Friday, June 7, 2019

The Khmer Rouge Essay Example for Free

The Khmer blusher EssayThere are mevery racial exterminations that people are not aware of. One of them is the attempted genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge was able to tally office and remain in control of Cambodia for years without interference because they isolated the state of matter from any foreign influence. Other countries had no idea what was happening inside Cambodia until years later. The Khmer Rouge and Pol muckle, wanted to create their own ideal commie society. So how did The Khmer Rouge gain so much power and control? slightly argue that Pol Pot was the only one prudent for the power and control gained by the Khmer Rouge. On the other hand, others say that the notion of social hierarchy was reversed and that is how power and control was gained. The Khmer Rouge was the name given to the following of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. The Khmer Rouge leader was Saloth Sar, better known as Pol Pot, ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 19 79, during which time two million Cambodians died from torture and starvation (The Khmer Rouge-Wikipedia 1). Anybody who was seen as a threat was killed by the Khmer Rouge. This organization is remembered primarily for its policy of social engineering, which resulted in genocide (The Khmer Rouge-Wikipedia 2).They tried to transform agriculture, notwithstanding instead it led to hunger, insist on absolute independence, even in the supply of medicine. Thousands died from treatable diseases. People were brutally murdered and tortured for no reason. The Khmer Rouge seized power by using force, authority, and fear. Cambodians had no choice, it was either obey or be killed. During Pol Pots time in power, he forced urban dwellers to move to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labor camps. His goal was to restart civilization (Kiernan).Thousands of families from Cambodia were moved from their homes and were forced to work. Overnight everybody from Cambodia became a farm er including doctors, clerks, cooks, and business owners. They took Cambodians into the countryside, where they became peasants starving to death (Carvin 3). Some say that Pol Pot was responsible for the power and control of Cambodia because Pol Pot cut Cambodia off from the world. He banned foreign and minority languages and attacked the next countries of Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand in an attempt to regain ancient lost territory (The life of Pol Pot- Cambodia ). This statement is true because the Khmer Rouge did gain part of their power by isolate the country, but Pol Pot is not fully responsible for that. There were other people involved, like Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan all of these people were in addition leaders in the Khmer Rouge. Nuon Chea was the second leader in the Khmer Rouge he is known as The evil genius of the movement (Chandler 1), because he is the one who was in charge of the prison system. He was one of the ones with a heartless mind, protrud ening tortures and executing innocent people.There was also Ieng Sary who was the one responsible for the deaths of many intellectuals who were suppositional to be re-trained at a camp, but instead were killed (Chandler 2). Sary was also a cold blooded man who contributed in The Khmer Rouge, killing intellectuals intellection they were prone to exploit others. Sary is another accomplice of the Khmer Rouge who helped gain power. Son Sen was the prime minister of the Khmer Rouge he was also in charge of S-21 which was a jail. Sen was killed in 1997 by Pol Pot for participating in a peace process outlined by the Paris Peace Agreements (Son Sen 2).Even though he may have regretted what he did, he was still part of the Khmer Rouge and did not make any attempt to stop anything when he was supposed to. Last was Khieu Samphan, David Chandler a Professor of International Relations, explains that Samphan was described as having in his prime a nimble, even mischievous mind but at the akin time was meticulous, doctrinaire, slavishly obedient to his party superiors and extremely rigid in his thinking. Samphan would do anything he was asked to do step by step.The argument that Pol Pot was the only responsible for the power and control in Cambodia is weak because as we can see there were many master minds that helped the Khmer Rouge, they all worked together to gain control. According to Judy Ledgerwood a cultural anthropologist, power and control was gained by the notion of social hierarchy being reversed. Those who were wealthy and educated were treated as slaves, monks and kings from Cambodia were nonentity but labor workers for the Khmer Rouge. Ledgerwood says that crucial reversal was with regard to age.The Khmer Rouge saw adults as already poisoned by the previous regime, but children were still pure and could be properly indoctrinated (Ledgerwood 3). The idea that adults were poisoned by previous regimes is ridiculous. The Khmer Rouge just knew that adults had mo re reasoning and experience to understand what was happening. They used children to brainwash them and turn them against their parents and adults. Children helped the Khmer Rouge find power since they were being trained to spy on their parents, maybe to see if any parent was a threat to the Khmer Rouge.Gender rolls also played a part young women were given a degree of political and military authority (Ledgerwood3). The Khmer Rouge knew they needed women in their side they had the potential to help them politically succeed and gain more power in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot wanted an ideal communist society. According to Andy Carvin, peasants, in fact, were the Khmer Rouge communist ideal Peasants were seen as simple, uneducated, hardworking and not prone to exploiting others (Carvin 3). The Khmer Rouge did not want any Cambodian to be smart or successful.If there were any educated Cambodians they would be killed, since Pol pot and the Khmer Rouge did not want anyone to get any ideas that might- over throw their plan. It was a smart idea but they did not need to kill to have their ideal communist society. The Khmer Rouge could have used those people to create better ideas for his plan, a plan that did not involve killing people. Secrecy was also one of the best tools for controlling the population. Cambodians were told that the country was being run by Angka, no leaders were mentioned (Carvin 1) to honour the identities of the leaders hidden.They just controlled the people by lying and tricking them into believing whatever the Khmer Rouge wanted them to believe. This also helped them maintain their power and control over Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge was able to gain control and maintain it for so many years because of the secrecy, the fear that was created, how they trained and brain washed the children as well as the adults and isolating the country. Without any of these, the Khmer Rouge could have been stopped and they would not have gained so much po wer and control.Secrecy was important to hide their identities, and to not be beatified for all the murders. Fear was a powerful tactic to use because Cambodians knew that they had to obey to everything, if not they would get killed. Children were a key to maintaining their power and control, because the Khmer Rouge trained them their instruction and converted them into heartless, cold blooded children. Isolating the country was the most important in gaining power and control, because Cambodia was helpless. There were no outsiders involved, and that help them maintain power and control.

Thursday, June 6, 2019

Information System Essay Example for Free

Information System EssayInformation System In Hotel Seri Malaysia Kangar Hotel Seri Malaysia Kangar is currently using the node Centrix governance. Being the first Hotel Seri Malaysia branch and the earlier hotel amongst hotels in Malaysia that using and implement the Guest Centrix system in their management. Guest Centrix system has built integration with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, e-mail and many other. It offers a stable and friendly user-interface, improved by the wary use of colour and graphics. Hotel employees preserve learnt the system quickly, delivery the time and money especi each(prenominal)y in the staff training. The flow of the invitee cycle byout the Hotel Seri Malaysia Reservation The customers or guests who decide to stay at Hotel Seri Malaysia can make their military reserve or get on booking through hotels website, travel agents such as Agoda or booking.com, or call the hotel itself. If the reservation is accepted, the reservation agent or hotel s taffs leave behind create a reservation enroll that binded with Guest Centrix system. This reservation status may include the guests detail and specific request which will help the hotel to provide modified service to the guests during his or her stay. All the details on guests may help the hotel staffs to complete the pre-registration activities such as assigning mode according to the request from guest, way of life rate to be charged to the guest folio during the stay. The hotel staffs need to make accredited that the room is visible(prenominal) when the guests arrive at the hotel.ArrivalAfter the guests arrive at the hotel, the front spot will responsible for the registration and room assignment process. The front bit need to clarify the query of the guests especially the details of the room rate or packages that had been booked on. Before that, front office need to make sure the guests reservation status before beginning the registration process and checking them in. T he guests will filled in the registration form that contain the right name, identification card numbers, home address, billing instruction, reservation details and others. Once the method of allowance confirmed and been signed by the guests, the registration process is complete. The guest may be given the key card and breakfast coupons during the stays.During The Accommodation PeriodDuring the occupancy, the front office is responsible for managing guest requests and providing the entropy and supplies to the guests. Also, front office should respond to the guest requests on time in accurate manner and meet the guest expectation of the hotel service. During this period, the bail will be main affection by the hotel. The front office should observe the hotel standard operating procedures in handling the guest key, guest personal property, emergencies that also important. The front office will observe the additional charges that need to be added into guest account that include the restaurant charges, or telephone bills.DepartureThe last element in guest cycle in hotel is checking out and creating the guests history record. During this stage, the guests will settle down all the outstanding bills or payment to the front office. After completing all the payment, the guest will return the room key card and leave the hotel.The role of Guest Centrix System in Hotel OperationFront Office Guest Centrix system has simplified the front officer in term of reservation, registration, check in and check out of the guests that staying at Hotel Seri Malaysia Kangar. The guests who make room reservation through website or travel agents, Guest Centrix system will create the booking status and store the reservation status in the hotel database. The hotels website has been designed to move directly with Guest Centrix database that allows the guests or customers to see the hotel available rooms at certain date and packages offered. After the guests or customers finished their bo oking, the system also offers the payment option such as credit card or online banking and the confirmation will be sent by email.During the registration, the front office will level the guests booking status before checking in. all the details includes the room or packages that already booked should be available for the guests. The guest can check in to the hotel once the registration process complete. The key card that been given to the guests has linked with the hotel information system. The key card system will provide different information on the room occupancy status which is reserved, occupied, or available.For the checking out process, the front office will notified the guests with outstanding payment during the accommodation period. The outstanding payment is mechanically been added in the guests account which is called guest folio. The guest can decide on payment method such as credit card, debit card or cash as long as the hotel accepted it. In addition, the guest inform ation data will automatically store in the hotel information system. The record is called guest history and all the data such as guest personal information, special requirement or even past reservation is stored in Guest Centrix system. This enables the hotel staffs to identify the repeat or new guest that choose the hotel Seri Malaysia Kangar.Housekeeping The front office and housekeeping staffs were linked with each other. All the interactions amid both departments especially about the room that need to be clean, inspect or repaired will automatically show in Guest Centrix system. For each room that is occupied or available, the room status will be clean or dirty. The housekeeping staffs are responsible to clean the room so that the room status changes through the Private Branch Exchange (PBX) Interface and record it as clean in Guest Centrix System.PBX interface is used to make connections amongst the inhering telephone in all rooms with the Guest Centrix system. The front offi ce will informed the housekeeping staffs by using the walkie-talkie to inspect the room and the housekeeping staffs will monitor the room. After the job done, the housekeeper will press certain code by using telephone at the inspected room and link with the Guest Centrix system and notified the system that the room is already inspected.Food and BeveragesFor the guests who dine in in the hotel restaurant, all the bills from the restaurant will be insert by the food and beverages staffs in the guest account that will automatically linked to the Guest Centrix system. During the checking out process, the front office may refer into the guests account to let on the total payment should be paid by the guests.Hotel Manual SystemHuman Resource Human resourcefulness department in Hotel Seri Malaysia is using cattleman card system to organize the staffs working hour and daily attendance. The hotel will tracked the payroll total through the punch card system.Also, the human resource departm ent using the filing system to manage the hotel staffs record. All the data of permanent, contract and leaving staffs are stored in hotel filing system. Security and maintenanceFor security and maintenance department, there are surveillance system which is CCTV system that monitors the hotel facilities, and surrounding areas. In Hotel Seri Malaysia Kangar, CCTV system is used to observe different areas from a central overcome room. In the central control room, there will be one or two security officer that will monitors through the CCTV screen display.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Improving the Performance of Overbooking

Improving the Performance of OverbookingImproving the Performance of Overbooking by Application Collocate Using kinship FunctionABSTRACT One of the main features provided by clouds is elasticity, which allows users to dynamically adjust resource allocations depending on their current needs. Overbooking describes resource management in any expressive style where the total avail fitting capacity is less than the theoretical maximal requested capacity. This is a considerably-known technique to manage scarce and valuable resources that has been applied in various fields since coarse ago. The main challenge is how to root the appropriate level of overbooking that heap be achieved without impacting the exploit of the cloud run. This paper focuses on utilizing the Overbooking fashion model that performs admission control decisions based on fuzzy logic attempt assessments of each incoming service request. This paper utilizes the collocation function (affinity) to define the parity between applications. The similar applications argon then collocated for better resource computer programing.I. INTRODUCTIONScheduling, or spot, of services is the process of deciding where services should be hosted. Scheduling is a part of the service deployment process and sewer take place both externally to the cloud, i.e., deciding on which cloud provide the service should be hosted, and internally, i.e., deciding which PM in a infocenter a VM should be run on. For external placement, the decision on where to host a service can be interpreted either by the owner of the service, or a third-party brokering service. In the first case, the service owner maintains a catalog of cloud providers and performs the negotiation with them for terms and be of hosting the service. In the later case, the brokering service takes responsibility for both discovery of cloud providers and the negotiation process. Regarding internal placement, the decision of which PMs in the datacenter a serv ice should be hosted by is taken when the service is admitted into the infrastructure. Depending on criteria much(prenominal) as the current load of the PMs, the size of the service and any affinity or anti-affinity constraints 23, i.e., rules for co-location of service comp whiznts, peerless or more PMs atomic occur 18 selected to run the VMs that constitute the service. Figure 1 illustrates a scenario with novel services of different sizes (small, medium, and large) arriving into a datacenter where a public figure of services ar already cartroad.Figure 1 Scheduling in VMsOverload can happen in an oversubscribed cloud. Conceptually, there are cardinal steps for handling overload, namely, detection and mitigation, as shown in Figure 2.Figure 2 Oversubscription viewA physical motorcar has CPU, recollection, disk, and network resources. Overload on an oversubscribed host can manifest for each of these resources. When there is memory overload, the hyper visor swaps pages fro m its physical memory to disk to make room for new memory allocations requested by VMs (Virtual Machines). The swapping process increases disk read and write traffic and latency, causing the programs to thrash. Similarly, when there is CPU overload, VMs and the monitoring agents running with VMs whitethorn non posture a chance to run, thereby increasing the number of processes waiting in the VMs CPU run queue. Consequently, any monitoring agents running inside the VM also may not get a chance to run, rendering inaccurate the cloud providers view of VMs. Disk overload in divided up SAN storage environment can increase the network traffic, where as in local storage it can degrade the performance of applications running in VMs. Lastly, network overload may diademic in an under enjoyment of CPU, disk, and memory resources, rendering ineffective any gains from oversubscription. Overload can be detected by applications running on top of VMs, or by the physical host running the VMs. Each approach has its pros and cons. The applications know their performance best, so when they cannot obtain the provisioned resources of a VM, it is an indication of overload. The applications running on VMs can then funnel this information to the management infrastructure of cloud. However, this approach requires modification of applications. In the overload detection within physical host, the host can infer overload by monitoring CPU, disk, memory, and network employs of each VM process, and by monitoring the usage of each of its resources. The benefit of this approach is that no modification to the applications running on VMs is required. However, overload detection may not be fully accurate.II. RELATED WORKThe scheduling of services in a datacenter is often performed with celebrate to some high-level goal 36, like reducing energy consumption, increasing utilization 37 and performance 27 or maximizing revenue 17, 38. However, during operation of the datacenter, the initial p lacement of a service might no longer be suitable, due to variations in application and PM load. Events like arrival of new services, existing services being shut down or services being migrated out of the datacenter can also affect the quality of the initial placement. To avoid drifting in any case far from an optimal placement, thus reducing efficiency and utilization of the datacenter, scheduling should be performed repeatedly during operation. Information from monitoring probes 23, and events such as termrs, arrival of new services, or startup and shutdown of PMs can be used to determine when to update the mapping between VMs and PMs.Scheduling of VMs can be considered as a multi-dimensional type of the Bin Packing 10 problem, where VMs with varying CPU, I/O, and memory requirements are placed on PMs in such a flair that resource utilization and/or other objectives are maximized. The problem can be addressed, e.g., by using integer linear programming 52 or by performing an ex haustive search of all attainable solutions. However, as the problem is complex and the number of possible solutions grow rapidly with the amount of PMs and VMs, such approaches can be both time and resource consuming. A more resource efficient, and faster, way is the use of greedy approaches like the First-Fit algorithm that places a VM on the first available PM that can accommodate it. However, such approximation algorithms do not normally generate optimal solutions. All in all, approaches to answer the scheduling problem often lead to a trade-o between the time to find a solution and the quality of the solution found. Hosting a service in the cloud comes at a cost, as most cloud providers are driven by economical incentives. However, the service workload and the available capacity in a datacenter can vary heavily over time, e.g., cyclic during the week but also more randomly 5. It is therefore beneficial for providers to be able to dynamically adjust prices over time to match t he variation in supply and demand.Cloud providers typically offer a wide variety of figure out instances, differing in the speed and number of CPUs available to the virtual machine, the type of local storage dust used (e.g. single hard disk, disk array, SSD storage), whether the virtual machine may be sharing physical resources with other virtual machines (possibly belonging to different users), the amount of RAM, network bandwidth, etc. In addition, the user must decide how many instances of each type to provision.In the ideal case, more lymph glands means faster death penalty, but issues of heterogeneity, performance unpredictability, network overhead, and data skew mean that the effective benefit of utilizing more instances can be less than expected, leading to a higher cost per work unit. These issues also mean that not all the provisioned resources may be optimally used for the duration of the application. Workload skew may mean that some of the provisioned resources are (p artially) idle and therefore do no grant to the performance during those periods, but still contribute to cost. Provisioning larger or higher performance instances is similarly not always able to yield a proportionate benefit. Because of these factors, it can be very fractious for a user to translate their performance requirements or objectives into concrete resource specifications for the cloud. There have been several workings that attempt to bridge this gap, which mostly focus on VM allocation HDB11, VCC11a, FBK+12, WBPR12 and determining good configuration parameters KPP09, JCR11, HDB11. Some more recent work also considers shared resources such as network or data storage JBC+12, which is especially relevant in multi-tenant scenarios. Other approaches consider the provider side of things, because it can be equally difficult for a provider to determine how to optimally service resource requests RBG12.Resource provisioning is complicated further because performance in the clou d is not always predictable, and known to vary even among seemingly identical instances SDQR10, LYKZ10. There have been attempts to address this by extending resource provisioning to include requirement specifications for things such as network performance rather than just the number and type of VMs in an attempt to make the performance more predictable GAW09, GLW+10, BCKR11, SSGW11. Others try to explicitly make for this variance to improve application performance FJV+12. Accurate provisioning based on application requirements also requires the ability to understand and predict application performance. There are a number of approaches towards estimating performance some are based on simulation Apad, WBPG09, while others use information based on workload statistics derived from right execution GCF+10, MBG10 or profiling sample data TC11, HDB11. Most of these approaches still have limited accuracy, especially when it comes to I/O performance.Cloud platforms run a wide array of hete rogeneous workloads which further complicates this issue RTG+12. Related to provisioning is elasticity, which means that it is not always necessary to determine the optimal resource allocation beforehand, since it is possible to dynamically acquire or release resources during execution based on observed performance. This suffers from many of the same problems as provisioning, as it can be difficult to accurately estimate the impact of changing the resources at runtime, and therefore to decide when to acquire or release resources, and which ones. Exploiting elasticity is also further complicated when workloads are statically divided into tasks, as it is not always possible to preempt those tasks ADR+12. Some approaches for improving workload elasticity depend on the characteristics of certain workloads ZBSS+10, AAK+11, CZB11, but these characteristics may not generally apply. It is therefore clear that it can be very difficult to decide, for either the user or the provider, how to op timally provision resources and to ensure that those resources that are provisioned are utilized fully. Their is a very active interest in improving this situation, and the approaches proposed in this thesis similarly aim to improve provisioning and elasticity by mitigating common causes of inefficient resource utilization.III. PROPOSED OVERBOOKING METHODThe proposed model utilizes the concept of overbooking introduced in 1 and schedules the services using the collocation function.3.1 OverbookingThe Overbooking is to exploit overestimation of required job execution time. The main notion of overbooking is to schedule more number of additional jobs. Overbooking strategy used in economic model can improve system utilization rate and occupancy. In overbooking strategy every job is associated with release time and finishing deadline, as shown in Fig 3. Here successful execution exit be given with fee and penalty for violating the deadline.Figure 3 Strategy of OverbookingData centers can also take advantage of those characteristics to accept more VMs than the number of physical resources the data center allows. This is known as resource overbooking or resource over commitment. More formally, overbooking describes resource management in any carriage where the total available capacity is less than the theoretical maximal requested capacity. This is a well-known technique to manage scarce and valuable resources that has been applied in various fields since long ago.Figure 4 Overview of OverbookingThe above Figure shows a conceptual overview of cloud overbooking, depicting how two virtual machines (gray boxes) running one application each (red boxes) can be collocated together inside the same physical resource (Server 1) without (noticeable) performance degradation.The overall components of the proposed system are depicted in figure 5.Figure 5 Components of the proposed modelThe complete process of the proposed model is explained belowThe user requests the scheduler f or the servicesThe scheduler first verifies the AC and then calculates the Risk of that service. and so already a running service is scheduling then the request is stored in a queue.The process of FIFO is used to schedule the tasks.To complete the scheduling the collocation function keeps the intermediate data nodes side by side and based on the resource provision capacity the node is selected.If the first node doesnt have the capacity to complete the task then the collocation searches the next node until the capacity node is found.The Admission simplicity (AC) module is the initiation in the overbooking framework. It decides whether a new cloud application should be accepted or not, by taking into accounts the current and predicted consideration of the system and by assessing the long term impact, weighting improved utilization against the take chances of performance degradation. To make this assessment, the AC needs the information provided by the Knowledge DB, regarding predi cted data center status and, if available, predicted application behavior.The Knowledge DB (KOB) module measures and profiles the different applications behavior, as well as the resources status over time. This module gathers information regarding CPU, memory, and I/O utilization of both virtual and physical resources. The KOB module has a plug-in architectural model that can use existing infrastructure monitoring tools, as well as shell scripts. These are interfaced with a wrapper that stores information in the KOB.The Smart Overbooking Scheduler (SOS) allocates both the new services accepted by the AC and the especial(a) VMs added to deployed services by scale-up, also de-allocating the ones that are not needed. Basically, the SOS module selects the best node and core(s) to allocate the new VMs based on the established policies. These decisions have to be carefully planned, especially when performing resource overbooking, as physical servers have limited CPU, memory, and I/O capa bilities.The risk assessment module provides the Admission Control with the information needed to take the final decision of accepting or rejecting the service request, as a new request is only admitted if the final risk is bellow a pre-defined level (risk threshold).The inputs for this risk assessment module areReq CPU, memory, and I/O capacity required by the new incoming service.UnReq The fight between total data center capacity and the capacity requested by all running services.Free the difference between total data center capacity and the capacity used by all running services.Calculating the risk of admitting a new service includes many uncertainties. Furthermore, choosing an acceptable risk threshold has an impact on data center utilization and performance. High thresholds result in higher utilization but the expense of exposing the system to performance degradation, whilst using lower values leads to lower but safer resource utilization.The main aim of this system is to u se the affinity function that aid the scheduling system to decide which applications are to be placed side by side (collocate). Affinity function utilizes the threshold properties for defining the similarity between the applications. The similar applications are then collocated for better resource scheduling.IV. ANALYSISThe proposed system is tested for time taken to search and schedule the resources using the collocation the proposed system is compared with the system true in 1. The system in 1 doesnt contain a collocation function so the scheduling process takes more time compared to the existing system. The likeness results are depicted in figure 6.Figure 6 Time taken to Complete SchedulingThe graphs clearly depict that the modified (Proposed overbooking takes equal time to complete the scheduling irrespective of the requests.

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Motivation And Employee Performance Commerce Essay

Motivation And Employee Performance Commerce EssayMotivation vs employee functioning is a typical topic of adult male resource management. Performance tramp be increased by motivating employees. Motivated employees can perform erupt than unmotivated employees within an organisation. Every person need some kind of motives to perform their jobs in significant manner. In this era there are many tips are available to motivate their employees solely we have some unlike theories in which we can utilize in the corporate level to improve the productivity of the organization. These theories are divided into cardinal splitContent TheoriesProcess TheoriesFrom the above the most common theories now a days areMaslows hierarchy of c completely for modelHerzbergs two-component theoryHerzbergs two factor theory is modified form of the Maslows hierarchy of needs. The purpose of these theories is same how to run short better performance from an individual.ASDA walmart, Dell computing machi nes, IBM, Starbucks and McDonald are using these theories in different shipway to reach out their specific goals in their industries. These companies are well known in their own field. They are move motivating their employees to achieve the best resultant role.With a incontrovertible penury philosophy and practice in place, productivity, quality and service should improve because demand helps people towards achieving goals gaining a positive perspective creating the power to change build self-esteem and capability and managing their development and helping others.IntroductionDefinition of Employee performanceEmployee performance is how well an employee performed his assigned job or task.Definition of MotivationIts a psychological feature that arouses an organism to action towards a desired goal, the reason for that act so the thing which is approach the human being he do that.The performance of employees contributes toward the success of any organization. Employee performanc e can be increased by motivating them. Motivation is basically an energetic dose which is necessary for the employees in any organisation to increase the productivity of the organisation.The study of motivation is concerned. Why people behave in a differentWay and how they attempt to achieve some goal in couch to fulfil the requirement and needs or expectations. They have individual variety of changing, and competing, needs and expectations. One useful three-fold they lots worked at your work place economic, intrinsic and social.Following are the some real life examples of the companies how they motivate their employees.The most authoritative factor of motivation is to queue up the goal, purpose and values between staff, team and management. The problem occurs when there is a gap between staff and management.Corporate Examples of Motivation PerformanceASDA Wal-Mart Super StoresASDA has 321 stores with 148,000 employees in the UK. ASDA employees are motivated to being able to help the customers. They offer a competitive package for motivation of their staff.According to Hierarchy of Need theory (Maslow, 1943) an individual can better perform if he is provided basic needs first. He provides hierarchical needs of a worker which need to be fulfilled to get better results from an individual.figure Maslows Hierarchy of NeedsThe terra firma of this theory is that workers are being motivated by unsatisfied needs, and that lower needs are provided to begin with the higher(prenominal) needs to an individual. He gave an order of need in which he debates that this order should be followed to motivate an individual.ASDA provide basic needs to their colleagues so they can perform their job without any stress and feel happiness by helping the community.Their slogan isAlways Happy to HelpThey fulfil the physiological needs of workers by providing on m salaries i.e. after all four week and there is a system of break i.e. after every 4 hr it is necessary to have a 15 m inutes break to work for another 3 to 4 hours. According to above theory the second higher need for a worker is secured work place and in ASDA stores company provide a confidence of safety by placing technical devices like cameras, dismission alarms and security officers to handle any kind of threats and demoralise the staff.To obtain the desired results of help, they emphasise on the basic needs of their staff they provide some benefits.ASDA commit in unique and valued contribution of their employees. Following are some benefits from ASDA to their staff to motivate them.ASDA offer 10% discount to their employees on shopping in any ASDA store. Annually bonus provided to the staff.Free of charge uniform any time colleague need.Wall-mart has been empowering its workforce through training to ensure that those who show onward motion in their performance are well awarded through promotion. therefore following the McGregor theory of motivation, they are effectively using recognition i n achievement as an important ways to motivate their workers.McDonaldsMcDonalds business is simple People-Profit-Chain model. McDonald adheres to the principle that The result is done by a man.The company has establish its success on the motivation theories having altered only some aspects of them. They follow simple theoretical rules to increase the performance of their employees.Sensible increment on employees salaries.One aim per person is better than to have multi purposes.The aim must change.Every department should have different elaborated systems of motivation.The company applies three components of the motivation systemFinancial encouragementNon financial encouragementSocial polityThese three factors described by Maslows hierarchy of need theory. Maslow says that all these needs must be fulfilled one after another but McDonalds strategy shows that simultaneously fulfilment of these needs can increase the employees performance.The reality is that an employee has a set of ne eds in every inured moment.According to above McDonalds has effective motivation system that makes it possible to increase employees performance, and enhance the companys productivity. The administrators have used the specific techniques on the basis of motivation theories. Having employ the procedure of assembly line in food preparation, McDonalds has ensured the standard quality of the production and the high performance. Besides, the company has implemented effective motivation strategy that is based on the existing motivation theories. Consequently, on the basis of the research we can say that every company has its own system of behaviour explanation and every concrete case should be examined as the McDonalds company case. Motivation theories, such as Maslows theory and Self Determination Theory should serve as the basis for elaborating a strategy which will direct managers forces towards the aim employee satisfaction via intrinsic motivation and Maslows Hierarchy of Needs mo del.StarbucksStarbucks corporation is the most famous chain of retail coffee shops in the World. (Michelli, 2006) As a result, Starbucks would be one of the optimal business models for the strategies of employee motivation, customer satisfaction and cooperation of teamwork.The Chief Executive of Starbucks corporation, Howard Schultz believes that the spirit of Starbucks is employees and feels honored nearly the value of Starbucks employees. The company offers an interactive structure that makes personnel instil themselves into their job hence they can motivate partners to satisfy themselves then achieving a new level of performance.Following are some preset rules for the employees of company.Treat employees as partnersEach employee will get vacation and personal time.Employees get discounts on Starbucks product.Training for all employees including managersThe managers in Starbucks treat every single worker equally and all of the staffs are called partners, even the supervisors of e ach branch are called it as well. In order to narrow the gap between managers and employees, they also co-work with the basic level staffs in the front line.The partners of the company have the right to figure out what is the best policy for them, and the directors show a respect for each suggestion. Starbucks has a well-organized communication channel for employees. It places a great importance on labours. For example, managers plan the working hours per workers and arrange the enumeration of time off, concord to their wants to meet their requirements. There are interviews weekly to see what employees need is.All employees, including informal personnel, are offered a great deal of upbeat policies, for instance, commodities discounts for employees, medical insurance (including health, vision and dentil) and vacations.According the Maslow hierarchy of need, money is one of the most important factors in the motivation of the most important motivator. However according to the Hertzb ergs two factor model of motivation, it tend to have short term effect on the motivation of the workforce, it has been identified as one of the most important factor in the overall motivation of the workforce. At the higher levels of his hierarchy where praise, respect, recognition and empowerment, these companies has been using this model by ensuring that they recognize the performance of their workers.figure Herzbergs both Factor TheoryIBMIBM has in particular upheld the spirit of team work which is important in motivation according to McGregor XY Theory.figure McGregor Theory X and YIBM has been emphasizing the development of effective communication between its workforces by ensuring healthy team competition.IBM sets goals for each employee working in the company which ensures that the employee is achieving the certain target.Company believe in high level of team spirit. Employees work in a team to complete the specific tasks or projects.DellDell Computers is a public most famo us company. Dell has sets some rules to motivate their employees so they can perform well. The CEO of the company believes that an employee can perform well if he or she work like an owner or partner of the company.To motivate an employee to think like an owner, you have to give them metric she can embrace, says Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computer Corporation.At Dell Computers, Every workers incentives compensation are tied to the health of the business. Managers usually explained specifically how the employees can contribute the business and doing things right the first time. There is a core incentive program for all employees in the company. Among other incentives, Dell Inc. gives every employee a week off at Christmas and 10 nonrecreational days a year for a personal use.This corporate philosophy is called The Soul of Dell,Dell pays incentives to their employees and also emphasise on the emotional side to keep them motivated. Dell also keeps appraised their employees. The manage ment keep informed their employees about any change in company or any international aid do by the company. This is exactly the same theory which is provided by Herzberg.Dell managers are ensured to balance the satisfiers and dis-satisfiers. Procedures and policies of the company may cause dissatistaction. To reduce this dissatisfaction Dell believes the best rule is to raise the awareness of the employees and encourage them to get involved in the creation of policies of the company. By doing this employees can recognise the change and feel confident and the result and result will be the better performance.Herzbergs second factor i.e. Motivators. This is the factor that stimulate the employees to perform well jobs. Dell has a significant promotion procedure and observe policy to create a challenging environment for the employees. And the result is healthy and productive environment in the company.ConclusionMotivation is necessary to increase the performance of the organization and productivity. Different companies are following the different theories, in every organisation motivate to the employee is important role for the managers according to Frederick two factor motivation theory. Herzberg describe that there are two elements on the work place satisfied and dissatisfied in the employee.However, we have seen from the discussions above that there still appears to be generalsupport for the theories of Maslow and Herzberg and McGregor. A Chartered Management Institute checklist maintains that these theories are still valid today. A basic understanding of their mainPrinciples will be invaluable for building a climate of honesty, openness and trust. From a 12-year study of the use of management concepts in technical organisations, Flores and Utley found the work of Mallow and McGregor the most everyday motivational theories and also refer to the relationship between Mallow and Herzberg and the successful implementation of quality systems.Whatever the popularit y of different theories of motivation, doubts are raised about their universality on the ground that they have not adequately addressed the factor of culture.RecommendationsMotivating employees to get best performance from the employees is not a typical science and there is no single rule to implement for each and every employee. Different peoples working in a same organisation can have different problems and different attitudes to perform their certain jobs. First we need to know the employee how he can perform well and what his or her desires are. Maslows theory of Hierarchal need and Herzberg two factors theory can help to analyse and fulfil the requirements of an individual. Here are some general recommendations we can try to motivate staff.Encourage employees all the time before, during and after the work.Recognise and reward a job well done.Offer financial incentives.Promote fun and happiness at the workplace.

Monday, June 3, 2019

Strategic Analysis Of John Lewis Partnership Limited Marketing Essay

Strategic Analysis Of potty Lewis Partnership Limited merchandise EssayThe following report will provide a detailed depth psychology of privy Lewis Partnership. The retailer has been very successful in the UK and has performed extremely sound in spite of more negative financial issues and opposite dynamics regarding upon the retail sector at large, predominantly in light of declining consumer income, technological advances much(prenominal) as the internet and increased competition. The reason the go with was able to achieve these was because of their commitment towards their clients in providing innovative solutions as easily as improved sensory faculty of client needs and the signifi rout outce of creating a reliable node base which ensures positive word-of-mouth and the club has achieved this due to its commitment to providing innovative solutions to clients as well up as a heightened aw atomic number 18ness of customer needs and further recommendations to increase wise revenue streams with an abstract CRM system in place. Therefore, the reports provides an rating of the companys occurrent marketing environment assessing how the external factors impact the retail sector largely and specific everyy on the strategies that butt Lewis chooses to adopt. The report will in fitition evaluate the strengths and weaknesses as well as the threats and opport unit of measurementies that the company is presented with and how best it can achieve a match with its own internal capabilities to the dynamics at play.The report will too look at how the buns Lewis brand and customer proposition is placed in the UK market in comparison to early(a) competitors, with an attempt to provide reason in to how the company gains advantage done differentiation from other competitors, essentially upliftedlighting how the company implements a differentiated strategy which allows it to maintain advantage. At the equal(p) time, the depth psychology has drawn atte ntion to how the uncertainty which prevails and the continuous rate of transfer in the external market highlights the implications of continuous observation and continuous re-evaluation of the strategicalal options employ. Ultimately, the engineer is to provide recommendations as to how the company can increase the prob world power of its advantage over the longer term.The John Lewis Partnerships 81,000 Partners own the leading UK retail businesses John Lewis and Waitrose. Our founders batch of a successful business powered by its people and its principles situates our unique company today. The mesh and benefits urinated by our success be shared by all our Partners (John Lewis, 2012).Write the report as if you were working for an external worry consultancy firm, reporting to the Board of Directors of your chosen company. The report should contain sections that address ALL of the main aspects of the faculty syllabus that is the report should cover both strategic analysi s (internal and external) and strategy formulation. It is essential that in undertaking your research and writing your report you make get use of the strategic management jibes and models to conduct internal and external strategic analysis and strategy formulation that you move over encountered in this module. Credit will be given for analysis, evaluation and synthesis, and the appropriate selection and use of strategic management tools and models.2.0 IntroductionThis report will discuss the strategic management tools demonstrating skills of analysis evaluation and synthesis of John Lewis. The report accommodates strategic analysis and an External Environmental analysis. The report also covers the strategy formulation in which the SWOT analysis and BCG matrix will be discussed. John Lewis Partnership plc is one of the UKs top ten retail businesses. They operate amongst 2 sectors known as John Lewis and Waitrose. The company offers fare as well as household products i.e. baked foods, fresh fruit veg, wines, household items, furniture, electronic items etc.The company functions in a chain of 287 Waitrose supermarkets, 39 John Lewis shops that include 30 plane sectional stores and 8 of them at home John Lewis stores. The company operates throughout the UK and is headquartered in London, they sell their products through retail stores, catalogues, and websites. The companys strategic focus is to accomplish its non-core business strategies through partnership with other firms. There are around 81,000 employees working in John Lewis stores who are partners in the business, they pay off a share in the companys profits and are given the opportunity to participate in the companys progress and growth. This is their unique source of competitive advantage as it encourages stave loyalty through being business partners (John Lewis 2012)3.0 Strategic analysis3.1 Mission statementThe missionary work of an organisation highlights the broad directions they need to foll ow and provides a brief summary of the values and reasons that lie behind it (Lynch 2012). Like other organisations John Lewis also have a mission statement, it highlights their reputation established through their willpower structure as it is unique and they are very successful in being a profitable business. John Lewis aim to keep their staff satisfied so that their business can be a success. Their strategy is based on three key elements partners, customers and profit. (Refer to extension 1) to see their full mission statement.4.0 External Environmental analysis4.1 PESTEL AnalysisThe PESTEL analysis examines the macro-environment in which the business exists in. It is a helpful tool for understanding market growth or reject as well as the position, potential and the direction for business. It is also used for evaluating the Political, Economic, Social technical, Environmental and profound factors that a business operates in. The Political factors discuss organization regulati ons such as employment laws, environmental regulations, tax policy and political stability. The Economic factors affect the cost of capital and purchasing power of an organisation. These factors also include economic growth, interest rates and inflation. The Social factors impact customers needs, potential market size such as John Lewiss goods and services, population growth and age demographics. proficient factors of John Lewis will discuss barriers to entry, making or buying decisions, investment and innovation and the technological change. Environmental factors include weather, climate and climate change. Climate change affects how John Lewis operates and the products they offer. Lastly Legal Factors include discrimination law, employment law and health and safety law. These factors can affect the way John Lewis operate their cost and the demand for their products.4.2 Macro- environmental FactorsIt is commonly known, that those prevailing in the external environment of any firm shall have a significant influence in foothold of decision making in the strategic options. Such analysis is known as PESTEL analysis and usually suggested as the first stage in the strategic planning process (Lynch, 2006). As Johnson et al (2008, pg.56) rightly declared, The key drivers for change are environmental factors that are likely to have a high impact on the success or failure of strategy. (Refer to appendix 2) to see the PESTEL analysis for John Lewis.It can be concluded that each factor of the PESTEL has had an effect on John Lewiss actions, whatsoever of them are now stated in their mission statement. Previous factors are used to analyse different factors, furthermore, these factors can give a prediction for the future, so can be quiet effective if they are applied correctly. There are also some restrictions in this model, e.g. when the procedure of the checklist is applied to John Lewis it may be tough.The emergent corporate strategies may well comment that the futu re is so uncertain that prediction is useless (Lynch 2012 page 84), however, some may still give words of caution exclusively still predict the future. The PESTEL analysis isnt the only framework that John Lewis take into consideration, their organisation has galore(postnominal) other internal and external factors that also have an effect on the strategy formulation, this is why Porters five Forces framework is applied. The PESTEL analysis has a lot of learning but yet doesnt offer a detailed analysis of the business. Porters Five Forces (1985) observes factors that have an impact on competition in the organisation.4.3 Strategic OptionsThe external analysis undertaken has underlined how the focus and the landscape of the UK retail sector has changed dramatically over the last decade or so. Such developments clearly present both threats, primarily from new entrants and modes of dispersal, as well as opportunities such as the increasing utilisation of technology within the curren t oblation to customers. As Johnson et al (2008, pg.3) highlights, strategy is close exploiting the strategic capability of an organisation, in terms of its resources and competences, to provide competitive advantage and/or yield new opportunities.However, umteen competitors in the retail sector at large have managed to expand into other range of products as well as expanding internationally, John Lewis seems to have adopted a more thoughtful rise and stayed loyal to its customers as well as confident in terms of its offering to the market. At the same time it has also developed a commodious range of products as a lower price range to attract more customers across a wider range of segments in society. In times of economic uncertainty this also appears to be a sensible strategy in terms of situations where its loyal customer base may be experiencing declines in usable income, thus enabling John Lewis to maintain their business through customers trading down to less expensive ra nges in store. The recent introduction for its Essential Waitrose put in 2009 was both a reaction to external events including activities of competitors but was viewed as an effective strategy highlighting the companys attention to external research as well as its innovative approach to dealing with such negative events.Furthermore, Porter put forward the idea that there were three generic strategies cost leading strategy, differentiation strategy and the focus strategy, which companies follow. It is clear that John Lewis has embraced a combination of these, but essentially, differentiation has remained key to its business model which positions more favourably when compared to other competitors, particularly given the range and extent of the goods and services it provides as well as its highly effective branding and promotional events which appeal directly to customers and incite purchase. Its decision to introduce its Essentials range within its Waitrose stores may have been con sidered by some as an indication it was lowering its standards, but on the contrary, despite offering a cheaper alternative, quality remained key which ultimately implied that its position in the market would not be negotiated.4.4 Porters Five ForcesPorters Five Forces framework highlights that the environment John Lewis is competing in is constantly changing, (refer to appendix 5). In this model it is believed that customers dont have more splendour than any other aspect, however Aker, bread maker and Harvey Jones argue that customers are more grand than any other aspect of strategy development (Lynch 2012).Porters Five Forces of competition (1985) is a common tool often applied within the strategic management process to firms across several sectors. It is similar to the PESTLE analysis as it takes a predominantly external perspective of the firm within its given constancy looking at how it is positioned against other competitors in the same sector. Recently many have criticised the ensuring importance of the framework given the changes that have risen, particularly with regard to the variegation of business which has ultimately created blurring across many previously distinct sectors.This is emphasized by the supermarkets entering into the clothing and electronics sector for example, as well as retailers including John Lewis expanding into financial services through insurance and credit facilities to customers. Barney (1995) and Henry (2008) underlined how Porters model is more helpful when it is applied at a strategic business unit level rather than at higher levels of industry analysis such as the sector at large as it cannot be expected that all competitors will be competing against one other. This tool is also believed to be effective in terms of assessing a companys strengths and weaknesses in light of how it stacks up against competition. As Barney (1995, pg.49) highlights, A complete understanding ofsources of competitive advantage requires the a nalysis of a firms internal strengths and weaknesses as well. The importance of integrating internal with environmental analyses can be seen when evaluating the sources of competitive advantage of many firms.Looking at Porters five forces of competition, it is clear that John Lewis has attempted to not to just react to the external dynamics and actions of competitors, but actively be a step forrad. It has constantly adapted its business model, such as the introduction of store cards, its online offering and the Waitrose Essentials range in inn to provide its business with a more appropriate fit to the market in line with Mintzbergs (1994) theory. A major element of its strategy however, is its reputation, branding and succeeding positioning in the market and how consumers view the business in its entirety. It has remained rather committed to its original proposition and further enhanced its appeal through appropriate branding and its reputation for quality and enhanced service to customers.5.0 Internal Resource analysis5.1 take account analysis chainStratISTh3Source Porter, Competitive Advantage, 1985The term Value Chain was used by Michael Porter (1985), the purpose of the value chain is to analyse the activities that are performed by the business, linking them to the competitive position. It also evaluates the particular activities to see which add value to the businesses products or services (quickmba 1999-2010) trance many critics and leading authorities dispute the validity of Porters earlier theories, many of his ideas do still appear useful from the perspective of strategic analysis, particularly the notion of the value chain. Ultimately, it is within the value chain which John Lewis has created that it has succeeded in terms of sustaining advantage in its market sector. It has created efficiencies and synergies through the interrelationships within (Mintzberg and Ghoshal, 2003). Value Chain Analysis which is often compared to the RBV of the firm as it looks to both internal and external dynamics impacting an organisation.In recent years importance has also been given to joint ventures, collaborations and relationships which add value to the companys positioning. Elements of the chain such as HR which were previously considered as supporting elements are now viewed as core and this is demonstrated by John Lewis in terms of its commitment to and investment in staff. By enhancing the quality of its internal resources it can achieve typical competencies which are difficult to emulate by other competitors (Teece et al, 1997 Terwiesch and Ulrich, 2009). As Porter (1985, pg.36) emphasises, the way it performs individual activities are a reflection of its history, its strategy, its approach to implementing its strategy, and the underlying political economy of the activities themselves.6.0 dodging formulation6.1 SWOT Analysis John Lewis PartnershipA SWOT analysis is a useful tool for understanding and decision-making, businesses suc h as John Lewis use this tool in all sorts of situations, a SWOT summarizes the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This framework covers a crucial part of the strategic planning process a scan of the internal and external environment. Strength, Weaknesses are considered to be internal to the business whereas, Opportunities and Threats are part of the external environment.Looking at the SWOT analysis (refer to appendix 6) it can be concluded that John Lewis take this tool into consideration when making business decisions based on their customers. However, John Lewis need to expand their target audience because at the moment they are only targeting an older audience need to improve the diagnostic power of a SWOT analysis is to define the elements from a customer perspective rather than the organizational point of view. (Baker 2007, pg.267). By doing this they will generate a higher profit margin. If john Lewis wants to stay ahead of their competition they need focus on their weaknesses such as they need to ensure their prices are similar to their competitors. Also John Lewis need to focus on threats the business may have to face but they can avoid such matters by acting upon the threat before it occurs.Although the SWOT analysis tool is useful to businesses when making decisions, it has been criticized due to its simplicity and possible misleading approach to strategic analysis. This is because companies have failed to follow a few aboveboard procedures. The SWOT analysis is a focused methodology (Baker 2007), therefore, when John Lewis the development this tool they need to ensure they are able to follow correct procedures of this tool to ensure they are able to achieve success.6.2 BCG Growth-share MatrixThe capital of Massachusetts Consulting Group (BCG) growth-share matrix was developed by Bruce Henderson, founder of BCG, in the late 1960s (Baker 2007, pg.125). The BCG Matrix is a simple tool used to assess a companys position in terms of its product range. It simplifies how a companys thinks about the products and services and makes decisions about which it should keep and let go and which products to invest in further. It provides a useful way of seeing the opportunities that are open to the company and also helps to consider how the company can maximise the profits in the future. Below is the BCG Matrix for John Lewis, highlighting where in the market the different departments of John Lewis are positioned.John Lewis was voted Britains best retailer in 2009 and have won awards House Beautiful Awards 2008 Online Home Retailer of the Year Gold Award (washerhelp 2012), making them leaders in departments such as House and Garden, galvanizing Appliances, Fashion, Gifts and Toys. They now have a high growth and a high market share in this segment, thus putting them in the star home. Further, technology and baby departments are between the star and question mark category this could be due to high growth and market share or high growth and low market share as they are faced with high demands but have low returns. Moving on to the sport department as it is in the cash cow category, as a markets it isnt growing but yet the market share for the products is high. Looking at the final category it can be said that John Lewis are safe as there isnt any products in the dog category.The BCG Growth-Share Matrix7.0 conclusionOverall, the company has responded commendable to the changing dynamics impacting upon its market and customers, it is also clear that going forward, more challenges and threats shall be presented to it, particularly given persistent uncertainty relating to the global economy as consumer confidence within the UK. It would appear that in addition to a thorough and consistent approach to its markets in relation to external analysis of those factors deemed to impact approximately significantly the company also adopts an internal approach, evaluating its inherent resources and competencies wit hin the business. In line with the resource based view of the firm (Barney, 1991) and subsequent research by other authors such as Grant (2005), this analysis is often viewed as a more appropriate approach to the task of strategic management as ultimately, organisations have much more control over their internal resources than external market variables. Such an approach enables companies to incite the innovation process and thus create change in the wider environment as well as improvements to its value chain. This appears to be exactly what John Lewis has done to date through its expansion into other areas, as well as extending its range to customers through on-line facilities as well as credit, insurance etc.ReferencesArnold, G. (2012). Corporate financial management. 3d. ed.Essex Prentice Hall.Baker M (2007). Marketing strategy and management. 4th ed. Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan.Barney, J. and Hesterly, W.S., 2008. Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage Concepts and Ca ses International Edition. London Prentice Hall.Barney, J.B., 1991. Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. ledger of Management 17, (1)Chloe. (2012). ANALYSIS Waitrose and John Lewis move closer together, offline as well as online. accessible http//internetretail.net/2012/11/analysis-waitrose-and-john-lewis-move-closer-together-offline-as-well-as-online/. Last accessed 20th Nov 2012.Davey, J and Laurance, B (2008). John Lewis under fire how the City turned against Rose. The Sunday Times. 16 March 2008, p.12-13The Economist (2012). A Rose by any other name. A retailing star ticks off investors at an awkward time. 13 March 2012, p58-60The Economist (2012). The world in figures industries. The world in 2012. p124, 126Gartner. (2011). Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2011. Available http//www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1454221. Last accessed 25th Nov 2012.Grant, R.M., 2005. Contemporary Strategy Analysis. London Wiley-BlackwellHenry, A., 2008. Unde rstanding Strategic Management. Oxford Oxford University Press.Johnson, G, Scholes, K and Whittington, R, 2008. Exploring Corporate Strategy. London Prentice Hall.Keynote, 2008. Clothing Manufacturing, Keynote.Keynote, 2009. Clothing Retailing. KeynoteLevitt, T, 1983. The globalisation of Markets. Harvard Business Review, May-June.Lewis J. (2012). John Lewis Partnership. Available http//www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/about.html. Last accessed 18th Nov 2012.Lynch R (2006). Corporate strategy . 4th ed. Harlow Prentice Hall.Lynch, R (2012). Strategic Management .6th ed. Harlow PearsonMintzberg, H., Quinn, J., and Ghoshal, S, 2003. The Strategy Process. London Prentice HallMintzberg, Henry, 1994. The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning Reconceiving the Roles for Planning, Plans, Planners. New York relax PressNugent, H and Hawkes, S (2012). George follows Jeremy Paxman as John Lewis faces another brief challenge. 20 March 2012. www.timesonline.co.uk (Accessed 24/11/2012)Ohmae, Kenichi, 1989. Managing in a Borderless World. Harvard Business Review, May-June.Porter, M., 1979. How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy. Harvard Business Review, March/April.Porter, M.E., 1980. Competitive Strategy. New York The Free Press.Porter, M.E., 1985. Competitive Advantage Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. New York Free Press.QuickMBA. (1999-2010). The Value Chain. Available http//www.quickmba.com/strategy/value-chain/. Last accessed 20th Nov 2012.Reynolds, A., 2012. John Lewis Partnership on Target to come forth Emissions. Supply Management, 17 October, available at http//www.supplymanagement.com/news/2012/john-lewis-partnership-on-target-to-cut-emissions/, accessed 12/11/12Teece,D.J., Pisano, G. And Shuen, A., 1997. Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management. Strategic Management Journal, Vol.18, No.7, pp.509-533.Terwiesch, C. and Ulrich, K., 2009. Innovation Tournaments Creating and Selecting Exceptional Opportunities. Boston Harvard Business Press.Washerhelp. (2 012). John Lewis. Available http//www.washerhelp.co.uk/Retailers/John-Lewis.html. Last accessed 20th Nov 2012.Appendix 1John Lewis mission statementThe John Lewis Partnerships reputation is founded on the uniqueness of our ownership structure and our commercial success. Our purpose is the happiness of all our members, through their worthwhile, satisfying employment in a successful business, with success measured on our ability to sustain and enhance our position both as an outstanding retailer and as a thriving example of employee ownership. With this in mind, our strategy is based on three interdependent objectives Partners, customers and profit.Appendix 2PESTEL Analysis for John LewisPolitical FactorsJohn Lewis operates within the UK market and therefore changes in the policy related to the organisation of UK business, as well as advanced policies in the context of the UK, have an impact on the business. The laws and codes of conduct relating to ethical business practices and CSR initiatives particularly impact John Lewis. Subsequently, there has been conscious effort on the role of the retailers to combine relevant Codes of Conduct concerning the supply chain as well as giving a guarantee to customers that have been sourced in an ethical manner. It is likely that changes such as this will continue to impact going ahead but at the same time as this, pricing will be raised as a concern for the retailers as margins will certainly be eroded as prices are put higher, epically where the products may be obtained from developing markets.Economic factorsIt is obvious that economic factors have a major effect on the strategy apply by John Lewis such factors have had a negative impact on the UK. However, when the government took the decision to decrease the VAT rate temporarily in 2008 due to financial crisis, this had a direct positive impact on the retail sector. The company faced major setbacks in relation to its revenue and achievement in 2001. The company was successful in reversing its fortunes through a complete re-evaluation of its supply chain practices they improved the company model so that it met the needs of customers. The company is still conscious that the confidence levels of customers are slightly unstable, this is highlighted in its current financial results, (refer to appendix 3). Such uncertainty has an obvious impact on which strategies companies can follow and directly influences which marketing strategy John Lewis decide to apply in relation to pricing, advertising and other variables of the mix. Increased global uncertainty also influences their operations which are mainly UK based. This is especially true regarding the price of raw materials that has been changed considerably over the past few months, with products such as cotton, coffee and crude oil being a great concern. Such fluctuations put pressures on retailers as well as customers whereby margins shall be reduced and costs passed on to consumers who may in fa ct seek cheaper alternatives as their own incomes may decline. A full appraisal of all elements of the supply and distribution chain is needed to ensure that efficiencies are being formed and improvements are made to the overall value chain (Porter, 1980 1985). This may also clarify the companys latest challenges in integrating its business with Waitrose, John Lewis are becoming much more aligned over the past months (refer to appendix 4) Events overseas such as Spain and Greece could also have more implications for the sourcing policies the company accepts as well as its foreign currency payment methods etc. to suppliers given the weakening Euro currency.Social FactorsSocial factors for John Lewis are very burning(prenominal) across the business as they are considered to have a direct effect on how successful the customer behaviour is and the preference towards the items or brands. While many have pointed out that overtime as consumers we have slowly become more similar across cou ntry borders (Ohmae, 1989 Levitt, 1983), latest indications actually highlight much divergence in consumer buying habits. Much of this might also be attributed to progress in internet trading whereby consumers have further plectron as well as getting updated and having more association about the alternatives available in the market. This has increased the competition which has therefore, put pressure on prices, more often than not in the case of stores as there are much higher fixed costs involved.Another major progress relating to the retail sector in the UK has been the success of the supermarket chains in growing into non-food items with shares of the clothing market increasing every year from competitors such as Asda, Tesco, and Sainsburys. a report from Keynote in 2009 outlined how supermarkets share of the clothing market increased from around 10% in 2000 10 23% in 2008, and this expansion is likely to continue as the major multiples devote increasing amounts of floor space to non-food items such as clothes such growth has completely changed the retail space in the UK and certainly, many have attributed the demise of many High Street incumbents directly to the strategies pursued by supermarkets. At the same time, it is also clear that John Lewis has followed somewhat of a different method and thus located itself apart from these competitors and is seen being more exclusive, of higher quality as well as providing higher levels of service to customers.Technological FactorsIt is impossible to ignore the progress that occurred in technology over the decade or so. Such advances have completely changed and improved all features of the supply and distribution chain particular with regard to online shopping. Over the past few months John Lewis have become more of this and adapted its business model appropriately so that they are capable of understanding customer expectations, with regards to convince and availability. Another major development has been the in creasing use of media and subsequent positive word-of-mouth recommendations. Such tools are viewed by companies as an important ingredient to their overall strategy, not just in terms of communicating with customers but also in gaining further knowledge through customer feedback which can assist them in gaining further knowledge through customer feedback which can assist them in engaging more with their customer base and addressing any potential problems or other threats. Technology is considered as providing more choice to customers but increasingly is being embraced within the overall customer management strategy and is likely that this will intensify going forward and further facilitated by new developments such as improvements in text analytics and the enchant of real-time data (Gartner, 2011)Environmental FactorsMaking the right long term decision is one of John Lewiss founding principle, environmental sustainability is key to this approach. There are programmes, processes and targets in place to ensure that environmental commitments are delivered (John Lewis 2009)John Lewis recently revealed new plans where their key aim is to cast their CO2 emissions to 15% by 2020 (Reynolds, 2012)Legal FactorsJohn Lewis is also impacted by changes to employment regulations as well as procedures guarding trading standards. Over the recent years many retail competitors such as Primark and Gap have been negatively criticised due to concerns on the unethical sourcing and manufacturing of products. Primark, a leading High-street label attracted unpleasant headlines in the media in response to claims they were using child labour, consequently affecting their position in the market. Other changes in the economic framework of overseas markets on which John Lewis depends on depend on

Sunday, June 2, 2019

Characterization of Rachel Through the Use of Literary Techniques in Ci

Characterization of Rachel Through the Use of Literary Techniques in Cisneros El pointSandra Cisneros writes a memoir through the eyes of an eleven year old. Turning eleven happens to be a tragic day for the main character, Rachel. Through various literary techniques such as hyperbole, simile, and syntax, Rachel is characterized. Rachel is a fresh turning eleven year old who finds herself in an awful situation on her birthday. Forced to wear a raggedy old sweater that doesnt belong to her, she makes it defiantly clear her feelings towards the clothing item, and we see this through use of hyperboles. Rachel describes the sweater as ugly and too stretched show up like you could use it for a jump rope. This extreme exaggeration demonstrates the fire within Rachel. She is a defiant and pouty little girl who out of stubbornness has to hold the sweater in her mind. Its maybe a thousand years old, she says to herself in act to degrade the filthy red sweater even more. The sweater to Rache l has become an eternal battle of ages. She is torn on whether or not to stand up and act bigger th...

Saturday, June 1, 2019

Atlantis :: essays research papers

Atlantis We will never know Fantasy is a tough sellin the twentieth century. The world has been to the full discoveredand fully mapped. Popular media has effectively minimizedthe legend and the fantastic rumor, though to make up forthis it has generated falsities not as lavish but just asinteresting. Satellites grant mapped and studied the earth,leaving only a space frontier that is as yet unreachable. Butstanding out is a charming fantasy the new(a) world has yetto verify or condemn the lost continent of Atlantis. Thefather of the modern worlds perception of Atlantis is Plato(circa 428- circa 347 b.c.). (1) The Greek philosopherspoke in his works Timaeus and Critias of a continent in theAtlantic ocean larger than Africa and Asia Minor combinedwhich rivaled Athens as the most advanced in the world. (2) jibe to the legend surrounding Platos dialogues, theisland of Atlantis was violently thrown into the sea by theforces of nature, and its few survivors managed to swimashore and rel ate their story. (3) There the legend waspassed by script of mouth until an Egyptian priest related thestory to Solon, a character in Timaeus. The priest admiredthe achievements of prehistoric Athenians, because when therulers of Atlantis threatened to invade both of europium and Asiathe Athenians, on behalf of all Greeks, defeated theAtlanteans to avoid enslavement. (4) The works of Platoopened the floodgates to endless speculation on whether thecontinent described was fact or fiction. Atlantis has sincebeen placed in Spain, Mongolia, Palestine, Nigeria, theNetherlands, Brazil, Sweden, Greenland and Yucatan. Everynook and cranny of the globe has been hypothesizedmountain peaks, desert lands, the ocean floor and even thebarren wasteland of Antarctica have been mentioned intheories. (5) While nearly of these theories are compatiblewith Platos works and are within relative reason, numerouscrackpot theories have been developed using the lostcontinent as a basis. One of these theori es, posted on thecomputer internet where it has access to over fifteen millionpeople, talks in twenty-one pages of pre-historical lands withnames homogeneous Oz and Luxor. These world wide web pages listover two hundred separate articles of proof for the existenceof Atlantis, as in the following (6) Most all ancientcivilizations believed in the TITANS, the race of gianthumans that inhabited Earth long ago. Different races knewthem by different names. These 7 to 12 foot humanoids were position to be legendary until the excavation of over a dozenskeletons 8 to 12 feet tall, around the world, shockedarcheologists. These skeletons were positively human.