How Innovative or Original Can a Successful Artist Be? Essay

Art – How innovative or original can a successful artist be? Art is considered to vary across culture and also through time. Art considered as a masterpiece by this group of people might not even be appreciated by another group of people. Art changes through time and the value of a certain artistic piece might increase or decrease through time. Art is what defines a culture, thus it is regarded by many as the main (not sure we could say this, I think you wanted to say something else)aspect in a culture’s construction. Art function as an emotional gratification for an individual. It also contributes to social integration and it serves as a social control tool. It also preserves or challenges the status quo. Artist will usually have their image or idea embedded into paintings, dances, songs or even poems. These artists are trying to make a symbolic statement through their artwork and sometimes their arts document and convey a vast array of their own experience of life. Very good point However, art changes through time and the symbolic statement made by artists back in their days might not be understood by the modern generation and these arts will start to lose value. Music is the perfect example. The music trend changes through time. Bee Gees used to be a very popular musical group and everyone in the 60’s and 70’s knew them. As time passes, the group faces stiff competition from new and younger artists. It cannot be denied that Bee Gees is one of the most successful groups of all time, but no one can stay popular forever as art changes through time. To the older generation of 60’s and 70’s, the playing of Bee Gees music on radio recalls good old memories but the younger generation would seem to think that Bee Gees can no longer be the voice of their generation and prefer other genre of music. Being innovative or original at a certain era would bring an artist success, but these successes do not last long. good obeservation Music transfers feelings and ideas of the artists. Everyone is able to relate to a certain type of music. One of Michael Jackson’s songs, ‘Heal the World’ was a big hit when it was first released. Jackson said this is the song he was most proud to have created. The music video features children living in countries suffering from unrest, especially in Burundi. This song was used by Jackson as a communication tool to tell the world of the actual reality going on in countries that were still suffering from unrest. ‘Heal the World’ was used as a satire, to ridicule nations who were still in war so that they will change or stop what they are doing. Through this song, Jackson was able to produce an emotional impact and transmitted the knowledge to the public that humans should be the one healing the world and make it a better place for everyone to live in, instead of destroying it. Michael Jackson, being able to adapt to different themes and various genres, this allow him to be original and innovative and has led to him being successful. Even though Jackson has passed away, his music is still being appreciated worldwide. Anthropologists generally agreed that value of an art is based on the role and status of the artists in the community and this is further proven when Jackson’s death did raised the value of his music as he was regarded as the ‘King of Pop’ and his contribution to music, dance and fashion proved to something that will never be forgotten. Today, Van Gogh’s work sells for unprecedented prices and is some of the most treasured and highly sought after in the world. His  Portrait of Dr. Gachet  sold for $82. 5 million in 1990, making it one of the most expensive paintings ever sold. In his time, however, Van Gogh was an unsuccessful, starving artist. He produced more than 2,000 works of art, but sold only two during his lifetime. Van Gogh, suffering from mental illness and further depressed by his lack of success, committed suicide at the age of 37. His post-Impressionist style, filled with emotion, movement and vibrancy, was not popular during his life but would go on to influence decades of artists that followed, and his works remain some of the most highly regarded paintings in modern art. Van Gogh’s art was not appreciated by the people of his time because his artwork wasn’t able to communicate to the public in a way they can related to or learn to relate to. They thought he was just another want-to-be artist who wasn’t going anywhere with his artwork. This also proved that the value of someone’s art is related to the role and status of the artists in the community. Van Gogh didn’t belong to an artist organization or famous art school and his family was neither rich nor famous so he was constantly looked down and no one took him seriously. Jason Mecier creates portraits of famous celebraties using junk, sweets and pills. The San Francisco artist builds collages from unusual materials that he feels suit the personality or life of the subject. The above is a portrait of Amy Winehouse constructed from 5,000 multicolored tablets. Mecier created this portrait to honor the singer’s short life. He captured the tragic star in a poignant pose depicted by colorful medications as part of a series of mosaics inspired by celebrities who battled drug abuse. Jason Mecier used his arts to make a symbolic statement and his symbolic meanings were encoded in the materials and techniques used. He is indirectly transmitting the knowledge that drugs and alcohol abuse are deadly as Amy Winehouse died from alcohol abuse. Mecier, being an innovative and original artist, his portraits were able to gain international attention and have featured for many years in national consumer magazines and prestigious galleries. To say art provides enrichment to humankind is not exaggerating. People have been inspired by thought provoking creations, from Van Gogh’s to Mecier’s art, from Bee Gees to Michael Jackson’s music. However, being innovative and original doesn’t mean you will enjoy instant success. In fact, I think it’s that confluence of commercial success and artistic greatness that makes recent artists so successful. In previous periods, great artists were rejected in their time, but nowadays some great artists are revered in their day, rewarded with wealth and fame, without sacrificing their art.

Behavioral change

Managers sometimes fail to promote values involving people and teamwork in the workplace. This condition occurs because managers are afraid being disliked by their employees, do not care about their organizations’ credibility and vitality, or perform their work simply out of obligation or for a paycheck.In addition, organizations are not successful in holding their managers accountable for living such values. The failure to uphold people values and teamwork invite organization’s cynicism, undermine credibility, and sap an organization of its vitality.Thus, organizations should consider advocating for behavioral change so that managers become more accountable for living the values involving people and teamwork. Introduction As one of the assignments to be completed in the first class in organizational behavior, a course project was initiated to find some answers to the questions why managers fail to promote the values involving people and teamwork and why organizations a re not successful in holding their managers accountable for living such values.The new economy of the twenty-first century requires organizations to adapt to changing conditions, and therefore, organizations should consider making their managers accountable for living such values. The methodology used for completing this project was brief. It included reading and understanding the contents cited in articles, books and other medium that are relevant to behavioral changes, organizational behavior, and leadership and management. The results of the understanding of the relevant contents were documented.Such contents included the answers why managers fail to promote the people values and teamwork and why organizations are not successful in holding their managers accountable for living such values. The causes and conclusions for such failures and the recommendations addressing the causes were also documented. Results Managers usually advocate values involving people and teamwork, but some times exempt themselves from their practice. Some organizations’ biggest disappointment is their failure to adopt these general values or people values as noted in a research that involved thousands of participants at more than 30 large companies.The employees rated their managers’ ability to effectively deal with individuals whose behavior undermines teamwork. The results of the rating showed that the employees rated their managers last among 92 elements of effective leadership. In that research, the researchers asked qualitative questions such as asking the employees to describe the difference between the values the managers preach and the values they live. Most of the employees’ common responses included stories of the company’s failure to deal with leaders who do not live the people values.It is rather hard for the managers to realize their own challenge of the changing their employees’ behavior. It is so hard for managers to change their emplo yees’ behavior because the managers sometimes feel that they are human and can also fall into mistakes anytime during their life. Hence they want to be loved by their employees who also at times grade them in a performance based work place. The managers sometimes feel that it would be hard if they talked to their employees about the employees’ lack of coordination and the spirit of teamwork that is missing from them.They fear that by confronting their employees, it will break loose their working relationship and this might lead to performance problems. A perfect leader though is one who leads by example and is followed by the people who he is leading. They should be more respected and no one should fear them because they help change the people’s bad behavior. In addition to that, managers understand the mission and vision of the organization; they do not care about living the people values and teamwork necessary to uplift their own standards.What they care about is to come to work simply out of obligation and the monetary gains. People in most cases spend their one third of their lives working in different work places. While for majority of the people who work, work offers them an opportunity to get finance necessary to uplift their living standards. While to others, by working, they develop and make the world a better place than they found it. The managers who started to work afresh from college and are on job orientation, their work gives them the money as a required necessity for their upkeep.They focus on the working their whole lives for the purposes of getting the required money for good sustainability. They depend on their work more than satisfying the need of attaining the required performance in any given work. They are not and will never be workaholics but will indeed give them time to attend to their normal work. The managers see work as something that will reward them and make them richer than is the case. Besides all this, the y again receive more rewards and then continuously seek compensation for any little work that they do.Hence they make work look like it is an exchange of their efforts with the money or the rewards they normally get from the organisation. Most managers believe that, their identities are to support their own families and helping with other issues like ensuring their own children are in school and the like. So they end up believing that they are working and their work is a job that requires their knowledge and the general input of the required information into work. They are less likely to se their needs as a societal issue but only see it as something that will reward them.Therefore, managers at job orientation cares so much for their upkeep, to ensure that their gas is filled and billed but gives little care to those employees who need promotions for their work. The managers need to work to provide the organization with the required knowledge and the productive results that at last will be a credit to their organization. Or don’t managers care because they do not know what to do? Bill Gates had this to say to the many Harvard students graduates on June 7, 2007; that ‘often we don’t do anything about inequities and problems we see in the world, not because we don’t care but because we don’t know what to do’.So turning these studies the students have achieved into meaningful and the desired impact it has on the society, should be the major concern for these graduating students. Further, we can also blame the organizations that do not promote coaching for behavioral change. Due to their lack of coaching for behavioral change, some organizations were not successful to hold managers accountable for living the people values and teamwork. Organizations need to coach for behavioral change. A manager that can be coached for behavioral change can make him/her a more credible leader.Leaders with credible results can help those wit h the essential habit in order to develop into meaningful, personal and the organizational development and success. If the manager delivers his/her promises including measuring employees on their behaviors and attributes, then that manager values and cements the bonds of leadership with employees. Behavioral coaching is simple, however, it is not easy to implement. Managers may have difficulty giving and receiving honest feedback and making the time for genuine dialogue.But, if organizations are serious about their espoused values, shouldn’t they ensure that their managers demonstrate the behaviors the organizations promote. If the policy if the organization is to change the managers way of adopting to different and varied values of their workers, then the organizations have to change the behavior of the managers at work. And again if the organizations have to change the managers way of thinking, it has to first change the principles it has and their way of thinking. For litt le behavioral change, there is an excellent overall change of the drive and the means of change.The organizations need to examine the vision before making any preference to what they want their people to achieve. They need to effect their changes by looking at the employees and specifically exploring the required changes and finally effecting the changes where necessary. The managers need to determine the foundations of the behavioral changes before offering to fix the required changes. Then once they have specifically noted the behaviors to be changed, they can then change those behaviors and indeed this will affect the whole change required in the organization.The managers of any organizations and the organization itself need to be very specific and observe the effects before any good behavior change can take place. They should let people choose their behaviors basing on what hey think might happen to them as result of the lack of the behavior change. Again when resistance is obse rved to any problems, the issue of verbal persuasion rarely works but rather it is an attack to the aggrieved individual. People might not want to give up on whatever they like or they derive pleasure on. They want something that can categorically turn their weakness to something else.The managers need to come up with innovative different ways of solving the whole issue and creating their own personal experiences. They need to work on behavioral change with the nothing but rather leave this world to change these individuals on their unwelcome ways. As told, the actual real life will change them through the hard hitting life experiences. The stories create an atmosphere that is well understood to change the people views and the world. This is because; stories help individuals transport them towards a social and good listener who is applying different rules for the logical analysis and the criticism to the story itself.Further again, managers may want to consider moving towards findin g the required basics to colleagues who can tutor him or her on the couching available for the situation that demands the task. This is not mystery but it requires an individual who is disciplined and can act with the required integrity and commitment necessary for the behavioral science expertise. Simply by sitting down with the person you are coaching and analyzing the perceptions of his or her colleagues, you will be able to change your relationship with that person. And the person will change too.And when people improve, their self-confidence goes up. They keep doing what works, and they keep getting better. Conclusions Managers should promote use of people friendly procedures and the values for the benefit of the organization. The managers need to change their behaviors in order to assist the management of the organization well so far. The managers of this world today can be successful change leaders if they have the capacity to be flexible and the change and cope with the spec ific needs of an environment within an organization.They should be caregivers and should not fear any employee and the offering of the required services of couching their employees. The managers who must effective leaders care about the employees who come up with contributions that can assist in the accomplishment of the goals of the organizations and teams available within their regions. The managers and or leaders who are effective should not be afraid in providing the required feedback to employees and making them feel appreciated and they should not care so much about their salaries.The values involving people, teamwork and the coexistence can help improve their production and performance and also improve their organization’s ability and responsibility. They should be very careful with managers and hold their managers accountable for any thing that goes wrong within the organization. The one approach to holding them accountable for all the assets and resources within the organization is by coaching them for behavioral change. Coaching should be able to enlighten the society and make the world know and be a better.Since coaching is the best option that could help any struggling company to come to terms with the reality on the ground. Therefore, the management should be very lenient to those who perform according to the well being of the organization. The organization again should help those people who need the couching so as to uplift their morale and the desire to grow through proper development mechanisms that will also help the firm or the organization realize it potential and the growth necessary for its survival and existence.In order to achieve the good results and to boost the morale of every employee and make them realize that they can too achieve anything they set their minds to achieve. The coaches should only help those employees who need their help. Recommendation The organization must select leader who will bring them the desired values and not those who doesn’t have a vision, values and the esteem necessary for the growth of the organisation. Otherwise these individuals might bring the good and the shadow side of the organization to a halt.The business groups should be less so ensure accountability based on the relationships and if the groups are allowed to larger, they make the process to be crippled. The supervisors should be people who have the talents and the capacity to effect the required change. They need to be experts to manage the change and the behaviors necessary for the good growth. hey require leader to involve the supervisors and coach them to produce the good results. Then let the employees have the goals and the desire to effectively establish their visions within the organization.They need to measure how employees live their lives and the help them change anything they need in order to increase performance. They again should have a direct and performance based work that involves the recogni tion of the efforts put in fir the success of the company or organization. There need to be reward schemes capable of rewarding the best amongst them and ensuring that the supervisors and other employees have laid bare their different issues associated to work.There also need to be leaders who need to be aligned with their employees in order to permit maximum utility of the available resources. There need to be issues to deal with the conflicts directly when to happen and these shows the maturity in the leaders. The leaders should be able to teach the accountability to their employees and ensure that the work is done their satisfaction. And finally, the leaders who do not perform should be left out and only work with the leaders that can produce the excellent results.The results could be seen during the evaluation of the value of the organization and or the firm. In addition to this, if they were dealing with people who have the will, the drive and capacity to change their behavior and operate in an environment that allows them the chance and the opportunity to change and work for an organization that is growing towards an efficient way and headed in the right direction. The management should identify the characteristics and the attributes of manager that is undergoing the cauching.These should not be from scratch but rather should have the necessary knowledge as noted on the Kouzes ( ). The once you have developed the leadership in him or her, it makes the manager to be characterized as an important person who understands the work and the philosophical ways of working and ensures that, he got all the requirement so of the perfect or is it the good manager?. This will in turn boost the process and develop the commitment. There should be systems to determine the good and meaningful feedback that is the core of any growing business.The key people here may include the peers and the customers and also many others. Balanced workforce that does not require or bring challenges to the managers should be put in place to make the work easier for the manager. Always collect feedback from the employees often in the written forms. This helps the managers be well versed with the problems the employees are facing. There needs to be data analysis using the appropriate techniques and the also need to talk to the manager and find out the reason why their employees do not want them to react to their information.There again need to be action plan that will help them analyze and help them also implement the desired goals. This boosts their morale and knows what to do. There lastly need to be a response from the managers to the stakeholders. Then develop a program that goes on and on and that it requires the regular follow up to see how they are doing and also there performance. The results need to be reviewed and the procedure to start over again. Behavioral coaching is an important aspect that can improve behavior though it cannot solve the problems such as the performance problems.Coaches need to plan their work and ensure that the customer is qualified because they have very limited amount if time to invest in their own customers for good returns on their investment. They have a very limited amount of time therefore they only invest their time where they will get a good return on investment. Behavioral changes or rather couching will only work if the manager is willing to adopt the necessary changes. Behavoir changes do not help if the company has already fired the employee or the manager. The person may lack the necessary skills and the intelligence information to undertake the job.Hence that person is written off and it may not be necessary to couch him or her. If the organization has the wrong mission, it will be hard to effect such behavior changes because these changes are how get there process but not where to go process. Therefore,if the organization is headed towards the wrong mission, there is little the process can bring t o the desired level of couching. Annotated Bibliography Gates, B. (2007, June 7). Leadership. Harvard University press. Rollnick, S, Mason, P &butler, C (1999). Health sciences behavior change. Philadelphia.USA Sundel, M (2005). Behavior change in human. California. USA Goldsmith, M. , Govindaharan, V. , Kaye, B. , & Vicere, A. (2003). The Many Facets of Patterson, K. , Grenny, J. , Maxfield, D. , McMillan, R. , & Switzler, A. (2007). Influencer: Canada Goldsmith, G (2000). Coaching for leadership. SanFrancsicle. USA Skiffington, S (2003). Behavioral coaching. Newyork. USA Peltier, B (2004). The psychology of executive coaching. Washington. USA. Crane, T (2001). The heart of coaching. Canada. Whitmore, J (2000). Couching for performance. Washington. USA.

Different Methods of Endorsing a Check

An indorsement is made by the holder of a check when he or she wants to negotiate it or wants to indicate a limitation as to its specific purpose. An example of a specific purpose is when the indorser only wants the check to be deposited to an account, not cashed over the counter. A third purpose of indorsement is when a bank or a person paying for the amount indicated in the check wants to obtain the liability of the person negotiating the check. Indorsement could be done by the holder in several ways, namely: by special indorsement, blank indorsement, restrictive indorsement, and qualified indorsement.  (Mallor-Barnes-Bowers-Langvardt, 2007)Special indorsement means that the holder of the check affixes his or her signature on the back of the check and then writes down the name of the specific person who could negotiate it or authorize to have it negotiated. For instance, a check has been specially indorsed to John Smith if the holder of the check (say, Mary Walters) wrote on the back thereof his name as payee and affixes his/her signature below John Smith’s name.A holder, for this purpose, refers to the person who has in his or her possession a check which is â€Å"payable to bearer† or made out in his or her name. When the check has been specially indorsed to John Smith, he, in turn, becomes a holder of the check who is authorized either to negotiate the check or indorse it to someone else. (Mallor et al. , 2007)  §3-205 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) specifically states that â€Å"When specially indorsed, an instrument becomes payable to the identified person and may be negotiated only by the indorsement of that person.† (Cornell University Law School, n. d. )Blank indorsement occurs when the holder simply affixes his or her signature at the back of the check without identifying any person as payee or indorsee. In the example, Mary Walters, as payee of the check, simply signs her name on the back of the check without naming an y particular person to whom the check could be paid. In this case, having indorsed the check in blank, Mary has converted the check into a â€Å"payable to bearer† check. It could therefore be transferred by anyone who acquires it.If it is John Smith who takes possession of the check, he can negotiate it by simply writing his or her name on the back of the check, thereby identifying him as the person to whom the check could be paid. His act of writing his name effectively converts a blank-indorsed check to a specially indorsed check. (Mallor et al. , 2007) â€Å"When indorsed in blank, an instrument becomes payable to bearer and may be negotiated by transfer of possession alone until specially indorsed. † (Cornell University Law School, n. d. ) Restrictive indorsement refers to a situation when a check is indorsed to satisfy a specific purpose only.A case in point is when a person wants that a check issued to him – like for example a paycheck or a check which re presents proceeds from an insurance claim – should only be deposited in his account at a specified bank, he or she should indicate in so many words by writing down, for instance, the following: â€Å"For Deposit to my Account at Chase Manhattan Bank. † This restricts the indorsement to the purpose specified. If, for any reason some other person other than the payee presents the check which is so indorsed to a bank, the law states that said bank should ensure that the proceeds of the check should go to the specified account.If the bank releases the amount to the person who presents the check, said bank will be liable under the principle of conversion. Judge McEwen of the New York Supreme Court, in Lehigh Presbytery v. Merchants Bancorp, Inc. (Penn. Super. Ct. 1991) said that the UCC orders banks to honor such restrictions or be liable for any resulting losses, saying that this principle was meant â€Å"to prevent† fraud. (As cited in Mallor et al. , 2007) Qualifi ed indorsement is a type of indorsement which could be made on checks which have been indorsed specially or in blank.This is resorted to by an indorser who wishes to free himself or herself from any liability in case of default on the part of the person who issued the check by writing the words â€Å"Without Recourse. † In other words, if the maker of the check fails to meet his or her obligation, the indorser would not be liable if he or she qualifies the indorsement.  § 3-415 of the UCC has specifically provided that although the indorser â€Å"is obliged to pay the amount due† on a dishonored instrument, in a qualified indorsement â€Å"the indorser is not liable †¦ to pay the instrument.† (Cornell University Law School, n. d. )The law governing negotiable instruments, specifically the methods of indorsing a check, is one of those laws which were passed not only to govern the conduct of business in the country but also to help Americans protect their h ard-earned wealth from scheming, unscrupulous individuals. As it stands, the law on negotiable instruments which has withstood the test of time merits the support of every well-meaning citizen of the country.

Leadership Is the Capacity to Translate Vision into Reality Essay

Leadership Is the Capacity to Translate Vision into Reality - Essay Example From this study it is clear that  many researchers had contributed in explaining the concept of leadership, certainly, applying differing perspectives, which makes it difficult to be defined in a comprehensive and all-inclusive manner using specific wordings. However based on the accumulation of the statement and researches conducted by theorists, leaders fundamentally imply to the capacity of persons to make a vision turn into reality in the accomplishment of a determined goal, which ideally requires a collaborative effort of many. This requires the leader to be a motivator, organiser and an implementer as well as a monitor of the entire process to ensure the overall success in accomplishing the set target. It has been due to this reason that the contemporary organisation has been heavily found inclining towards the demand of leaders.This paper highlights that  the concept of leadership signifies the power to release and engage individuals for or from any responsibility. Corresp ondingly, the quote indicates that leadership always performs within a framework of purpose, mission, and vision and shared values, being directed by a common cause. In addition, the characteristic of effective leaders can be identified as seeking others interest and challenging their limits to conquer the envisioned goal.  It is always not necessary for the leaders to create the vision, but the presence of vision must be there in the organisation and it must be shared among others who bind themselves in a common cause.... Correspondingly, the quote indicates that leadership always performs within a framework of purpose, mission, and vision and shared values, being directed by a common cause. In addition, the characteristic of effective leaders can be identified as seeking others interest and challenging their limits to conquer the envisioned goal. It is always not necessary for the leaders to create the vision, but the presence of vision must be there in the organisation and it must be shared among others who bind themselves in a common cause (Moore & Diamond, â€Å"Academic Leadership† 2). Conceptually, leaders are referred to individuals who are assigned with the responsibility of seeking that operations are coordinated and managed efficiently. Leaders are also responsible for motivating employees/subordinates to perform their activities in accordance with the mission and vision of the organisation, towards the achievement of the common goal (Avolio, Sosik, Dong and Yair, â€Å"Leadership Mo dels, Methods, and Applications†). In this context, it can be inferred that leaders need higher levels of skills to maintain the hierarchy of huge bureaucratic organizations as commonly witnessed in the modern day context. Hence, it can be argued that effective leaders are distinguishable on the basis of their hard work, intelligence, ambitions and political skills to deal with the emerging challenges and manage the resources well (Hogan & Kaiser, â€Å"What We Know about Leadership†). MEANING OF THE QUOTE Apparently, the quote given by Warren G. Bennis, â€Å"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality†, signifies the importance of leaders in the formulation and completion of strategic tasks in the

The History and Social Responsibility Initiatives of Harley Davidson Research Paper

The History and Social Responsibility Initiatives of Harley Davidson - Research Paper Example The paper tells that many of today’s large multinational brands were once established as a small upstart or lucrative business form, but their entrepreneurs transformed the same to Fortune 500 or world’s first class brand by continuously developing better business ideas, discovering further new business opportunities and seizing the same. The history of Harley-Davidson is similar to that of a fascinating tale as it involves the vision of two young engineers who started their own business. Its history goes back to 1903 when young entrepreneurs- William Harley and Arthur Davidson- discovered the business opportunity for basic transportation and developed a bicycle frame with French-designed single cylinder gasoline engine to provide a vehicle for the customers to meet the basic transportation need. Neither William Harley nor Arthur Davidson had any big dream of a manufacturing company, but they, in fact, we're thinking to produce an outboard motor for their own purpose to reach their favorite fishing spots easily. In 1903, they built the first production of Harley-Davidson with the help of a more powerful motor. William Harley began in the bicycle business and Arthur Davidson trained as a pattern maker with help of another draftsman, they worked together and brought the premier machine that was basically a bicycle frame fitted with a single-cylinder four-stroke machine. Harley-Davidson’s first machine production was complete by the summer of 1903. It was not a just loop-frame bike, but a more primitive vehicle with the quite smaller engine attached to the pedal bicycle frame. The second machine was more advanced than its first one, because, its loop-frame model was a natural trap for the unwary and careless people. Within three years after the first motor is produced, Harley Davidson Company became known in its way to prosperity as it increased production of motors to around 50 motorcycles. Until 1906, the company had only a backyard shed for production processes, but Harley and Davidson expanded the manufacturing plant to nearly 2400 square feet of plant space. Before 1910, the brand attained wider popularity for efficient construction, user-friendly motorcycle, durability and so on. As Holmstrom noted, after 1908, Harley Davidson began to veer from the facts for marketing purposes. Though there were two different machines in design and outlook, their identities turned to make them the single machine. The company grew to achieve several recognitions of excellence in business and marketing landscape. In 1942, Arthur Davidson recalled the growth of the company- Harley Davidson grew just like Topsy with luck, but it was not just that luck because management strategies and effective decision making helped the company stay stronger for years. Harley Davidson redesigned its engineering by changing the front frame down-tube to straight from its previous styles and designs. The 1911 single model was made with the increased cap acity of using gasoline by enlarging the tank capacity to store around 2 gallons of gasoline.

Application for a doctorate program in special education Personal Statement

Application for a doctorate program in special education - Personal Statement Example One thing that brings great contentment in somebody’s life is getting the opportunity to pursue one’s path that later enables him/her to see his or her aspirations become a reality. More specifically, attaining one’s academic objectives and ultimately being able to utilize the gained knowledge towards positive contribution in one’s area of specialty is great success. This is a key driving force in persons’ lives, including mine. I am requesting for a chance to participate in a doctorate program in Special Education, not because I have a yearning for a master program graduate title, but because I have a passion of delving into this field thus accomplishing my career objectives – to teach, become an administrator in the educational field and eventually teach special education practitioners at the university level. I also aspire to guarantee high performance in my area of specialization to the best of my interest and that of the public by employ ing my skills directed by integrity and accountability for progressive competence. My educational background has greatly given me exposure to invaluable essential knowledge, which will give me great backing once I enroll for this program. I possess a Masters of Arts in Special Education w/ a concentration in Autism with an overall GPA of 3.52, which is perchance the most powerful facet of my application.

An Investigation of Unilever Performance Management Assignment

An Investigation of Unilever Performance Management - Assignment Example Performance management refers to the method in improving the work performance of workers to the fulfillment of the company’s goal and objectives (United States Department of Agriculture, 2013; Goodrich, 2013). Moreover, research methodology refers to the systematic procedure in solving a particular research problem (Goddard & Melville, 2001). In this study, the purpose of the study is to examine the effectiveness of the performance management of Singapore Unilever. This comprises numerous sections, namely, research design/report framework, overall research, how to conduct with the literature research, research approach, sampling, data access, methods of analysis, and research limitation. 3.1 Research Design/ Report Framework This study plans to investigate the implementation of the SMART system of performance management in Singapore Unilever. In order to accomplish this, the data collected are obtained from both primary and secondary data sources. Primary data are significant in obtaining raw evidence to investigate a particular study while secondary data are obtained from literary sources like journals and books (Sapsford & John, 2006, p.142; Nicholson & Bennett, 2008). In this study, the primary data are gathered from both qualitative and quantitative research methods. In order to numerically measure the performance management of the company, quantitative research method is used. ... Vartanian (2011) noted that this form of data is important to garner other insights from various authors on the given subject. In this study, literary sources, such as journals, books, newspapers, and government websites are used. 3.2 Overall Research The purpose of the research is to define the significance of implementing the SMART system of performance in the appraisal methods of employees’ work performance in Singapore Unilever. Its objectives include (1) the description of the SMART system of performance; (2) the implementation of the performance system in the company; and (3) the assessment on the results of the implementation of the performance system in the company. Apparently, literature review is also conducted in order to gain scholarly insights on the topic. In order to address the validity of theories reviewed, both quantitative and qualitative approaches are made in forms of surveys and focused group interviews, respectively. The survey was participated by employ ees while the focused group interview’s primary respondents are those employees in the managerial position. To select the respondents for the survey, simple random sampling is used while judgment sampling is used in selecting the participants for the focused group interview. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used for data analysis. Furthermore, distance plays a major role in hindering the researchers to conduct a direct observation to the activities of the company. 3.3 How to Conduct with the Literature Research As defined, literature research is the review of other literary sources like journals and books, in order to obtain additional data that will be used as evidence for a research project (Timmins & McCabe, 2005, p.41). It is important to

Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian - Essay Example The novel can be called a â€Å"historical novel† without the aura of historical fiction, and not an â€Å"escapist Western† as it chronicles the expeditions of Glanton’s paramilitary gang sent out by both the Mexican and Texan authorities to murder and scalp as many Apaches as possible. Further encouraged by the bounty offered by a Mexican governor for Indian scalps, the Glanton gang takes to scalp hunting Apaches with a vengeance. However, this is not just a case of bloodthirsty whites slaughtering noble savages: the Apaches themselves commit horrendous atrocities of their own. Most of the action in the novel centers around Judge Holden, a massive 7-foot albino who towers over everyone else, yet seems pre-pubescent because of his total lack of hair and small hands and feet. (â€Å"He was bald as a stone and had no trace of beard and had no brows to his eyes nor lashes to them† {McCarthy 6}). Judge Holden manages to manipulate everyone with whom he comes into contact (even Glanton), and easily turns situations to his advantage. The Judge’s physical characteristics are used as comparison with other characters such as the Kid (the Kid is not big, but he has big wrists and hands {McCarthy 4} – unlike the Judge’s small hands) and the dead babies that the Kid finds, who â€Å"stare eyeless at the naked sky. Bald and pale and bloated†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (McCarthy 57): a comparison with the Judge, who is bald and pale (being an albino). Judge Holden is a mystery from his very first appearance in the novel and remains so until the very end, when he is one of the few characters surviving. One mysterious aspect is his uncanny ability to move from place to place so swiftly and eerily that it seems he is in fact not one, but two persons (e.g. he escapes from the riot in Reverend Green’s tent to a salon where he is completely dry, even though it is heavily raining outside). His seeming â€Å"double

Exhibition review interview Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Exhibition review interview - Assignment Example â€Å"High Noon† is also about betrayal and loyalty. For Kane’s part, it is loyalty even when everyone leaves him; he maintains his grounds, although it seems predictable that his action might lead to his death (High Noon). On the town’s part, it is betrayal. Most people in town agreed that they owe their success to Kane, but not help him because they believe that he is hopeless. In the film, the villain is Frank Miller and his gang who strive to revenge on Will and anyone person who is against him. In this film, the villain is the one who revenges. Miller’s gangs are Jack Colby, Ben (younger brother) and Jim Pierce who wait for Miller at the station. Will and Army have to fight Millers gang at all cost and secure the townspeople (High Noon). Towards the end of the story, Miller (villain) and his gang face Will and Amy. Amy and Will manage to kill Miler and his gang while the townspeople stare in amazement. â€Å"Un-forgiven† film is an entertaining western that pays homage to traditional western while expressing skepticism. The film was set in the 1880’s and the standard setting is BIG whiskey, somewhere between San Francisco and St. Louis. The film also demonstrates the existence of villains, who are a couple of cowboys. The cowboys slashes Delilah’s face (the prostitute). Instead of the sheriff, Little Bill Dagett, arresting the cowboys, he lets them go. The victim’s best friend, Strawberry Alice, becomes outraged. Delilah, Alice and the other girls offer a $1000 bounty for anyone who kills the cowboys. This film turns out to be a revenge of whores against the villains (Unforgiven). A group of men set out to collect the bounty, prompted by various economic necessities to kill the cowboys (villains). Among the hunters set to kill the villains is Bill Munny who is a widower. Munny is still striving to live down his

Writing to Show Cause and Effect (Causes of business growth and Research Paper

Writing to Show Cause and Effect (Causes of business growth and failure, marketing, business trends) - Research Paper Example However, due to some of the limitations and depending on one’s preparedness the chances of prosperity are determined. Business growth is impacted and withheld by a number of factors. From this perspective, this paper will discuss causes of business growth and failure, marketing, business trends. Some of the factors in the market favor prosperity of business ideas. Anyone getting into business should be ready to face the risks involved. Before the implementation of a business idea to a real thing, one needs to be aware of some factors like availability of market, availability of capital and the competitors. The owner of the business idea should weigh between different options and settle for the best and legal option. They have to consider the niche in the market that they are going to fill and the likelihood of the idea developing to a big reality. Study experts say that, one does not engage into any business activity before they get prepared for the risks and challenges in the market. They should equip them selves with proper management skills, good customer relations, and perseverance to tolerate the challenges in the market. Therefore, this enhances the business to stabilize with changing times (Gitman, Lawrence, and McDaniel 348). Failure of business ideas, triggered by failure of proper market evaluation and which triggers poor marketing of commodities and this makes a business loose its customers to the competitors. Customers should be the main thing that any business should aim at satisfying; profits come second to the satisfaction of customers (Blythe, Jim, and Zimmerman 386). Some of the businesses focused with short-term goals of attaining profits instead of first creating the basis on the market for where to market their goods end up not securing their positions in the market and hence their closure. Research in the market revealed that, some of the inaccuracy failures are avoidable if they had focus on the real factors that are challenging in the market. By focusing on long-term goals, it will prioritize the consumer needs, enabling their establishment. The business owners should handle any incompetence in the market by themselves. By consulting from survey respondents, they may end up getting the wrong picture of the market strategy. Studies reveal that, some of the surveyors only aim at impressing the business owners rather than giving them the real picture of the situation. The business owners should therefore, aim at running their enterprises carefully. They should not base their performance on research results. Otherwise, they should blame the government and other financial institutions for their failure (Hutt, Michael, and Speh 110). As businesses grow, the owners should now turn their plans on how to maximize their profits by trying to achieve economies of scale and how best one can achieve it. By this level, the business owners have usually established the products that are on demand and should therefore, set a p rice that is affordable to the buyer and is favorable to the seller (Czinkota et al 87). On addition, for one ensure they satisfy the changing demands of customers in an effective way, they should be flexible and be ready to face conflicting interests and also other risks in the business. They should be ready to listen to customer opinions, adjust, and avoid repetition of same mistakes. Research showed that, most of the entrepreneurs who prosper are those listen to advice, complains from their consumers, and therefore, adjust for their durability in the market, and attain their long-term aim of earning profits (Gitman, Lawrence, and McDaniel 348). Business owners should also exercise proper accounting of their finances. The finances are crucial, close

Eight Years Wasted, the Economic Failures of the Bush Administration Essay Example for Free

Eight Years Wasted, the Economic Failures of the Bush Administration Essay Eight years wasted. That is the description that befits the George W. Bush administration of the United States between 2001 and 2008. Nevertheless, this is not a case of unfair criticism of the Bush administration, as noted by Republican Senator John McCain who served in Bush’s era (Curl). According to McCain as he campaigned for the presidency in 2008, Bush spent a lot of the United States’ resources on the war in Iraq, which consequently led to a massive economic downturn (Curl). The most obvious impacts of Bush’s actions are reflected in the changes in rate of unemployment, inflation, money supply in the United States, and shifts in foreign exchange rates as well as interest rates (National Organization for Women). Unemployment The rate of unemployment has particularly been worrying since the period between 2000 and 2001 when Bush took the leadership of the United States (OECD). According to Shi and Stevens, the rate of unemployment has been fluctuating rapidly since 2000 when it was about 4. 0 percent (59). Within over a year of Bush’s leadership, the unemployment rate shot up to 5. 8 per cent in 2002 (59). Women and their families were particularly affected by the high rate of unemployment, as they would rarely make ends meet at the start of the Bush administration. In fact, according to the National Organization for Women, the year 2001 marked the period of massive job loss among women in over 40 years (National Organization for Women). Along this line, the Institute for Womens Policy Research reported that in the period between 2001 and 2004, women workers lost over 300,000 jobs (National Organization for Women). In the same breadth, unemployment rates among single mothers rose of an already bad situation of 9. 5 per cent to a worse level of 10. 2 per cent (National Organization for Women). Statistics from GPO Access show a grim picture of the increasing levels of unemployment since the year 2000 when the United States presidential election that ushered in President George Bush was held. In the figures provided, overall civilian unemployment rate fluctuated from 4. 0 per cent in 2000 to 6. 7 percent in November 2008, which marked the end of the Bush administration (Table 1). Along the same line, the same trend in unemployment rate was noticed among different age groups, fa Another aspect of the Bush administration’s failure is an uncontrolled increase in inflation. At the beginning of the Bush administration in 2001, there was a notable decline in the prices of all items and services as compared to the preceding year. Perhaps this was because of the effort by Bush to fulfill campaign promises. The truth of the matter is that after 2001, the prices of all items went up, declining only slightly in 2003. Since then, there was a notable fluctuation in the prices but overall, the prices remained at an all time high. In fact, the 4. 1 per cent change in price of items (Table 2) was the highest margin to have been recorded since the 6. 1 per cent rate recorded in 1990 at the height of the Gulf War (Irwin and Dan. ). The high prices of commodities and services noticed during the Bush Administration not only affected the financial positions of many families but also influenced the people’s access to essential services such as healthcare (Atkinson and Hutto). According to Hanke, the 2003 United States census showed that any family of three lived on a mean of $51 a day. This figure was arrived at using an assumption that childcare and healthcare services were fully financed by the government (United States Department of Labor). Nevertheless, this was not the case for most families, as they had to rely on their own means to support themselves. In the context of high cost of commodities and services and with particular reference to childcare and healthcare services, many families had to spend as much as over 20 per cent of their incomes in pursuit of these services (Robinson). According the New York Times, the Bush administration cut funding programs for many essential programs such as childcare, which were particularly appropriate for single parent households (The High Cost of Health Care). This move was done as the administration aimed at improving and expanding other unpopular programs such as promotion of marriage (United States Bureau of Statistics). However, the downside of this point is that as focus was shifted to newer programs, the already existing programs suffered an even heavier blow in terms of the exorbitant costs that had to be incurred (The High Cost of Health Care). According to Shi and Gregory, the highest number of individual without healthcare services was recorded in 2003 (60). This is because most attention was diverted to acquisition of other essential commodities and services such as food and housing (The High Cost of Health Care). Yet president Bush still insisted on funding the war to oust President Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. This action can be considered as a case of misplaced priority because whereas President Bush was busy pursuing the United States foreign policy, local affairs (which perhaps needed more attention) were thrown into disarray. Money Supply During the Bush Administration, the supply of money increased, but with some fluctuations. For instance, the total value of the United States currency, traveler’s checks, demand deposits and other checkable deposits rose from $1087. 4 billion to a high of $1473. 1 billion in October 2008 (GPO Access). The high supply of money does not imply that the United States economy improved in the period of eight years. Rather, it is an indication the value of the United States dollar could have depreciated (Crutsinger and Aversa). Thus, the large sums of money released to fund the war in Iraq in 2003 did not add any impetus to the United States economy (Crutsinger and Aversa). Instead, the economy became vulnerable with reference to a weak dollar against other world currencies. In spite of the increase in the sum of currency, there was an increase in debt of domestic nonfinancial sectors from $18,183. 6 billion in 2000 to $32,436. 5 billion in 2006 . This means that nonfinancial institutions increasingly had to borrow during the era of George W. Bush. It therefore no wonder that the United States was crippled by a great financial crisis only comparable to the Great Depression towards the end of Bush’s reign, the overriding factor being that the United States government had spent so much money on defense and war in Iraq and Afghanistan at the expense of internal development. Foreign Exchange As mentioned above, there was a significantly high supply of money in the United States, which characteristically led to depreciation of the United States dollar. In addition, the period was characterized by a high rate of inflation, implying that considerably larger sums of money would be used in buying commodities that would have been bought inexpensively in the earlier period (Atkinson and Hutto). On the international scale, the high cost of United States commodities meant that importers had to pay lots of money to acquire the goods, which ultimately lowered the level of international trade between the United States and other countries (Table 3). Consequently, the United States dollar fluctuated against other world currencies such as the Japanese yen, the Sterling Pound, Chinese yuan and the Australian dollar (Atkinson and Hutto). For instance, the Sterling Pound exchanged at between $1. 9548 and $2. 0442 in 2007 (Table 3), which was a very large variation. The strong dollar against the yen between 2001 and 2002, which was the beginning of the Bush administration, discouraged importation by Japan from the United States (Atkinson and Hutto). At the same time, citizens of the United States opted to import valuable items such as automobiles at the expense of the locally manufactured ones, thus putting the United States automobile industry in the quagmire in which it is today (OECD). The consequence of this is that major competitors such as the Japanese automakers have adversely affected local automakers such as Ford, and the whole industry has been earmarked for revival in the Economic Stimulus Package (OECD). Interest rates Government bond yields and interest rates generally declined between 2000 and 2008. For instance, the value of bills at auction declined steadily from $ 5. 85 to $1. 01 in 2003, but steadily rose from $1. 38 to $4. 73 in 2006 (GPO Access). The low price of bonds meant that banks were in a position to purchase more government bonds, thus diverting their attention from other financial service users such as borrowers (Crutsinger and Aversa). Ultimately, banks were forced to impose high interest rates on the loans they offered to the public, implying that most small business holders and individuals were crippled by a massive credit crunch (Crutsinger and Aversa). The ensuing credit crunch adversely affected the United States economy particularly towards the ends of the end of the Bush administration (Crutsinger and Aversa). Banks were most affected by the financial woes and this necessitated the Bush administration to consider taking ownership of various banks in a bid to protect them from collapsing (Crutsinger and Aversa). This move was however also ill planned, as it would result in unnecessary government expenditure, resulting into higher inflation in the United States (Hanke). In addition, there was no assurance that with the government’s acquisition of the banks, their performance would improve (Hanke). Conclusion Even though the world witnessed a massive economic recession, the woes in the United States stemmed from the fact that the Bush administration spent excessively on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, which generally weakened the performance of most local institutions. The underperformance in various sectors was shown in high rates of unemployment, high inflation, fluctuating levels of money supply and foreign exchange rates as well as high bank interest rates. The combined effect of the various phenomena led to a crisis in the entire United States economy, thus making the Bush administration one of the worst leaderships of the United States. References Atkinson Robert D and Julie Hutto 18October 2004. Bush vs. Clinton: An Economic Performance Index. 10 March 2009. http://www. ppionline. org/ppi_ci. cfm? knlgAreaID=107subsecID=295contentID=252964 Crutsinger, Martin and Aversa, Jeannine 8 October 2008. Bush administration mulls bank stakes. 10 March 2009. http://www. freep. com/article/20081008/BUSINESS07/81008120/1015/BUSINESS02/Bush+administration+mulls+bank+stakes Curl, Joseph. 23 Oct. 2008 McCain lambastes Bush years. 10 March 2009. http://www. washingtontimes. com/news/2008/oct/23/mccain-lambastes-bush-years/ GPO Access . Civilian unemployment rate. 10 March 2009. http://www. gpoaccess. gov/eop/2009/B42. xls GPO Access . Money stock and debt measures, 1965–2008. 10 March 2009 http://www. gpoaccess. gov/eop/2009/B69. xls GPO Access. Bond yields and interest rates, 1929–2008. 10 March 2009. http://www. gpoaccess. gov/eop/2009/B73. xls GPO Access. Changes in consumer price indexes for commodities and services, 1929–2007. 10 March 2009. http://www. gpoaccess. gov/eop/2009/B64. xls GPO Access. Foreign exchange rates, 1985–2008. 10 March 2009. http://www. gpoaccess. gov/eop/2009/B110. xls. Hanke, Steve H. September 24, 2008 The Bush Legacy: Deflation or Inflation? 10 March 2009. http://www. cato. org/pub_display. php? pub_id=9663 Irwin, Neil and Eggen, Dan. 12 Jan. 2009. The Washington Post. Economy Made Few Gains in Bush Years: Eight-Year Period Is Weakest in Decades. http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/01/12/ST2009011200359. html National Organization for Women. 27 August 2004. Bushs Economic Failure Weakens Middle Class, Deepens Poverty and Harms Women and Families. 10 March 2009. http://www. now. org/press/08-04/08-27. html OECD. Macroeconomic indicators. 10 March 2009. http://stats. oecd. org/mei/default. asp? lang=esubject=15country=USA Robinson, Woodward, Gellman. Timeline: Bushs Eight Years in Office. 10 March 2009. http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-srv/politics/bush/legacy/timeline Shi, Leiyu and Stevens Gregory D. Vulnerable Populations in the United States. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2004 The High Cost of Health Care. 25 November 2007. The New York Times. 10 March 2009. http://www. nytimes. com/2007/11/25/opinion/25sun1. html? _r=1 United states Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. 10 March 2009 http://www. bls. gov/

Handling Multicultural Environment Essay Example for Free

Handling Multicultural Environment Essay Any single culture is multidimensional, and in this time of globalization, people belonging to various cultures are sharing common workplace where they are bound to interact with one another. This situation certainly calls for a thorough training on cultural competency for all members of any multicultural organization, and especially for the managers who have the job to unify all employees aims and aspirations with the goals of their company. Such a task is easier said than done; as there is plethora of instances where cultural difference has shattered the dreams of the company. However, there is no dearth of opposite instances too, where successful implementation of multicultural philosophy has brought in sustainable competitive advantage for the companies. In either way, this state of affairs substantiates the importance of seriously considering organization as culture and adopting right steps to achieve the status of a true-blue multicultural organization. With this point of view, this paper explores how the organizations can impart quality training to their managers, besides evaluating the efficacy of the established theories/ideas on this issue, before reaching its own conclusion. Multicultural Environment Any workplace comprising of employees from more than one culture can be called a multicultural organization. Here the word culture contains several interpretation, though in general, it speak about a package of perception, belief and acquired behavioral process, containing elements like learned and shared values, beliefs and behaviors to a particular group of people (Yamashita, 2004). On the other hand, multiculturalism is a Doctrine asserting value of different cultures coexisting within single society; globally, vision of cultural diversity deliberately fostered and protected (Globalization, 2000). In plain words, it is a concept of aligning various cultures to serve a common purpose. Common Problems in Multicultural Environment Problems occur when cultural difference and consequently, difference in perception about a particular issue/act/custom/or policy stands between the individuals or groups. Such situations can occur anytime at any multicultural set up, which can begin with little differences like meaning of a word, eating habits, or religious practice, whatever, and that can fuel a bigger set of difference, if not timely diffused. For example, the word, monkey contains hint of racism in some parts of the world, while it is only a simple definition of primate in the other. Now if someone from that special part of the world is called a monkey, s/he might react furiously, no matter how innocent the caller is. Understandably, such channel noises , are the outcome of ones ignorance about others culture. Specific Problems in Multicultural Environment This takes place when cultural difference puts spanner in the process of work. This too, can emerge out of various situations like managers or employees biases about their culture, or from ignorance about what means what. It is not uncommon for a manager to find difficulty in catering a multicultural audience at one go, if some of the members do not understand managers spoken language, or their idioms sound idiotic to their ears. This again points towards the importance of grooming to the tune of multicultural philosophy. Theories for Help No matter how much humans developed their science and technology, they are yet to discover a device that would be able to interpret ones thought for another. It is for this reason, the age-old art and science of effective communication still works wonders for every sphere of life and it is in fact the oxygen of any multicultural organization. Thus it would be pertinent to mention about two such theories out of many, to explain how theories can save the day for the managers of multicultural organizations. What these theories do is, they form the foundation of understanding among humans, which is the prime condition to rise above any cultural biases and to accept the fact that humans are all equal at their basements. ERG Theory This is an improvised version of Abraham Maslows (1908-1970) famous model of Hierarchy of Needs (Maslows, 2008), created by Clayton Alderfer after prolonged research, which adds more flexibility in determining the needs of an individual, which it does by reorienting the elements from Maslows model into three segments like Existence (E) – It involves physiological and safety needs. Relatedness (R) – It contains social and external esteem needs. Growth (G) Self-actualization and internal esteem needs. (ERG, 2007). Claytons model allows to set the order of needs according to the existing need structure of an employee, besides providing the scope to pursue different needs simultaneously. Accordingly, company can motivate any individual on any of the E, R or G needs – while looking after an individuals E need (say, where an employee needs a safety measure), the company can look after the same individuals R needs (like awarding her for her achievement) and G needs (inducting the individual in the think tank of the department). Expectancy Value Theory Founded by Martin Fishbein in the 1970-s, suggesting that people mould themselves to the world in accordance with their expectations/beliefs and evaluations (Expectancy, 2004). This serves as a pointer to the fact that behavior or behavioral intentions or attitudes evolve out of expectancy and evaluation, where the expectancy is an idea about a situation or object and evaluation is ones estimation about the impact of that idea/situation/object on any plane. Theories Groom Vision  If the entire team of a workplace can adopt a vision in the light of the Expectancy Value Theory, where they would expect that they are devoted to the collective goal. Once armed with this vision, the following areas of communication would definitely take a new turn as the outcome of reorientation of ones approach to the world: Intrapersonal communication: The vision would make the employee think like Im attached to an important organ of the society and thus I have more responsibility to meet its expectations. Communication with clients: The vision will make the employees more patient and taking interest in communicating with clients belonging to another culture. Team Communication: There would be less conflict of ego or other minor areas of personal interests, as the greater cause will influence all members to align their approach towards the perceived goal (achieving high standards of service).

Analysis Of Wagyu Beef In Australia Economics Essay

Analysis Of Wagyu Beef In Australia Economics Essay This paper presents the strategic adviser specializing internationalization recommendation to company which pursue to grow their businesses overseas. First of all, this paper explains the business problem of this case that is the basis of expanding the business to the global market. Second, analyze the Wagyu beef with the consumer behavior in the US. And then present the policy and legalization in the US for Australian exporter. Next section is the basis and information of the ABC Company that needs to expand the business to the US. After that, the table presents the trend of value in the US and trend of import beef to the US. Moreover, this paper confirms the channel to expand the product, SWOT analysis, and PESTEL Framework. Lastly, this paper illustrates the approaches that can expand the product to international market. Introduction Nowadays, the beef market in Australia is limited because there are over suppliers in the market. Australia is the second largest farming to produce beef in the world, therefore many companies in Australia try to expand market share to international market. The US market is interested to export the product. There are three principle reasons to attract the exporter such as the number of people in the market, customer behavior and the culture and tradition. However, many companies get the failure from global business because they have the shortage knowledge in the cross culture and customer behavior. This paper analyzes the environment to expand the business to the US. The Business Problem ABC Company is the company that produces Wagyu, which is the premium beef. Australian beef market is growing to be the largest agriculture in 2009. Information from Australian Natural Resources Atlas confirms that Australia use the space to make the cattle farm approximately 220 million hectares that is the most area to spent in the agriculture industry. Therefore there are over suppliers in Australia. People in the country have many choices to choose beef in the domestic market. Moreover, beef market in Australia has the high competitive, so many cattle farmers try to find the markets that still have the power to purchase product. However, the companies have the good relationship with the customers because the companies produce the quality of product in order to make the loyalty of customers and repeat to purchase product with the companies. Market in the Australia has over suppliers and the limit customers, therefore the companies need to expand its product to the US that the large st market to consume beef. The beef market in the US is increasing to consume beef and the largest market in the world. Furthermore, most of people in the US eat beef that is the main food, so the number of beef is the second of all kind of meat. Indeed, the companies have more power to produce Wagyu beef, but the requirement in Australia has the limit because there are number of people in Australia approximately 22 million people that less than the US about 290 million people. The companies can expand the product in 10 times of the people in the domestic market. The companies should learn about the culture, legalization, behavior of the consumers, environment and more. Before the companies invest to expand business to there. However, this is the opportunity to extend the product to the large country.The US is the worlds richest market and Australias second biggest export purpose with a nine per cent share of Australias export market. The US is Australias only biggest market and ass et partner. Australia is the 14th biggest export endpoint for the US and the eighth biggest foreign investor in the USA. Analysis Wagyu Beef in Australia Wagyu or Kobe beef is the famous beef in the Japan. Wagyu has the good feather such as inherent marbling ability, softer fats enhancing meat flavor, high nutrition, finer meat texture, back fat not excessive.The beef industries produce and develop beef products for domestic and export markets especially the US market. Australia is one of the biggest exporters of beef in the world, trade that is very appreciated to its economy.Beef cattle production is extentthrough the country, and carried out under sodifferentsituations. While beef is a top farming export earner, there is increasing interest in other meat product such as pork, game such as deer, goat and buffalo (Australian Government, 2009). For Australian beef is guaranteed the quality by customers in Japan that the original country to produce Wagyu beef. Australia Wagyu Association is the organization that improves the quality of Wagyu beef to the global standard. Likewise, this organazation gives the knowledge to the farmers tha t the factor to produce the quality product. The good quality beef will get the good feed in all of their life. The food of them is the importance factor to build the good health for them and create the strong point to the product from Australia. Many countries accept the product from Australia USA business and economy and trade policy and custom regulation Kidane (2003) mentions that the United States is frequently established as one of the leader of destinations for foreign direct investment. Unquestionably, the legalization systems strengths point contributes to this case. The United States is the first country partial self-government on the base of morals. The legalization system in the US contains of three measures: executive, legislative, and judicial. It has been showed essentially that this construction can guarantee the legalization systems effective process. Some of characteristic features should be disturbed by the global investors. Anevaluation from the World Bank difficult 181 countries shows the United States ranks third for luxury of doing business overall, first with esteem to employing workers, and sixth in terms of enforcing contracts. In addition, the high quality of the U.S. legalization system overall is protected by the open investment policy, which is based on the standard of national management specifically, that international investors should not be preserved differently from domestic investors. Although no system is impeccable in all esteems, the United States is justifiably satisfied of the overall high quality of its legalization system and the level of international investment subject to its protection. Basic customer profile There are many kinds of consumer behaviors because the people in the US come from several countries. They have the difference ages, genders, races, regions, and incomes. Moreover, income levels in totally difference in the social that the factor to define the customer level in the company market. The target of ABC Company is the high income because the Wagyu beef has the high price and high quality. In terms of age and gender, there are the difference kinds of beef to eat as the number of consuming consist of male teenager had over 50 pounds per person in the ground beef. Moreover, there are the men ages between 20 and 39 old having about 30.35 pounds love to eat stake beef. Overall in female eat beef approximately 56.23 pounds per person. In stake category, there were only 3.96 pounds per person that means the female do not prefer to eat stake. The conclusion of statistic with the people in the US is the men love to eat beef more than the female approximately two times of total beef in the US market. On the part of geographic and income, residents of the Midwest expended the highest beef of any section, consuming at 72.92 pounds per capita. In the other word, American in the Northeast had the least beef, only 62.53 pounds per person (allbusiness.com, 2009). Value of U.S. beef industry statistics for last five years in The US Year Value of U.S. beef industry 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 $70 billion $71 billion $71 billion $74 billion $76 billion Year U.S. cattle imports 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 1.371 million head 1.816 million head 2.289 million head 2.495 million head 2.284 million head Follow this table (United Department of agriculture, 2009) there was a continue increasing in the consumer beef in the US. Then, the customers has expanded in this country, ABC Company can the import the product to support the needs in this market by using the appropriate strategy to present the product. In the part of quality, the company has the strength point to compete because the company develops and control cattle farm follow the law of Australia that guarantees the quality from the customer around the world. Moreover, the company has many experiences to make the business success in the Australia. In the other hands, the company does not have the experience in global market that has difference culture and customer behaviors. Firstly, the farmers in the US have the efficiency to produce the beef. Furthermore, they do not have the tariffs about the policy and legal system. The government supports the farmers in the country. However, ABC Company still has the premium product that has the niche market that is people love the premium beef for good healthy. Second, beef from Japan is the original country for Wagyu beef or Kobe beef. However, Japan has the limited areas to produce the product. Therefore, Most of Wagyu beef is imported from Australia because the quality of beef is quit same with beef in Japan. This point is the strong point to guarantee the beef that produce in Australia. Marketing and distribution channel to reach customers ABC Company should find the company that is the premium restaurant to make a joint venture. Joint venture means a prescribed contract joining together two or more groups for the objective of performing a specific business task. All of the groups accept to share in the benefit and damages of the enterprise (investword.com, 2009).This approach will help the company to distribute its product in the US. Moreover, joint venture is short term strategy in order to open the new market. First time in other market has high risk about the culture, and consumer behaviors. This way, the company reduces risk because the partner company has the knowledge and experience in this market. ABC Company should make the presentation only part of product and the belief to the target groups. Besides the partner company has the channel to distribute the products; therefore the company just adds the capacity to distribute the product and the ways to keep the quality of product to the customers. SWOT analysis Strengths Firstly the research to develop the quality of product is the Australian Natural Resources Atlas. From the research, Wagyu beef which produce in Australia is accepted in the several countries and push Australia to be the second exporter in the world. Secondly, Wagyu beef that produce in Australia has the good quality for healthy because the fat in beef is softer fats enhancing meat flavor, high nutrition, finer meat texture, back fat not excessive. It is the best beef quality and reduces the risk of fat excessive. Lastly, ABC Company has long term experience in domestic market; hence the company has the knowledge in requirement of product and the standard of quality. Weakness First, ABC Company does not have the experience in the US market that has the difference customer behaviors from Australia. Moreover, the culture in purchasing, distribution is totally difference from Australia. No one knows the ABC brand that popular in Australia; the company has to make the advertising to present the product to the customer in the US. Then geographic factor, the company has the import cost that add in the product. Besides, when the company has the problems in the other country, it cannot solve the problem immediately because of geographic concern. Opportunity The US is the largest market to consume beef; there is the number of people more than people in Australia approximately 290 million people or 10 times of Australian people. And the import policy for Australia exports product not too much conditions. The US beef market continues grow for the exporter. The customer in US considers the quality of beef in the first priority and concern about the customer healthy. Wagyu can response in the healthy topics of the customer behavior. Threats The domestic farmers are growing to compete with the exporter. The number of local farmer is increasing from supporting of government. In the part of price, the price of beef in the local is lower than the beef from Australia. That factor makes the weak point to Australian exporter. However, the target group of the company is the groups that love the high quality beef, so the price is not the main factor to make a decision. PESTEL Framework Political in the US concentrate in the free trade market, so ABC Company can get the competitive advantage. From this point, the law does not prevent the foreign company to invest in the US. The readjustment of American global free trade agreement device has an important consequence on the development of world economic incorporation. Economic part, as the worlds largest trading nation, the United States of America is the worlds principal importer. In 2008, the total U.S. trade shortage was $695.9 billion, which contains $2.5 trillion in imports (Willis, 2009). The US has a growing number of agriculture imported products from Australia, who appears to increase more chances in trades between the US and Australia. Australian beef is one of the most competitive beef products in the world. Social, American had beef for a long time both of the Native American and the people in the city. Many restaurants have the beef that is the main thing in cooking such as hamburger that the popular food uses ground beef in the main category. In term of kind of beef, most of people love to eat the beef that soft with the marbling that has the red meat switch a bit fat. Wagyu beef or Kobe beef has the quality both meat and fat color and especially for taste. Technology, Australia Wagyu Association is established in order to reaction a real demand and need for quality figures that improves from the marbling bulgy in the Japanese heredities. As the result, the company uses the information to make the good quality product. Environmental, most of people in the US eat beef approximately 70 pounds per person. Also there was a rapid increasing in the percentage of importer beef to the US from 1.38 billion pounds to 2.64 billion pounds between 2007 and 2009. From this information, ABC Company has the occasion to extend the market to the US; there are many demands in this market and the power to chase the premium beef. Legal, the US tries to support the farmers in domestic. As the result, the price of beef in the US decreases, so the competitive advantage of the foreign producer is falling because the foreign farmer has transportation cost and custom cost. Conclusions and recommendations ABC Company needs to expand the product to the international market because of the over suppliers in the domestic market. Therefore, the US market that still has the power to purchase the product is the target for ABC Company. However, the company should have the quality of product to attract the customers. The price of product should be defined by comparing with the competitors in the market. Moreover, the strategy to distribute the product is the importance factor to keep the quality and make the difference from other rivals. Promotion is the factor to create the competitive advantage to the company. In the first period, the company should reduce the price and make the advertising to present the product in the market and find the target in the luxury restaurant and premium market.

Media Stereotypes Essay -- Media Stereotypes Stereotyping

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Do Computers Think? :: essays research papers

Can or will computers ever think? Well this has been a subject of much debate between even the greatest minds, and yet there is still no answer. First of all I have would like you to answer a question. What is 4x13? Did you have to think to answer that? Yes? Well does that mean that a computer can think because it can answer that question. Well that is what we are going to set to answer and I think yes, depending on your definition of thinking. First off let’s get something straight. When I refer to computers in this essay I am not referring only to the microprocessor sitting on your desk but to microprocessors that control robots of various structure. Well as I said we first must define ‘to think’. What does that mean? Webster’s New Compact Dictionary defines ‘think’ as "1. Have a mind. 2. Believe. 3. Employ the mind.". It defines mind as ‘to think’. So does this mean that if you can think does this mean you have a mind? My opinion is that, according to this definition, computers can think. A computer can give you an answer to the question ‘What is 4x13?’, so it can think. What’s that? You say it’s just programmed to do that, if no one programmed it wouldn’t be able to do that. Well how did you know how to answer the question? Your teacher or parent’s or someone taught it to you. So you were programmed, same as the computer was. So you think that programing is different than learning. You might think the same as my grandma that programing is something where things are just drilled into you like people who are members of cults. Well when your teacher stood over you desk in elementary and do drilled you on the multiplication tables was that not programming? Would you know that 1x5 does not equal 10 if everyone you ever met said that it did. Another argument my grandma used was my little cousin and how when he runs into a wall he learns that it hurts so he doesn’t do it again. (Well actually he does it because he has a hard head). Yet a professor in Calgary builds robots that do not even contain a microprocessor yet it can learn. He builds them out of spare part from broken electronics such as walkman’s.

Madonna: Successfully Incorporating Sexuality Into Music Essay

Madonna Madonna has been a very influential female "popstar" over the last 20 years: to sell her music she has publicised herself through the media, and through this media she has stuck to the concept that "sex does sell". Madonna was born on the 16th of August 1958 as Louise Veronica Ciccone, in Bay City, Michigan. She began her journey into the most influential industry and medium by moving to New York to become a ballerina. From this young age she was very aware of the human body and the way it is perceived. She knew that the body needed to be sold in some way, to 'make it' in these types of industries. At this stage of her life she became anorexic in an attempt to become the "stereotypical" ballerina figure. Louise eventually left her ballerina days, and turned to music. She was part of the Patrick Hernandez Revel, The Breakfast club and Emmy: dance and pop groups that didn't make it to the top. It was through these small groups that she was scouted as a solo artist and in 1982 Louise was signed to Sire Records, under the performance name "Madonna". By the end of 1982 she released her debut single "Everybody", which became an instant hit. This was the start of Madonna's influential music career. Madonna debuted as a young, innocent, Christian girl, with strong morals and values. However, this changed as she began to transform herself and her image to attract a larger audience. She began her career with the stage name Madonna, which she has kept throughout her long career. The word "Madonna" is from the bible, a biblical name for the mother of Jesus (or Virgin Mary), and is a biblical character that is associat... ...le erotic and packaged as a giant condom. Erotica: uncut featured graphic nudity and overt depiction of sex acts In 1998 she seemed to change her style and reinvented herself once again with the release of ray of light: seemed to show a change in perspective and her songs were now bout motherhood and the lose of her mother. Released her record music coinciding in the same year she married Guy Ritchie and her cow-boy image American life was a flop dealt with more contempory issues such as the war and September 11, Sex does sell, she learnt that by incorporating sexuality and sex into her music - so she could sell her album, she performed this by her kiss with Brittany spears last year in which boosted her back into the media and outraged critics but still boosted her otherwise but flopping album sales.

Pizza USA Term Paper Essay

This case involves Pizza USA, a small independent chain restaurant operation that offers both dine-in and carry-out services for customers that has received feedback for a potential change that will require the implementation of design process to add services. Currently, customers have indicated that they are pleased with the food offered by the restaurant but they would increase pizza purchases if a delivery service was available. This dilemma ties into two separate issues. First, in order to remain competitive within the industry, customer wants and preferences need to be heard. After all, if you cannot please your customer base, you will lose them. Secondly, the changes required must be done in a manner that combines data gathering and analysis and implementation of a plan that best suites this particular type of business in order to maximize success. Customer service has been a recurring theme in many discussions regarding business operations and management in recent weeks. The prevailing thought is that in order for your business to grow and be successful, you must identify what your customers want and find a way to deliver it. This paper will analyze and discuss how process design can be implemented to assist this business to achieve its goals. Within the process design analysis and discussion, several factors will be reviewed to include: identification of what customer satisfaction means to the business and how we can identify the things that are most valuable to customers, the potential net yield of achieving a high level of customer satisfaction and efficiency, and the characteristic of developing an efficient pizza delivery (from stove to door) system. The paper will also assess creation of market â€Å"advantages† to not only maintain but grow the customer base. Pizza USA: An Exercise in Translating Customer Requirements into Process Design In the last five years leading up to 2012, the Pizza Restaurants industry has experienced the results of a downturn in economy. Restaurants have been directly affected by changing market conditions such as changes in intense competition, decreasing consumer spending and an increase in overall health consciousness (Kalnins, A., & Mayer, K., 2004). However, despite such overwhelming odds and challenges, businesses were able to overcome economic hard times by reinventing themselves through creative marketing and adjusting their menu’s to adapt to customers preferences (Kelso, 2012). This allowed the industry to recover effectively and consumer spending and market growth returned in 2010. As more consumers returned to the restaurants, overall demand increased. The U.S. Pizza industry averages about 410 million pizzas per year (Kelso, 2012). In 2012 alone, pizza sales are expected to reach an incredible $36.1 billion in revenue which is a 3.8 percent increase from the previous year (Kelso, 2012). This growth is expected to continue at a rate of 2.9 percent per year through 2017. Based on gathered data, 97 percent of U.S. consumers have ordered food from a pizza restaurant or establishment within the past 12 months (Kelso, 2012). No matter how you look at it, pizza consumption is on the rise and creates an exceptional opportunity for success in this industry. According to Gregory Badishkanian, a CITI Analyst, the big three of the pizza industry: Pizza Hut, Domino’s, and Papa Johns are currently in position to increase market share. (Bloomberg, 2012). Although the big three comprise of 30% of the total pizza market, the remaining 70% comprise largely of other large chains with less market coverage and of course the smaller independent chains (Kelso, 2012). While the larger chains are improving profits independent chains are struggling to stay afloat amidst the fierce competition among the larger more established companies such as the big three (Kelso, 2012). Understanding this dilemma, it would be most prudent for any independent restaurant operator to maximize operations by insuring that internal process design enables not only efficient productivity but generates a process that is customer friendly and focused on customer’s needs and preferences (Kalnins, A., & Mayer, K., 2004). This would be critical in the business’ ability to survive in such a monopolistic type market. Successful operation within a smaller independent chain restaurant faces challenges that may not be as apparent to a larger and more established national chains. Pizza USA is a small chain operation that currently provides two services: dine-in and carry-out options. Customers have commented that if delivery services were added to the restaurant offerings, they would potentially buy more pizzas (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). Based on this information, it is apparent that the owner needs to assess his business operations and consider a process design that would include adding this service to current operations. The addition of delivery services would potentially require additional capital to finance changes and may involve the hiring of additional staff. However, revenue increases as a result of the added service would off-set the costs associated with these additions. Near and long-term implications would include survivability within such a competitive market. As a customer, the primary focus of my satisfaction with this type of business relates primarily to efficiency and the level of customer service provided. If delivery service was provided, the two areas that would be most prevalent in my mind would be the delivery time and the state of the pizza once received. Far too often, I’ve received delivered food that was warm and in some cases cold. Needless to say, I never contacted that restaurant again. The thing that would create a unique experience would be the restaurant’s ability to not only deliver within an exceptional time period but also to provide a pizza that is piping hot as it would be while dining in. Another aspect would be an incentive to order delivery by way of discounting or some type of rewards service. These are experiences that have not been typical in my experience with pizza deliveries. Method The perceived situational analysis are as follows: Strengths-Due to the smaller nature of the business, It could potentially create a more personal experience for the customers thus increasing customer satisfaction; Weaknesses-As a smaller business entity, they have less resources and limited options in implementing changes to meet customer demands. Also, the business would be less tolerant of negative impacts that may result from changes compared to larger established chains with additional resources available; Opportunities-A stronger customer relationship tends to allow more flexibility due to stronger loyalty among satisfied customers. Loyal customers are willing to wait changes out rather than making an initial determination and moving on to another business; Threats-The primary threats are of course the larger and more established chains such as the big three. Again, due to resourcing issues, these smaller and independent operations have less flexibility and opportunity if changes become less than desirable. The primary causes and effects are business survivability and customer satisfaction. Although these two areas are mentioned separately, they are in fact one. If changes are not made to meet customer needs and preferences, the business risks losing clientele and eventual closure. The term customer loyalty has been described as a process of capturing how well an organization is performing in three critical market measures: customer retention, share of wallet, and price sensitivity relative to competitors (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). Studies have shown that customer loyalty relates directly to business success and survivability. There exists a major distinction between product design from the user’s standpoint from what may have been intended by the manufacturer (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). The main difference deals primarily with the intended versus perceived usefulness of a given product. In short, if the customer’s input is not considered, product or process design could potentially be a major waste of time on the from end of the planning cycle with even a worse outcome once in the market. Table-1 below indicates quick-serve satisfaction rates among the top companies in the market to include the big three (Verma, R., & Thompson, G., 1999). As you can see, each of the larger chains has high overall scores in customer satisfaction. Albeit, this is only one of many areas that could potentially be assessed. The independent chains can learn something from this data. The large chains didn’t survive the market and become who they are today without success in this particular area (Verma, R., & Thompson, G., 1999). Table-1 Although the case situation described is consistent with most other business operations, â€Å"what can be done to be more profitable?† it is unique in itself due the detail andlevel of changes discussed. There are probably 100 areas that could be looked at that deals with efficiency and customer satisfaction. However, for the purpose of this paper we will only analyze the above mentioned areas. If assessing profitability and customer satisfaction is an everyday occurrence, which is the case in most businesses, then this case could most certainly be considered as a preexisting situation. However, this paper has little to do with assessing a documented loss in profits or revenue streams so the evolution is unknown at best. There are many course concepts that can be applied to understand this situation. However the two most prevalent areas of operations philosophy that comes to mind are: Chapter 3-Product and Service Design and Chapter 5-Process Analysis. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) in chapter 3 discusses the process of getting the customer’s â€Å"voice† involved in design specifications (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). This concept and application relates to any and all industries and organizations. It is directly related a process of studying and listening to customers to improve upon a product or service (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). Measuring Process Performance in Chapter 5 primarily deals with how well a particular process is performing. This is accomplished by assessing many different types of metrics such as: productivity, efficiency, flow time, throughput, and value added time to name a few (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). In order to adequately analyze whether your operation is running efficiently, a system of measurement is required to assess the performance. Results/Discussion The problem of addressing the customers’ needs and preferences are easily solved. Immediately implement planning to accommodate your customers’ request for the added feature of delivery service. Consider the most efficient manner of transition to minimize disruption to current business operations while planning the change. Insure that additional feedback is solicited and gathered from customers to re-validate the need to add the additional service and proceed with design process reviews and analysis to achieve goals. This satisfies the earlier discussion regarding identification of what the customer really wants and prefers. The task of developing and implementing the plan is what is the most difficult. Recommend that the owner begins with data gathering methods such as GAP Analysis. This method is used to assess the business’ performance relative to the expectations of its customers (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). An additional form of Gap Analysis includes the benchmarking of certain industry standards and measures the business ‘performance against established standards within the industry (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). Questions to be asked would be: What are other smaller independent chains offering? Is delivery service a value added service or just a waste of money? What are the industry standards in regards to delivery times and what is considered acceptable to customers? Do have the resources to provide that type of service or will it require additional equipment, supplies, vehicles and staff? This will allow the owner to see where his restaurant is versus where he wants to be. Moreover, this would be an ideal tool to gather additional information from Customers to obtain additional feedback. It can be accomplished in many ways such as through paper or email mailers and in store surveys. The method selected would primarily depend on the owner’s available resources and preferences and of course size of targeted population The follow-on recommendation is to conduct a cost impact and payoff analysis using a decision tree or what some would call a consequence diagram. This process allows the planner to map out several alternatives with different end results to assess risk (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). In essence it is a risk matrix. When planning or considering restaurant equipment purchases or even additional staff hires, this process could be beneficial in assessing the risks involved with each decision (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). Table-2 is a representation of a typical decision tree used to make informed decisions. As you can see, it is a process of identifying the problem (or situation) and working through several COA’s to determine what works best for you. Table-2 Implementation is the next step. I would recommend the utilization of responsibility charts to organize and manage tasks. Again, this particular tool is a type of matrix that lists all the projects and tasks to be completed while identifying certain responsible parties or stakeholders (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). In such a small business environment, it would probably be most beneficial for the owner to get all staff involved with the design process to obtain full buy-in. this can be accomplished through the use of this tool. Of all the steps involved with planning and execution, this is probably the most labor intensive due to the potential resourcing required. After plans are implemented, the owner needs to assess the customer reactions to the added service. Anticipating a given response and getting the actual response are sometimes two different things. Again, the same process used during the Gap Analysis can be used to capture post-implementation feedback from customers (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). The bottom line is that as a small business, you more reliant on customer loyalty than larger chains and operations. As a result, you must pay attention to any feedback received regarding your products and services, In this case we’re talking about pizzas but it applies in many other situations and industries as well. Once the feedback id obtained develop a smart and affordable plan and implement the plan. Once you have transitioned fully into your new plan, solicit additional feedback from customers to see how things are going. You may find other areas of your business operations that require attention. Customer feedback has to be a part of your daily operations. Without it, your business is at serious risk. References Kalnins, A., & Mayer, K., (Dec 2004), Franchising, ownership, and experience: A study of pizza restaurant survival. Management Science Journal, Vol. 50 Issue 12, p1716-1728, 13p, 3 Charts. doi: 10.1287/mnsc.1040.0220 Kohli, A., & Gupta, M., (Apr 2010), Improving operations strategy: Application of TOC principles in a small business. Journal of Business & Economics Research, Vol. 8 Issue 4, p37-45, 9p Verma, R., & Thompson, G., (1999), Managing service operations based on customer preferences. International Journal of Operations and Production Management. Vol. 19 Issue 9/10, p891-908, 18p, 6 Charts Jacobs, F. R., & Chase, R. B. (2011), Operations and   upply chain management. (13th ed.), New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin Kelso, A., (Sep 2012), Survey: U.S. pizza market tops $40 billion, pizzamarketplace.com, Retrieved: 1 Mar 2013 http://www.pizzamarketplace.com/article/200667/Survey-U-S-pizza-market-tops-40-billion AP News, (Sep 2012), Analyst: Big pizza chains could take bigger slice, Bloomberg Business Week News, Retrieved: 1 Mar 2013 http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-09-18/analyst-big-pizza-chains-could-take-bigger-slice