Employment and Staff Essay

Motivating staff is essential to a business, because if the staff are motivated that means they’re happy, and are happy to do the job and are more likely to do a better job than someone who’s unmotivated and unhappy. To motivate staff, business can use one of the motivational theories, researched by theorists such as Taylor, McGregor, McClelland, Vroom, Herzberg, Maslow and Mayo. Mayo’s research found that after a number of experiments testing incentive schemes, rest period, hours of work, and changes in lighting and heating whatever changes were made, output continued to rise. This motivated the staff, and Tesco uses this theory to motivate their staff. All of their staff gets breaks, so when they are tired of the job, they can go to a canteen to get some food, or just sit down and rest. Also nowadays a lot of people smoke, and if a person has been smoking for a while, they tend to get stressed easily, and they need a cigarette to calm themselves down, so Tesco lets people to have cigarette breaks when people get stressed out. Also the conditions of work will help to motivate the staff, for example in summer when it’s really hot all of their stores have air conditioning, so all the staff and their customers are cool, because people tend to work better and are happier when they are cool. Tesco also uses Maslow’s theory, which suggests that the staff needs to be ranked into hierarchy, so for example the bottom of the hierarchy will have basic needs, when the top of the hierarchy will have greater needs. So someone who works in a store stocking shelves, their needs will be to have a break when they’re working, to get a new uniform etc. Where the area manager for example will have greater needs, for example because they have to travel a lot from store to store they will want to get a car for them to be able to travel, also the petrol to be paid for. Also because their role involves a lot of responsibility they will expect to get paid more for doing the job than someone who works in a store and their only responsibility is to make sure that all of the shelves are stocked up. If all of their staff needs are unsatisfied, then it means the staff will be unhappy and unmotivated which will reflect in their performance. Tesco also uses McGregor’s theory, which suggests that all employs should be punished if they did a bad job and rewarded if they did a good job. For example if an employee does a bad job they will be threatened and get a disciplinary, which means if they do it again they might lose their job. If a person does a good job, they will be recognised, and their manager might have a chat with them to reflect on their performance and make sure that they are aware that they did a good job and the person is in a higher position, such as a manager, they will get a bonus.  M3) Performance indicators Business have many ways of measuring their staff performance, for example they can use time periods for measuring, for example ASDA might measure their employees performance by how many customers they’ve served in one hour. This method does not work for all businesses, for example clothes manufacturer might not use this method because they need quality not quantity, and if they push t heir staff to make shirts faster they might make them poor quality or they might not fit. This helps develop their staff because they set themselves a target and this motivates people because people like challenges, and they are clear on what they need to do for the day. Also by achieving their target they might get a reward for it so it motivates them. Goal theory Another method of measuring performance is setting their employees goals. The best goals are when the employee and the employer both agree on what’s important and working together to achieve that goal. Clear and challenging goals can motivate their staff. For example ASDA might use this method on people who are stocking up the store. For example the manager might say that today they need to move couple shelves somewhere else and stock them up and they have 2 hours to do it. This help the staff to develop, because they know what’s their performance, and what they can do to improve it next time. SMART Targets SMART is a technique used to work out how useful a set of objectives are. All the targets needs to be specific, they should have a focus and not be vague. They need to be measurable, so they should include something that can be measured. They also need to be achievable, so if staff do not think they can achieve their targets they will be demotivated. Also it needs to be realistic in relation to both the resources and skills available, and the overall goals of the organisation and it needs to have a time-bound, so it must have an end so that success can be measured. This helps to develop staff because using SMART technique the staff are clear about the objective and they are sure that it is achievable, because if staff thinks that it is unachievable they get demotivated. Benchmarking Benchmarking can be used to measure organisations performance by comparing themselves to other organisations and matching or exceeding their performance. For example ASDA will compare itself to all big supermarkets in UK such as Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, and Tesco etc. This help to develop staff because they compare themselves to their competitors and it is very clear on how they are doing, and this helps to improve the business, because if other business is doing better then they need to figure out what they are doing wrong and how to change it. Probation Pretty much all businesses will have a probation period for new employees. This means that they will be closely monitored for a certain period of time and their performance will be measured so the business is certain that this person is capable of doing the job and is a right candidate. Business such as Tesco will have a short probation period because the job doesn’t require a high skill and it doesn’t take long to find out if the person is right for the job, but jobs like teachers or doctors will have longer probation periods, because it takes some time to find out if the candidate is capable of doing a job, and their probation period will be around 9 months but can be longer. Also when people are on probation period this gives the right to the employer to fire them for no reason. Probation period helps to develop staff because if they are on a probation period, they are under more pressure and makes them more focussed about understanding the business and doing their job at their best ability. Appraisal Appraisal is another method of measuring performance in a business. This means that at the end of the year the employee and employer will sit down and review the year, the employee will say what he thinks he’s done very well, and the employer will say what they think they’ve done well and what  they need to work on. This is helps to develop staff because the employer tells the staff on how they are performing and what they have been doing very well and what they have been doing not so well, and gives them advice on how to improve or change it. Supporting employees There’s couple ways of how you can support employees. One of them is me ntoring, this means that someone in the workplace will help them that is just above their positions and has been in their position previously, so they can pass on some of their knowledge and explain the job. There’s two types of mentoring; formal and informal. Formal mentoring means that the mentor will have paper work with them and will monitor them and will write everything down. Informal mentoring means that the mentor will only have a chat with them or help them but wouldn’t write anything down. Also another way to support the employees is buddying up. For example in ASDA a new employer will be partnered up with someone that is on the same level as them but has been working for a long period of time and knows their job very well, so the new employer can work with them for couple of days to get to know the job and the other person can help them if they get confused or stuck. This helps to develop staff because people get demotivated and getting support from other staff or the manager helps to improve their performance, because some people get stuck and are not sure how to do a job they’ve been given, and some help from the manager can sort that out, also just having a chat with them might also help because some people just need to know that someone cares about them and how they’re getting on. Occupational Health People are human beings and can get stressed when they are pushed to work hard, so the employers need to think about how to release that stress. For example they could put some plants in the office, because plants produce oxygen which helps people to relax. Also if the office is very warm think about putting an air con to cool it down, because when people are hot they tend to get very stressed out. For example all Tesco stores have air con, so all of their employees are cool and don’t get stressed out as much. This helps to develop staff because for example, if the working conditions in Tesco are very hot the employees might not work very well, and they will get very stressed, but if they install air conditioning and make the store cool, the staff will work a lot better and will be a lot happier, because they are not hot and they’re comfortable. Managing workloads People get very stressed out when they are under pressure and have a lot of things to do, so it is very important for a business to balance it out, and spread workload equally, for example Tesco will divide people into section and give the same amount of shelves to stock up, so it’s fair on everyone. This helps to develop staff because giving them a lot of workload will demotivated them and sometimes even push them into leaving the job because they are stressed and lose motivation, so by reducing workload and sharing the workload equally, this will release the stress and staff will have more motivation. Delegating authority and responsibility By giving more authority and responsibility can motivate employees but it is very important to monitor how it is working, in order to avoid errors and costly mistakes, which can affect employer in terms of money and reputation, also it might lead to dismissing the employee. For example Tesco manager will be responsible for hiring new people and they might hire someone that is not capable of doing the job which might cost Tesco money. This will help to develop staff because they will feel like they are trusted, so they will be more focussed and will try to prove to their employer that they are capable of doing the job. Capacity Capacity relates to the amount of work or products that can be produced or is being produced. Using as much capacity as possible should lead to lower costs for the business, so employers need to ensure that employees are performing well without putting them under so much pressure that they suffer with stress and then become ill. Linking rewards to performance Giving rewards to people for doing a good job or achieving or exceeding a target motivates people to work harder. For example Tesco manager will get a bonus for achieving or exceeding the stores targets. He then might share it with the team, to keep them motivated. This helps to develop the staff, because everyone loves getting a reward if they do a good job, because it shows that their employer cares about them and also gives them a sense of achievement, and makes themselves feel good, because they did a good job.

Dawson Lumber Company Essay

Marketing Analysis: The Dawson Lumber Company was founded in the 1870s by the Dawson family to market the lumber on their land. In 1950, Dawson Lumber owned four small lumber yards in the Cornwall area, each operating as a separate company. However, in 1965, J.H. Dawson became president and amalgamated the four companies into the Dawson Lumber Company. The company had acquired seven more lumber yards north and west of Cornwall, Ontario but further growth was limited by J.H. Dawson’s belief that growth should only be financed by internally generated funds. For over one hundred years, Dawson Lumber had been dealing with the Cornwall branch of the Eastern Bank and, in 1993, borrowed approximately $1.5 million to finance inventory build-up needed to meet seasonal sales. From April to November, 77 percent of the sales occurred evenly, while 23 percent were evenly distributed from December to March. The demand is seasonal which comprises of 8 months peak season and 4 months off season for which the sales remain low. The company’s sales were between $10 and $15 million in the late 1980s, with 90 percent being wholesale sales to local residential contractors. After the retirement of J.H. Dawson, his son Doug Dawson took over the business and reorganized the company’s 11 branches into three regions. The Northern Region served an urban market and consisted of three yards just outside the city of Ottawa. Four lumber yards in the Cornwall area made up the Eastern Region and five lumber yards near Kingston formed the Western Region. The Eastern Region was a rural market while the Western region was partially a resort and partially an urban area. Each region was made the responsibility of an area supervisor who had worked for many years in the company’s lumber yards. A management committee consisting of the president, controller, and area supervisors met monthly to discuss operational  strategy. In an attempt to minimize inventory levels, one branch in each region operated as a depot. A fleet of trucks kept frequent and regular schedules between the lumber yards and the depot provide rapid delivery to the customer. From the year 1996-1998 the gross margin ranges from 26% to 31% on average of lumber sales. The regular price was the price at which the item could be charged and delivered. The discount price applied if the customer wished to pay the cash and take the goods away. A third price was also charged if the customer wished to pay cash and have the purchase delivered. The new store’s sales in its first two months of operations were $2.28 million. To sum up the company has remarkable marketing activities. Operations Analysis: On the basis of comparing the financial information for the past three years 1996, 1997 & 1998, we can clearly see that due to consistent increase in revenue because of rapid market growth and reorganization of the company’s branch structure has greatly helped in achieving the sales growth from 21.1% in the year 1996-97 to 38.6% in the year 1997-98. This sale growth is indicative of the fact that there had also corresponding increase in the net profit leading to more equity and total assets base. However, despite such development and growth, the company is suffering from operational inefficiency due to crisis in its poor management of the working capital and particularly the timing in replenishment of inventories and other liquid assets majorly accounts receivables. It was evident from the financials that working capital seems to be stuck because it has been increased from $ 4.3 million to $ 6.8 million. The collection period for accounts receivable turned out to be 72 days on average which is substantially high. In addition, the days in inventory sale were increasing over the period from a minimum of 112 to 153 days. Moreover, due to delay in collection of accounts receivable, the accounts payable days are also increasing over the subsequent years. Although the fixed asset turnover ratio was good in 1996 but it is deteriorating in subsequent years however the total asset turnover ratio is also very low. Financial Analysis: Strictly speaking, at present the Dawson Lumber Company is being financed by a bank loan. The company’s equity structure constitutes common stock capital amounting to $4.3 million and the accumulated earnings. Presently, the company’s financing needs are met through two types of bank loans which include a working capital loan obtained specifically to meet the working capital requirements and the present long term loan amounting to 4.2 million. Both the loans are obtained from National bank of Canada (NBC). The NBC took accounts receivable and inventory as collateral and as a condition of the loan against the charge on the borrowed amount for which Dawson undertook to provide quarterly financial statements and monthly reports of inventory, sales and receivables. Now as far as the company’s cash flow is concerned, the company has been suffered with very weak cash flows because inventory and receivables have increased which result in negative cash flows and due to increased in accounts payable resulting in positive cash flow thus overall cash generated from operations remain intact. However as mentioned above it is operational inefficiency due to delay in collection from customers resulting in delay in payments to creditor. The current ratio is at satisfactory level. If we talk about the company’s leverage, we can see that initially the interest coverage ratio in the year 1996 was low however it is considered to be satisfactory in subsequent years. But here is an alarming situation that has gone much intense over the period and proves to be the key business concern for the company and its sustainability in the long run over a foreseeable future, that is, the highest debt to equity ratio. We can see that debt to equity ratio was 55% in the year 1996 which decreased to 28% due to mortgage repayments. However, during the year 1997-98, the company gone to high leverage due to 99% debt to equity ratio. This was indicative of the fact that the company has obtained a long term bank loan and an increase in the operating line of credit to $ 5 million. Summary & Conclusion: Under the present circumstances and the present growing needs of the company of financing, it is not advisable for the company to go for additional financing since it’s already 99% geared and leveraged. Although the company’s additional financing can be backed up by the amount of receivable and inventories. But the inventory and receivables needs to be insured so that in case of loss due to fire or flooding the bank can realize the amount from the insurance company. Apart from cost cutting strategies, there is a major need to improve the fund flow mechanism by following up the customers to tender payments immediately and impose commissions on late payments so that the company would be able to disburse payments to creditors. Moreover, the marketing activities should be improved further so that it must take less days to sale inventory. In this way the company will be able to generate more funds frequently and thus the need for additional financing will be minimized. (taimoor880 at gmail)

Who is to blame Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Who is to blame - Essay Example GMOs are known to increase productivity and this can affect the way people will be able to access the food, both economically and even geographically. In today’s world, food insecurity comes in two folds. First, t has to do with lack of access. A lot of people (about 10% of the total world population) cannot access food because they don’t have food in their geographical location (Young, 2004). This aspect of food security is attributed to logistics that are supposed to help people access food. This happens to people even in the developed world. For instance, in the United States, there are those places which are referred to as food deserts due to the fact that they cannot access food and have to travel far to be able to access the food. GMOs can help to solve the aspect of food insect that is cause by geographical barriers. This is because it GMOs can be produced in region when the normal crops cannot be produced. GMOs are in most cases designed to be draught resistant and pest resistant. Because of this, when a crop is genetically engineered to resist draught and pests, this means that they can be produced when it was once hard to produce them. For instance, the arid and semi arid regions can now be able to produce food using GMOs which are drought resistant. This increases food security both forth actual people who are able involved in producing this food and also for the people who are the end customers such s those living in urban centers. While GMO enthusiasts look at how GMOs will increase food security in the word, those who are against GMOs look on the food safety issues. They believe that GMOs pose a huge threat to food safety. Although food security refers to the availability of food for everyone to cover their daily intake of calories, food safety refers to how consumption friendly food is (Jumba, 2010). While there may be enough food for everybody, it is

Construction of Gender and Sexual Studies Essay

Construction of Gender and Sexual Studies - Essay Example The very idea of gender studies would be to contribute to reducing the significance or even, in some social situations and contexts, abolishing the identities of man and women. The new social perspective on sexuality was advanced by social activists. One possibility in gender studies would be to minimize or at least reduce the use of the labels of man and woman, except when used by the ‘natives’. There is a risk of gender studies producing gender stereotypes rather than revealing them through an excessive and insensitive theory – governed interpretation of the gendered meaning of everything in management, organization, work and society at large. Against the naturalistic view of gender and sexuality, feminist argued that society, not nature, creates gender and sexual differences. In particular, , feminist argued that women’s sexuality is socially shaped in ways that sustain men’s political and social dominance. In short, women’s sexuality, like men, is not is fixed by nature but shaped by social forces and circumstances, by factors such as economic independence, social values, peers or family culture. Social construction on sexuality The social construction approach, quite simply, is about understanding the historical context which shapes the sexuality. The starting point is the assumption that sexuality, far from being a force of natural external to society, is in fact always inevitably central to the social and cultural, and malleable to them. Sexuality is a highly social phenomenon and as society changes so must sexuality. Sexuality builds on biological potentials, and is subject to psychosocial organizations, so both biology and psychology can no doubt help understand individual sexual development. But we must also recognize that sexuality, like everything else, attains meaning only in culture. Social constructionist at its simplest is an attempt to understand the process through which social and individual meaning an d practices of the erotic are shaped and reshaped in an ever changing history. What complicates the issue is that â€Å"sexuality† as a concept operates on two levels. It refers to the bundle of social phenomena that shapes erotic life ;laws, religion, norms and values, beliefs and ideologies, the social organizations of reproduction, family life, identities, domestic arrangements, diseases, violence and love – everything we evoke when we speak of sexuality of a culture. And it also refers to the level of individual- to the pleasures and pains that can shape our lives for good or ill. We just cannot understand sexuality if we reduce everything to the imperatives of nature brain or gene. As per Villanaueva(1997) â€Å"Sexuality is socially constructed, shaped by social, political and economic influences, and modified throughout life†. Feminism: the gender of sexuality Feminism offers a forceful social view of sexuality. Our gender identity is not a superficial pa rt of our lives, but shapes the personal and social aspects of our lives in important ways. Feminist believe that our sexual desires, feelings and preferences are imprinted by the gender. Feminists say that individuals acquire a sexual nature as they develop a gender identity. They believe sexuality as a product so men’s power: sex is a means by which men control women. Feminist criticize the notion that women’s sexual liberation is about claiming the right to pleasure or freedom to do as one pleases, an approach that expresses men’

Public Opinion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Public Opinion - Assignment Example One of the often cited examples of bad publicity is the survey carried out by the tobacco company arguing that the â€Å"final cost of smoking outweighed the benefits in Czech Republic† (PHA Media, n.d., n.p.). The campaign has caused a huge PR backlash and led to bad publicity of a company. Many PR campaigns end with bad publicity because of various factors, not because they initially were planned to fail. However, many people and/or companies intentionally who create bad publicity in order to gain publicity in general. Celebrities are good examples of it, as they participate in scandals and other negative events in order to remind about themselves to a public and make people to talk about them. This behaviour cannot be viewed as ethical, especially if it has negative impact on other people. It is important to measure the results of PR efforts as this helps to evaluate the success of a campaign. However, in order to be able to interpret the results it is important to carry out evaluation not only after a campaign but also before it starts (Gunn, n.d.). This information will help to understand what impact the PR campaign has. Some of the ways of measuring these results include the following: surveys, interviews, sales figures, enquiries, changes in behaviour of target audience, website hits, etc. (Gunn, n.d.). PHA Media (n.d.). Top ten worst PR fails, bad PR examples and reputation disaster ever. Retrieved 13 April 2015, from:

Strategic growth plan for Simply Coffee Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Strategic growth plan for Simply Coffee - Essay Example There are several components which factor into a strategic growth plan, all which provide different alternatives for continuous growth and development of a business. Within this are several special alternatives that are associated with small businesses, specifically because the growth incorporates not only changes within the external environment, but are also inclusive of ways in which the internal environment needs to change. Incorporating specific alterations can provide further development within an organization while promoting healthy growth within a company. 2.0 Strategic Growth Plan 2.1 Executive Summary The small business which will be evaluated for a strategic growth plan is â€Å"Simply Coffee.† The focus of this particular business is to provide coffee machines to other businesses that are interested in extra compensation with the on the go concept. The machine is placed into a specific business with available coffee which the individuals can pay for while they are g oing through for other needs. The coffee machines are combined with special coffee beans that are provided regularly to clients for a specific taste, including beans of espresso, latte, cappuccino or regular black coffee. The company has provided a commitment to sustainable economics, specifically with a guarantee that rainforest won’t be harmed and that the farmers that provide the coffee receive fair compensation. Each of these products are also inclusive of on – site training to connect the machine and make sure that all of the components are ready for servicing so individuals can get their own coffee while moving through a line or while on the go. Retailers are also provided with marketing materials, including graphics, floor graphics, wobblers, interior and exterior graphics and external banners (Simply Coffee, 2011). The main concept of Simply Coffee began several years ago because of the noticed trend of individuals who needed items faster. The main ideology was to create a coffee machine which could provide a variety of coffees quickly and without waiting for the specialized mixes which are often included in coffee houses. The main ideal began with noticing that coffee and tea are one of the fastest growing sectors in the coffee industry and is inclusive of 22% of sales and growth each year and a profit of 120 million per year. The industry is combined with the ideology of on the go becoming even more popular, specifically which the majority of the population is interested in because of the need to move quickly while getting the daily enjoyment of tea or coffee. The machine is designed to not only offer quick coffee but also adds into retail value without taking up retail space. It is through the noticed trends in the market and changes which are associated with this that has built the main demand of the business (Simply Coffee, 2011). 2.2 Vision and Mission The vision of the Simply Coffee will be based on growth for the coffee machines a s well as popularity that will be provided to those who are interested in the coffee. The vision will include retailers implementing the machines in the stores with continuous demand for the coffee beans. The vision will also be inclusive of consumers recognizing the coffee as high quality, specifically in relation to coffee from home or from cafes. The mission will be based on growth of the demand of the coffee machines and finding the perfect cup for consumers while they are on the go. 2.3 Critical Success Factors The main concept which will need to be used with Simply Coffee is one which is based on changing the success of the company by altering the growth of the company. For the company to succeed, a stronger plan needs to be implemented with marketing. This will need to be based on recognizing the

John Stuart Mill's view of the Iraqi War Term Paper

John Stuart Mill's view of the Iraqi War - Term Paper Example This essay discusses that thus, in case America intended to depose tyrannical regime of Hussein, the opponents can decrease their moral estimation of the American government. Moreover, in case of intervention had no underlying principles of humanitarian intervention, then there is a need to criticize coalition and make them pay for their errors and it is no way to discard a humanitarian basis of war.The intent of war was to liberate people from the suppressing of the tyranny. Finally, America copes with that goal and tyrant was removed. Iraqi people had a chance to see perspectives of freedom, an open way to liberty. This intent was underlined by the members of Coalition and Hussein had to pay for his erroneous and inhumane behavior and committing crimes against humanity. To set freedom and liberty principles is the most important task of the government. In case a nation is suppressed and is willing to freedom, there is a need to fight against suppression for independent thinking, fr eedom of choice and liberty. As far as we can see, Mill’s doctrine is profound and it is taken by proponents of American intervention to Iraq as the one supporting their humanitarian intervention and at the same time, opponents refer to Mill’s doctrine, as to the one, which criticizes American intervention to Iraq. Actually, different things in the world can be interpreted in different manners. It is an important philosophical skill to interpret different phenomena from negative and positive prospects.... Nevertheless, Mill’s consideration is relevant to the modern context and there is no need for a severe criticism, but rather for the appraisal and analysis of current political situations, military conflicts or wars in the world. Contemporaries would definitely concentrate their attention on Mill’s restriction between the liberties of individuals and social groups. The philosophical questions about the relevance and domination of different social values fit to the discussion about American politics during the war in Iraq (Schauer, 2005). Mill made an emphasis on moral abstraction from societal norms and doctrines and he enabled his readers to think. Modern generation can definitely borrow many Mill’s ideas and apply them not only for the discussions about wars, but also use them in their daily lives, because global thinking leads to better daily actions. In his work On Liberty  Mill wanted to defend a freedom of an individual. The mechanisms of behavioral templ ates creation and transformation of norms of morality are described by Mill. The set moral values are not bad, because they are bad, but because they are established and usually imposed on citizens. In other words, the main argument of Mill considered neglect of the â€Å"despotism of custom† (Mill, Chapter 3). Utilitarian ideas of Mill were reflected in his philosophy. He gives a broad consideration to the individual’s benefits for the society. He is much focused on liberties of an individual, but he claims that an individual should be useful for the society. Every individual should work hard in order to reach happiness in the society, because happiness in the society leads to a moral end.

Module 1 and Module 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Module 1 and Module 2 - Essay Example he assumptions that things must be done differently or new things done which at the end of the day drive to learning (Berthoin, Ariane, & Katrin, 1997). The first topic, changing the consulting story, generally talks about the consulting role and postulates that consulting is about experts giving advice and further states that any time one is asked to help and do not have direct responsibility for the outcome, then that is consulting. The two most popular categorizations that distinguish the different types of the roles of consultants is content vs. process and the directive/non-directive continuum. While the roles of the content focused consultants involve the provision of expertise advise and delivering specific service for the client organization which could be like designing a new system for the organization, process consulting on the other hand has been basically associated with the different activities by the consultant that seek to help the client perceive, understand and act upon the process events occurring in the environment of the client (Berthoin, Ariane, & Katrin, 1997). The recent past has however seen the emergence of a trend towards the recognition of the complementarity of content and process consulting thus making consultants to find it necessary to acquire skills on both modes. As postulated by the author in the topic, it is true that the consulting profession is not a regulated industry and that consulting projects are as a results not publicly scrutinized. This could lead to potential for abuse especially when opportunistic snake-oil salespeople operate alongside highly reputable professionals. The author goes further to suggest that from the perspective it would be prudent that clients exercise due diligence whenever seeking the help of consultants. However, numerous studies on the consultancy profession has postulated that the profession just like the other professions have evolved as a result of government regulations. This arises from the

The Organizing Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Organizing Process - Essay Example The first step involves reviewing objectives and plans. Objectives are activities that must be completed in order for the organization to achieve its goals. In this step, the organization shapes the activities needed for the achievement of organizational goals. Managers need to examine plans and identify the need for change as new goals are formulated. The second step is the determination of work activities that are necessary for the accomplishment of the objectives. This step requires managers to list and analyze all the tasks that are central to the achievement of organizational goals. The third step is the classification and grouping of the work activities into manageable units. Managers group activities based on the four models of departmentalization that is geographical, functional, customer and product. The fourth step is the assignment of activities and delegation of authority. Managers assign defined work activities to people within the organization. The assigned individuals are empowered to carry out their duties in accordance with the mission and vision of the organization. The last step is the design of a hierarchy of relationships. Managers begin by determining the horizontal and vertical relationships that exist in the organization. Managers develop an organizational chart, which shows the relationships. The concept of authority presupposes specific types of power. The mark of authority is in the index of recognition that usually accompanies authority that makes power legitimate.

Create topic, because you are writing the paper, not me Essay

Create topic, because you are writing the paper, not me - Essay Example What she discovered can best be explained using Malcolm Gladwell's discussion of strong-tie and weak-tie relationships. By understanding both strong-tie and weak-tie relationships as they are experienced by Nathan, it may be possible to develop some more successful strategies toward achieving community and diversity on college campuses. Nathan starts her essay off by describing the experience of the freshman student from the moment of registration, possibly before. "As a student, one is immediately enlisted to join the group, to get involved, to realize that one has become a part of the AnyU 'community" (Nathan, 41). The primary aim of the mandatory freshman class she describes is clearly intended to kick-start the kind of strong-tie connections Gladwell says are necessary to effect significant change. Although he's talking about motivating people to take physically dangerous action as part of the civil rights movement, the reasons people decide to keep participating in a difficult, long-term task or to withdraw from it remains consistent - those who have strong-tie connections to others engaged in the same pursuit were more likely to remain while those who had few strong-tie connections were more likely to leave. Citing another study, Gladwell says "high-risk activism ... is a strong-tie phenomenon." However, the attempt to foster a strong-tie connection among freshman students at Nathan's AnyU college failed because students strongly resisted the effort. Their resistance was largely based on their lack of choice - in taking the class and in the reading material - and on their perception that the course contributed nothing toward their educational pursuit. Students did show evidence of strong-tie connections, such as when they chose to get together for dinners, small group events, and other activities. "It seemed telling to me that so many dormitory residents were watching the same game in different places, the great majority preferring to pass the time with a carefully chosen group of personal friends in their own private space. It spoke in a more general way to how community really worked in the university" (Nathan, 54). These were self-selected communities within the university space that shared strong ties of friendship and inter-reliance, a characteristic that Gladwell identifies as essential to maintaining strong-tie relationships. However, as Nathan is suggesting as she discusses the desolation of the common rooms in favor of crowded dorm rooms full of small, isolated bands of students, a strong push toward individualism within our society coupled with the convenience of social media technology is weakening these ties. In the freshman orientation program, she notes that "what holds students together, really, is age, pop culture, a handful of (recent) historical events, and getting a degree" (Nathan, 42). Attempts to bring students together are often discouraging as only a handful will appear even when well publicized and a popular activity. "They [students] genuinely want to have a close community, while at the same time they resist the claims that community makes on their schedule and resources in the name of individualism, spontaneity, freedom, and choice." (Nathan, 47). Rather than the kind of strong-tie connections that used to once bind large groups of people together, filling those common rooms with

African Americans Essay Example for Free

African Americans Essay African Americans have a unique history as well as culture. Their history in the United States is greatly influenced and shaped by the events in the last three centuries. A period that would shape their destiny, their interactions as well as their orientation to most important events in life. The United States census figures put the number of African Americans at over thirty-eight millions in 2005. Of this population, over 55% of them reside in the metropolitan areas with cities like Chicago and New York being the homes to a huge majority of African Americans A close look at the African Americans in relation to the rest of their white counterparts reveals that they are disadvantaged in various aspects. This can only be understood by focusing at the underlying causes of this, key being the century’s discrimination and oppression meted out against the blacks by the successive regimes up to the period that the civil rights movement stepped up its calls for equality and political rights. African Americans had been for long subjected to slavery especially in the southern states. The end of slavery brought forth systemic discrimination where they were treated as second class citizens especially after the introduction of the Jim Crow laws that institutionalized racism. This is what is seen to be the cause behind the impoverished lot amongst the African Americans with 24. 7% of this population living in abject poverty. The group also remains disadvantaged in the education sector, health, housing as well as having the highest crime rates in the United States. Since the enactment of civil rights legislation, the African Americans population has made considerable steps towards improving their economic status largely narrowing the huge discrepancies that exist. This has been marked by the expansion of the African American middle class. Unlike in other ethnic groups like the white; there is parity across the gender amongst the blacks. Income levels in America are tilted to the disfavor of African Americans. This is largely seen as being linked to the inability to access other vital resources such as education and jobs. Speculative figures have it that over three quarter of African Americans aged above the age of 25 have not gone to college and hence do not possess college diplomas. By the turn of the century, over a third of the African American population living in the big cities was without employment compared to their white counterparts; this figure has not changed much (Brandon S, 1984). Life expectancy of the African American group compares unfavorably with that of the whites a fact exacerbated by the lack of medical and proper provision of health facilities. With a significant proportion of African Americans lacking medical care and proper provision of health facilities; with a significant proportion of African American having a low level of income and being unemployed, and with the united states lacking a universal health care system , African Americans are badly placed in terms of health facilities access. They are also at a higher risk of succumbing to chronic diseases as well as pandemics such as HIV aids. Statistics have it that of all people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS between 2001 and 2005, over half of them were African Americans. Cities that contain large populations of African Americans such as Washington DC contain the highest rates of HIV infections. African Americans have maintained a deep sense of religiosity this has been passed on from the days of slavery. Known as black churches, they have played a pivotal role in the struggle for blacks to acquire and consolidate civil and political rights. Majority of the evangelists have ended up as political figures playing a crucial role in the American civil rights movement.

Business Environment Of British Airways

Business Environment Of British Airways Executive summary: This essay is formed for the purpose of providing British Airways Plc with a strategic plan to apply over the nearing future. British Airways is the UK market leader in the Airline industry. It has faced ever-increasing competition over the past 10 years resulting attrition in their market share. The report commences by analyzing the current internal and external environment of British Airways. Through strategic evaluation we have suggested that BAs focus on their primary service delivery to refurbish their competitive benefit within the industry. This will require applying a grouping of two strategies; a public processes strategy and a strategy focused on technological development. The public processes strategy was a consequence from a number of industry basis demarcating BAs turn down in customer fulfillment. The technological development strategy corresponds with the regeneration of BAs aircrafts and will further improve on the whole consumers satisfaction. Introduction: The main aim of this report is to direct British Airways strategically using the current strategic position of the company and the internal and external environment. After analysing the companys position both externally and internally using appropriate tools, a final design is created giving a set of strategic options to the company. Finally an appropriate strategic option is evaluated and the methods of implementation are discussed. British Airways is the UKs largest intercontinental airline. In addition to scheduled services, BA is affianced in the process of international and domestic carriage of cargo and parcels, and additional services. In association with code share and franchise partners, BA fly to more than 300 destinations, and carried more than 33 million passengers, earning over  £8.7 billion in profits in 2007/08. Employee population in March 2008 was 42,377 people. After being privatised in 1987, BA has been a competitor in the market and has held a place worldwide. In the recent, BA has been named the worlds first airline to take part in a proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 2002 and to allow passengers to print online boarding passes in 2004. Willie Walsh became Chief Executive of BA in 2005. He has focused the company through the completion of Terminal 5 at Heathrow, amongst other new initiatives. In spite of global economic down BAs future as an international business organisation, looks promising. Current Strategy: The company uses 5 strategic goals for the year 2009/10. They are basically to be the first choice airline for the long haul premium customers, to deliver an outstanding customer service at each and every point, to grow their survival in key global cities, to gain a leading position in London, to meet their customer needs and to improve their margins through new revenue streams. Long haul premium customers are considered to be their key to their profitability. They will use their deep understanding of what is required to be their airline of choice to drive the design choices on product, network and service. They will also maintain a strong presence in the cargo economy and short haul segments, which play a critical supporting role. Their customer-facing staff will be passionate about delivering outstanding customer service. They are planning to build through a revolution in the way they lead, train and reward, so that all customers, on all routes and classes, enjoy a premium experience. They will invest both in improvements targeted at premium customers, such as service training, and in those benefiting all customers. They aim to provide the best global connectivity for customers. They will build their presence in the top global cities, either directly or through their expanding network of airline partnerships. Despite the fact that the established global cities such as London and New York remain critical, they will place a special emphasis on developing their position in the global cities of tomorrow. London is the worlds biggest and most competitive international air market. Ensuring Heathrow remains a world-class hub vital enough to give them a strong London base to serve the largest international long haul markets. To support this, they will look to influence government policy decisions, and work with the airport owners on the continued development of the infrastructure. 1. External Analysis: This section indicates the external environment of BA as it is very necessary for an airline industry to remain updated about the external environmental factors. It also highlights the position of the industry, its competitors, and its capabilities to meet the current and future challenges. 1.1 PESTEL Analysis: 1.1.1 Political: Heavy regulation from the UK government has been a major challenge to the company. Hence, it is essential for BA to comply to the rules if the company has to continue operations. Moreover, since the government has increased security due to past terrorist threats, sufficient security measures should be in position to ensure consumers self-belief and competitive advantage should be maintained. 1.1.2 Economical: Due to global economic crisis, world growth is projected to just over 2 percent in 2009. The value of Pound has begun to slide especially against the Euro. Possible reduction in the amount of business travel as companies are cutting costs and using alternative means of communication such as teleconferencing. Hence BA is vulnerable as an UK operating airline to a poor exchange rate. Oil prices have been declining by 50 % since their peak retreating to 2007 levels. Decline in fuel price will obviously strengthening of the dollar changeability in oil prices and exchange rates will directly affect BAs cost base. UKs consumer spending had its sharpest decline for 13 years between July and September 2008. Hence there is an expectancy of more intense competition in the near future. 1.1.3 Social: According to the national statistics online, The UK has an aging population since the past decades. Potential opportunities may arise, as older generations have more time to spend on leisure activities such as international travel. At the same time the increase unemployment may also led to increase in the bargaining power as an employer 1.1.4 Technological: A recent survey discovered that 34% of online clients plan to use price comparison sites more in 2009. This clearly reveals that there is an increase in consumer awareness and therefore bargaining power of the same may also increase. Online booking services and check-in is becoming popular in the airline industry. Hence BA must ensure that they stay up to date with these technological progress at the same time as avoiding becoming overly reliant, as this may separate certain consumer markets (i.e. the elderly) who dont feel contented using such technology. 1.1.5 Environmental/Ethical: New legislation is being implemented every year. Due to tighter environmental rule the operational costs may increase each year for the company. Hence, BA should be aware of both Noise pollution controls, and energy consumption controls. Due to limited land and for growing airports expansion is difficult. Further expansion at Heathrow is difficult as it may affect the Londons agricultural area. Due to this the company should concentrate on limited capacity aircraft and effective utilization of capacity. Failure to implement an incorporated environmental strategy could lead to an unfavourable effect on the BAs reputation and income. Cancellations of flights and loss of baggage, such ethical issues could have a negative effect on reputation if left unsettled 1.1.6 Legal: Limitations on mergers will have an impact on BAs proposed alliance with American Airlines. Recognition of trade unions and industrial action e.g. Cabin Crew strikes are necessary if the company has to withstand in the global market. Good employee relations are essential if BA wants to avoid industrial action and interrupted operations. Open Skies Agreement is a colossal opportunity for BA and its competitors to freely transport aircraft between the EU and US. 1.2 Porters Five Forces: It is imperative to analyze the competitive nature of the airline industry to measure the position of BA. The Five Forces tool will be facilitate BA to make strategic decisions in order to increase the effectiveness. 1.2.1 Competitive rivalry: BA provides frills for both long haul and short haul flights. Within long haul there is a little isolation between the BA and their other competitors, in terms of price and service contribution. The short haul market is more uneven with many small competitors. Strengthening of competitors has increased the competition. Direct competitive rivalry is severe, e.g. Virgin Atlantic has a website opposing the proposed strategic coalition of BA and AA. Hence it is found that BA does not suffer in its sector due to its competitors. 1.2.2 Power of Suppliers: BA is benefited by a high bargaining power since there are two aircraft manufacturers. The sole supplier of fuel to the airport is being permanently stopped by the company. The existing users get the top priority in landing slots according to their historic rights. Trade unions help BAs employees by providing them collective bargaining, in order to increase their bargaining power. Hence the power of suppliers does not affect the BAs efficiency in the means of its suppliers. 1.2.3 Power of Buyers: The company is found to be more concentrated on its suppliers than the buyers. This is because they have a very little bargaining power. Enhanced usage of internet has enlarged the awareness and interface between the customers. 1.2.4 Threat of New Entrants: High environment regularity requirements and high capital cost requirements are the new main barriers to the company. The failure of new airline companies such as XL and Zoom is likely to discourage new entrants 1.2.5 Threat of Substitutes: There are a few direct substitutes for short haul flights such as euro star and ferries. No notable substitutes can be found for long haul flights. 2. Internal Analysis: It is now important to analyse the internal environment in order to create the suitable strategies. 2.1 Resources and Core Competences: It is derived that a companys competitive advantage and superior performance is calculated from its independent capabilities. The resource based view emphasizing BAs resources and competencies is summarized below. 2.1.1 Resources: The company runs 245 aircrafts covering over 550 destinations. Additional services such as BA Holidays The London Eye Company, has been a fruitful resources for the company. The company is well equipped with an International Customer Database which helps them to keep track on the latest customer information. Partnerships Alliances with one world including American Airlines, increase the companys wealth against the resources. Sole access to LHRs Terminal 5 is a huge boon to the companys brand image. BA is renowned globally as a reputable brand, resistant by its long-lasting survival within the Industry 2.1.2 Competences: The company has its own training of ground school, flight simulators, and cabin safety training which holds the favourable part in its core competences. The company holds the capability to fly and handle passengers safely on different routes (Open Skies). Their subsidiarys aircraft never have more than 64 passengers per flight, with one flight attendant per twelve customers. They also hold the name as the first UK airline known as a training centre by the City Guilds, educating all cabin crew with NVQ Level 2. 2.2 SWOT Analysis: 2.2.1 Strengths British Airways is a well-reputed brand name that has achieved constancy and conviction from its customers. Modern culture enables BA to take full benefit of technological developments such as, online sales, in house check in. BA has a worldwide geographic exposure with excellent communication with strong international coalitions. 2.2.2 Weaknesses BA has however to have recovered from events such as the Iraq war, the 2001 and 2005 terrorist attacks because of its dependence on international air travel. But the hazard still remains. BA continues to have enormous debts. Recent job cuts may have a harmful effect on BA as in the past this frugality effect has resulted in understaffing and industrial exploit in 2004 and 2005. 2.2.3 Opportunities The increase of internet usage worldwide is likely to further expand BAs online customer base Value-added and pioneering flight services such as sleeper services, will attract more customers as customer prospects are heaving. The current UK government hassles Heathrow as a worldwide gateway and proposes a third short runway and sixth terminal be opened by 2020, which will also promote BAs brand image. 2.2.4 Threats Low-cost airlines continue to benefit from strong growth and power in the market and new entrants and the probability of them being issued with long-haul licenses could create a further hazard to BAs market share. The continuing increase and variation in fuel prices may threaten them with regards to not attaining a profit margin of at least 10%. Customers are still vigilant of the threat of repeated terrorist attacks. With the increase of rivalry in the low-cost airline market, more companies may focus their strategy on high eminence and hence increase the direct opposition for BA. 3. Analysis of Strategic Options: Based on the scrutiny performed the five most viable strategic options will now be measured further in terms of aptness, adequacy and viability 3.1 Strategic Option 1 Development to People procedures: The study highlighted the most recent negative attention both internally and externally. The Resource Based View and SWOT are identified as BAs public condemnation for poor customer service and impediment management and disapprovals following a number of unhelpfully handled employment associated cases. A people progression strategy may reconstruct brand image and stakeholders self-assurance. 3.1.1 Aptness: Looking at the current economic environment, unemployment is increasing. Therefore, the hazard of industrial action and acquiescence are less possible at this time. BAs current strategies are to stimulate, employ, support and develop employees, together with recuperating baggage handling and delay management. Enhancement in internet usage, with more consumers and self-governing services reconsidering and contributing feedback. Better customer relations may improve such systems. 3.1.2 Adequacy Staffs and consumers are expected to invest high interest into the growth of their relations with the organization due to the negative past experiences. Skytrax emphasizes that customer relations is an important measure for consumers when selecting airlines, increasing the prospective of high profits. 3.1.3 Viability The Resource Based View shows an global consumer database. Admittance to such information could help BA in market research and customer relationship development based on conclusion. The industry and organization is highly combined, and are likely to increase support from this exterior body when strategically increasing employee relations. 3.2 Strategic Option 2 Enhanced Environmental Position. As recognized within the PESTEL analysis, environmental concerns are becoming increasingly important. An involuntary strategy as a result could be suitable to construct an improved environmental place and go beyond the requirements of parameters such as the climate change. 3.2.1 APTNESS BA profits from a resonance brand image which would be further imposed by this strategy. This would make sure that BA remains a strong global contender by making sure they are meeting changes in socio-economic actions. Customers are becoming more environmental responsive and this strategy would at least make certain that BAs market share is not negotiated if competitors go in a parallel direction. 3.2.2 ADEQUACY Changes in customer choices point out a sharp anxiety for the environment. Therefore this strategy is short risk, especially when attached with a low scale of uncertainty. In addition, this strategy will make sure that BA is recognizing and meeting customer demands. As the necessities of environmental rules are repeatedly increasing, it would be valuable for BA to be the first hauler in the industry and make changes prior to any of its competitors. 3.2.3 VIABILITY Assets may be better engaged elsewhere, as spending in environmental strategy may not increase profits. BA must be certain that it will be able to successfully follow such a strategy as if it would not succeed it would be open to public enquiry which could break its current strong brand image. 3.3 Strategic Option 3 Enhanced Technological Position. The technological capabilities of an airline is increasingly disturbing consumer choice of airlines, from both holiday and business fliers. Better development of the in-flight services will improve their overall service, increasing long-standing profits. 3.3.1 APTNESS The in-flight entertainment amenities need to be greatly enhanced and become more consistent. This will guide to a long-term development in the number of passengers. Many of BAs major competitors are beginning to bring in basic internet facilities on selected flights. Therefore it is in its importance to keep up with the rivalry and surpass it by bringing in internet access on all flights. BA is at present on a service of one flight from London City Airport to JFK, New York. BA also needs to contend with other modes of travel, which already have internet capabilities. By applying the strategy, BA can refresh its image even as maintaining conventional principles. 3.3.2 ADEQUACY Wide-range testing has found the internet connection to be consistent, with loss of connection only taking place for a couple of seconds during unfavorable weather conditions. Project accomplishment takes only 3 days per plane. 3.3.3 VIABILITY Possession of the operations is less expensive and more dependable than the Abandoned Connexion service offered by Boeing. BA has a sagging resource in the technology section needed to apply this strategy. BA must implement this technology first time effectively otherwise, it will receive serious denigration and could mess up its long-standing image 4. Conclusions and Recommendations: On the examining the strategic options it has been determined that before growth strategies are followed BA should concentrate on protecting its current market place and attaining elementary service class. Based on this the people progressions and technological development strategies are believed most suitable for performance. British Airways remains vigilantly hopeful about its future prospects. However, it is sure that significantly more work lies further on if the airline is to accomplish their goals. The FSAS plan integrated by BA resulted in substantial cost savings, and also raised funds to repay debts. The objective of the FSAS plan was to achieve a 10% functioning margin and hence more recent cost cuts and job losses have been made by the CEO in order to achieve this. In air travel, the fact of success or failure depends on peripheral factors, with BA suffering badly in the consequences of the 2001 and 2005 terrorist attacks, the war in Iraq and the worldwide economic slowdown. However, the one most important external factor is the cost of fuel. Fuel costs are continuing to rise and this is likely to both corrode income and hoist prices for BA. Rising prices could rest BA in a detrimental position, particularly given the continued fame of low cost airlines. The CEO must understand that the important growth area for BA is likely to be in value-added services. In some parts, BA found that it could improve consumers experience while deducting costs, such as in its rising up of online sales. Other value-added services are likely to see mid-priced flights being improved, as air travel persists to become more competitive. On the whole, BA must continue to endeavour to reduce costs and improve customers and employee fulfilment.

Foreign Investment In The Philippines Marketing Essay

Foreign Investment In The Philippines Marketing Essay After researching the background of the Philippines economically, politically and socially, our company believes that it is ready to venture our business into the Philippines. What kind of business sector should the company look into that is not only suitable for the local but also profitable to the corporation? In year 2012, Philippines population has reached 103,775,002 and the increasing numbers of population has made the country the 12th largest population in the world today (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012). Due to the increasing population, it has opened up opportunity for foreign companies such as ours to create business investments in the Philippines. There are numbers of industry that our corporation can look into when thinking of doing business in the Philippines, for example the hotel industry. Philippines is well known for their beautiful beaches islands and attractive tourist destination thus tourism is one of the main economy in the Philippines. The spokesperson of Philippines Tourism, Abigail Valte, states that tourism has contributed US$12.83billion for the country and it has not only helps the economics of citizens of Philippines but it also contributes to their improved standard of living (Eturbonews, 2012). Besides the hotel industry, it is recommended that our company looks at stepping into the food and beverage industry. This is because eating good food has become one of the Filipinos habits. An average person will consume three heavy meals in a day but an average Pinoy can actually eat about 7 to 8 heavy meals which consists of the normal breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner and additional of three meals which are merienda, pica-pica, pulutan. (Matthew Sutherland, 2010). Not only that, their love of food is proven when 0.8 out of 1 of their advertisements talks about food whether you are in a bus or cab, and advertisements on television channels also will include food (Panda B, 2011). Lastly, venturing into the fashion retail industry in the Philippines can be another option. Retailing has been one of the major contributors in job offering to the locals as well as one of the reasons behind of the success of the Philippines economy. According to The Philippine Retailers Association, retailing has contributed 15 percent of their gross national product (The Philippine Retailers Association, 2012). Other than that, Americans and the Spanish have exposed Filipinos to Western culture since the colonization. In addition, pinoys always wanted to look for new gadgets and clothes that are in the current market. Moreover, because of globalization and the use of the Internet, famous clothing brands such as Zara is successful within the Philippines. Retail Clothing Industry Our company should also consider venturing into the retail fashion and clothing industry in the Philippines. Retail clothing or apparel refers to the sales of products such as menswear, womens wear, and childrens clothes to consumers usually from a physical store in an area. The retail industry has seen tremendous growth over the past several years in the Philippines. According to the Philippine Retailers Association (2012), the retail industry contributes about 15% to the total gross national product (GNP) of Philippines. Furthermore, the retail sector creates employment for approximately 5.25 million people, equivalent to 18% of the labor force in the Philippines. Retail industry constitutes 33% to the Philippine service sector (Philippine Retailers Association, 2012). Therefore, it is possible for our company to benefit from the retail sector in the Philippines. The growth potential in the retail sector for our company is relatively positive. In 2010, Business Monitor International (BMI) reported in the Q111 BMI Philippines Retail Report that retail sales were forecasted to grow from PHP1.40 trillion (US$31.42 billion)  in 2011 to PHP1.65 trillion (US$37.06 billion)  by 2014 (Business Monitor International, 2010). This is due to consumer spending and the increasing level of income. Furthermore, an increase in dual-income families and young professionals can also potentially enhance retail sales. In recent years, in order to attract foreign investment and maintain global competitiveness, the Philippine government has also opened up its retail sector to foreign companies. In 2000, this is done through the Republic Act 8762, which is also known as the Retail Trade Liberalization Act. Section 2 of the Retail Trade Liberalization Act states that it is the policy of the State to promote consumer welfare in attracting promoting and welcoming productive investment that will bring down price for the Filipino consumer, create more jobs, promote tourism, assist small manufacturers, stimulate economic growth and enable Philippine goods and services to become globally competitive through the liberalization of the retail trade sector. Pursuant to this policy, the Philippine retail industry is hereby liberalized to encourage Filipino and competitive retail trade sector in the interest of empower the Filipino consumer through lower prices, higher quality goods, better services and wider cho ices (Republic Act 8762, 2000). This gives our company the opportunity to benefit from the incentives provided by this trade liberalization act when we venture into the clothing and fashion stores in the Philippines. As fashion and clothing lines generally targeted towards the young adult demographic, Philippines growing younger population play an important role in retail consumption. Based on UN data, Filipinos between the ages of 20 to 44 has been forecasted to increase to about 39% by 2015, 63% of the population will be economically active in 2015 and 70% of the population will be located in urban areas (Business Monitor International, 2010). The Philippines also has a thriving fashion industry and the citizens are fashion conscious, especially in the metropolitan areas such as Manila and other major cities. Every season, the Philippine Fashion Week is hosted to display designs from top brands around the world and local Philippine designers as well. In order for this firm to venture into the fashion business in the Philippines, the firm would need a platform in which to create exposure for the product and the Philippine Fashion Week can be an ideal place to start building brand recognition for our firm. Moreover, our company can also take advantage of the local talent pool and hire Filipino design experts with superior knowledge of the fashion industry in the Philippines. Entry Mode There are several ways that our company can enter the retail clothing industry in the Philippines. There are many ways to sell and distribute clothing in this todays world. Some retailers market and sell their clothes and products online, shipping directly to the consumer. Others open a physical boutique or retail outlet in locations such as shopping malls, flea markets, and so on. We suggest the company to look into establishing its own clothing brand or committing to a joint venture by procuring a stake in an existing brand of clothing in the Philippines. These two methods of entering the retail market have its own benefits and drawbacks to our company. Our company can look into building its own brand by producing and selling its own garments in retail outlets in the Philippines. As a foreign brand, the Philippines is an ideal market to establish the companys foothold as a retail clothing brand because Filipinos are receptive to foreign clothing brands such as Zara, Topshop and Gap. The younger urban Philippine citizens often purchase foreign brands; therefore, our company should look into setting up its new branch in a major city such as Manila before expanding the business to other parts of the country. Furthermore, our company can also set up an online platform in order to reach customers in the broader Philippine region as well. Setting up an entire new clothing brand can be challenging for our company as well as costly. However, our company should look into reducing production costs by manufacturing within the Philippines to reduce cost of transporting or lower manufacturing costs by outsourcing the production to a country with cheaper labor. The United States Department of Labor (2011) found that the hourly compensation costs in manufacturing in 2010 in the Philippines is $1.90, which is the lowest among all the countries compared in its study including Mexico, Taiwan and Brazil and others. On the other hand, our company can look into creating a joint venture with a local brand or a local designer. The Philippines has many talented local fashion designers that may not have the resources to manufacture and sell their clothing. Our company can provide the funds necessary for these designers to create a clothing line to sell to consumers. In this sense, our company saves cost in conducting market research, hiring new personnel to observe the industry trends and hiring designers to come up with new clothing because the designers are equipped with the knowledge of the fashion industry in the Philippines and are better versed in the fashion industry. This option is less risky than Greenfield venture because the company has limited liability should the venture fail. The company will only have fewer losses from the capital provided to the designer as compared to capital losses from creating an entire new brand from scratch. Food and Beverage Industry There are a few business sectors that our company could consider venturing in the Philippines. One of it is the Food Beverage (FB) industry. FB is an industry that specializes in the making of, conceptualization, and delivery of foods. The biggest sector in FB employees are in restaurants and bars, which includes hotels, resorts, and casinos. Based on statistics by the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) in Victoria (2009), Philippines is one of the worlds youngest population and fastest growing populations, which is 96 million and 65% of its people below 30 years of age. The difference between the rich and poor is large with 30% of them living below the poverty line. This wide gulf results in very contrasting food consumptions trends in the Philippines. In general, locally produced products are consumed and low-medium priced imported products are consumed by traditional markets whereas medium-high priced imported products are mainly found in five star hotel restaurants and foreign owned supermarkets in major urban centres such as Manila. The majority of food consumed by the Filipinos are mainly manufactured by local companies such as San Miguel and RFM Corporation, which produces all major food sectors, such as processed meat products, processed fruit and vegetables products, dairy products and snacks. These manufactured food plus with fresh meat, fruits and vegetables are the typical food for the low-middle class Filipinos, who are the dominant consumer in the Philippines. However, middle-high income earners are demanding for non-traditional and imported foods that are ready-to-eat and in turn for a modernization in the food-retailing sector. This is a good opportunity for our company to venture in the Philippines by exporting our local goods to meet their demands. According to a company that organizes trade expositions (2012), this year itself the foods and beverages industry is expected to grow around 5% to 10%, stimulated by the demand of healthier foods and beverages. As said by Mildred Caballero (2012), president of Tradecon, Right now, there is more focus on health food and health-related products. Now, when people buy food, they look for health benefits. That is the strength of the industry right now, in an interview at the fifth annual Philippines International Food and Beverage Expo. Other factors that influence and shape the countrys demand for food and beverage products are the Filipinos food-oriented culture that stresses on frequent snacking, the youth oriented food market (35% of the population is below 15 years old), the increasing workforce participation by women and dual income households, which results in greater demand for convenience food that is easy to prepare, and also the western influence on the food and beverage market . Entry Mode As consumers in the Philippines are becoming more health conscious, our company could export our local products and increase the range of their organic products. Although countries like United States and New Zealand are the top exporters of packaged foods to the Philippines, there is still opportunity for our company to provide them with healthier packaged food products such as seafood-based, vegetarian, all natural and organic products. It is also expected that more Filipinos are moving to urban areas due to better job opportunities and demand for easy meal preparation packaged food products will definitely increase. Apart from their traditional Filipino dishes being the majority meal solution, there are still opportunities for our local cuisine as the market slowly evolves to globalization. Despite that, we will have to consider factors like affordability due to limited disposable income of most households. Hotels and Accommodation The other business that is suitable in the Philippines is the hotel and resort business. As we know that, the hotel industry is related to the tourism industry in one country. Anticipating the tourism industry in the country can bring the answer whether to enter the market of hotel industry in that country is a valid decision. The tourism industry of Philippines had kept on building up as visitor arrivals from January to September 2012 had reached an amount of 3,149,985 for a 9.08% topping over last years arrivals of 2,887,715 for the same time of the year. Most markets throughout the mentioned period had showed increasing growth rates. Korea continued as the Philippiness top tourist market with 752,918 arrivals, for 23.90% of the total visitor volume, and displaying an expansion of 9.61%. Korea is followed by the U.S.A., which made up 485,484 or 15.41% of the total visitor arrivals. This market increase 4.01% from the 466,767 visitors registered for the same time last year. In the meantime, Japan supplied 311,008 arrivals for 9.87% share to total visitor volume, increasing the percentage up by 8.52% from 2011. China positioned at the fourth place with 6.25% share of the total visitor volume or total visitor arrivals of 196,926. This market registered total visitor arrivals of 171, 981 versus its double-digit expansion of 14.50% a year ago. Taiwan is positioned at fifth with 171,420 arrivals for a 5.44% share of the total visitor volume. This market expanded by 25.39% from 136,713 arrivals registered last year, therefore, setting the uppermost growth rate amongst the top five markets. After examining the tourism aspect of the Philippines, we also took the business environment of Philippines into consideration. With the lifting of restrictions on the foreign investment law, 100% foreign equity may be approved in all sectors of investment apart from those held in reserve for Filipinos by consent of the Philippine Constitution and existing laws. A foreign corporation has to initially acquire the essential licenses or registrations from the proper government organization. For corporations or partnerships, the required incorporation documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission must be attained. The government of Philippines appreciates the critical role of private sector investments and, thus, pledges to constantly improve the business environment. Foreign investments are inspired to fulfill capital gaps, assist in provide employment, enhance production, and supply a base for the overall growth of the economy.  Investment laws and regulations have therefore been loosened to ease the entry of foreign investments. Entry Mode There are a few form of entry that can be considered in entering the hotel industry in Philippines. The form of entry that is deemed suitable is through merger and acquisition. Mergers and acquisitions  (M A) is a common term used to signify the combining of companies. A merger is the merging of two companies to create a new company, whereas an acquisition is the acquirement of a company by another where no new company is established. (Investopedia, 2012) We have chosen this form of entry with valid reasons. Due to the established market in Philippines, it is appropriate to use this form of entry to enter the market. Using MA also provides a certain advantage that is to minimize the time needed to start the business which includes building a hotel or resort from scratches. The effort of gathering human resources to manage the business is also nullified to the minimum since the basic labor force has already existed and the company only needs to delegate the management sector of the business. Since the hotel industry is a high capital and high risk business, we avoid using the Greenfield form of entry for the risk it imposes. Currency and the International Monetary Policy The currency in Philippines is Peso or officially piso. The currency code or an international abbreviation for Peso is PHP and the symbol of it would be P (a line or a double line in the middle of the capital P). The currency rankings show that the most popular Philippines Peso exchange rate is the PHP to USD rate. Peso is divided into 100 centavos (officially centimo). Currently in November 2012, the U.S. dollar is worth about 41 pesos and the Euro about 52 pesos. Current are coins of 1, 5, 10, and 25 centavos and 1 and 5 pesos, and bank notes of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 pesos. Five and ten peso note is no longer printed, but still legal tender. In 1997, all old Philippine currency was replaced by new banknotes and coins. Notes from before 1997 cannot be used anymore. In December 2010, a new series of banknotes was announced. The old notes will remain valid for at least three more years. New coins have been announced for 2012. The Security Plant Complex of the Bangko Se ntral ng Pilipinas is where the coins and banknotes are made. In 2009, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas announced that has launched a massive redesign for current banknotes and coins to further enhance security features and improve durability. Sources from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the members of the numismatic committee include Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo and Dr. Ambeth Ocampo Chairman of the National Historical Institute. The new banknote designs feature famous Filipinos and iconic natural wonders. Philippine national symbols will be depicted on coins. The BSP started releasing the initial batch of new banknotes in December 2010 while new coins will be introduced beginning 2012. Current banknotes will remain legal tender for at least three years exactly in December 2013. Table below is the current exchange rates taken last updated on Tuesday, 6 November 16:00 Currency Code Rate Rate pesos / foreign currency foreign currency / peso US dollar USD 41.251 0.024242 Euro EUR 52.801 0.018939 Japanese yen JPY 0.51463 1.9431 Australian dollar AUD 43.057 0.023225 Brasilian real BRL 20.282 0.049304 Bulgarian lev BGN 26.997 0.037041 Canadian dollar CAD 41.504 0.024094 Chinese yuan renminbi CNY 6.5865 0.15183 Croatian kuna HRK 7.0098 0.14266 Czech koruna CZK 2.0866 0.47925 Danish krone DKK 7.0777 0.14129 Hong Kong dollar HKD 5.3225 0.18788 Hungarian forint HUF 0.18737 5.3370 Indian rupee INR 0.75780 1.3196 Indonesian rupiah IDR 0.0042883 233.20 Israeli New Shekel ILS 10.588 0.094443 Latvian lats LVL 75.831 0.013187 Lithuanian litas LTL 15.292 0.065393 Malaysian ringgit MYR 13.463 0.074277 Mexican peso MXN 3.1699 0.31546 New Romanian leu RON 11.684 0.085586 New Turkish lira TRY 23.218 0.043069 New Zealand dollar NZD 34.173 0.029263 Norwegian krone NOK 7.2113 0.13867 Polish zloty PLN 12.813 0.078048 Pound sterling GBP 65.923 0.015169 Russian rouble RUB 1.3100 0.76335 Singapore dollar SGD 33.715 0.029660 South African rand ZAR 4.7359 0.21115 South Korean won KRW 0.037819 26.442 Swedish krona SEK 6.1596 0.16235 Swiss franc CHF 43.728 0.022869 Thai baht THB 1.3410 0.74569 The Philippines has used the floating exchange rate system for many years. As a result, it was not one of the Asian Tigers that thrived under fixed exchange rates. When the tiger economies moved to the floating exchange rate system, their economies collapsed in what is was called the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. In recent years, the Philippines have moved away from a strict application of the floating exchange rate system (Central Banks description of policy). Philippine banks are allowed to purchase foreign currency for their own accounts, following the Central Banks guidelines. These guidelines require depository banks to maintain 100% cover for their foreign currency liabilities (except for US dollar denominated repurchase agreements with the Central Bank- Section 73). In addition, the Central Bank admits that it intervenes in the market to stabilize the currency and ensure the competitiveness of Philippine products. From the official foreign reserves, the Philippines now build up official foreign reserves and since 2003 has had current account surpluses. Its foreign investments have increased from the equivalent of 2.6 months imports in 1995 to the equivalent of more than 9 months imports in 2009. It appears to be stabilizing the exchange rate and raising its foreign reserves. This movement away from the strict application of Friedmans floating exchange rate system is injecting new money into the Philippine economy, thereby stimulating economic growth, which reached 8% in real terms in 2007. At the same time, it is improving the external balance of payments position of its economy. In addition, it is contributing to the economic growth of the Philippines. The graph below shows the growth imports and exports in the Philippines. The global financial crisis has reduced exports in 2008 and 2009 and reduced imports in 2009. http://www.buoyanteconomies.com/Philip1.gif Exports and Imports in current dollar terms (source Central Bank of the Philippines) Even so, further reform to monetary policy of the Philippines could see that economy grow more rapidly to utilize the existing high level of unemployed resources while maintaining balance of payments stability.

Gulf by Robert Westall Essay -- English Literature

Gulf by Robert Westall Gulf by Robert Westall is a breathtaking novel seen through the eyes of a boy named Tom. In this story Tom gives a recount of the past events of his life during the Gulf war. In this essay I will be looking closely at Tom’s little brother Andy A.K.A Figgis and how he and his family change during this book. This story revolves around a boy named Figgis who has the strange supernatural ability to look into other people’s lives; in their eyes. The problem starts when Figgis starts to see the life of a small boy soldier in Iraq. The boy named Latif slowly takes over Figgis’ body. Figgis is strange but smart character which makes him very interesting. The thing that makes Figgis slightly different from other people is his special ability to see what other people are seeing many miles away. Figgis is brought up in a mainstream family who care very much for him. Figgis’ brother Tom cares about him the most as they share a special bond. The bond was created from the minute Figgis was born. The relationship happened because; before Figgis was born ...

Success and Failure in Arthur Millers Death of A Salesman Essay

Success and Failure in Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman      Ã‚  Ã‚   Most people strive for excellence in their lives and aspire to succeed at whatever they complete. Success means many different things to different people. It includes happiness, money, and a career. In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, we follow Willy Loman, the protagonist, as he reviews a life of desperate pursuit of a dream of success. Miller uses many characters to contrast the difference between success and failure within the play. Willy is a salesman whose imagination is much greater than his sales ability; he is also a failure as a father and husband. Biff and Happy are his two adult sons, who follow in their father's fallacy of life, while Ben and his father are the only members of the Loman family with that special something needed to succeed. Charlie and his son Bernard, enjoy better success in life compared to the Loman's who attempt to succeed but constantly seem to fail. Willy Loman is the main character and protagonist in Death of A Salesman. For Willy Loman, perseverance and diligence are not important but rather material success, as well as personal attractiveness. Willy cannot see who he and his sons are. He believes they are great men who have what it takes to be successful and beat the business world. Unfortunately, he is mistaken. In reality, Willy and sons are not, and cannot, be successful. Willy was not successful at anything he did in life. He was a failure as a father, husband and businessman. Willy was not a good father because he focused too much on his career and his false dreams and ignored his family. Since he was always away on business trips he never really got to know his sons well. His love for his ... ..., wrong." (Miller 138) The Loman's are all an example of what life is like if you continually live in a dream world and never train yourself for anything. Ben and his father are the exceptions in the Loman family. Charlie and his son Bernard were also able to achieve greatness and to make the system work for them. In the end, the decision to make a successful life is, up to the individual.    Works Cited and Consulted Eisinger, Chester E. "Focus on Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman': The Wrong Dreams," in American Dreams, American Nightmares, (1970 rpt In clc. Detroit: Gale Research. 1976 vol. 6:331 Hoeveler, D. J.   "Success and Failure" Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman: Modern Critical Interpretations.   Ed. Harold Blum.   Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1988. 72-81. Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Books, 1976.

Marianne Boruchs Year in Hawaii :: Marianne Boruch Year Hawaii Essays

Marianne Boruch's Year in Hawaii In her poem, â€Å"Year In Hawaii,† Marianne Boruch effectively portrays the feeling of an endless, motionless setting. This lyric poem attempts to transcend time by working with timelessness. The key lines to the poem take place at the very beginning, â€Å"The ocean takes so long/to think about.† Immediately the reader is met with mixed sensations of timelessness as well as restlessness. There’s a dreamy, sluggish feel to her wording. Using the ocean is perfect for evoking this, as looking out at the water, â€Å"Distance stops; one sees the endless line/of something.† So much empty space rolling out and out until it meets the sky. Boruch goes on to make her stance even clearer, â€Å"I was a toad/there, a river thing that got lost.† She places herself as a small, tiny creature that has no grasp of how big its surroundings are. After setting the mood in this tropical haven, Boruch makes a point to explain, â€Å"I never had a vision/about the place. I never thought: this/is the beginning of the world.† Boruch lets the reader know this is not a dream world, this is not something that can be conjured up in the mind and cradled whenever desired. Her time in Hawaii is something that she could have never imagined. This helps the flow of the poem, as she then depicts how easily pleased humans are. â€Å"You’ve seen/the postcards. People buy them thinking/everything worthwhile comes/through a camera lens, and they put them/in a pocket or down the dark throat/of a mailbox someone later opens/with a key.† Finding themselves in this unimaginable tropical island, humans try to capture the unexplainable on a piece of paper and bring it home to their safe comforts. Going back to the running theme of restlessness, Boruch portrays the human desire to be able to see the beauty of this landscape and the resulting unawareness of how unattainable it is. Amazed, they get there and think it is a material thing, believing that a simple postcard will do justice to their paradise. Even though she seems to be depicting a ‘paradise’ mind, Boruch immediately switches over to an ‘everyday’ mind. She describes the natives, â€Å"wanting just to live there, thank you,/going off to work and coming back, normal/things.† It’s as though the natives bring the poem back into time again, while the tourists had been stuck in timelessness.

Post-War Germany Comparison and Problems

Post-war Germany comparison and problems of economic development Through the previous essay describes, we knew Germany from baifeidaixing status after the war to later return to the powerful countries of the world. Need a lot of qualified support, in which the Government plays a crucial role. This is why defeated Germany to rise again, and the victory of the United Kingdom had lost its dominance. The fate of two kinds of economic One of the most significant features in the history of Western Europe after the war in West Germany and the United Kingdom of great contrasts on economic development.Germany a generation in their own fate had experienced twice in the life of the vanquished: the cities were destroyed and currency failure, male labour force is either killed or being held in prisoner of war camps, transport and service infrastructure had been completely destroyed. While the United Kingdom was only a clear victory in the second world war in Europe. Aside from being subjected to bombing and personnel injury, a United Kingdom structures throughout the country such as roads, railways, docks, industrial and mining enterprises have survived in the war in its entirety.However, by the early 1960 ‘s, the Federal Germany began to flourish, as Europe's economic power, and the United Kingdom have delayed development of economic growth is lagging far behind other countries in Western Europe. According to the 1960 ‘s economic growth statistics, Germany's economic growth rate was 9%, and United Kingdom for 2. 6%, with the exception of Ireland outside the United Kingdom became the slow development of the developed countries. In 1958, the West German economy is more than the United Kingdom.In the eyes of many observers, United Kingdom is becoming Europe's patients. The fate of the two distinct and with ironic, today it seems very educative. 1950 ‘s Germany an â€Å"economic miracle† the background lies in its 1930 revival plan. The Nazis had inves ted a large amount of financial and material resources in communication, arms, vehicles, optics, chemical industry and non-ferrous metals and light engines were originally part of a war economy, but 20 years later took effect. Economist Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard's â€Å"social market economy† theory as Germany as provided strong support, in fact, political and business young talent of the post-war West Germany emerged initially were Nazi officials. Germany business critical infrastructure is not damaged in the war. The early 1950, manufacturing companies, banks, insurance companies, wholesalers and recovery operations, providing products and services to foreign markets. Even Germany mark rising failed to hinder Germany economic development that he reduce the import cost of raw materials, but there is no limit on foreign Germany product demand, Germany is a high value, technologically advanced goods.They win depends on quality, rather than price. What's more, in the first decades after World War I, they had little competition: Sweden, and French and the Netherlands who wants to buy some engines product or tool who, in addition to from Germany purchases, had no choice. Power of suppliers higher than buyers' power. By introducing an industry can learn about circumstances. In 1960, the Germany automobile manufacturing because of quality and reliable engine has won international prestige.Stuttgart's Mercedes-Benz and BMW in Munich near-monopoly on the premium-car market, first at home, then continuously overseas. The Bonn Government to openly support the industry, providing early support preferential loans to them, and to encourage cooperation between banks and enterprises, to Germany companies provide cash investments . Volkswagen as early as 1945 completes the infrastructure. And like many other industries in West Germany after the war, Volkswagen benefited from a free market economy, it has not suffered a loss of competition. Volkswagen in 1939 before access to a steady stream of resources.It worked for the Nazi, war and military occupation service, because when the coalition Government from relocating a public company, its production capacity has been established before the war, so no further investments can be put into production after the war. United Kingdom also has the national lead industries, Morris, Austin independent car makers, such as a merger of the British Motor Corporation, British Motor Corporation and subsequently integrated into the Leyland Motor Corporation, specializing in United Kingdom Leyland cars. By the year 1980, Leyland Motor Company franchised United Kingdom featured automobile products.And Germany manufacturer, United Kingdom auto makers are increasingly concerned with overseas markets. However the outcome is completely different. After the second world war, successive United Kingdom Government have urged car companies try to sell vehicles overseas in order to attract foreign exchange earnings to offset the h uge war debt owed by the State. (Tony Judt writes in the Postwar:A History of Europe Since 1945, the Government's export target is at the end of the 1940 ‘s, United Kingdom production of automobile exports to 75% per cent of the total production).Some companies in order to quickly increase production and even wilful neglect of quality management. Initially, United Kingdom cars of poor quality and did not have a negative impact. United Kingdom company has monopolized the market: United Kingdom orders in domestic and European markets far exceeds the supply. Manufacturers on the production of the European continent is not United Kingdom rivals: 1949 United Kingdom production total production for the bus than in other European countries (Robert ,1995) However, with the passage of time, United Kingdom car industry the low quality and reputation for poor service.Other States car lot listing types to choose from, European people do not buy United Kingdom cars any more . When the Brit ish decided to upgrade the auto industry, and production lines to improve modernized equipment, United Kingdom, car companies could not like Germany companies as cash investments and loans from the banks. They cannot look to get help from the Government for assistance. However, in London, under political pressure, in order to obey the decision of the local government and to reassure the local politicians and trade union organizations, they have to build in undeveloped rural areas distribution centre .In 1968, the United Kingdom of the Leyland Motor Corporation was under 60 different plants. United Kingdom Government policy make manufacturers very negative. After the war, Government in accordance with the manufacturer's market share before the war to them very small amount of iron and steel, the past mode of economic development in many industries to be frozen. Security of supply is not in place, a false high demand and political pressure. Eventually led to the United Kingdom car ind ustry go bankrupt.By the year 1970, Europe and Japan automotive manufacturers began occupation of the British market, and on the quality and price beat the United Kingdom. The 70 ‘s oil crisis, United Kingdom joined the European Community, and the United Kingdom finally protected market disappeared because of a reversal of colonial, which eventually destroyed the United Kingdom independent of the automotive industry. United Kingdom independent auto industry decline and ultimate demise, largely on behalf of United Kingdom general course of economic development.United Kingdom economy aren't so bad at the outset: Roger in The British economy since 1945:engaging with in the debate pointed out that the 1951 United Kingdom is Europe's major manufacturing centers, total production was Germany and France and twice times. United Kingdom achieving full employment, and economic development has been slower than other countries, but also in the growth phase. United Kingdom's payments crisi s, mainly from 6 years to fight Germany and Japan accumulate huge debts owed by, in addition, to support effective defense system after the war and the substantial expenditure.In 1955 defense spending as a share of national income of 8. 2%, Germany spending less than United Kingdom half. (Roger,2000) . In the 1950 sterling was overvalued, United Kingdom it would be difficult to sell enough overseas products, to make up for Sterling against the dollar's long-term deficit. As an island nation, United Kingdom is totally dependent on imported food and plenty of raw materials, in the history of United Kingdom relies entirely on the Commonwealth took over control of privileged markets to make up for this disadvantage.Two forces of conflict Through the comparison of the above we can see that in the special period of government intervention in the economy, Germany has achieved a successful social market economy path, but the process was not smooth sailing. Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany came into effect on May 24, 1949, section 2,3,9,12,14 provides:Must have its boundaries the State in managing the economy. Thus, negating the centralized economic management system.Mission mainly in the framework of the provisions of the country's economic order and checks and balances and manage conflict that is raised at the community level. States should not intervene directly in labour conflicts, but must develop a legal framework for labour relations into a certain amount of redistribution through the tax and social policy implementation. (Overy,2003). Due to the inclusion of social and market two elements, that is, the balance between economic and social development, therefore, inevitable in the process of economic development, there were two rival of heterogeneous elements.When this counter is functioning as a complementary relationship, economic takeoff, and when excessive when there is a confrontation between the two complementary, economy will enter a period of struggling in the doldrums. Politically, the two forces dominated by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the two major political parties reflect. Therefore, the actual relationship between these two heterogeneous elements to a large extent associated with the Government party structure.Back to post-war Germany economic course, followed before and after can be divided into three stages: the CDU's ruling period of economic development;The social construction of social democratic party in power;Competing with each other in economic downturn. I. Construction of market-oriented economy Postwar Germany, devastated. Economic reconstruction is a priority. Before the advent of the first Government, as the supreme body management â€Å"Frankfurt Economist† (Frankfurter Wirtschaftsrat) made it clear that the direction of economic development is: sharp weakening of government intervention, strongly stimulating market vitality.The 1949 election, in favour of market mechanism and economic regulation of the CDU was pushed on the first stage of the Government, Ludwig Erhard became Economics Minister. Thus, Germany within the framework of the social market economy has embarked on a road of economic rehabilitation of maximize the free market energy. General policy: cancel rationing imposed by the occupation authorities after the war, reducing economic regulation, the maximum possible to liberalize markets. Management of absolute respect for the law of Economics, strongly resisted non-economic factors adverse intervention in the economy.Initially, by currency reform cleared after all economic ties with the Nazi era, liberalize prices lead to higher prices are the direct problems. The Government has not taken any administrative intervention, but by economic means, namely by monetary tightening and reducing tax rates to stimulate investment and productivity, such as keeping enterprises ‘ working capital, worker overtime zero inc ome tax. As soon as production increases, increased incomes for the people. With the formation of the market mechanism, the emergence of competition, companies are more and more rational, unemployed workers in large numbers there.Faced with this situation, the Government did not change its policies, mandatory intervention, but the use of economic instruments. While in May 1949, by State help to enable Bank discount rate from 5% to 4% per cent,to further stimulate domestic investment;The other hand for the international market (mainly the United Kingdom and France) price increases, on September 19 active devaluation of the Deutsche 20% in order to boost exports. (James, 1998). Soon, production should rise further, unemployment pressure has been effectively alleviated.As the June 1950 the Korean peninsula crisis occurs, a hoard purchase occurred in West Germany, prices rose, also accompanied by an increase in imports. At the same time, unemployment rates begin to rise. In this case, t he forces of planned economies began requiring synchronization in response to price increases to pay. This was at the request of demagoguery, but economy Minister Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard did not waver but continued to adhere to the principles of a market economy. In his view, the market economy can be achieved through improved productivity and wages.Corresponding to this, he immediately withdraw liquidity, raise the minimum reserve amount, limit the discount, the discount rate from 4% per cent to 6%, and mortgage rate from 5% per cent to 7%per cent. Soon, in 1951, the second quarter, a turnaround occurs, exports began to outpace imports. Improvement in the relationship between supply and demand rise in prices has been contained. The unemployment rate began to decrease again. (James, 1998). Economic and political success of CDU and easily won the general election of 1953. Since then, Federal Germany economy enters a period of rapid development, and lasted until 1958.In the meantime, an other force of society could only be achieved with the acoustic echo. Economic policies so widely recognized, on the one hand due to the economic imperative of the age of;Also while stimulating the economy, because the Government did not take the British and American models or free economy model of the Weimar period, but consider the social adjustment and social construction in a timely manner, and effectively and this regulation into economic construction construction operation auxiliary rather than obstacles.According to Hans-Joachim Braun , in his book â€Å"The German economy in the twentieth century†, between 1949-1957 and West Germany issued a series of community-building law, such as 1949 ‘s â€Å"Social Security Balance Act† and â€Å"Emergency Assistance Act†, in 1952, introduced a â€Å"War Loss Balance Act† and â€Å"minimum working conditions found that law† in 1957 and introduced a social security law to the pensions. It can be s aid that, at this time, no country on Earth like the Federal Germany enacted so many of the social balance and regulation laws.These laws balance social conflicts, peace including internal labour conflicts, thus, for the protective effect of sustained economic development. Erhard was not random came to the practice of the social market economy, but has a clear rationale, is economist Walfer Eucken thought. Eucken advocated the establishment of a free competition and pointing to balanced economic policy. Thus, countries ‘ task is to establish an effective market-based. In his view, economic and social issues do not come from between socialism and capitalism, but only from the analysis of the economic order.Therefore, and contrary to Adam Smith, he does not â€Å"competition† as unchanging natural laws, but simply believes that â€Å"competition† must be protected as a human freedom. He was also against collective power against private power. It is based on the â⠂¬Å"neo-liberal† economic thought, in 1957 the West German Government had established antitrust laws, except transport, mining and metallurgy, banking, insurance, agriculture, and limit the emergence of private monopolies.Because of market mechanisms has been effectively activated, balanced also played a supporting role, and post-war reconstruction full release of enthusiasm. 1959-1966, the West German economy enters a period of high growth, even economic overheating. At this point, the voices of the community there have been improvements in social policy, asking the Government to increase social equilibrium. Erhard also did not yield, because he believes that it is not necessary, not only exceeded the means of, but would also drag down the entire economy.He knew that when West German society has differentiated into the various interest groups, and these groups have set out their respective positions to get more benefits from the society or the State, national politics if sati sfied by these different interest groups, it would be caught in some kind of multivariate dependence mechanisms. In this way, States would lose their capacity for action and fall prey to interest groups. Moreover, he knew, on community-building measures cannot be reversed, once the excessive leave the State the economy is in crisis. So, he does not meet another force in the community of the greater ocial redistribution requirements but to build â€Å"an ordered society†:A community ceased to be contrary to the purpose of class and organizations with each other, but put aside all differences of opinion on the country-cooperation community at root, that is, a building based on community organizations and interests working together. In such a society are included in the social market economy, his cooperative did not have a strong compulsion, but from their own forces, from their will, from each other is inseparable from each other is becoming increasingly clearer awareness and u nderstanding. James, 1998) Due to his perseverance and the neo-liberal economic protection at that time, West German economic growth in a continuously high growth in a few years. However, high growth comes immediately after the overheating of imbalance, in late 1966 eventually led to the economic downturn, there is a West German economic recession for the first time in the history of 1966-1967 economic growth rate was-0. 2%. In the 1965 election, SDP vote up votes than the CDU of growth rates.At this point, Erhard with the most total votes remained in coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party largely the outcome of economic policy disagreements have emerged, resulting in rupture of the ruling coalition, Erhard to step down. 1966 Kurt Georg Kiesinger CDU Prime Minister after the failure of coalition talks with the Liberal Democratic Party, and the social democratic party form a new Government, but also by the social democratic party who served as economy Minister. Since then, the W est German economic progressive efforts to increase social construction of the beginning of a new era.II . Regulation-led period of social construction The new Government soon introduced the so-called economic stabilization policies, main content is strengthening national regulation, such as the accumulation of reserves in order to overcome the cyclical economic growth;Establishment of mechanisms for consultations between employers, to exert influence on wage;Establishment of economic forecasting and planning system;Enhanced global perspective of macroeconomic regulation and control, and so on.At the same time also raised the slogan of full employment. This desire for criticism's goal just when almost no one objected, but also enjoy the support of a number of authoritative economic theorists,a market economy is not a purely economic order, but a social, moral and ethical element to set up the system. Prior to economic reconstruction, strengthen the market economy, and now, well, it makes perfect sense to take into account social policy construction.Economic growth Advisory Council was established by the Government, and at the same time established federal and State mechanisms, both employers and employees sharing information. However, due to the overestimation of the capacity of economic forecast, while the lack of an effective means of control, and while it is difficult to agree on consultations among the parties, the original targets not only to achieve, and increased government spending.In 1967 although the recession be overcome by two government economic stimulus program, and genuine economic improvement since then, in 1969, economic growth rate even reached 8. 2%. But these are not the result of the Government's economic policies, and people thought it was a result of increased government regulation, which enable the country to gain the role to maintain social welfare, many up to the question on the State of the market;In one hand, and the social democrat ic party in the people's advancement.The 1969 elections, when all major parties decline in almost all of the votes, only the social democratic party's tally has improved significantly. Apparently, there was an increasing number of voters tend to national social equilibrium. The Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Democratic Party form a new Government, the social democratic party who Willv Brandt as Prime Minister, by the social democratic party who served as Economics Minister also, Karl Schiller, followed by Helmut Schmidt.After the formation of the new Government was fully pursued a policy of State, whereby the State stepped in to control the national economy and social life: on the one hand, in stimulating the economy and to overcome the unemployment rate started to ignore market means on the issue, will mainly focus on the national finance;The other hand, are pushing relies primarily on community-building process of State financial benefits. End of 1972, the West German soc ial policy had reached unprecedented heights.This makes the State finances a huge deficit for the first time. Lucky is that started in the late 1960 ‘s, West Germany enterprise, productivity has been increased significantly, making statistical figures show overall growth of the national economy. Thus, the community generally have a feeling, the Social Democratic Party Government's national policies focus on people's living standards and welfare, concerned about the growth of the national economy through hard intervention, that there is nothing wrong.Such results on the one hand allows to continue the ruling social democratic party along with the established policy of the Government to move on;We will also respect economic laws, market-oriented mechanisms of voice is not up, many acute economic problems do not have enough attention, such as productivity while improving the overall economic growth, presents promote consumption issues, and led to the production of consumption in a new situation.At that time the Government was not trying to deal with, but, as always, will focus on the macro-control and promoting the welfare of the process. 1973 oil crisis inflation have gotten even up to 7%, to the collapse of the Bretton Woods international monetary system of fixed exchange rates for content, followed by the worldwide economic crisis has also affected the West Germany. In 1975, the West German economy fell to its lowest point: all sectors of the economy crisis, an unprecedented slowdown in economic growth, the unemployment rate reached a record high, the 1974-1975 recession.Even under such adverse economic circumstances, the Government is also trying to implement macro-economic control and community-building, only between 1970-1975, West Germany State welfare spending has doubled . Which makes the budget deficit rising at an alarming rate. So the poor economic situation and irrational acts of States when the community was aware of the error of excessive val ue State regulation and welfare. The 1976 election results made it clear that former excessive importance to macro-control and social policy has begun on the construction of public discontent.Thus, the Government began to change economic policy, no macro-economic control, but to enable the market mechanism to make an adjustment, Germany Mark's fixed exchange rate with the US dollar has been cancelled opportunities, linked with productivity growth and stable price level over the medium term the currency merchant policies In this way, by controlling the money supply causes lack of marks on the market, and thus marks compared to the appreciation of the dollar more than 1 time, then rapid import growth.Strong marks and imports accelerated first oil crisis impact on West Germany obviously failed to other Western countries, especially inflation significantly smaller than other countries, which makes rapid upgrading of West Germany's position in the world. Facing export difficulties arisin g therefrom, the State did not conduct a mandatory intervention, but to use market mechanisms to bring West German industrial structure transformation themselves, enhance the market competitiveness of products, such as those of traditional labour-intensive industries such as coal, textile, shipbuilding, iron and steel industry gradually atrophy.This structural transformation will allow the industry to release a lot of unemployed persons of the community, but the Government in view of the inherent law of economic development, or stick to the policies. Therefore, West Germany began in 1976 and continued economic growth. Although in 1979 and there is a second world-wide oil crisis, but the stronger mark makes the impact on Western Germany is significantly less than other Western countries, which increases the international status of West Germany continued to improve, the European financial system, Germany's Federal Bank in a leadership position.Precisely because of the success of this session of the Government's economic policy, the 1980 election, LDP votes most improved significantly compared with the other political parties, SPD is only slightly elevated. This clearly shows that new economic policies to save the fate of the Liberal Democratic party coalition Government, as long as the economy is not affected, people wanted the national focus for community-building. In fact, late 60 ‘s benefits to the construction of the second half of the 70 and never stopped, just slowed.The late 70 and early 80 ‘s, as economic growth and trade union involvement in the enterprise for a rise in a row, both corporate and personal income growth. However, due to the appreciation of the mark and the national framework for intervention persists, investments did not appear accordingly, some enterprises take advantage of the strong mark and cheap labor in foreign countries this should be invested in domestic market began to be moved abroad.This directly lead to the economi c recession that began in 1980, inflation and unemployment rate rising rapidly. At that time, the West German economy has experienced continuous recession that began in 1980, and recessions than 1974-1975 that bad. At the 1983 general election, notable decline in number of votes of the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party Government to step down, West German economic history on the social welfare of the end of the construction period. (James, 1998)III. Difficult period. When headed by Helmut Kohl's CDU in power, immediately offered to go back to era of Erhard's road to a social market economy, but also admits this is not entirely dependent on market mechanisms. Clear specific policies to reduce government spending and to stimulate investment as a core. On October 1, 1983 starts austerity plans, such as reducing the amount of childcare support, was in hospital and nursing homes are no longer exclusively by the State a full payment, individ uals must be part of the burden.These initiatives reduced national social expenditure only reduces new issuance of government bonds, but not to have total accumulated national debt reduction, because the national welfare systems have been set up, it has been used and tasted States contemplated social welfare benefits. Therefore, reducing State spending, refers only to reduce the amount of newly issued Government bonds, rather than simply to reduce the national debt as a whole.In order to improve the financial situation of the country, Kohl Government also initiated the privatization of State-owned enterprises, such as postal services, telecommunications, energy, and later raised the sales tax. These harmonize national fiscal revenue has significantly improved. But after building up huge social welfare, financial situation did not show substantial improvement. Thus, in stimulating investment in the Kohl Government would attempt to relieve pressure on enterprises through tax reform, b ut, under pressure from bad financial situation in the country could not take too much action.Fortunate is that international economic situation improved after the Kohl Government came into power, in particular the United States and Japan, which makes the already high level of internationalization of West Germany economy through foreign trade rises pick up right away. With the devaluation of the dollar, beginning in 1985, the rapid growth in imports, prices began to drop, growth in domestic demand. From 1983 to 1990, West Germany's overall economic growth rate from five began to grow to the end of the 80 ‘s 2% and per cent in 1990.However, the improved little from the internal market, because profits faster than investment growth during this period. Second half of the 80, investment has also accelerated growth, but unemployment does not appear synchronized better. It is clear that the growth largely from domestic enterprises to invest overseas. Kohl on the economic policy of t he Government is in a difficult phase, and for high unemployment and no growth in domestic investment economic growth when frustrated, East German voluntary dissolution, and federal Germany merged.The German reunification is undoubtedly a great blessing for the German nation, but temporary prosperity to Flash briefly. To achieve the transformation, reconstruction of infrastructure and social safety nets in the eastern part, including common revitalization project in the East, and the consolidated fund, all levels of Government transfer payments between the 1990 and the medium-term to the East has over trillion-mark, weighed on Western economies.To raise funds and curb inflation, the Germany Government had to be more than more than 10 times in a row to raise key interest rates. Trouble has been brewing for quite some time. Germany economic weakening, mainly because of the welfare system and a series of structural reasons. Excessive protection of the social welfare system has pushed u p the cost of production, and formed a â€Å"higher welfare – higher taxes under the low growth – high liability – high cost – low growth – low investment,† a vicious cycle. From the early 1970 ‘s to the late 1990 ‘s, Germany 5. times more than double the increase in welfare expenditure per capita, down to become a drag on economic growth;1970, 1980, too protect sunset industries in the industrial structure and the information technology industry research and development keep lagging, its lack of wealth growth force leading leading industry;The lack of flexibility of the system of corporate governance and incentive mechanism, led by profits, the lack of micro-economic vitality;Excessive fire protection and high unemployment security benefits labour market rigidities and unemployment reduction.Faced with rising unemployment, helpless Government of Helmut Kohl in 1998, replaced by a Government of the Social Democratic Party was Ger hard Fritz Kurt Schroder, Schroder economic policy compatible with the two party ideas: on the one hand through tax breaks to stimulate investment and consumer demand, dynamic economy.The other hand, in the field of social security, and former advocate of personal responsibility at the same time, try to keep the original treatment, does not increase social security contributions in favour of eco-taxes to fill the gap and promote environmental protection. Now Germany as the third largest economy in the world today, the second-largest exporter, its per capita GDP of more than 27,000 euros.Germany agriculture production value less than 1%, share services near two-thirds, is a highly developed industrial structure to serve the community, its industrial machinery manufacturing, automotive, electronics and chemical industry led;Its national economy by relying heavily on exports, and export share of world total exports of nearly 10%, 70% about trade is concentrated in Europe and the United States, Japan and other developed countries, long-term surplus in balance of payments, inflation rate, unemployment rate at around 9%.Looking at the Germany of economic development after the war, at some point, despite the many problems, but judging from the overall economic and social development, was ranked the highest in the world, experience and lessons have left us a valuable asset. Reference [1] Braun, Hans-J. The German economy in the twentieth century. London : Routledge 1990 [2] Berghahn, V. Modern Germany: society, economy and politics in the twentieth century. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press 1982. 3] Brian,H . Seeking a role: the United Kingdom, 1951-1970 . Oxford : Clarendon 2009 [4] Overy, R; Ogilvie, S. Germany: a new social and economic history, Vol. 3, Since 1800. London : Arnold 2003 [5] Roger ,M. The British economy since 1945: engaging with the debate . Basingstoke : Macmillan 2000 [6] Robert,J;Bennett,G;Horst,Z. Local economic development in Britain and G ermany. London : Anglo-German Foundation 1990. [7] Tony ,J. Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 . London : Pimlico 2007 .