Portfolio of brands consists of SERVO lubricants, Indane LPG, XTRAMILE diesel XtraPremium petrol and Propel Petrochemicals. Domestic portfolio of IOCL is consists of 13 blocks in its exploration and production, among these two of the blocks Indian Oil as an operator have 100 per cent participation interest. The international portfolio having 9 blocks stretch over Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Gabon, Venezuela Yemen. In the fiscal year of 2011- 12 around 0.62 million tons of crude oil processed from the Digboi Refinery. Market watch 2012 (reuters, 2012) PURPOSE AND ISSUES To analyse the factors that affecting management performance in Indian oil corporation ltd, what are the issues and to what extend it effects in the management performance of Indian oil corporation ltd. RESEARCH QUESTIONS How the HR factors do affects on the management performance and issues in Indian Oil Corporation in India? What are the economic factors influenced on the management performance and issues in Indian Oil Corporation in India? How the competition factors affects on management performance and issues in Indian Oil Corporation in India? How the IT influenced in management performance and issues in Indian Oil Corporation in India? How the customer satisfaction impact on the management performance and issues in Indian Oil Corporation in India? RESEARCH OBJECTIVES To evaluate HR factors that affects in the management performance and issues in Indian oil corporation in India. To examine the economic factors that influenced in the management performance and issues in Indian oil corporation in India. To find out completion affects in the management performance and issues in Indian Oil Corporation in India. To realize the influence of IT in management performance and issues in Indian oil corporation in India To analyses customer satisfaction impact on the management performance and issues in Indian oil corporation in India LITERATURE REVIEW (media.wiley, 2008) HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES AND ISSUES Human resource practices can be says as the management of an organizations human force or work force. HRM is the responsible for managing the employees in the organization. So the HRM has an inevitable roe in the managing performance of an organization. Management functions of HRM are consisting of attracting, selecting, training, evaluating, and rewarding the personnels in the firm. Expected industry growth in oil and gas sector took country to a level of high demand for the skilled labours in the industry, the work-force demand for vital skilled sets all over the oil and gas value chain and the supply of resources in India (Earnest Young, 2010). IOCL sustained its attempts to encourage workforce contribution in diverse actions by idea sharing, proposal scheme, rewards and recognitions, etc. HR Index was designed to assist efficient execution of HR practices and policies. IOCL owns and operates 10 out of 22 Indian refineries with a combined capacity of around 65.7 MMT per annum. IOCL is the largest company in terms of turnover in India. It is the 98th largest public corporation in world and it operates with a strong work force of 34,233. Out of it, 19,382 were workers and about 14,831 were officer cadres. Among the workers, 68 % of the workers have experience of more than 25 years. Most of the employees in IOCL were since its starting period. In this industry, the other companies are also competing with IOCL to attract skilled workers. IOCL has lot of experienced workers so that recruiting fresher through campus interview and other sources and they shaping the personnel through the training. IOCL is a public firm that follows best HR practices, even though they are facing lot of challenges and issues in their HR sector that affects in their management performance as well. HR Issues that Affects Management Performance in IOCL Retirement This is the most important issue that going to face by the IOCL. Due to retirement of labours IOCL will loss roughly 16000 workers in 2021. Most of them were highly skilled and positioned in top authority. By 2021, we will lose half of 34,000 strong employees, Ashok Jambur, chief training manager IOCL. (Nair, 2012). By this issue fifty year old firm forced to depend upon outsourcing to overcome this situation. This will not be an easy task for the management. Company will loss both white as well the blue-collared personals. This will affect both HR and top management sectors this may lead to underperformance management sector. Skills Age Requirements. As per the trend in Indian oil and gas sector, the average age is the main issue that faced by everyone in the sector, especially in Indian Oil Corporation it pretty is high. Not only is the age company asking for but also the experience and skills up to their expectation. Which one is not much easy to find out in this competitive industry? Every company is looking for the best and experienced candidates to strengthen their work force. Here the skills are bigest question mark before the leading public listed firm in India . (Earnest Young, 2010) Attrition It is another unavoidable headache for the HR department and the management. From the recent studies, it estimated as a loss of 7 per cent of current employees in next 5 years. (IndianOil coporation, 2012). The management scared with the attrition from the middle management employees. Who were flying towards the international opportunities. 5% of the highly qualified personals were working for experience only. The management and HR department have to take necessary steps to avoid the loss of their employees. ECONOMIC FACTORS AND ISSUES IOCL, BPL and HP lost around  Rs.138, 800 crore in income from sales of domestic LPG, kerosene and diesel under cost in 2011-12. Revenue loss in this financial year estimated as  Rs.  208,000 crore. Both Indian Oil and Gas sector and economy has a mutual understanding in each other. Indian economy is a changing economy. It is very difficult to predict the Indian economy. IOCL and its subsidiaries have most vital part to play in altering the Indian economy. The economy is affecting by the increase of demand and price of the crude oil. The inflation of the Indian currency is the major issue that affects the entire petroleum industry in India. Indian currency value is changing vastly, is also a burden to the industry. INFLATION IN INDIAN CURRENCY IOCL is the largest firm as per its turnover even-though by the depreciation of Rupee leads the company to a loss, which affects lightly in their performance. Indian market witnessed strong demand growth despite weakening economic activity. Due to the foreign exchange difference the company records a loss of Rs 3,187 crore in last fiscal year. http://www.marketinfoline.com/wp-content/uploads/CRUDE-IMPORT1.png When considering the net crude oil importing in MMT for last 2 years imported crude oil is decreased in 2010-11 than in previous year. But while considering the cost of importing increased by 12% 15% this shows the economic how Indian economy affected the oil and gas industry ECONOMIC CRISIS Global economic situations continued to be pathetic and challenging. This fiscal year saw describing of many new challenges. It reflects in Indian economy indirectly through some other ways. The major challenges were towards the Indian oil and gas industry. Global Economic crisis resulted in the price hike in crude oil market. As India, one of the largest crude oil importing country, it affects India badly especially the IOCL. IOCL records loss of Rs 22,451 crore due to the economic challenges in country as well in globally. The financial crises were a double strike to the Indian Oil Corporation ltd. Crude oil price hike As per IOCL domestic production of crude oil is very low as concerned with the demand in the country. But the demand for oil products increased. And the company has to depend on other sources. By the effect of the economic crisis the price and demand of crude oil increased. These two graphs show the demands and the increase in the crude oil price in India oil markets. This is one of the major challenge that facing by the Indianoil. The trends showing that it will continue its flow of hike. Expected figures will be a nightmare for both IOCL and the Indian economy. Share Market Price Economic crises are usually affecting Share markets. Market fluctuations depend on the global economic factors. IOCL is a largest public firm in India .the majority shares were owned by the president and the rest handled by some bankers and investors. Stock rate This figure shows how the economic issues affect the share market of IOCL from April 2011 to March 2012. BSE and NSE are the two important stock exchanges in India. In both BSE and NSE share price decreased by 15%. These all shows the after effects of financial crises in Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ISSUE Risk management and security strategy involves the detection of threats, susceptibility, anticipation of crisis, reaction towards situations and revival of assets and safety of employees. IT infrastructure in Indian oil corp. was an extremely decentralized mix up of diverse systems. The corporation required to shorten its IT atmosphere and to increase its efficiency. IOCL running with more than 32, 000 employees and16, 000 PCs over various sections consisting of RD, pipelines, refineries and marketing. However, the corporation has a centralized administration over these sections. Mr. R. Krishnamurthy, Chief Manager of IOCL accepting that they had not installed standard IT infrastructure in the firm. Each section had separate set of apps and software to manage its operations. Major IT issues in IOCL Database Management, Identity and Access One of the major challenges is lack on single sign-on. The portable labour force of the IOCL had no system access while on action. Accessing of IT systems is only takes place when the employees are on the work desk. Due to this, the time consuming for the activities and updating of the information about of ongoing activities destruction are some issues faced by IOCL. These issues are reflecting throughout business activities. An efficient database system can generate high assurance atmosphere and protected planning, with safe identity management, remote access network and data security. Secure Communications Systems. Consumers need accurate and safe information that connects the home site with additional companys sites. IOCL should have to increase their efficiency in their communication system. Currently the system is not much efficient and they are following the older versions and system. Therefore, they have to concentrate on the security and effectiveness of the system. Security Risk Management Field actions involve in risk evaluation and development of practical security measurements to moderate risks. These practices necessitate identifying of prospective risks, establishing borders, assessment of effects and method of anticipation and recovery plans for business. Risk management system is an important factor in Oil industry. Hacking, terrorism is the major threats facing by the industry. It is very important to prevent such intervene from the external source. COMPETITION Indian oil industry was monopoly sector till recently owned by the petroleum ministry as various sectors. By the setting up of liberalisation in country, privatisation in the petroleum sector has been implemented. At the beginning the Government had APM (Administered Pricing Mechanism) for pricing the products. Which cause higher pricing than the market determined price have been. This situation made the Government to implement privatization in transportation fuel including HSD (High Speed Diesel). The main competitors to the IOCL are Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Bharath Petroleum Corporation Ltd from the public sector and private firms like (RPL), Essar and Reliance Petroleum Ltd. The ministry of petroleum maintain to hold licensing around in an attempt to support exploration process and boost domestic oil production. Company Outlets IOCL 8,100 HPCL 4,899 BPCL 4,861 Reliance 5,849 Essar Oil 1,700 IOCL is the largest public sector in country in basis of its turnover. IOCL has its dominant position in Indian oil industry even though the private companies like Reliance Petroleum, Essar, Shell etc getting stronger in the industry. Now a day market getting competitive more than198os and 1990s. Competition in Exploration Exploration is the primary step in production of oil and gas. Exploration and production of oil and gas is vital for Indias economic growth and energy security. IOCL has been concentrating exploration and production process both inside and outside India in association with syndicate partner.  IOCL is related with 2 flourishing inventions in oil exploration blocks, one each in Iran and India. From the above table it is very clear that the IOCL is facing very tight competition from the private as well as the public firms which are in same industry. Exploration and production of petroleum and gas is the major factor that affects in the economy of the country so the Government is also encouraging the competition in the refining and the production. The main competitors are ONGC and OIL Corporation. ONGC is consisting with the gas production also thats why they having domination position in the exploration sector. IOCL have to develop some e good strategies to attain a good position in this sector. Competition in petrochemicals Petrochemicals govern universal chemical market about share of 40 %. The industry is looking towards the undergoing metamorphosis, in this IOCL have to compete with some of the forign companies as well. Petrochemicals are related to daily life products. In the production of petrochemicals IOCL had a dominant position in the early period of the industry. Now-a-day the dominant position is being challenged by the competitors in the industries. Reliance and Essar also knows their market credibility in the industry so by 2015 the competition for the market production will be strong and huge. It estimated as, by 2011-12 production will decrease in huge by intervene of the competitors. These will keep the management in a critical situation, as per the statistical information they have to the prevention measure for the situations in front of them. Competition in Refining Industry Indian oil industry is consist of 18 refinaries public sector and 3 in private sector,which have the total installed capacity of 127.35 MMTPA (ministry of petroleum, 2011). Out of these 18 refineries 8 belongs to IOCL. By June 2011 as vision to increase the productivity of oil and GDP Government granted three new refineries two of them s in the private sector. This will increase the competition from the private sector. IOCL is the largest refining company in India from its starting. Currently they are in good position comparing to the other public sectors. Their production is high because of the number of refineries. By the new Government policies the competitive market is rising towards the dominant position of IOCL. Private companies like Reliance, Essar showing fast growth in this sector this will be a threat to IOCL in future. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Competition in Indian oil industry is being increasing so the company should have to take necessary steps to retain their customers. Now in the business customer is the keen factor that is, Customer sat-is- faction. Therefore IOCL have to focus on their customers needs and satisfaction. It is the method of measuring how product and services distributed by a company meets or surpasses his expectation from the current situation the customers in country are not satisfied by the IOCL. IOCL has a good brand position in Indian oil industry thats why lot of customers are choosing IOCL products. But the firm is not much bothered about their customers. There are lot of complaints regarding their distribution, products availability, service quality, customer service one of the major problem faced by the customers are the booking system. The management is utter fail in that system. The management should have to implement innovative systems. By the privatisation the private firms are coming with attractive customer oriented products Reliance and Essar providing good and timely customer service for their consumers now-a-day the trend shows most of the customers are depending private firms by giving preference to the conformability . IOCLs distribution channel controlling is very narrow with limited systems which were not connecting customers with the company. They have to accept some of the new effective systems in the management that giving customer preference. The customer service in IOCL is one of the major drawbacks of the firm. The customer service should have the ability to satisfy the needs of the customers. Customers are not satisfied with the newly implemented e-payment system. It is remaining as burden over the head of management. Increase in the industry also affected the customer attrition and customer reaction. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY RESEARCH DESIGN According to (Geoffrey Marczyk, 2005) Research Design is the structure and the plan for investigating and covering the collected, measured and investigated data in a blue print. As per AHM (American Heritage College Dictionary) research is a systematic enquiry or investigative study or to analyse something thoroughly. In most simple words it is the method of finding solutions to problems. (Mackey Gass, 2005) Research onion F:Powerpointpe_ukPE083-SaundersFinal_FilesGifch04C04NF001.gif Source : (Saunders et al., 2006) This is a model of research. In this model collection and study of information are considered as layer of onion each layer shows each stage of studies. EXPLORATORY AND CONCLUSIVE RESEARCH http://dstraub.cis.gsu.edu:88/quant/images/figure3small.gif Source: (Detmar strub, 2010) Exploratory Research: This is a method of research using to evaluate the issues and the possibilities of a firm. Forms of this study are secondary data investigation, experience surveys, Pilot studies, focus groups, and pilot study of case analysis. It is mainly based on qualitative information other than the quantitative factors. This method will be helpful to find out the quantitative information about IOCL and Indian Oil and Gas Industry. Source: (Courses, 2012) Conclusive research If considering a conclusive research on IOCL. To find out the quantitative data we have to apply two different type of conclusive research. Descriptive Research This method have been using widely for the researches to study the current position, evaluate the industry and the competitive nature. (DJS Research, 2011). This method is using to analyse the effect of the Crude oil price of IOCL in Indian oil sector. Causal Research This method used to find the factors that cause another issues for the company. It is the evaluation of cause and effects of factors (MJ Research, 2008). Here In the case of IOCL, competitors plays in the downfall of market share price. SAMPLE DESIGN Taking decision on what type of sample should have to choose for study or survey. Method of planning the steps and the procedure to collect the information from the sample of people that available (OECD, 2006) cost effectiveness reasonable factors thorough study time management SAMPLING METHODS Various methods of samplings are using for research purpose. These methods are using for obtaining a sample from general population and it is vital process to evade bias in selection process. (Cramster, 2012) SAMPLING METHODS PROBABILITY SAMPLING NON PROBABILITY SAMPLING Systematic Sampling Stratified Sampling Multi-stage Sampling Convenience Sampling: Judgement Sampling: Quota Sampling: . (Castillo, 2009) PROBABILITY SAMPLING In this method the researcher can accept a sample from a population of same nature. Its a method of collecting samples from a population having equal chances to be selected. There are three types of probability sampling. NON PROBABILITY SAMPLING: This can be says as collection of samples from a specified category of population. It can be says as taking a sample from workers in the IOCL in India and taking information from them. Sample selection will be a random process and cannot be estimate respondents nature. Essentials in non-probability are chosen arbitrarily and there is no chance to estimate any individual built in the sample. (StatisticsCanada, 2009) Collection of Data It is practice or procedure that uses to collect experimental data. There are lot of methods are using for collecting data. The relevancy of the data decides the method that has to follow. There are lot of collection method, Triangulation method is one among them. http://www.watershedplanning.illinois.edu/images/triangle.gif This method is consisting of three steps they are, Historical Research it includes with secondary data collection. In this step should have to collect all the previous data including qualitative and quantitative data. While considering IOCL, collection of information about domestic production of oil in last 8 years. Key Informants is collecting of primary data consisting of qualitative nature. Collection of information regarding performance of HR in IOCL is involved in this step. Surveys final step of collecting data through surveys from samples, customers workers etc it is also a primary data collection. Collection of information of IOCL by giving questionnaires to customers. This data are consisting of both qualitative and quantitative data. https://koppa.jyu.fi/avoimet/hum/menetelmapolkuja/en/methodmap/data-collection/images/circle_coll.gif (Koppa, 2011) This figure shows the methods and areas of data collection data collection. In this figure it describes about the steps of the collecting data. Types of Data http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~renglish/370/notes/chapt08/primary_secondary_data.gif (ROHAN Academic Computing, 2011) COLLECTION METHODS This study is based on the qualitative factors of IOCL India.it is to find out how the issues affecting its management performance? This study is based on the employees survey. It would help to know the management challenges due to the internal and external issues. Methods like focus group interview and pilot studies helped lot to get straight information about IOCL. 3.4 DATA ANALYSIS Data analysis is the process getting collectively quantitative and qualitative data to develop answers to the research questions. (national service resources, 2008) (national service resources, 2008) GANTT CHART

The Nature of Man, the Renaissance, and the Protestant Reformation Essa

Europe was a tumultuous region in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In particular, the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation both introduced radical intellectual and religious ideas that challenged centuries of established doctrine. This period corresponded with a great surge in philosophical, political, and religious writing. Among the most influential thinkers of the time were the Italian humanist Leon Battista Alberti, the Florentine politician Niccolà ² Machiavelli, and the German monk Martin Luther. Alberti wrote in a time of humanist thought and economic prosperity, Machiavelli in a time of growing political instability and economic uncertainty in Italy, and Luther in a time dominated by an increasingly corrupt Catholic church. While Alberti’s good fortune is reflected in On the Family’s optimism, Machiavelli’s The Prince and Luther’s On Christian Liberty are direct reactions to the perceived crises the authors were witnessing, and both works were written with an obvious sense of urgency. These writers all put forward strongly worded and drastically different views of the fundamental nature of man. Alberti saw man as an active being seeking a classical education and a good family in which to raise children, Machiavelli perceived man as craving power and impossible to satisfy, and for Luther man was eternally sinful searching only for faith in God. More significant than their visions of human nature is the physical focus of that nature—body or soul—and how the origin of such a attitude was related to the period in which they were living. While Alberti’s vision of human nature focused on a man’s outward actions shaping his inner soul, Luther saw just the opposite, a man’s soul struggling to achieve what... ...lberti saw a great potential for man and wanted to outline his vision for others. Machiavelli saw man’s flaws and what it caused, and sought only a cold, practical solution without the nuisance of morals. Luther, devastated by the corruption of the ruling religious authority, wished to save Europe’s Christians from a way of life that would seal their fate as sinners. Works Cited Alberti. On the Family. Readings in Western Civilization 5: The Renaissance. Ed. Eric Cochrane and Julius Kirshner. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1986. The Making of the West, Volume B: 1320-1830. Ed. Lynn Hunt, et al. Bedford/St. Martin's: New York, 2001. Luther, Martin. On Christian Liberty. Trans. W. A. Lambert. Fortress Press: Minneapolis, 2003. Machiavelli, Niccolà ². The Prince. Trans. Harvey C. Mansfield. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1998.

The Differences Between A Club And A Gang :: essays research papers

The differences between a club and a gang, are quite distinct, but it is the connotational differences between these two words which distinguishes one from the other. The New Lexicon Webster's Dictionary of the English Language defines a club as; "...an association of people with some common interest who meet periodically..." It defines a gang as "...a number of men or boys banding together, esp. lawlessly..." This definition is traditionally slanted toward applying to male youth, and stereotypical gangsters, from the Mafia to street criminals. Persons who often have a negative attitude toward youth see gangs. Often individuals form gangs out of fear and for the protection of their members whether they are the Bloods and Crips of Los Angeles or the Sharks and the Jets of "West Side Story." Gangs may not possess a set of formal written rules, but all of them have their own sets of customs or conditions. Gangs may or may not be facilitated in a branch of higher and lower members, mimicking a military model. Gangs often have a loosely defined set of goals, and are often involved in delinquent activities. A socially approved form of a gang is a club. Americans generally view clubs as character building leadership opportunities; whereas, individuals typecast into gangs are persecuted as criminals. Clubs are formed with constructive goals in mind, such as making it easier for its members to find parts for a particular brand of automobile. Socioeconomic class, academic achievement, or perceived roles in society for its members all play a part in the preferential treatment given to a group which a society deems a club rather than a gang. For instance, parts of the public anticipated that motorcycle riders would cause a massive rise in crime within the Hollister area during the motorcycle rally.

Thomas Mores Utopia as a Social Model Essays -- Thomas More Utopia

Thomas More's Utopia as a Social Model   Ã‚  Ã‚  In his famous work Utopia, Sir Thomas More describes the society and culture of an imaginary island on which all social ills have been cured. As in Plato's Republic, a work from which More drew while writing Utopia, More's work presents his ideas through a dialogue between two characters, Raphael Hythloday and More himself. Hythloday is a fictional character who describes his recent voyage to the paradisal island of Utopia. Throughout the work, Hythloday describes the laws, customs, system of government, and way of life that exist in Utopia to an incredulous and somewhat condescending More.    Throughout the work, Hythloday presents a society organized to overcome the flaws of human nature. This society has been carefully thought out by More -- as the author of the work -- to help avoid the problems associated with human nature. Individual human appetites are controlled and balanced against the needs of the community as a whole. In other words, More attempts to describe a society in which the seven deadly sins are counterbalanced by other motivations set up by the government and society as a whole.    More seems to think that the seven deadly sins will be fairly easy to overcome. Pride, for instance, is counterbalanced in several ways in his social system. For instance, he makes sure that all people wear the same clothing, except that the different genders wear different styles, as do married and unmarried people. More also makes individuals fairly interchangeable within the social system -- one carpenter, for instance, seems to be more or less like another to him, and can find work anywhere that carpenters are needed. He also says that the Utopians encourage their ci... ...en consumed by lust for power due to the way in which he was raised, others in his society would have been. No society can control the motivations of all individuals involved to such a degree as to completely eliminate power-lust in all of its members.    More's Utopia, then, presents a nice theory, but one too abstract, too Platonic, too rationalistic, and with too little understanding of real human motivations to be workable. However, it is hardly a useless or worthless work -- it contains many profound psychological insights, quite a bit of humor, and many very good points. I doubt that it is workable as a complete social system, however.    Works Cited: More, Sir Thomas. Utopia. New York: Washington Square Press, 1965. Marlowe, Christopher. The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus. Ed. Louis B. Wright. New York: Washington Square Press, 1959.   

A Swot Analysis of Starbucks

Introduction Starbucks is a famous coffeehouse. Until the mid-1980s it was only a provider of coffee to fine restaurants. Thereafter Howard Schultz, director of retail operations and marketing, was impressed of the popularity of coffee in Milan while he was in Europe . His idea was born. He wanted to bring the coffee bar culture to the Americans. So Starbucks started to realise his idea and so created a new trend. The clue is not only to sell coffee, but to sell an experience. Today Starbucks has got about 20 million customers each week in about 5500 coffeehouses all over the world . While haunting to increase sales more and more, Starbucks has got a special growth strategy. They open a lot of stores in a very short period of time, expanding numerous food offerings and also getting into new segments, for example supermarkets. They develop new products like bottled coffee or Starbucks-flavoured ice cream. In addition to that, Starbucks tests new coffeehouse concepts, for example with live music. Since a few years, Starbucks opens more and more stores outside America. The important question is, if Starbucks’ growth rate will continue within next years because on the one hand critics say that Starbucks grows too fast and is loosing the focus while on the other hand some critics compare Starbucks’ coffee with Mc Donald’s? hamburger and believe that they will grow up more and more as the dominant player on this market . With the help of the SWOT analysis and the BCG matrix the situation of Starbucks can be analyzed after finding out, why people pay more money for a coffee, than in other coffeehouses. What has suddenly made people across the world willing to pay three to four times more for a cup of coffee than they used to? Starbucks has created a new trend. They do not just sell coffee, they sell an experience. To drink coffee at Starbucks is different from drinking coffee in another coffeehouse according to a Starbucks executive who said, that â€Å"Starbucks is not in the business of filling bellies but in the business of filling souls† . They recognised that they were getting into a new niche, which did not exist before. While having great success, Starbucks grows rapidly to have an advantage according to a bunch of competitors who also entered this new niche. With the high-quality coffee, Starbucks creates besides a new brand a new lifestyle which is known all over the world. Furthermore, they offer a lot of different flavours which differs from other coffeehouses. But coffee is not the only reason why people are willing to pay a lot more there than in other coffeehouses. The mission statement declares that the employees’ job is not only to sell coffee. They should enthusiastically satisfy every customer to give him the special feeling and experience at Starbucks . All in all Starbucks recognised a new niche and satisfied the customers with their special flavoured and high quality coffee. To get an idea of Starbucks’ success, it is necessary to take a close look at the company by using the SWOT analysis and the BCG matrix. A SWOT analysis of Starbucks Strengths The company has a strong presence in the United States of America and a good reputation for creativity and coffee. Starbucks has started a real trend and many people enjoy drinking a Starbucks coffee. However, it is not just coffee but rather an experience Starbucks sells. Starbucks operates in more than 5,500 stores worldwide. This presence provides a wide and strong customer base. It is a global brand and is widely known. Starbucks built up a reputation for fine products and the name is a common brand label and this gives Starbucks a competitive advantage because people connect coffee with Starbucks. Every week more than 20 million customers visit Starbucks to get a coffee once or twice a day. In the last years the company could tripled their earnings. Another strength is that Starbucks has a strategy they follow. These strong principles include that Starbucks looks after their employees and threat each of them with respect. They create a nice and friendly environment that they also reflect outwards. Starbucks offers different flavours through its position as a disciplined innovator and introduces diverse products. They also pay attention to the high standards and want to offer the best quality. Starbucks decided to push into supermarkets because the majority of people bought their coffee in stores before. Therefore Starbucks came to the conclusion to make a deal with the Kraft company. This deal combines Starbucks experience in producing premium coffee with Kraft’s knowledge of marketing, selling and distributing. That was a good step for Starbucks to reach a new channel and to get the entry to 25,000 supermarkets. It makes sense that the company wants to reach the people at home and to include more people into the Starbucks lifestyle. Beyond stores, Starbucks sells its beans to hotels, several airlines and airports. Starbucks sells gourmet coffee, beans as well as gifts and related goods. (Starbucks also signed a deal to operate coffee shops within Waterstones bookshop superstores. Also the homepage of Starbucks has become successful and a ‘lifestyle portal’, where the company sells a variety of products like tea, coffee making equipment, compact discs and collectibles to satisfy their customers needs with different products. Weaknesses One of Starbucks` weakness is that their primary product is just coffee. They are therefore dependent on this main product line. Starbucks is however testing to launch food offerings like sandwiches and chips in combination with coffee. Its goal is not only to expand more and more in its offerings but also to reach further target groups . A problem is that Starbucks has a slow ability to diversify into other sectors which could be fatal because the company believes in being successful not only because it is selling coffee but rather it is selling an experience . This makes them different from other competitors who might only sell coffee. â€Å"Coffee Lifestyle† may vary from time to time due to the fact that the global coffee market is a very competitive sector . Another weakness are high prices of its products. People pay up to $3. 15 for a caffe latte. One supposes that people buy this product only because they think that it is a premium product . But it is especially the brand name which tempts customers to buy the product without taking the high prices into consideration. As already mentioned before, the customer is not only buying the product, he is buying it with an experience. Another weakness of Starbucks is that they are simply relying on the philosophy that coffee is just an experience. There exists no doubt a good marketing strategy but it is questionable if this is helpful to maintain over time on the market with the strategy of only focusing on one product. â€Å"We are not in business of filling bellies; we’re in the business of filling souls† says one Starbucks executive. That shows another very good and appealing philosophy of Starbucks. This makes the product and its uniqueness but it is only a question of time when people are saturated of this experience. You have to point out that Starbucks itself tries hard to achieve this effect by the people through a competent public relationship. Opportunities Starbucks has a widespread presence and practices in about 1. 415 stores and just last year they build up 400 new stores. The company has seen opportunities to open further stores all over the world due to the heavy demand and space to expand. For example Indiana in the US has only one Starbucks. Furthermore, Starbucks has the opportunity to expand its global operations. The company is now expanding rapidly and in 2003 the number of stores has increased in 24 international markets compared to 1996 when they had only 11 stores outside the United States. Starbucks also tests new food which represents that food might be the next step they want to go. With this the company would have the chance to offer food that could be successful as its coffee. They test everything from doughnuts to Greek pasta salads. Starbucks also teamed up with PepsiCo to adopt the brand on Frappuccino drinks and a newDoubleShot expresso drink. Beyond this Starbucks ice cream is nowadays a leading brand of coffee ice cream after Starbucks established a joint venture with Breyer’s. In addition, Starbucks invested in Cafe Starbucks, a European-style family bistro, where the costumer has a wide choice from huckleberry-pancakes too oven-roasted seared sirloin. Alongside, Starbucks is testing Circadia, a new food venture, where the customers have Internet access and listen to live music. Starbucks has always been able to offer new coffee experiences as well as creating new products or opening new kinds of stores. Threats One of the biggest threats of Starbucks is its grand expansion all over the world. When launching a new product numerous customers are visiting the company’s stores world wide each week. It is especially Starbucks growth strategy which stands for a threat for the company. Starbucks especially concentrates on store growth. Almost 85 per cent of sales are generated through its stores. Although they have great success, Starbucks always finds new places for further expansion on the local as well as on the national market with being aware of the fact that the local as well as the national market may be saturated of its product. The creation of new retail channels also shows that Starbucks is not concerned about peoples` rejection or about failing to be successful. Apart from their strong presence in kiosks, several airlines, hotels and the co-operation with Waterstones’ bookshop superstores, Starbucks enters 25,000 supermarkets to sell their products next to their strong competitors like Nestle and Kraft. They also offer coffee, tea and its equipment on its website to be internationally present for a wider target group. To intensify its presence they are not deterred by joining with other companies to have its logo to be seen everywhere. Several ideas should achieve various people. They are full of ideas only of the fact of not wanting to stop their expansion. However, the international growth is remarkable. While having only 11 coffee-houses in 1996 outside North-America, they now launch their products into 24 international markets. The great success of Starbucks has also brought negative consequences for the company because many competitors try to imitate them. These are companies like Caribou Coffee, Costa Coffee, and Coffee Republic. However, it is very hard to maintain on the global coffee market which is a very competitive sector. These days one speaks about an increasingly over caffeinated marketplace. So Starbucks must compete against the offers of restaurants, coffee shops and street carts. A major competitor with substantially greater financial, marketing and operating resources than Starbucks could enter the market at any time and compete directly against the company. Starbucks must be aware of competition on all levels and maintain its operational performance if it is to retain status as the world’s leading specialty coffee retailer. Finally you could say that Starbucks is more concerned about the fact that there are still plenty of local places as well as internationally places which is not taken over by them. Instead of being worried about the fact that their rapid expansion could also lead to a rapid decrease and failure in several markets. The whole marketing strategy of Starbucks may cause to a loss of the main focus through stretching its resources by further expansion. Main focus should be first put on the product itself and not on international expansion in this way. Why not ensure the popularity of the product itself than making it something normal due to the fact that it is present almost everywhere. It can be seen undoubtedly that Starbucks has the potential for development in many different ways but it has to have its growth under control. This may be a challenge for Starbucks. BCG Matrix The BCG matrix is an instrument, developed in the early 1970? s by the Boston Consulting Group to analyze the product portfolio of a company or a business unit. The matrix is based on the product life circle. The matrix is mainly used in the strategic marketing sector. The matrix shows in a coordinate plan the positions of different strategic business units. The interesting categories are on the one side the business growth rate on the y-axis and the market share on the x-axis. The method brings cognitions in three relevant areas: ?Analysis of the strategic position of a company. ?Determine the capital in the several business units with a view on the whole company and therefore the cash flow in the company. ?Every quadrant responds to a norm strategy which could be used as a guideline to verbalize strategic activities in the company . It is also necessary to look after the whole portfolio especially on the statistical financial compensation. The products in the portfolio should be based upon on another and finance one another. To create a long-term value a company should have a portfolio of products that includes fast growing products which need a high input of money and slowly growing products which are creating a high amount of cash. The BCG matrix has two dimensions: relative market share and market growth rate. The idea behind this matrix is: if a product has a high market share or the market of the product is growing fast than it is an advantage for the company. Analysis of Starbucks using the BCG Matrix Cash cows: Benefits from the generation of cash should be high. Because of the low-growth rate capital expenditures which are necessary should be hold low. Often cash cows are the stars of yesterday and build the base of a company . One of Starbucks’ cash cows is their coffee ice cream. This is a relatively risk free investment that doesn’t absorb great amounts of cash. Through the partnership with Breyers, Starbucks doesn’t need to spend money on the production process. With Breyer? experience and the Starbucks name the ice cream was sure to succeed on the market. With it now being one of the market leaders on the coffee ice cream market, Starbucks can â€Å"milk† it and benefit from the sales, knowing that there is not a high cost factor. Another, but quite small cash cow is their bottled Frappuccino drink. Once again Starbucks took on a similar strategy by working with an already established beverage manufactur er. The investments are once again a lot lower than their sales, giving them a high profit margin. Stars: Stars use a high amount of cash. These are leader in the business and hence they should create a high amount of cash. Stars are often in balance with the net cash-flow. The company should do their best to hold the market share on stars because stars will become cash-cows if the market-share is held by the company . Starbucks’ biggest star is the coffee sold and consumed in their coffee shops (stores). With an incredible 85% of sales coming from their stores it is their biggest source of cash intake . Although competitors offering similar products have emerged, the market growth still looks promising. Some states like Alabama and Mississippi don’t have any Starbucks stores meaning that there is still a large market to expand onto. The people living in these states have not been able to enjoy a cup of Starbucks coffee. The revenues from their coffee sales should therefore be used to invest in new stores making it possible to sell their coffee. Another one of their stars is the packaged coffee sold in supermarkets. With the help of Kraft Starbucks has gained quick access to the packaged coffee market. Thus they have been able to quickly increase their market share on a rapidly growing market . Unlike their other joint ventures with PepsiCo and Breyers, Starbucks has done more than just put their name on the product. As they are still roasting and packaging their own coffee they need to invest a lot to further establish their position on the market. Dogs: Dogs are discontinued models of the company. A company should minimize, better avoid the number of dogs. Dogs have to make cash, otherwise they are divested . Starbucks? dog is the sandwiches sold in their stores. Although they experiment with different foods in their stores, they do not make a lot of profit from food sales. Furthermore it can be said that the sandwich market is not growing and Starbucks do not have a high market share. However, this SBU should not be divested immediately as it may help them to draw in further customers who know that they will be able to grab a sandwich to go with their coffee. Question marks: Question marks are the newcomer of the products. The have a high growth-potential. They have the worst cash features of all, because they have a high demand of cash but perform low outcomes because of their low market-share. If the market-share is unchanged are question marks using a high amount of cash. The management has to decide to invest in the product or to give it up. Starbuck’s further attempts to boost their growth such as selling coffee to airlines and hotels can be classified as question marks. At the moment the demand for premium coffee to be sold in airports and hotels might be high, but so far only Marriott, Sheraton and Westin have deals with Starbucks meaning that there are a lot of hotels not selling their coffee . If they want to expand on this market they will need to invest a lot of money into new deals with other hotels. It will take time before they can increase their market share and make a profit. Cafe Starbucks and Circadia, two new store concepts are also question marks. At the moment they are only experimenting to see how customers will react to a different kind of Starbucks experience. Setting up a chain of these new concepts will require a lot of money and time before they can establish themselves on the market. If they succeed in competing with other cafes of a similar style this SBU could be another profitable SBU in the future After positioning Starbucks? products on the BCG matrix it can be said that they have a stable source of revenue. With the majority of their sales coming from the coffee sold in their stores and two profitable, if on a smaller scale, joint ventures they have enough money to invest in other new products or stores to ensure that they will be as successful in the future. Besides investing this money in new stores enabling them to serve an even larger market, it can be invested in their coffee sold in supermarkets. Rapid growth of the premium coffee segment indicates that it won’t be long before a number of competitors force their way onto the market. Investing into this SBU will enable it to develop into a cash cow in the future. Regarding the sandwiches sold in their stores they need to reconsider if this is something they should continue to invest in the future. The prospects for the future look promising as they have two strong stars and other smaller products that can carry the company in the future. Looking at Starbucks as a whole it can be seen as a star. Although there are a number of â€Å"copycats† trying to move in on their market share, there is still the potential for the company to grow. Up until now not all states have their own Starbucks store, an indication that the market is still growing. Although they have tripled their sales and profits over the last 5 years, they need this money to invest in new stores in states such as Alabama and Mississippi and their new store concepts such as Cafe Starbucks . If they are able to expand successfully and the market ceases to grow they will eventually turn into a cash cow.