Reaction to Amistad Movie

Kaylan Earls March 22, 2013 COMM3820 Reaction To Amistad Amistad was a very touching movie and showed a lot of fight and determination from the West Africans and several others working to gain freedom for the slaves.. During the movie I felt that I to were experiencing the gruesome triumphs that the West African slaves experienced during their fight toward freedom. Though I have seen several movies dealing with race it is always interesting to learn more about history. Amistad showed how the West Africans stuck together and remained as one to fight for their freedom and be reunited with their families once again.An issue that really hit a spot was how the slaves had to continue to go back to trial after being given their freedom once before due to illegal captivation. I think because of history and how race had such a impact in past times, regardless if the slaves were illegally captivated, the White House made the decision based off what was right for only their sake. I think during those times African Americans were just seen for their color and were being enslaved just because just for that simple reason. Though it was great to see that the Mende people finally were granted their freedom after a third trial, t was not fair that they had to go through so much for something they were already given before. This film had a huge impact on my thinking about race. Being African American I know the marches and all that was put in to get to where we are today. It's so inspiring to see and makes me so much more appreciative that todays society is better than it was in the past. Though I am sure that there are still some racial problems it is not nearly as bad as before. I liked the movie because I feel like in a way it showed how we all should have been treated equally in a way because the Mende eople were enslaved for no reason. I think it relates to my life because their are still some that have their strong racist beliefs because of how they may have been raised. I t's scary to think of how life would be if I lived the life that some of my people did when they were alive. I think it would be safe to say that the society has come a long way and if we still dealt with the same issues we wouldn't have an African American President today. I believe that the film was a little gruesome but not at exaggerated at all with the in treatment of the blacks.The non-blacks seemed to have no sympathy in what they were doing, they were simply doing what they had do, because in their eyes it's life. There are many other films that show the same treatment to slaves. Only knowing some basic treatments I fully believe that the way the Mende people were treated in the movie is how they were treated realistically. As stated before, I really have a lot more appreciation for my race. My ancestors and so many others experienced some really hard times and had to deal with things that no human should ever have to deal with regardless of the color of their skin.Not that I never appreciated what my people have done for freedom, but it is always very inspiring and impactful to see how much went into a tremendous fight for freedom. In our generation now, not many know exactly what it was like to live the life that African Americans before we were born, so it's good that we have films that shows us and help us learn. I would hope that this movie had some type of impact on the society because it is a very touching film. No one now could ever put themselves in the shoes of those who actually experienced these times.I know that if it was hard to even watch the way the slaves were treated in the movie, I could only imagine what it was actually living it. This movie shows society that this treatment was unnecessary, there is no possible reason why African Americans were treated the way they were. Amistad was a touching, impactful movie and it would be a movie I recommend people to see, just to learn more about history. Today racial issues sometimes get over looked and to see a movie that shows how they use to be may make people become more aware of how they treat someone else that is a different race.

Tanglewood Stores

1. Answering this question demonstrates that processes underlie all of our jobs. What might be surprising is how many students would put their job in the category of â€Å"other,† suggesting that many jobs do not fall neatly into any one functional area. Perhaps many in the â€Å"other† category might best be called â€Å"operations† on further reflection. Customers, both internal and external, are part of each process, and the goal is to manage the processes to add the most value for them. 2. Amazon. com offers a very broad range of services and products at competitive prices.Its competitive priorities would include fast delivery time, on-time delivery, customization, variety and low-cost operations. As a business, Amazon. com is actually assembling a customized basket of goods that must be delivered in a short window of time in a dependable fashion. Low-cost operations are needed to remain competitive. To remain in business, Amazon. com needs to maintain high v olumes of traffic. Operations strategy must focus on stock availability and quick, economical, and dependable delivery. 3.The hospital’s commitment to provide attention to patients arriving to the emergency unit in less than 15 minutes and never to turn away patients who need to be hospitalized implies that the facility must be designed to have extra capacity in both beds and emergency room facilities. It must plan on having extra personnel in the emergency room and also plan on having additional emergency personnel on call to take care of unprecedented heavy loads. In line with the mission statement, maximum utilization of the facilities (i. e. beds and emergency room personnel) would not be one of the performance objectives for the hospital.4. FedEx traditionally has competed on the basis of fast, dependable delivery. Before the boom in Internet applications, many businesses relied on FedEx to get things to other businesses overnight. Now, this need is beginning to diminish as sophisticated systems are being installed to assist companies in planning operations better. And, the internet based companies are adding more demands for low cost ground deliveries to specific customer doors.FedEx, in order to remain competitive with companies such as UPS, has moved into the door-to-door delivery business, perhaps through acquisition. Nonetheless, it will require changes to this company’s competitive priorities. 5. Technology Management. To identify a market segment, we need to determine answers to questions such as: Which colleges and departments currently offer the subject? What do instructors desire in the way of textbook support? Is there a trend toward Technology Management courses? Are there other Technology Management texts? Some needs assessment can be accomplished by survey, but the response rate may be low.A high-investment strategy would be to ask or hire instructors to review and critique a list of topics, then an outline, then a draft. Expli cit services include supplying information about the subject in the form of a textbook and instructor support in the form of ancillary publications. 6. It is often not a good idea for a company to try to excel in all of the competitive priorities because it is generally impossible to do so. Mediocrity is a predictable result. The choice and the minimum level of one or more of the competitive priorities are set by the order qualifiers for the particular product or service.The choice of the competitive priorities that the company should emphasize is usually governed by the company’s strategy driven by its mission statement and the core competencies that the company wants to harness to seek the best competitive advantage. 7. Core processes should link to a firm’s core competencies. Core processes are those processes that provide the firm the best competitive advantage. Essential to the definition a firm’s core processes is the concept of â€Å"interaction costs. à ¢â‚¬  These costs include the time and money that are expended whenever people and companies exchange services, products, or ideas.If the transaction costs are higher to retain a process within the firm’s organization than to outsource the process, the process should be outsourced. 8. Wendy’s assembles hamburgers to order. When materials are held at the stage just before final assembly, they can be used to complete a wide variety of different sandwiches. Because no finished-goods stock exists, when customers say, â€Å"Hold the sauce,† there is no delay or waste of materials. Service clerks specialize. One clerk takes orders and payment. Others fill portions of the order.Orders are processed in single file. Throughput is normally restricted by transactions at the cash register. At busy times, throughput is increased by splitting the bottleneck operation. One clerk takes customer orders, another receives payment. The Wendy’s operation has some characteris tics of assembly. Therefore, the impact of new menu items on the production operations must be carefully considered. 9. Grandmother’s Chicken. a. Kathryn Shoemaker’s strategic plans include the following: Product and service plans: Should the new location offer a new mix?Competitive priorities: If the product mix and service mix are different at the new location, the thrust could be on low volumes and high quality. Quality management: Should the goal be reliability or top quality? Process strategy: What processes will be needed to make chicken dinners in the addition or new facility? New technologies: Is it time to automate? Is this why there is a problem in service times? Capacity: How large should the addition or new facility be? Location: Should we locate in Uniontown or expand in Middlesburg? b. Attitudes toward nutrition could change the demand for chicken.Competitors such as Boston Market may be planning to move to Uniontown or even Middlesburg. There may be a tr end toward demands for ever-faster service, which cannot be supported by the processes specified in the â€Å"unique recipe. † The economy of Uniontown might not be supportive of restaurant services. Shoemaker should also consider the availability of key resources, such as servers, whole chickens, spices, and cooking oil. Will Uniontown labor organize?c. The possible distinctive competencies at Grandmother’s Chicken Restaurant include the â€Å"unique recipe,† the homey atmosphere, and friendly, prompt service. 0. Wild West, is recognizable as US WEST, which was bought out by Qwest in a hostile takeover in June, 2000. But many other â€Å"Baby Bells† are in a similar position. a. Strategic plans include reducing overhead, reengineering operations, and investing in new technologies to meet competition. The â€Å"do-nothing† option of remaining a local monopoly telephone company is not viable because of competition from cable systems and wireless sys tems that are capable of business and personal communication. If the mission is too broad, Wild West should sell its financial services and commercial real-estate businesses.Those businesses do not match their distinctive competencies. b. One environmental issue is whether communication, like health care, will be viewed as a â€Å"right† and therefore should be free. A significant portion of Wild West’s business is governed by regulatory agencies. Customer service in their core business is essential to maintaining a favorable regulatory environment. Other business opportunities, such as manufacturing and providing information services, are prohibited by the same court order that formed the â€Å"Baby Bells† from AT&T. c.Wild West’s distinctive competency is in connecting people (or machines) for the purpose of communication. A weakness is high overhead inherited from the era of telecommunication monopoly. 11. Although the answers may vary depending on the â€Å"niche† elements of the business, the competitive priorities would include on-time delivery, low-cost operations, and customization. The latter competitive priority comes from the capability to assemble unique â€Å"baskets† of food items for each customer. There may be a need to coordinate a given basket between two different stores.Capabilities to develop would include information systems and Web page design, efficient scheduling of delivery trucks (which must first collect the items in the basket and then deliver them to the customer’s door), and an adequate fleet of trucks with drivers. PROBLEMS 1. Boehring University a. Value of output: [pic] Value of input: labor + material + overhead [pic] Multifactor Productivity ratio: Productivity [pic] Compared to Solved problem 1, multifactor productivity has increased from 1. 25 to 1. 76. b. Value of output is the same as in part a: [pic] Labor-hours of input: pic] Productivity ratio: Labor Productivity [pic] The $192 season ticket price is not used in this calculation. It is a â€Å"red herring. † 2. Suds and Duds Laundry a. Labor productivity | |Number of |Input |Output |Output/Input | |Week |Workers |(Labor-hours) |(Shirts) |Ratio | |1 |2 |24 |68 |2. 83 shirts/hour | |2 |2 |46 |130 |2. 83 shirts/hour | |3 |3 |62 |152 |2. 45 shirts/hour | |4 |3 |51 |125 |2. 45 shirts/hour | |5 |2 |45 |131 |2. 91 shirts/hour | b. Output per person does not vary much whether it is Sud, Dud, or Jud working. Productivity declines when all three are present.Perhaps there isn’t enough work to keep three persons occupied, or perhaps there is not enough work space or equipment to accommodate three workers. 3. Compact disc players Value of Output: $300 Value of Input: Labor + Materials + Overhead Productivity [pic] 10% productivity improvement [pic] Given productivity[pic], and the value of output [pic] we solve for the cost of inputs: Productivity [pic] Input [pic] or $136 The cost of inputs must decrease by[pic]. a. A $14 reduction in material costs is [pic] b. A $14 reduction in labor costs is [pic] c. A $14 reduction in overhead is $14/$50 = 28. 00% . The output of a process is valued at $100 per unit. The cost of labor is $50 per hour including benefits. The accounting department provided the following information about the process for the past four weeks: | |Week 1 |Week 2 |Week 3 |Week 4 | |Units Produced |1124 |1310 |1092 |981 | |Total Value |112,400 |131,000 |109,200 |98,100 ||Labor ($) |12,735 |14,842 |10,603 |9526 | |Labor (hrs) |254. 7 |296. 8 |212. 1 |190. 5 | |Material ($) |21,041 |24,523 |20,442 |18,364 | |Overhead ($) |8,992 |10,480 |8,736 |7,848 | |Multifactor Productivity |2. 63 |2. 63 |2. 75 |2. 75 | |Labor Productivity |4. 1 units/hr |4. 41units/hr |5. 15 units/hr |5. 15 units/hr | a. Use the multifactor productivity ratio to see whether recent process improvements had any effect and, if so, when the effect was noticeable. Value of output [pic] Value of i nput: labor + material + overhead $12,735 + $21,041 + $8,992 = $42,768 Productivity ratio: Labor Productivity [pic] Week 1Productivity [pic] Week 2Productivity [pic] Week 3Productivity [pic] Week 4Productivity [pic] [pic] Improved 4. 45% – noticeable in Week 3 b. Has labor productivity changed? Use the labor productivity ratio to support your answer.Labor-hours of input: Labor $50/hour Labor costs Week 1 = $12,735/$50 = 254. 7 Week 2 = $14,842/$50 = 296. 84 Week 3 = $10,603/$50 = 212. 06 Week 4 = $9,526/$50 = 190. 52 Productivity ratio: Labor Productivity [pic] Week 1 = Labor Productivity [pic] Week 2 = Labor Productivity [pic] Week 3 = Labor Productivity [pic] Week 4 = Labor Productivity [pic] [pic] Improved 16. 68% 5. Alyssa’s Custom Cakes a. [pic] [pic] Solve for x = $850/1. 25 = $680 Total costs = $680 Average cost per cake = $680/10 = $68/cake b. Labor productivity Birthday cake = $50/ 1. 5 hours = $33. 30/hourWedding Cake = $150/ 4 hours = $37. 50/hour Specialty Cake = $100/1 hours = $100/hour c. Based on labor productivity, Alyssa should try to sell specialty cakes the most. d. Yes, Alyssa should stop selling birthday cakes. Based on answer a, she loses $68 – $50 = $18 everytime she sells a birthday cake. advanced PROBLEMS 6. Big Black Bird Company The Big Black Bird Company problem is based on a product made by Raven Industries. None of the numbers are representative of actual costs or volume. a. Multifactor Productivity Original Situation: Value of output: [pic] Value of input: [pic]Productivity ratio: Productivity [pic] Overtime Situation: Value of output: [pic] Value of input: [pic] Productivity ratio: Productivity [pic] Productivity decreases by: [pic] b. Labor Productivity Original Situation: Value of output (from part a) is: $500,000 Labor-hours of input: [pic] Labor productivity [pic] Overtime Situation: Value of output (from part a) is: $800,000 Labor-hours of input: [pic] Labor productivity =$800,000 / 7200 hours = $111. 1 1/hours Labor productivity decreases by: (125/111. 11) / 125 x 100% = 11. 1% c. Gross profits Original Situation:[pic]Overtime Situation:[pic] Weekly profits increased. 7. Mack’s Guitar Company a. Labor productivity = output/input Output = 100 guitars x 80% completion rate x price/guitar = 80 guitars/ month x $250/guitar = $20,000 Input Labor = 10/hours per guitar x 100 guitars = 1000 hours Labor productivity is $20,000/1000 = $20/hour Multifactor productivity ratio = output/input Output = 100 guitars x 80% completion rate x price/guitar = 80 guitars/ month x $250/guitar = $20,000 Input Labor = $10/hour x 10/hours per guitar x 100 guitars = $10, 000 Material = $40/guitar x 100 guitars = $4, 000Overhead = $4,000 Multifactor productivity ratio = $20, 000/$18, 000 = 1. 11 b. Option 1. Increase sales price by 10% Output = 100 guitars x 80% completion rate x ($250 x 1. 1) = $22,000 Input Labor is same as in part (a) = $10,000 Material is same as in part (a). = $4,000 Overhead is s ame as in part (a) = $4,000 Multifactor productivity ratio = $22,000/$18,000 = 1. 22 Option 2. Improve Quality Output = 100 guitars x 90% completion rate x $250/guitar = $22,500 Input Labor is same as in part (a) = $10,000 Material is same as in part (a). = $4,000 Overhead is same as in part (a) = $4,000Multifactor productivity ratio = $22,500/$18,000 = 1. 25 Option 3. Reduce costs by 10% Output = same as in part (a) = $20,000 Input Reduce costs by 10% yields 90% of the input costs from part (a). = $18,000 x 0. 90 = $16,200 Multifactor productivity ratio = $20,000/$16,200 = 1. 23 Darren should choose Option 2 and improve quality because it yields the greatest improvement in multifactor productivity. CASE: CHAD’S CREATIVE CONCEPTS* A. Synopsis This case describes a small furniture manufacturing company that has gained a reputation for creative designs and quality by focusing on producing custom-designed furniture.As its reputation grew it began to sell some standard furniture pieces to retail outlets. The overall growth in sales volume and the diversification into the production of standard furniture pieces have caused a number of issues to arise concerning both the internal manufacturing operations and its relationship to the other functional areas of the company. B. Purpose This case is designed to be used as either a â€Å"cold-call† case for class discussion or an assigned homework reading. Major points to be brought out in the discussion include: 1. The range of decisions that are made in designing and operating processes 2.The impact that these operating decisions have on the organization as a whole, such as on marketing and finance 3. The impact that decisions made in other functional areas of the organization have on the operating function 4. The need to go beyond the â€Å"functional silo† mentality and manage in an integrative manner C. Analysis Question 1: What types of decisions must Chad Thomas make daily for his companyâ€℠¢s operations to run effectively? Over the long run? The students should be able to discuss a number of short-term-oriented decisions that are facing Chad Thomas.These should include: a. How to set priorities and schedule different orders. Chad is receiving orders for both custom-made, low-volume furniture pieces and higher-volume, standard pieces. Sales have increased, but the amount of equipment and the production capacity of the company have not. Different orders with different manufacturing requirements are now competing for the same productive capacity. b. What orders to accept and how long of a lead time to plan for in promising a delivery date. c. What type of work policies should be maintained for his employees?Decisions such as the number and type of employees to employ, the number of hours to work per day, and the amount of overtime to allow are all work policy decisions that impact the available capacity level. d. The allocation of resources, equipment, labor, and money t o each product line. e. The level of inventory to maintain at various stages of the production process for both the custom and standard furniture lines (i. e. , raw material, WIP, finished goods). These decisions are linked to the longer-term, total inventory-investment decision.Examples of longer-term decisions that face Chad Thomas include: . Amount of money to tie up in the total inventory investment. b. The type of equipment to invest in to support efficient production. At what point should more specialized equipment be purchased to manufacture high-volume, standard furniture pieces more efficiently? c. What should be the overall workforce level to maintain, and what should be the proper mix of skills and capabilities? d. How should the facilities be laid out to accommodate the two different product lines? This gets the students into a whole range of capacity and equipment allocation decisions including size, type, and configuration.In these decisions it is important that the st udents see the significance of consistency of both strategic and operating decisions across functional areas. Question 2: How did sales and marketing affect operations when they began to sell standard pieces to retail outlets? Standard furniture pieces compete on a different set of competitive priorities than custom-designed pieces. Timely delivery and low costs are much more important than product flexibility. Quality may also be defined differently. The existing facilities are set up to provide flexibility with its job-shop orientation and general-purpose equipment.By introducing a standard line that should be manufactured on a flow line with some dedicated, more specialized equipment, a conflict has developed, and scheduling problems have resulted. Question 3: How has the move to producing standard furniture pieces affected the financial structure of the company? Inventory investment and operating costs are rising because of the frequent changeovers to accommodate the two differe nt product lines and their scheduling conflicts. Profit margins for the standard line are smaller, which puts pressure on manufacturing to increase productivity and reduce costs.There may also be an issue concerning the assignment of overhead costs to each product line. Finally, the potential need to rent warehouse space to store either WIP or finished-goods inventory cuts into the profit margin for the standard furniture line. Question 4: What might Chad Thomas have done differently to help avoid some of these problems? Chad needs to address issues relating to functional areas. Make sure the student is able to identify decisions that relate to more than one functional area. Examples include the following: Operations Function 1. Monitoring capacity and utilization of facilities 2.Formulating inventory policies—dollars, items, and unit levels 3. Setting scheduling policies and priorities 4. Maintaining product line quality Marketing and Sales 1. Accurately forecasting orders f or standard pieces 2. Defining market segments and customer needs 3. Determining what delivery schedules can be promised to customers Finance 1. Deciding level and type of investment 2. Investigating the effect of capacity investment decisions on ROI Distribution/Logistics 1. Managing distribution and pipeline inventory 2. Comparing cost and advantages of various transportation modes 3. Meeting delivery lead timesThree possible avenues that students may focus on are: Thomas might have a. Established a plan for a more controlled growth. Part of this plan would be the development of the appropriate infrastructure to manage a controlled growth as to what markets to enter, what product lines to develop, and how to develop the proper manufacturing capabilities. b. Maintained the company focus on custom-designed furniture only.This alternative presents a whole different set of issues and decisions pertaining to future growth, but it would have avoided the issues of mixed competitive prior ities and scheduling conflicts. . Realized the different requirements for each product line and focused the manufacturing facilities into two separate sets of production facilities designed to cater to each product line’s specific needs. D. Recommendations This case is not designed to be a decision-making case per se but rather a vehicle to get students thinking about the types and the integrated nature of decisions that operations managers face. The students may, indeed, have suggestions as to what should be done to help out Chad Thomas.These recommendations will more than likely follow the alternatives already discussed. As recommendations are provided by students, make sure you push them to understand the implications of their recommendations with respect to the company as a whole and the other functional areas. E. Teaching Strategy This case can be effectively discussed in 20 to 30 minutes by following the discussion questions provided at the end. The questions are interc onnected and somewhat redundant on purpose to reinforce the interrelatedness of decisions made in various functional areas of the company.The intent is to have the students understand the range of decisions that face managers in the operating function and to realize that different types of products competing in different markets place different demands on the operating function. Therefore, productive systems will take on a variety of configurations. Exhibit TN. 1 lays out a sample table to be written on the board displaying important issues in the class discussion. Each column can be used to compare and contrast the differences in the requirements imposed by custom versus standard furniture for each area.|EXHIBIT TN. 1 |Board Plan | |Important Issues |Custom Furniture |Standard Furniture | | | | | |Marketing | | | | | | | |Quality level and quality control | | | | | | | |Process equipment | | | | | | | |Process flow | | | | | | | |Production scheduling system | | | | | | | |Purchasi ng | | | | | | | |Type of inventory and inventory control system| | | | | | | |Type of engineering | | | | | | | |Type of labor and supervision needed | | | | | | | |Wage/reward system | | | | | | | |Layout | | | CASE: BSB, INC. : Pizza Wars Come to Campus * A. Synopsis BSB, Inc. resents the situation where launching a pizza service at a food service operation on a college campus turns out to be very successful. As the manager of the food service operation is contemplating an expansion of the service, an announcement by the university that a new food court will soon be opening in the new student union causes some concern. The new food court will contain, for the first time on campus, other food service companies, including a new Pizza Hut kiosk. This causes the manager of BSB, Inc. to reevaluate the competitive environment and her own competitive priorities.B. Purpose BSB, Inc. provides the students an opportunity to discuss a number of strategically focused issues to include the fo llowing: 1. Mission statements: Mission statements describe the fundamental purpose for which the organization exists. The university decided that a focus on food service operations was not part of its primary mission, so it contracted the service out to BSB, Inc. Students should be able to describe a mission statement for BSB, Inc. This statement will help in discussing the second major focus of this case. 2.Comparison of competitive priorities: When the pizza service was launched a year ago, the competitive priorities were to expand the product line to offer pizza that could be delivered quickly at a reasonable price. Costs were kept low, and turnaround time was short due to the limited combination of toppings available. With the addition of the food court and Pizza Hut on campus, competitive priorities may change. Delivery may still be a differentiating competitive priority, but product flexibility (variety) and volume flexibility (large order sizes) may become more important. BS B, Inc. ay not be able to compete on low cost when compared to Pizza Hut’s operations. 3. The impact changing competitive priorities has on operating decisions: Students need to discuss the potential impact that different competitive priorities have on process design and operating systems. If product flexibility and volume flexibility become more important, then there are implications for: a. Equipment needs—conventional oven versus continuous chain drive b. Capacity requirements—order size and delivery cycle c. Inventory issues—inventory needed to support product flexibility 4. Product life cycles: Demand for pizza on campus has leveled off.Why? Has it reached its mature, steady state? What will be the impact of new competition? What can be done to reposition pizza into a growth stage? These are questions that should be asked of students to get them to think about pizza’s product life cycle. C. Analysis A good analysis of the situation can be perf ormed by going through the five questions at the end of the case. The following is what you can expect from a first-year MBA student given the case as a take-home assignment to read and to respond to the questions at the end. Question 1: Does BSB, Inc. enjoy any competitive advantages or distinctive competencies?BSB’s competitive advantage is close proximity to the customers. Though 43 percent of meals are eaten off campus, 57 percent of meals are still eaten at BSB’s facilities. For pizza delivery the close proximity is critical, as it allows for quicker delivery. In addition, delivery can be done at a lower cost because bikes can be used. BSB’s distinctive competencies are the location of facilities and market know-how. Being on campus, BSB can provide delivery service quicker and at a lower cost. In addition, by being on campus, BSB is closer to the customer base, which allows Kershaw, the manager, to be more knowledgeable of her customer’s needs.She e mploys environmental scanning, such as the customer surveys, to keep abreast of her market. Question 2: Initially, how did Renee Kershaw choose to compete with her pizza operations? What were her competitive priorities? Initially, Kershaw chose to compete on delivery service and price. She used quick delivery as a key selling point. In addition, without a reasonable price, she could not compete with the off-campus pizza companies. In effect, her order qualifier was price, and her order winner was service.Her initial competitive priorities for pizza were delivery speed and price. Her on-campus location and limited standard toppings make these priorities possible. Unfortunately, this policy limits the variety of pizzas available. The increased requests for additional topping combinations and the leveling of sales suggest this policy may be hurting BSB. Question 3: What impact will the new food court have on Kershaw’s pizza operations? What competitive priorities might she choos e to focus on now? The new food court introduces new competition that has the same on-campus advantage as BSB.In addition, these companies can also provide products at reasonable prices, but unlike BSB, they have brand names. Her direct competitor, Pizza Hut, can probably provide a similar price. Most likely Pizza Hut will also have limited varieties; however, BSB still maintains its delivery advantage. The most likely new competitive priorities for BSB will be expanded product variety and longer service hours. The increased requests for alternate toppings show a customer interest in variety, and the expanded hours will enable BSB to offer service when the Pizza Hut is closed or when students are in their dorm rooms.Question 4: If Kershaw were to change the competitive priorities for the pizza operation, what are the gaps between the priorities and capabilities of her process? How might this impact her operating processes and capacity decisions? An increase in product variety will a ffect both service and cost. Kershaw probably cannot have as many premade pizzas ready to throw into the oven. She will also need to stock additional toppings. If she wants to maintain service, she will need to hire additional workers. She will inevitably have some trade-off between service and price if she adds product variety.Kershaw will also need to add capacity. At present, she is near capacity with her pizza ovens. She may even have to consider a new location, as there seems to be limited space at the grill location. Clearly she will need to determine the viability of pizza service before she takes this step. Question 5: Can you outline a service strategy for Kershaw’s operation on campus? If she chooses to stay in the pizza business, delivery will remain important. Food, most likely pizza, delivered from off campus, is a significant competitor. These competitive companies likely offer many pizza combinations.Therefore, BSB will need to increase variety to remain compet itive. The key to this strategy is to maintain quality and to innovate on product offerings. Kershaw must use her proximity to the customer to maintain her competitive advantage in determining their pizza delivery needs. The other strategy would be total price competition. This would require her to keep the limited menu and to push to keep costs at a bare minimum. Unfortunately this means maintaining the same basic strategy she has now. However, this strategy will most likely lead to an inevitable decline in market share.This strategy seems best if she decides to exit the market, but it gives her the opportunity to milk the market before exiting. In reviewing the student responses the instructor should note the following: 1. On question three, the student overlooks the continued importance of convenient, quick delivery. The other food services do not provide this service. 2. Students tend to hedge on question five. They should be pressured into putting together a service strategy as opposed to describing alternative choices only. There are a number of positions Kershaw may take.What is important, however, is to look for consistency in the strategies that students provide. D. Teaching Strategy This case is best assigned as a take-home assignment. Have the students focus on responding to the questions at the end of the case. Tell them to pay particular attention to the last question. The first four questions all lead up to the last one where students should describe a service strategy for pizza operations of BSB, Inc. Tell students you want them to settle on a specific strategy they can support. In class, start with the first question and cycle through to the final question, which describes their service strategies.It is helpful to try to get two or three different strategies on the board to compare and contrast approaches. It is important that students see that there are a number of good alternative strategies and not just one best one. A thorough discussion of this case will take 45 minutes to an hour, especially if alternative strategies are discussed. *This case was prepared by Dr. Brooke Saladin, Wake Forest University, as a basis for classroom discussion. *This case was prepared by Dr. Brooke Saladin, Wake Forest University, as a basis for classroom discussion.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Recruitment Agencies Commerce Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Recruitment Agencies Commerce Essay One of the big advantages is that the company is not wasting a time to sorting the candidate’s resumes and conducting the interviews on the initial stages. The advantage of the hiring companies is to recruit people in a very short time because the agency has always saved the resume of the qualified candidates. And they quick start to the screening process and conduct the interviews, background checks etc. The hiring companies gain advantages from using professional recruiters as well. The another advantages of the recruiting agencies if someone is already working somewhere and finding a job to elsewhere with no time wast, the agency will helps the candidates to find the job which is not being advertised to provide good quality job in a Varity of fields. Today’s competitive market, it a big benefit for the companies and the candidates for both, taking advantage from the recruitment agencies as long as they can because the professional recruiters provides the maximum sup port the candidates and recruit the good quality staff for the final stage of the interview process of the company. In this way it is a big advantage for the both parties is that each knows the other is serious about the open position. One more advantage of the hiring agencies is that to serve the job searchers in long term or short term position on to the large and small business scale. Recruitment agencies also offers health and retirement benefits, According to the â€Å"Encyclopaedia of business†. The Americans uses these agencies to find work with companies such as Adecco, Kelly services help place the employees in the united state and Europe. For many companies, it is a disadvantage that if the company have a one or two position available and decide to go to hire the recruitment agency, this decision will be the costly to hire the recruiting company. There is another disadvantage for the company, if they have not hiring the recruitment agency and advertise publically fo r the senior level placement, it is risk for the company to lose her reputation and other competitors take advantage by using their tactics. It is best for the company to contact the recruiters to fill up the position confidentially. If the recruitment agency is not to find the suitable candidates for the right position of the company it is time loss for the company. It is expensive to any company to pay the agency up to 30 % of the employee’s annual salary. When company hire the employees through recruitment agencies then it has to bear extra cost because organization has to give the huge money to recruitment agencies for its services. Which directly impact on the overall profitability of the organization which results badly affect the financial sustainability of the organization? Advantages and Disadvantages of Informal Methods: If organization hire the employees without following the complete procedure of recruitment and selection then these methods will be called informal methods like walk in interview given by employee without job announcement, applicant refer by existing employees.

Learning Mathematics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Learning Mathematics - Assignment Example important to provide students a platform to motivate them in going further with the subject and hence the pan balance experiment procedure has been proposed. The above procedure would definitely challenge, motivate and actively involve the students. Establishment of physical classroom environment to support the type of teaching has also been considered and the class would be undertaken in a computer lab and use of technology has been kept in mind with utilizing software to promote understanding. The students would be instructed to perform experiment on the software individually and in teams of two's and three's, the teacher would then visit each student/group and ask their conclusion, which would be then challenged, as the case may be, to bring about a better understanding. Finally, multiple assessment techniques would be utilized to monitor the student's performance and level of understanding these methods include observation, worksheets, experimental results, presentations by students etc. Assessment of the unit The unit will be assessed through a number of sources these would include the following: Observation of the instructor Worksheets Solutions to problems Experimental results tabulated Presentation of the students assignment which would be then graded by the Class LESSON 1 Concept of balancing equation using shapes Time Allotted: 2 periods (1.5 hours) Subject: Introducing Equality Grade/level: 6-7 The lecture described below belongs to the unit of essential algebraic concept and in this the student will balance shapes on the computer software to study equality, essential to understanding algebra. Corresponding relationships will be recognized when the pans balance, signifying the properties of equality. Objectives Students will: develop an...The above procedure would definitely challenge, motivate and actively involve the students. Establishment of physical classroom environment to support the type of teaching has also been considered and the class would be undertaken in a computer lab and use of technology has been kept in mind with utilizing software to promote understanding. The students would be instructed to perform experiment on the software individually and in teams of two's and three's, the teacher would then visit each student/group and ask their conclusion, which would be then challenged, as the case may be, to bring about a better understanding. Finally, multiple assessment techniques would be utilized to monitor the student's performance and level of understanding these methods include observation, worksheets, experimental results, presentations by students etc. The lecture described below belongs to the unit of essential algebraic concept and in this the student will balance shapes on the computer software to study equality, essential to understanding algebra. Corresponding relationships will be recognized when the pans balance, signifying the properties of equality. This lesson will develop algebraic perceptive through an easy study of equality.

Business Social Responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Business Social Responsibility - Essay Example As the attitude of society concerning the commercial activities began to change with the beginning of 19th century, it led to gradual growth of capitalism and strengthening of corporate potency. The businesses were allowed to utilise fully the resources of society for the generation of uttermost profit. Thus, the corporations exploited their employees, customers and suppliers without any due considerations for social welfare. Luthans et al. (1990) illustrate that businesses assumed no specific social responsibility in that era and remained concerned with maximisation of economic gains without respite. They also elaborate that the situation aggravated when firms entered into competition with each other in the pursuit of market supremacy and wealth maximisation. The most important factor contributing to the precipitation of corporate barbarism in the 19th century was the fact that there happened to be minimal or negligible government regulation over the corporations that led to a socially irresponsible behaviour on the part of businesses. Hence, the society soon lost trust in capitalism and economic instability cam to prevail at a wider scale. Luthans et al. (1990) explain that the notion that businesses should be regulated by government for socially responsible behaviour emerged and uprose soon after that, which led to the imposition of government restrictions on corporations concerning social responsibility. The infliction of laws and regulations for the perpetuation of social responsibility among the corporations led to the great extent a change in the attitude of corporate world towards society. These laws initially prevented the businesses to cause any harm or damage to the society during its course of profit maximisation. Hence, government regulations seem to have played a great role in bringing about this 'socially responsible' behaviour, rather than the pure intention of social and human welfare on the part of the corporations. In the modern era, the concept of social responsibility evolved into the 'corporate social responsibility', which is a further enhanced concept embodying much more responsible behaviour than is required by law. Businesses should not only refrain from afflicting any harm to society as restricted by law, but also endeavour and strive within its possible capabilities for the betterment of society and the individual altogether, even when it is not circumscribed in its legal requirements. Bloom and Gundlach (2001, p142) as pinned down the term 'corporate social responsibility' as, "The obligations of the firm to its stakeholders; people and groups who can affect or a who are affected by corporate policies and practices. These obligations go beyond legal requirements and the company's duties to its shareholders. Fulfilment of these obligations is intended to minimize any harm and maximize the long-run beneficial impact of the firm on society" Thus, in this definition, the social responsibility of business encompasses a wider spectrum of a firm's responsibility. It leads a

Post 9 11 America Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Post 9 11 America - Research Paper Example This could be divided into, A. Suspicion Prior to the terrorist attack, the interaction between various persons in the United States of America was smooth. This was very good at societal and national level. After the attack, a different perspective on things viewed innocently changed. The citizens were unaware of when the next attack could be conducted. As a result, they became more suspicious in everything they undertook (Tweedie 1). For the people with Arabic origin, they were perceived to be sympathizers of terrorism and thus were somehow alienated from the society. A good example is the removal of six Muslim imams from the plane due to them raising suspicion to other passages and the airline administration. B. Discrimination This followed from the risen suspicion of the American citizens towards people who were Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and south Asian (Gohil and Sidhu 91). This was mainly because they were either perceived to be directly or indirectly involved in the attacks. In some cases, vandalism was conducted. In the call for the construction of a mosque in USA, the citizens demonstrated in a bid to obstruct the implementation of the idea. This clearly indicated that people of Muslim and Arab origin were not accepted in USA. As time has been passing on, various transformations have been achieved in which the interaction has been building up. Since not all Arabs and Muslim are involved in terrorist attacks, various persons processing the same faith have declared their intentions in assisting in identifying people linked to terrorism (Smith 1). C. Department of Homeland Security The successful conduction of the terrorist attack on 9/11 indicated the limitation in capacity of the American security forces at the time. As a result, it was necessary to form a body that would entirely be mandated in looking into potential threats in USA and taking precaution in order to ensure that similar attacks were not conducted. This was implemented by the formation of depart ment of homeland security. It has since then been very useful even in cases of natural disasters. Its council conducts their control from the white house. Due to its importance in national security, it has continuously been transformed as the technology advances and currently it forms part of the top three cabinet departments in the US federal government. Thus despite the attack bringing pain and suffering, other merits such as formation of department of homeland security were reaped. D. Politics The attack led to numerous transformations in the US politics. At the time, both parties combined their effort and brought forth the necessity of implementation of foreign policies that clearly addressed the issue. A good example is the Patriot Act passed by the congress and signed by the president at the time, George W. Bush. The act reduced restriction initially imposed to the security officers. As a result, intensive search was conducted to persons at various locations in a bid to identi fy and prevent terrorist attacks (Drash 1). In addition, the officers were capable of looking into the personal details such as communication and finance. The secretary of treasury’s authority was empowered to regulate financial transactions especially those involving foreigners. After the attack, terrorist was modified to take into account domestic terrorism and many immigrants suspected

Business Analytics_Information Systems within your working environment Coursework

Business Analytics_Information Systems within your working environment - Coursework Example The organization is one of the leading employers within the global industry. In addition to this, the organization has adopted and implemented effective global business expansion, business diversification and product differentiation strategy in business operation process in order to gain potential competitive edge and maintain potential competitive advantage over its competitors. The organization has developed and installed several advanced technological applications in business operation process in order to enhance effective business operation practices. This report will discuss several aspects of the use of Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERPS) in PepsiCo including the advantages and disadvantages of the software application. Moreover, the study will determine how this specific software application has helped the management of PepsiCo to enhance effective business performance in global market places. ERPS can be considered as important business management software. It is also considered as a set of integrated software applications, which an organization can use it to source, collect, gather, store, manage, record and interpret data and information from several business activities. These business operation activities may include manufacturing or service delivery, product planning, cost planning, inventory management, marketing and sales, and shipping and payment. The major objective of this specific business management software application is to provide an incorporated view of central business process in real time period by using common databases that are maintained by a particular DBMS or database management system. This ERP system can track several business resources of an organization quite significantly. The business resources include production capacity, raw materials, cash, payroll, purchased orders and status of the business commitments. One of the major objectives of this system is to facilitate

Final questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Final questions - Essay Example She is furious because she is conformed to the fashions, behaviors and values of the time. As a result, she plays havoc and introduces new attitudes and beliefs as well as seduction of the basketball captain Skip. The scenes now begin to change with color and the film gains a new perspective as the society embraces and become contaminated. The cinematography of the film identifies the major theme of the film which is change. The movie touches on many social, political, ideological and religious themes such as race, sexuality, personal freedom, feminism and womens liberation, passion, prejudice and social change. The themes are displayed in a continuous play of events with proper projection. The symptomatic meaning is identified through the color changes from a black and white setting to a colored setting and the transition from a real world to an unrealistic world. The implicit meaning of the film is displayed by the way people react to change. It denoted that people either embrace, reject or resign to the inevitability of change. While some people are inclined to the past, this movie helps us to examine the changes that appear in Pleasantville critically by analyzing our attitudes towards change in general. Cinematically, I found the film effective because the plot is continuous and the essence in daily life is applicable. The scene where Bud helps his mother with the make-up in order to change her skin tone is effective and well displayed in both colored and black and white scenes. The shots are clear and there is a wide angle shot to give way to the house in which they are situated, the distance is well measured and the movement of the camera is both aerial and with a direct view. The montage of this scene is in a traditional sense with a conservative approach to the the customs and based on the need to remain an obedient wife. The

History of Cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

History of Cinema - Essay Example In particular, the history of cinema dates over 100 years, beginning from late 19th century to the current time. Since the evolution of the cinema during the 1890s, it was considered an economical method of providing mass entertainment. During the first three decades of film discovery, motion pictures did not have sound as the pioneers had not yet figured out how to link sound with the motion pictures. Through continual improvements, inventors succeeded in merging motion pictures with sound in 1923; hence, this resulted in the end of the silent era, while marked the beginning of the sound era (Goodwin, 129). The cinema has undergone various stages of development to reach the current 3-Dimensional films, which has been made possible by continuous learning and improvements. This confirms the fact that the history of Cinema has been useful as it has allowed the ultimate transformation of primitive film to a world class and reliable cinema. Without studying the history of the cinema, there would be nothing to improve. Consequently, the film industry would be lagging behind. As such, we must study the history of cinema because it will enlighten us on new ways of establishing better services than are currently being offered. In conclusion, the study of the past assists us to appreciate the present and makes us ready for the

Critical Reflection on Assessment Process Assignment

Critical Reflection on Assessment Process - Assignment Example For the second assignment, I extended what I had done for the first one by adding further assessment techniques (such as the group discussions, portfolio and self assessment rubrics) and taking a more critical look at their advantages and disadvantages. I reached my conclusions by simulating or projecting mentally the outcomes of using these assessment methods in the light of the specific objectives chosen. I also extended my application of the information on the assessment methods beyond the simpler learning objectives of the first assignment, to focus on more diverse objectives and the acquisition of various capabilities.Critical reflections in terms of usefulnessE. The most useful parts for my learning on this course were the discussions among students, sometimes facilitated by a member of the teaching staff, concerning the material, its usefulness and how it should be applied. I would encourage the systematic inclusion of a debate (or "mini-debate") in each lecture or class where possible. This ensures a real-life aspect to what we are doing.The least useful parts for my learning were certain lectures that lacked interactivity. This is linked to my comments above. Being spoon-fed theory does not allow you to test and apply the information so easily for what is after all a practically oriented subject.F. The most useful parts for my products were that the first product (first assignment) was a good way for me to benefit from the mistakes that I made. The products helped each other. as I could then do more with the second one, thanks to the first one. The first assignment allowed me to really understand the main questions of this course: what is assessment; why do we assess people, either students or teachers; and what allows us to do a successful assessment. In the second one I learnt more on designing and planning for good assessments. The least useful parts for my products were some of the academic texts that were cited. Although it is important for logical arguments to be well grounded in established data, assessment is a practical science as well. As such, once the underlying theory is established, the value (in my opinion) is in applying it and making it perform in real life, rather than taking one more step "backward" into the realms of academia. Recommendations that I would make and the reasons for making them. G. For future students regarding the assignment preparation, I would recommend consulting the assessment experiences of different educational organizations, for example, by visiting their websites. They often have relevant and focused comments on what works and what doesn't work in specific environments which adds a practical dimension to the theory discussed in the course. If a student has some weakness in English, like me, then I suggest revising the particular

Primary color Essay Example for Free

Primary color Essay Light reveals a world of colors by painting everything it touches. Our plain and soulless furniture gains meaning. Our brown bookshelf, gray study table, green mug carpets, rugs, curtains the yellow wheat fields in the harvest picture, the blue china vase, our favorite brown sweater the striking green of a tree surrounded by concrete buildings, the blue sky, and the carousel of life that becomes worth living by being embellished with colors. Lets travel through the wonderful world of colors. Each color conceals a story. Some virtuous and sensitive eyes see the truth through them, while others see rage, anger, and all the evils dictated by the alter ego. Colors carry such feelings as anger and hope, and symbolize such concepts as sinfulness and innocence. They are abused or sacrificed, and widely preferred or despised. Literally, color is a phenomenon of light or visual perception that enables people to differentiate otherwise identical objects. Being one of matters distinguishing characteristics, in a sense its meanings are the meanings of life. As truth is interwoven with life, truth might be viewed through colors. Their Influence on People The most important aspect of color in daily life is probably the aesthetic and psychological responses that they evoke†our psychological perception†and the resulting influences on art, fashion, commerce, and even physical and emotional sensations. For example, reds, oranges, yellows, and browns are warm, whereas blues, greens, and grays are cold. Reds, oranges, and yellows are said to induce excitement, cheerfulness, stimulation, and aggression; blues and greens to induce security, calm, and peace; and browns, grays, and blacks to bring sadness, depression, and melancholy. However, we can only generalize about such subjective perceptions. Age, mood, mental health, and other factors affect color perception. People sharing distinct personal traits often share color perceptions and preferences. For example, schizophrenics are said to have abnormal color perception, and very young children learning to distinguish colors usually prefer red or orange. Many psychologists believe that analyzing ones use of and response to color reveals relevant physiological and psychological information. Some even suggest that specific colors have a therapeutic effect on physical and mental disabilities. In China, India, and Japan, colors are used in alternative medicine. Orange is considered good for depression, yellow for diabetes, green for ulcers and spiritual fatigue, and blue-violet for epilepsy. What is important here is the bodys receptor of color, such as eyes or skin. Each colors wavelength carries and transmits energy to the bodily part having that color. This energy removes physical and emotional disorders, and colorful rays directly influence the neural system. Thus, different illnesses are treated with different rays of colors having different tones and impacts. Although these medical benefits are still in question, color does cause definite physical and emotional reactions. Rooms and objects that are white or have light shades of cool colors may seem larger than those with intense dark or warm colors. As designers and decorators know, black or very dark colors have a slimming or shrinking effect. A cool room decorated in pale blue requires a higher thermostat setting than a warm room painted pale orange to achieve the same sensation of warmth. People viewing unusual colors produced by special illumination may experience headaches and nervous disorders. Tasty wholesome food served under such conditions appears repulsive and may induce illness. Other colors induce pleasure. When an affectively positive or pleasurably perceived color is viewed after a less pleasant color, it produces more pleasure than when viewed by itself. This effect is known as affective contrast enhancement. What Colors Have Experienced Colors are not universal. Some languages do not have separate words for green and blue or yellow and orange, whereas Eskimos use 17 different words for white to describe different snow conditions. Comparing color terminology reveals certain consistent patterns. All languages have designations for black and white. If a third hue is distinguished, it is red; next comes yellow or green, and then other colors. Consider soccer fanatics who so love their teams colors that they tear and burn the other teams flag. They dye their hair and faces yellow-red, blue-white, or red-white to match their teams colors, but cannot stand the opponents colors. They taunt the opposing team with clothes in their own teams colors, even to the extent of injury or death. Most important, they gain identity, send a message, and enjoy the confidence that comes with belonging to a peer group. Colors are gifts, not a cause of separatism. As sociologist Orhan Kologlu points out, people of different religions and nations chose different colors. In the Balkans, blue and white are considered to be Greeces colors (its flag is blue and white). During conflicts, people do not use the colors of other nations flags. But this is emotional and irrational, for no nation owns a color. During a time of Turkishâ€Å"Greek tension, red-white clothes were despised in Greece, and blue-white clothes in Turkey. Bulent Ecevit (current prime minister of Turkey) broke a taboo with his poem Blue Magic, which contains the lines: Like a blue magic, lies a warm sea between us / We are two nations, as beautiful as the other, at its shores. He also chose blue and white as his political partys colors. Ironically, this party whose emblem is in Greek (! ) colors now is now in power Turkey. A nations color choices change over time. Ancient Turks considered blue as sacred, for it was the color of the sky. Some Turkic nations still use it as their national color. In medieval Europe, blue stood for nobility and aristocracy, and the latter were believed to have blue blood. But in America, blue is associated with low spirits, melancholy, and depression (a blue funk). For women it means learned and intellectual, while in morality it means puritanical. It also means profane or indecent (blue movies), off-color or risquA © (blue jokes), and a kind of music (the Blues) dominated by sad and melancholic themes. Red and black are most commonly associated with sociopolitical conflict. For years red symbolized violence, pillage, murder, oppression, anti-democracy, and terrorism. In emotional terms, it means a face flushed with anger or embarrassment (red in the face), or bloody (red eyes). In politics, it means inciting or endorsing radical sociopolitical change, especially by force, as in red uprising or anything associated with communism (the former USSRs Red Square). There are even two Red armies: the Soviet army established after the 1917 Revolution, and the Japanese Red Army formed in 1969. The first was renowned for its strict penal codes and discipline, such as punishing battalions by sending them on suicide missions. New regulations in 1960 considerably lightened the Soviet Armys redness. The second army, a small-structured Japanese terrorist organization, remained active until 1990. Italys Red Brigades, an extreme left-wing terrorist organization, chose red and violence as it sought to prepare 1970s Italy for a Marxist uprising. Chinese revolutionaries seeking to end Chinas traditional culture chose red and violence, as did Cambodias radical Khmer Rouge (Red Khmers). This latter group massacred an entire generation, an estimated 1.5 million people out of an estimated population of 5. 7 million, during their 3. 5-year reign. It is used for heavy or serious (black intrigue); dirty and soiled (black hands); thoroughly sinister, evil, or wicked (black deed); negative (a black mark in ones record); the supernatural or Satan (black magic); very sad, gloomy, or calamitous (black despair); a disaster (black Saturday); hostility, angry discontent, sullenness (black resentment); grim, distorted, grotesque satire (black humor); or covert intelligence operations (black government missions). Although we associate black with negative meanings, we cannot deny that it also symbolizes seriousness, respectability, and nobility. There are occasions when white, the symbol of purity and innocence, is inappropriate says social psychiatrist Ibrahim Ballioglu. Colors should be used with the proper tones and combinations. He claims that it is logical to associate white with positive and black with negative concepts. Black and white are like night and day. The dark of night scares people, whereas the light of day relieves them. The colors hidden at night come forward in daytime. People are inclined to like light and bright colors. We apply white light in our depression patients therapy. Ones interest in dark colors gives clues about ones mood. A patients wearing white signals that he or she is getting well. In history, such groups as the Black Hand,1 Black Faces, and Black Shirts favored violence and vandalism. Mussolinis fascist Black Shirts group is the most interesting. After his overthrow 1943 and the Black Shirts dismissal, people avoided wearing black shirts. White means free of color; light or pallid (white hair, lips white with fear); without spot, blemish, or moral impurity; innocent or chaste (white wedding); harmless (white lie, white magic); and favorable or fortunate (white days of life). It also means politically conservative or reactionary people who undertake counter-revolutionary measures (white terror). In music, it is associated with a musical tone quality characterized by a controlled pure sound and a lack of warmth, color, and resonance. Green means mild and clement (green winter); pleasantly alluring; youthful and vigorous; not ripened or matured (green apples, tender green grasses); fresh and new; marked by a pale, sickly, or nauseated appearance; envious (green with envy); somehow deficient or unsophisticated; and an environmentalist political movement (Green Peace) or individual working to preserve environmental quality. Yellow is associated with sensationalized scandal items or distorted ordinary news (yellow journalism), and cowardice (a yellow streak up ones back). Pink signifies moderately radical and usually socialistic political or economic views, as well as emotional excitement (tickled pink). Do Nations or Religions Have Their Own Color? Color harmony, preferences, symbolism, and other psychological aspects are culturally conditioned and vary with time and place. For instance, American and Japanese concepts of warm and cold colors are essentially the same. However, Japanese consider blues and greens good and the red-purple range bad, while Americans consider the red-yellow-green range good and oranges and red-purples bad. In the West, black signifies mourning; other cultures use white, purple, or gold.

How One Film Demonstrates Features Which Can Be Considered as Post-Modern Essay Example for Free

How One Film Demonstrates Features Which Can Be Considered as Post-Modern Essay Film within the post-modern genre simply illustrates the ideas of postmodernism through expressive art. Postmodern can be defined as a â€Å"genre of art and literature†¦ in reaction against principles and practices of established modernism† In this essay I will be outlining the key concepts as well as characteristics that can be found in a post modern film. Postmodern cinema contradicts the typical principle of narrative structure and the portrayal of the characters. One film I believe illustrates these ideologies is Quentin Tarantino’s film Pulp Fiction. Released when postmodern films were at its peek. Pulp Fiction has to be one of cinemas most iconic films of all time. Due to the uncertainty of the characters and the stylised yet ambiguous nature of the plot, Pulp fiction is not only to be branded intriguing but also a great example of postmodern. Work by theorists such as Fredric Jameson, will be looked at to help with the analysis of the chosen film. By doing so this helps prove that key concepts which are present within the film such as pastiche, irony, fragmentation and parody are perceptions that together make up a postmodern film proving that pulp fiction is a good illustration. The use of pastiche is present throughout the film. Pastiche allows the emergence of differing techniques to form together in order to create a new structure. Replications of renowned film makers work has been used in order for an updated equally creative film to be produced. Anything from words, phrases, visual, and musical patterns can be used, by doing so it demonstrates that postmodern film is a combination of a variety of texts, styles and skills. Many theorists have spoken openly about their disproval of pastiche. Theorist Fredric Jameson for example even goes as far as to refer to pastiche as a â€Å"dead language†. In the book Postmodern Culture Fredric Jameson writes about the decline of new art, he writes â€Å"in a world in which stylistic innovation is no longer possible, all that is left is to imitate dead styles† (Jameson,1995 ) Even though â€Å"plagiarism of older plots†(Jameson, 1995) occurs in some films it can be argued that by this technique being used it allows an ingenious reinvention of a classic, to be made. One of the first indications of pastiche in Pulp Fiction takes place in the third scene where Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) enter the house. When Vincent is directed to the place where the brief case is, and opens it he is to be met by a bright glow, the scenes shows similar replication to a 1950s film in the film noir genre; called kiss me deadly. Where in both films the characters gaze adoringly in to the case, in Pulp Fiction the question of what it could possibly be is asked, considering the 666 (the mark of the anti-Christ) had to be entered into the case in order for it to be opened. Referencing to the 1950s is evident in the film, Marcellous’s wife Mia is associated with the 1950s quite a lot. The dialogue between Vincent and Mia is reminiscent to what would be said in a 1950s film. This idea is highlighted again when she chooses to go to a 1950s themed restaurant. The language and the setting break’s away from the usual formatting of the film which up until now consisted of violence. Mia being so much associated with the 1950s is rather ironic as you automatically associate the 1950s and women to be calm and innocent. We soon find this not to be the case as she is soon after shown taking drugs in the bathroom. Another example of pastiche within the film would be when Marcellous got raped. After his traumatic experience he tells Butch that he’s going to get his men to work on Zed with a â€Å"pair of pliers and a blow torch†. A line that was famously taken from the film Charley Varrick. The use of parody is another postmodern feature that is evident in pulp fiction. Like pastiche parody is also the imitation of a person’s previous work. Even though they may seem the same, the two techniques in fact contrast one another. Parody imitates film through cynicism whilst pastiche emulates true form. According to Jameson the use of parody emphasises a films distinctiveness through mockery, he rightly declares â€Å"now parody capitalises the uniqueness of these styles and seizes on their idiosyncrasies and eccentricities to produce a imitation which mocks the original† (Jameson,1995 ) The sarcastic tone to situations that can be considered to be serious are ridiculed whilst random partially irrelevant scenes are present at times. This technique easily can be seen as an attack on history however it also can be perceived as a humorous take on a scene or situation of something of importance. According to Linda Hutcheon â€Å"pastiche usually has to remain within the same genre as its model, whereas parody allows for adaptation† (Hutcheon1989). Parody allows the script to differentiate away from the original and become a voice and vision of its own, helping create a new meaning to the scene. Parody allows the script to differentiate away from the original and become a voice and vision of its own, helping create a new meaning to the scene. An example of parody is shown in the film is in the scene where Butch is a young boy. He receives a visit from a friend of his father who died at war. On first appearances you as the audience not only are intrigued but curious to find out what is going on. What seems to be something of importance is soon dismissed as the soldier goes on to talk about how Butch’s birth right was hidden up his and Butch’s fathers â€Å"ass† for seven years. Another element which is evident is the exploitation of words and situations being used in order to suggest the opposite of their intended meaning. Pulp Fiction explores this feature in the form of irony. The three types of irony used are: irony of fate, verbal irony and dramatic irony. Together the three different varieties of irony merge collectively providing a witty script. The scene where the two men in suits (Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta) approach the door and enters, is a prime example of dramatic irony. This is due to fact that we know something bad is going to take place. The audience knows more than the characters in the film, making us to wonder what will happen next. The sarcastic tone in the conversation Jules is having with one of the victims, too adds to the suspense as his tone is not serious â€Å"do you mind if I have some of your tasty beverage to wash this down? The dialogue is rather confusing as you immediately think that your interpretation of events must be wrong and once again are left not knowing what is going to happen next. Before killing the victim Jules recites a biblical verse â€Å"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and goodwill shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brothers keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will trike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee† (Ezekiel 25:17). The irony behind this is that he associates God with assignation. His act has now become justified in a deluded way. Whereas before God was associated with negativity in regards to Jules in the end it was the â€Å"divine intervention† of God that also saved him from the life of violence. Jules’ epiphany came when he was close to death it was this same epiphany that saved the thieves in the diner at the end. An example of irony of fate would have to be when Butch runs into Marcellous at the traffic lights. This is ironic as Butch escapes being killed due to Marcellous putting out a warrant for him. The scene continues to show irony as the two of them end up being put in a compromising situation in which they end up needing the help of the other for their own survival. Marvin’s death in the car is an additional case of irony of fate. He ends up being shot accidentally minutes after his life was spared. This is tragic as in Marvin’s case he was killed due to being at the wrong place at the wrong time. The complex nature of the film means that pulp fiction contains multiple storylines making it a story within a story. This fragmented form â€Å"deliberately discontinuous narratives†¦to suggest the fragmentation and breaks-up of formerly accepted systems of thought and belief† (Tim Woods, 1999). This particular feature is vital and takes place through out. The mergence from one thing into the next forces those watching to construct and figure out the story for themselves. Fragmentation has a real role of importance in Pulp fiction as the distorted storyline enables the audience to have empathy for the characters. The beginning of the film which we later find out is in fact the end, starts off with a mid way conversation between a man and a women. Only seconds into the movie and already the audience is left unsure of what it is they are talking about and what is going on in the scene. After a confusing dialogue between the two people which lasts only a few minutes the scene ends with a frozen image of the two of them. Not knowing what is going on is a theme which is explored throughout the film. Like in the first scene the scene following, too starts off with a conversation which has already started â€Å"okay so tell me again bout the hash bar† by doing so again the audience are unaware of what is taking place and feel the need to construct the story for themselves. A different example in the scene â€Å"Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace’s wife† introduces another character which the film later reveals is one of three protagonist characters Butch. Like the formatting of the other scenes a conversation is already taking place when the scene begins. The scene continues and Vincent and Jules randomly enter wearing t-shirts and shorts. It is only nearer to the end of the film that we find out why they are wearing what they are wearing. As the film draws to an end the first scene in the diner is explained in the last scene. The audience later find out that both Vincent and Jules are in fact present at the robbery. With his new morally correct path in which Jules wants to pursue he spares them their lives even though they had a gun pointed in his face. After an extensive look into postmodern film and the role in which it plays in the formation of film, it is evident that it is these features that make the films what they are, despite it contrasting the conventions of typical film. Borrowing plot lines from other well known sources, the use of sarcasm when imitating art, irony and perplexity are just a few descriptions, you could find within this genre. Even though at times these features have been questioned as well as criticised, in the end the final product at times are fascinating, a good example of this theory defiantly lies in the film pulp fiction. Pulp fiction forces the audience not to conform to the conventional ideas of film but instead consider a new way of understanding and acknowledge film. The concepts effectively add a new type of understanding to a collective of ideologies, allowing the reader to witness many different transitions that occurs within life through the characters. The relation between postmodernism and film has been openly criticised yet applauded by theorists. The lack of originality is the main focal point in regards to the subject with some theorist even referring it to plagiarism. Quentin Tarantino disproves this theory as his work is a prime example of originality and uniqueness that can come out of postmodern film in spite of pastiche, parody, irony and fragmentation being used.

Carrefours Measurement Of Strategic Objectives Accounting Essay

Carrefours Measurement Of Strategic Objectives Accounting Essay > Now Strategic Management Accounting or say SME has been distinct as a form of management accounting where emphasis is placed on data which relates to attributes external to the company, in addition to non-financial and financial information and internally produced information. According to Ken Smmonds, this is the collection of information related to management accounting which can be used for monitoring and formulating strategies. This has main emphasis on trends of cash flow, costs, revenue structure and stewardship of the property and resources accessible to the business. (Inman, 1999) We have different Strategic Management Accounting Techniques such as Key Performance Indicators, balanced score cards, value chain analysis etc. (Carrefour, Key indicators, 2010) Carrefour Introduction: Over the last 40 years, the company has grown to turn into one of the globes leading distribution company. The globes second-largest retailing company and is also largest in Europe. Carregour group at present operates four main types of store formats: Supermarkets, hard discount, hypermarkets and convenience stores. The Company currently has more than 15,500 stores which are either franchises or company operated. In UAE, Carrefour has large presence and has the business similar to its international business domain described above. Business Strategy: Carrefour is a retail endeavor, having its own manufacturing and distribution chain in Middle East which is innovated by EMKE Group. The business strategy of the company is to provide things of daily necessity to common people at reasonable price and earn profit for increased market share. The profit is supposed to be magnifies and retailing units as a result of low buying price in bulk purchase of material. The company has its own manufacturing unit for number of products to reduce the purchasing cost. (Author, Our group, 2010) Mission Objectives: The ultimate goal of the company is to have highest profit in hypermarket and other business segment. The company wants to manage its supply chain efficiently by implementing ERP. Other objectives include increased sales, ERP implementation, cost reduction and TQM implementation. (Author, Key indicators, 2010) Type of Manufacturing: The company has its own manufacturing stream and distribution stream, providing a good choice to carry out this research. The company did not manufactures all of the products it sells but around 70% of the products Carrefour sells comes from its own manufacturing plants. The company has hi-tech plants which are able to produce more than one variety of products at a time. Carrefours measurement of Strategic objectives: The company to achieve its strategic objectives uses the balanced scorecard (BSC) method to check its current level of performance and to bridge between present and desired level of performance. Balanced scorecard is a tactical performance management instrument a semi-level structured account supported by confirmed plan methods and computerization apparatus that can be utilized by managers to maintain track of the implementation of activities by personnel within their monitor and control the cost arising from these actions. It is possibly the best known of numerous such frameworks (for instance, it is mainly accepted performance management agenda reported). The company implemented the balance scorecard model given in the figure below. Plan of a Balanced Scorecard eventually is about the recognition of a little number of non-financial financial measures and adding targets to these items, so that at time when they are evaluate it is probable to establish whether present performance meets prospect. The idea in the rear of this is that by alerting executives to regions where performance diverges from prospect, they can be buoyant to focus their concentration on these areas. Areas where Strategic Management accounting is useful: Increasing the performance of the employees and the company: Performance measures are primarily used to evaluate organizational, as well as employee performance. A PMS develops key performance indicators (KPIs), or metrics, depending on the nature and activities of the organization. KPIs are used as strategy and incentives to assist the coordination of business unit and managers objectives, with those of the general corporation objectives, that is, they support goal congruency. By these metrics, the firm communicates how it desires the workers to act, and how these activities will be evaluated and judged. Carrefour uses the framework below: The key performance indicators of the company include: Number of registered own brands. Number of quality line product % of product supplied by the suppliers. Energy consumption Water consumption Recycling Sales Profit Customer base The company uses these indicators for the overall performance improvement and for performance of the employees, the indicators are: Feedback from colleagues Work hours Quality of service (Gregory, 1995) Supply chain: The supply chain in the company is evaluated on the basis of Value chain. The value chain is a methodical way to examining the growth of competitive benefit. It was invented by M. E. Porter in his book named Competitive Advantage (published in 1980). The chain comprises of a series of actions that build and create value. Value Chain Analysis generally describes the actions that take place in commerce and narrates them to a study of the competitive potency of the company. Value Chain Analysis is single way of recognizing which activities are finest undertaken by a company and which are finest provided by another business. According to that, the finest category of Carrefours supply chain is Information Networks. Here as the task is distributed to individual units (like transportation, distribution etc) and innovation can be diffused at any stage. Talking about supply chain, the Carrefour is currently using allocating gaming policy to hand out the products. Under this strategy, when the supply is low, the suppliers place fewer products on allocation. This signify that that supplier will not provide the order of the downstream fully but will decrease the volume to be supplied downstream in order to make certain that all the downstream nodes get at least some part of demand. In this way, Value chain analysis helps Carrefour to make a best in industry supply chain. (Gregory, 1995) Areas where Strategic Management accounting is not successful Inventory The company tried in past to use SMA for inventory management but the results were not fruitful. The key failure was because of short term nature of inventory management which is not been provided by strategic management accounting. Thus to ensure emergency and constant supply of stocks, the company also maintains warehouses at its allocation centers. The company currently utilizes build to stack approach in its inventory management policy. Replacement of SMA in inventory To ensure a centralized approach in inventory, Carrefour hypermarket has EPR implemented but is not federal yet. The ERP needs to be implemented in complete set of outlets and warehouses of the company. The responsibility to ensure inventory lies in hands of warehouse manager who has to ensure a particular fixed quantity of stock at anytime of the year. The information needed in ERP is to be supplied by various managers at distribution centers, manufacturing units etc. Master plan scheduling: Again because of short term nature of scheduling, Carrefour is not able to schedule its activities with the help of Strategic Management Accounting. Scheduling is thus done by correct coordination between varieties of departments. As mentioned previously, the company maintains around 7 days inventory in its warehouses to provide flexibility next to the always changing demand of people. If the material in the warehouses is lesser than that of 6 days, a buying order form manufacturing plant is placed. In the same way, if the inventory in the outlets is lesser than that of 3 business days capacity, again inventory is enthused for warehouse to the outlets. (Gregory, 1995) Strategic Managemetn Accounting in Various Departments Operations The company did not have a probable forecasting model for maintaining the inventory. It needs a better method for this purpose. The present method for supply planning goes with the need of the customers. Production is governed by the customer needs and Bullwhip effect (covered later in the report). In order to support the production in accordance with customer needs, the company utilizes Kano model as a strategic management accounting tool. A short explanation is given below. Kano model shown at this point is the most fundamental conceptualization of client requirement. The red line shows innovation while the blue shows expected and spoken requirement and green line signifies expected and unspoken requirements. Kano model relies on a supposition that a clients buys when he or she Need something, however is it not totally right, an organization must flood the client needs. This can be implicit as a Voice of the customer concept. Value chain analysis: At every step, proper documentation is done and coordination is maintained which is a part of value chain analysis to ensure that overall supply chain works properly. Finance A balance score card method is used here. The key ingredients of the balance score card method are as follows: Cost Control Senior leadership manages operating expenses and costs through cyclic budgets/ plan. A budget/ plan is a essential management accounting instrument because it assists top management and subdivision heads set spending thresholds and limits. correct financial reporting SCA or Strategic cost accounting assists top management report complete and accurate accounting data summaries. Sufficient cost accounting schemes ease monetary reporting work as corporate controllers can rapidly relocate cost accounting figures into financial accounting instruments like ledgers. Variance analysis Variance study is a necessary profit management instrument. Variances, often called contingency, are differences among actual costs and budget amounts. A positive discrepancy indicates that budget total exceed real costs. Higher management pays concentration to negative discrepancy because these indicate insufficient cost control operations in operating activities. Marketing In marketing department, SMA is generally used to forecast the demand. In marketing department, Carrefour is currently employing allocating gaming policy (as mentioned previously too) to distribute its products. In this strategy, in case when the supply goes down, the suppliers place fewer products on allocation. This signify that the supplier will not provide the order of the downstream fully but will decrease the volume to be supplied downstream in order to make certain that all the downstream nodes get at least some part of demand. For example if 1,00,000 Carrefour products are meant for distributed to 4 equally vital downstream nodes band there is difficulty in reliable supply, then the company will supply only 12,500 products to the downstream nodes, irrespective of its capacity and even when it can provide more to assure that each node get a little and stock is not unfilled. It is also find that is the irregularity in demand is too often, some costumers (downstream nodes of supply chain) order more than the actual need to compensate future disorder in supplies. In this way, the company manages its product strategically. Transportation: The company preserves an effectual transportation system from manufacturing unit to distribution centers and then additional from distribution centers to retail outlets. Currently hired motor vehicles are used to diminish the cost of purchasing of vehicles. Demerits of Strategic Management Accounting There are some of the disadvantages of Strategic Management Accounting Techniques also. Some of them are: Lack of Standardization Monetary accountants follow accounting measures and principles sketched by generally established accounting principles like US GAAP. Management accountants, counting strategic executives, do not have a mix of procedures policies to follow. Focus on Quantitative Information Data based or Quantitative information is information calculated in hard statistics, such as dollars and ponds. A strategic accountant centers a lot of concentration on quantitative data. Information studies by these accountants are very cogent. The difficulty with this is that concentrating only at lucid information, other relevant information is unnoticed. Biasness: Strategic accountants generate methods for calculating performance and are prearranged a lot of space for subjectivity and unfairness. This causes a disadvantage to companies because strategic accountants attach their own individual feelings and beliefs into making decisions. Strategic management process engages the complete range of verdicts. Usually, strategic issues have about 6 identifiable scopes: Strategic issues engage the allocation of large quantity of company resources Strategic matter require highest level-management decisions Strategic issues are probable to have noteworthy impact on the strategic-term success of the company Strategic issues typically have chief multi business or multifunctional penalty Strategic issues are often future oriented Strategic issues require considering aspects in the firms outside environment. Usefulness of Strategic management in the company Meeting the downstream demand by the organization is extremely necessary and most of the organizations (and thus Carrefour) thus lay great weight over their production unit and taking it to best level to attain marked productivity standards. It is involved in strategic guidelines of the company to attain or exceed the requirement in the market. In order to absolute this requirement, business should be spotless in its production and its inventory management. This also need suitable administration of its volume, productivity and cost resources, so as to achieve suitable quality standards. (Inman, 1999) Relation between demand and Supply side The demand of the products to be sold is directly dependent on the supply side (for fulfillment). There is a linear relation existing between demand and supply side with negative slope. When the demand increases, the manufacturing side capacity or say the supply decreases and opposite in vice versa case. One area in which Carrefour is missing is the supply of consumer demand to its customer with appropriate timing. It is the dimension in which system is meeting its prevalent failure. This is highly exaggerated from elasticity that the system possess, and to have correctly timed outcome, Carrefour should have highly appropriate structuring that would be clever to be adequate to all the needs of the customers associated form the company. As a conclusive reason for the failure, we can say that there is lack of co-ordination and management within all the sections operating in the system. Production: Production in governed by the Kano model in order to meet the requirement of the customers. The company manages a number of plants for producing the variety offered by the company. Capacity management: As mentioned earlier too, to guarantee emergency and constant supply of stacks, the company preserves warehouses at all its distribution centers. The stock maintained in the warehouses depends on the forecasting model of the retailing company. The company depends on two sets of customer (temporary and permanent), the stock necessary for permanent clients is still conventional but that for the temporary set of clientele is not. Thus Carrefour invests blissfully on warehousing extra stocks as it is required to maintain extra quantity to answer the surprises expected form temporary customers. Why it is crucial? In a retailing industry like Lulu, a major cost is warehousing or organizing the inventory as mentioned above. If the company fails to understand the actual need of the marketplace in advance, it can counter two kinds of problems: one is the likely unavailability of supply at the stores which affects the quality of the offered service by the company and secondly if Lulu tries to preserves larger amount of stocks, it has to disburse in terms of charge of warehousing. Both the situations are undesirable by the company. (Gregory, 1995) Comments on Role of SMA in achieving Mission and objectives of the company: As we saw that the company wants to become the number one retail market company in the world, the activates like Key performance indicators to maintain the performance of employees and the company, Balance scorecard for financial management and related models like Kano model etc helped company to perform its operations in better and cost effective manner. Thus we can say that SMA is helping the company in achieving Mission and objectives

Story :: essays research papers

Terrorist actions, what exactly are they? Well just imagine yourself in a place where bombs can turn up in the strangest of places like inside a watermelon on the seat of a bus or inside a drink bottle being hurled at a pub. Malls getting bombed everyday and having to keep your child inside at all times because it seems to be the safest places, but it can still be bombed as well. This may not be an everyday thing in the United States but lately they happen to the people of Israel and Palestine almost every day. Lets us travel back to September last year with what started out as a disagreement regarding land became violent. The countries' leaders, Ariel Sharon of Israel and Yasser Arafat of Palestine, have made attempts at armistice, but both sides were unable to agree on anything. My essay is going to cover three major points: one, where the United States stands in this war that is being waged. Two, how this whole thing started and why, and finally how I believe this dispute is goin g to end. First and foremost, I am going to speak about where the United States stands amidst all this. Both the United States and the European Union believe that they share a common vision of the two states, Palestine and Israel, living side by side in peace and security. President Bush spoke at a White House news conference with European Union (EU) Council President Jose Aznar and EU Commission President Romano Prodi, after three and a half hours of talks with them. The talks were part of the annual summit between the United States and the European Union. President Bush also said that the United States wants to work with the Palestinian people "to build a Palestinian state that both lives at peace with Israel and lives up to the best hopes of its people." He said it was important for Arafat to show the world "that he's capable of leading" his people toward peace and away from violence. Secondly, how did this all start? Well, on one side (Israel) of the issue we have those who believe that God has given Palestine to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, a gift made in perpetuity. For believing Jews and Christians, Israel's original occupation of Palestine was commanded by God, as was the destruction of the original population.