Existentialism is a Humanism Essay

In Existentialism is a Humanism, Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) presents an accessible description of existentialism. A key idea of existentialism—and of the human condition— is that existence precedes essence. The essence of something is its meaning, its intended purpose. A paper cutter is made to cut paper; that is its point. Humans, however, do not have an essence. Man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. We have no greater purpose, no pre-determined plan, no ultimate meaning. We have, in Sartre’s words, no human nature, since there is nothing (e.g. God) outside of us which would conceive of it for us. We are simply here, and it is up to us to define ourselves. Responsibility Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. We have choice, we have subjectivity, and we choose what we will make ourselves to be; we are entirely responsible for our existence: Thus, existentialism’s first move is to make every man aware of what he is and to make the full responsibility of his existence rest on him. This thought is often not easily accepted. ‘Subjectivity’ is a word that riles up many. â€Å"If everything is subjective then nothing is objective; nothing is absolute! Our values are nothing more than our whims! Nothing is right or wrong! Rabble, rabble, rabble!† Sartre replies that, â€Å"it is impossible for man to transcend human subjectivity.† He isn’t saying â€Å"I prefer subjectivity over objectivity,† he’s asking, â€Å"how can we possibly not be subjective?† Even the religious individual who believes that morality is absolute and comes from God must, at some point, choose to bel ieve that this is the case. Our responsibility is a blessing and a curse. It leads us to feel things like anguish, forlornness, and despair. Anguish We experience anguish in the face of our subjectivity, because by choosing what we are to do, we ‘choose for everyone’. When you make a decision you are saying â€Å"this is how anyone ought to behave given these circumstances.† Many people don’t feel anguish, but this is because they are â€Å"fleeing from it.† If you don’t feel a sense of anxiety when you make decisions, it’s because you are forgetting about your â€Å"total and deep responsibility† toward yourself and all of humanity. Forlornness Forlornness is the idea that â€Å"God does not exist and that we have to face all the consequences of this.† There is no morality a priori. There is no absolute right or wrong. There is no ultimate judge. This is a very distressing idea. As Dostoievsky said, â€Å"If God didn’t exist, everything would be possible [permissible].† Without God we have nothing to cling to. â€Å"There is no determinism, man is free, man is freedom. [†¦] We have no values or commands to turn to which legitimize our conduct.† In other words, we have no excuses, and we are entirely responsible for our decisions. What are our values? The only way to determine them is to make a decision. At the end of the day, your ideals aren’t what matter; what matters is what you actually did. Despair Despair arises because we only have power to change things that are within our power to change—and there is a lot we cannot change. Reality is impartial and out of your control, except for small aspects of it here and there. We despair because we can never have full control of the future. What Will Happen Will Happen Tomorrow, after my death, some men may decide to set up Fascism, and the others may be cowardly and muddled enough to let them do it. Fascism will then be the human reality, so much the worse for us. Regardless of what is right or wrong, good or bad, and regardless of whether these are absolutes or not, â€Å"things will be as man will have decided they are to be.† What will happen will happen and humanity will be entirely responsible for what it does. Does this mean we ought to become passively accepting of what will happen? Sartre says the exact opposite. Does that mean that I should abandon myself to quietism? No. [†¦] Quietism is the attitude of people who say, â€Å"Let others do what I can’t do.† The doctrine I am presenting is the very opposite of quietism, since it declares, â€Å"There is no reality except in action.† Moreover, it goes further, since it adds, â€Å"Man is nothing else than his plan; he exists only to the extent that he fulfills himself; he is therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts, nothing else than his life. No Excuses This is why existentialism horrifies some people. It puts such a burden of responsibility squarely on their shoulders. They can’t stand to think they were at fault for not being a great or successful person, for having no great friendships or love. They think they are the victim of circumstances; they haven’t had the proper education, leisure, or incentives; they haven’t found the right person yet; they haven’t had the opportunity to show their greatness. Sartre, however, says that â€Å"The coward makes himself cowardly, the hero makes himself heroic.† The artist is an artist because of the works of art he created, not because of what he could have created. The mathematician is famous for the math he did, not what he maybe could have done. We find that this is â€Å"a harsh thought to someone whose life hasn’t been a success.† We are responsible for our successes and failures. But at the same time, this harshness forces us to face the incredibly important fact that: Reality alone is what counts. Sartre sees these views not as a pessimism, but as an â€Å"optimistic toughness.† Optimistic in that we are the rulers of our lives; our destiny is within our hands; we are encouraged to take action. Sartre summarizes his idea of optimism and action in the following passage. Thus, I think we have answered a number of the charges concerning existentialism. You see that it can not be taken for a philosophy of quietism, since it defines man in terms of action; nor for a pessimistic description of man—there is no doctrine more optimistic, since man’s destiny is within himself; nor for an attempt to discourage man from acting, since it tells him that the only hope is in his acting and that action is the only thing that enables a man to live. Is Choice Arbitrary? Sartre ends this piece with a further defence of subjectivism, in which I wish he had gone into a little more detail. He says people are still not satisfied with the idea of subjectivism, and objections usually come in one of the following forms: 1. â€Å"Well then, you’re able to do anything, no matter what! You’re promoting anarchy!† But this isn’t the point. It is not possible to not choose. In not making a choice you are still choosing not to choose. Choice is inescapable; we are â€Å"condemned to be free† because we are human, whether or not we are existentialists. 2. â€Å"You can’t pass judgement on others, because there’s no reason to prefer one idea to another!† We can still hold values, and values appear out of the choices we make. Through our actions (as an individual and as a group), we create ethics. 3. â€Å"Everything about your choice is arbitrary!† We define ourselves through our actions, â€Å"in relationship to involvement.† And as we make ourselves—as we make choices—it is absurd to say we are choosing arbitrarily.

Czech National Gymnastics Organization

From 1860 to 1940 the role of organized sports in Europe greatly expanded and grew in popularity. The participation in sports flourished, as so did competition, especially with the development of the Olympic games. The impacts of these organized sports was a positive advance in Europe that furthered nationalist patriotism through unification, encouraged morality, and created a true understanding of the importance of physical health. A strong sense of national pride was cultivated through sports, which can be seen in military effects.The Czechs saw the importance of sports as a way to create the perfect soldier. Miroslav Tyrs, the cofounder of the Czech National Gymnastics Organization stated that the training of athlete produced â€Å"an unbreachable defense on which the assaults of our foes will be shattered. † (Document 1). Sports was seen as symbolic of war and was advertised as a game through British propaganda (Document 6). Soon sports became the training ground, one whic h was waged against the rest of the world through the Olympic Game.According to Martin Berner, a Berlin journalist in the 1913 article, â€Å"The Olympic games are a war a real war†, â€Å"that gives enough insight into world ranking† (Document 5). Moreover, Japanese traveler Y. Mihashi stated that after his viewing of a Denmark gymnastics competition in 1930 that the athletes were like â€Å"statues come to life, with unbelievable living rhythm† (Document 9). Mihashi also spoke of the ecstasy of the spectators, cheering for their country, and the sense of national pride instilled in them.However, Sir Robert Baden Powell, founder of the boy scouts, criticized the obsessions of spectators in 1908, stating that the games often became vicious and would turn the players into aggressive figures (Document 30). The negative effect sports did have on spectators did not weaken the fact that sports did unify Europe and that the spectators were cheering in unison, but only in a rather un-orderly way. A stricter sense of morality was introduced throughout the role of organized sports as an outcome of its popularity.Sir Baden-Powell encouraged the playing of sports since it was â€Å"the best training for the game of life† â€Å"developing a lad physically and morally, for he learns to play with good temper and unselfishness† (Document 3). An African delegate of a British colony in 1910 said that in sports lay â€Å"perfect union† and â€Å"a complete subordination of the self† (Document 4). The delegate also precluded that in order for one's country to succeed in life they must be able to attain unification through the use of organized sports.Besides the development of a strong sense of pride in one's country and the stricter enforcements of morals, sports also encouraged the improvements of physical health. In not only men but also in women, which furthered the idea of women’s equality through Europe. Soviet Physici an Nikolai Semashko in 1928 stated that â€Å"physical culture in the soviet understanding is concerned not with record breaking but with people’s physical health†¦ has personal and social hygiene as it’s major objective. † (Semashko, Doc. ) The Soviet’s sports were seen as an integral part of the revolution, improving the well being of all citizens. The role of women also was integrated into the idea of sports and physical involvement, in 1910 women were accepted as part of the Czech gymnastics organization (doc 2), were seen to be needing the same physical training as a man (Doc 10) thereby further establishing a sense of physical equality in 1930, Germany, supported by German physician Alice Profe. And the support of female athletes on a competitive level can be seen by the appearance of females in gymnastics in the 1880’s (Doc 12).Seen to encourage â€Å"courage and agility in women which was traditionally seen as a solely male attribute. Although sports fostered a nationalist attitude it was also seen to encourage peaceful national ties. In â€Å"Peace through sport† from the British National Workers Sports Association in 1935, the international games encouraged peace between nations through â€Å"friendly rivalry between our continental brothers and ourselves on the sports field†¦ it will be much better easier to talk peace and infinitely harder †¦ to stir up war against eachother. (Doc 11). The organized sports of the time period between 1860 and 1940 helped create a sense of national pride, encouraged morality and physical well being, a sense of comradery, women’s equality, as well as peaceful relations between countries, resulting in many advances culturally and socially throughout Europe. .

Exam case financial accounting Essay

Solutions to Exercises and Problems Tutorial 1 IFM Case 2-2 Case 2-2 SKD Limited 1.Goodwill There is no goodwill amortization expense in Country A, so the goodwill amortization expense recognized by SKD must be added back to determine income under Country A GAAP. SKD amortizes goodwill over a longer period (20 years) than is allowed in Country B (5 years), so an additional amount of goodwill amortization expense must be recognized to determine income under Country B GAAP, which reduces Country B GAAP income. b.The goodwill adjustment affects the retained earnings in stockholders’ equity. The increase in Country A GAAP income results in an increase in retained earnings and the decrease in Country B GAAP income results in a decrease in retained earnings. c.The adjustment to income is for the current year only. The adjustment to stockholders’ equity is cumulative. The fact that the stockholders’ equity adjustment is three times as larger as the income adjustment implies that the goodwill was purchased three year ago. 2.Capitalized Interest a.The adjustment labeled â€Å"Capitalized interest† relates to the interest that is not expensed but instead is capitalized under Country A GAAP. The adjustment labeled â€Å"Depreciation related to capitalized interest† relates to the depreciation of the interest that was capitalized as part of the cost of the asset. b.The first adjustment increases income because interest is not being expensed immediately but instead is capitalized as part of the cost of the asset to which it relates. The second adjustment decreases income because under Country A GAAP, the asset to which interest is capitalized has a larger cost and therefore a larger depreciation expense. c.Both income adjustments are closed out to retained earnings and partially offset one another. The increase to income of $50 and the decrease of $20 result in a net increase in retained earnings of $30. 3.Fixed Assets a.When fixed assets are revalued to a higher amount, there is an increase in their carrying value with an offsetting increase in stockholders’ equity to keep the balance sheet in balance. The amount by which the assets are revalued is subject to depreciation, which results in a larger depreciation expense. The adjustment to recognize this additional depreciation expense decreases income under Country B GAAP. It also decreases stockholders’ equity (retained earnings). The decrease in retained earnings from additional depreciation is smaller than the increase in stockholders’ equity from revaluation of assets, which results in a net increase in stockholders’ equity. Note: if we knew when the fixed assets were revalued, we could determine the amount by which they were revalued. For example, if revaluation occurred at the end of the previous year, then the revaluation amount must have been $64 ($64 – 8 = $56) because only one year of additional deprecat ion would be included in the stockholders’ equity adjustment. 27. Holzer Company – Property, Plant, and Equipment (capitalization of borrowing costs and measurement of asset subsequent to acquisition using two alternative models) IAS 16 Cost Model Carry asset on the balance sheet at cost less accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses. Capitalize borrowing costs borrowing costs attributable to the construction of qualifying assets. Annual interest ($900,000 x 10%)$90,000 Interest to be capitalized in Year 1 ($500,000* x 10%)50,000 Interest expense in Year 1$40,000 * Expenditures of $1,000,000 were made evenly throughout the year, so the average accumulated expenditures during the year are $500,000 ($1,000,000 / 2). Cost of building: Construction costs$1,000,000 Capitalized interest50,000 Total initial cost of building$1,050,000 Annual depreciation (beginning in Year 2) ($1,050,000 / 40 years) $26,250 Year 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Year 5 Income Statement Depreciation expense$0$26,250$26,250$26,250$26,250 Balance Sheet Building (at 1/1)$0$1,050,000$1,023,750$997,500$971,250 Depreciation(26,250)(26,250)(26,250)(26,250) Building (at 12/31)$1,050,000$1,023,750$997,500$971,250$945,000 IAS 16 Revaluation Model Carry asset on the balance sheet at revalued amount equal to fair value less any subsequent accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses. Capitalize borrowing costs attributable to the construction of qualifying assets. Annual interest ($900,000 x 10%)$90,000 Interest to be capitalized in Year 1 ($500,000 x 10%)50,000 Interest expense in Year 1$40,000 Cost of building: Construction costs$1,000,000 Capitalized interest50,000 Total initial cost of building$1,050,000 Annual depreciation (beginning in Year 2) ($1,050,000 / 40 years) $26,250 Year 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Year 5 Income Statement Depreciation expense$0$26,250$26,250$25,5262$25,526 Subtotal $0$26,250$26,250$25,526$25,526 Loss on revaluation27,500 Reversal of revaluation loss(27,500) Total expense (income)$0$26,250$43,750$25,526$(1,974) Balance Sheet Building (at 1/1)$0$1,050,000$1,023,750$970,000$944,474 Depreciation(26,250)(26,250)(25,526)(25,526) Building (at 12/31)$1,050,000$1,023,750$997,500$944,474$918,948 Loss on revaluation(27,500)1 Reversal of revaluation loss27,5003 Revaluation surplus 3,5523 Building (at 12/31)$1,050,000$1,023,750$970,000 $944,474$950,000 1At December 31,Year 3, the fair value of the building is determined to be $970,000. The carrying value of the building is decreased by $27,500, with a loss on revaluation recognized in Year 3 net income. 2 Depreciation in Year 4 is $25,526 ($970,000 / 38 remaining years). 3At December 31,Year 5, the fair value of the building is determined to be $950,000. The carrying value of the building is increased by $31,052. A reversal of revaluation loss of $27,500 is recognized in income and $3,552 ($31,052 – 27,500) is recorded as revaluation surplus in shareholders’ equity.

Benchmarking and Value Chain Analysis

According to Oakland (113) and Patterson article found online, bench marking involves the activities that are carried out in an organization that involves procedures used to compare the results that the organization is producing with the means and processes used. A bench mark is like the targets that an organization would want to achieve in its operations to enable it make progress as far as its growth and development is concerned which either could be within or outside the organization (Dale 77).A benchmark for an organization should be something that adds value to the organization’s performance and as an end result benefit all the employees’ of the organization and its customers. Meaning that if the identified changes are carried out it will help the organization achieve some if not all of its activities (Howell 135). An example of a business that has achieved the maximum benefits from benchmarking is General Electric. General Electric has achieved bench mark on talen t management strategy.The strategy of General Electric on how they manage talents is by the way they prioritize the jobs they give and how they focus on ‘game changers’. They are the top recruitment firm when it comes to recruiting personnel from the military (Sullivan). On the other hand, businesses and firms should make comparative advantages and should be able to have shareholder values. In order to do these, businesses and firms separate systems in different value-generating activities. And within every activity, a goal is set that the level of value should always exceed the cost of doing these activities.This whole process is known to be value chain analysis. In order to have more advantage that other businesses, a firm should be able to utilize a cost advantage and differentiation. Cost advantage happens when the cost of a value chain is reduced better than other competitors. Differentiation, on the other hand, is the uniqueness of a particular value chain of firm from the other firms (â€Å"The Value Chain. †). An example of a firm that has achieved the maximum benefits from value chain analysis is the computer producing company Apple.Although, the computers they sell are high priced, they still mange to achieve the cost advantage among other computer brands by being number four in the sales of computers in the year 2008. Another thing is that Apple computers also achieved the differentiation among other computer brands. Apple computers are really unique in many ways, because they produce their own components for this computer that no other companies can produce. Thus, Apple has achieved value chain in their computers.

Porters Force Analysis On Leisure Cruise Industry

The universe economic system has been engulfed by strong international competition. Porter has argued that scheme equates how any steadfast competes against others in its concern. He argued that scheme is non merely a series of theoretical accounts at the corporate degree of scheme. The scheme includes analysing possible entrants, providers, purchasers, replacements and rivals. He describes the competitory forces determining an industry in his six forces theoretical account of industrial competition. By analysing the forces, one assesses the forces driving competition in an industry and evaluates the odds of a house successfully come ining and viing in an industry. The forces are includes: possible entrants with their menace of entry, providers with their bargaining power, purchasers with their bargaining power, industry rivals with their competition among existing houses, and replacements with their menace of utility service or merchandise and. Government engagement is another force that affects any industry[ I ]. The full leisure industry is composed of bomber industries including gambling, sail, lodging, athleticss installations, travel and touristry and vocational ownership. Cruise is one of the fastest turning sectors in the leisure industry which ensures that people basking their holidaies get conveyance installations. Under this sector, the companies which largely operate are transporting companies which transport people in leisure from one topographic point to another. The companies include AIDA Cruises, Celebrity Cruise, Cunard line, Disney Cruise Line, Holland American Line, Ocean Village, Princes Cruises, Royal Caribbea International and Seabourn Curise Line. All these named operate in Florida under the umbrella organic structure Florida-Carebbean Cruise Association ( Maya, 2010 )[ two ]. This is an industry of merriment characterized monolithic investings. Taking Ocean Village as an illustration of companies stand foring the full industry, this research paper will analyse the six po rter forces that affect the industry[ three ]. Buyers and dickering power In the industry, purchasers are traveler traveling for vocational Tourss, leisure activities and all that pertains to fun. Buyer power is the capableness of purchasers, their agents, and clients of the industry to act upon the monetary value charged and footings of purchase. If purchasers ‘ power is high, so the net income borders of the houses runing in the industry tends to be low. If the purchasers are organized and are few, so their power is high. The industry whose purchaser power is high tends to be unattractive to new investors since the realized net incomes are usually low ( Peng, 2009, p. 42 ) . In this sail sector of the leisure industry, purchasers are few and be given to be organized. Therefore, Ocean Village Company feels the force per unit area of good organized purchasers who have high-bargaining powers. The industry represents purchasers from higher economic and societal category who can form and inquire for their rights in the industry. They are willing to pass their money for leisure services therefore do non see much impact on pricing every bit long as they get choice services. Ocean Village Company has tried to include some other services to do any ocean trip successful and pull more clients. These include the wellness installations provided within the company and adjustment characteristics offered to travellers. Potential entrants and entry barriers When a company and industry in general, is doing net incomes, other investors think of embarking into that industry so that they enjoy the net incomes realized. This creates a inquiry of how the incumbent houses within the industry attempt to make barriers for new entrants. The executives of the industry attempt to make barriers even if it means passing some money on the same undertaking[ four ]. If the current houses in the industry can maintain possible entrants at bay, the full topic of competition and its impacts on the incumbent houses ‘ net incomes become moot. The menace of new houses to come in an industry is low if the incumbent houses have high powers to act upon monetary values, control resources and determine the nature of competition within the industry. In Florida, the industry has organized its houses and formed an association to cover with such affairs. The association, Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, protect the houses from any external entrants every bit much as possible. It has partnered with the authorities to put high criterions for any house that wish to come in into the industry. This makes possible investors be scared off from come ining such a market hence the industry can be classified as basking the powers to protect its current signifiers from the possible entrants. Suppliers and their bargaining power Supplier power is the capableness of sellers to make up one's mind the monetary values and footings of supply. Suppliers include sellers of labour, natural stuffs, and capital goods. If their power is high, so the net income borders of the incumbent houses tend to be low. Such low net income borders make an industry unattractive to possible entrants. The being of many providers indicates low provider power, and frailty versa. Firms in the industry rely on many supplier classs to carry through its services. The major providers of the industry are those that supply fuel to houses in the industry. Shell Company[ V ]is the chief provider of fuel in the industry but there are other possible companies which can provide. Ocean Village Company has entered into understanding its providers on footings of sale which are non altered till the understanding period expires. Substitute merchandises and services The handiness of replacements for an industry ‘s merchandises and services alters the power of the incumbent houses. As the handiness of replacement merchandises and services rises and the easy of replacement additions, the power of incumbent houses to command monetary values and footings of concern diminutions. In the instance of this industry, the replacement might be air hose conveyance, rail and route. However, they do non supply the intended services the purchaser wants when taking. Cruise industry provides diversion installations, good environment in H2O and others that a individual on leisure activities needs. This makes the industry enjoy limited replacement merchandises and services. The power of the houses runing in the industry is hence high. Rivals and competition Competitive competition is the extent to which houses respond to competitory moves of other houses in the same industry. In some industries like sail industry, â€Å" gentleman ‘s understanding † exists whereby houses respect one another ‘s market niches and follow a â€Å" unrecorded and allow unrecorded † scheme ( Ireland et al, 2008, p. 82 ) . The industry has formed an association which deals with such issues as competition and unwanted behaviours within the industry. This reduces competition and competition within the industry doing the companies operated in a friendly mode. They are associated to supply better and quality clients to leisure clients and there is no demand to vie in the disbursal of the industry and consumers. In other sectors within the larger leisure industry, a â€Å" dog eat Canis familiaris †[ six ]thought prevails, cutthroat competition is the regulation and competitory moves are smartly encountered. This happens in hotel bo mber industry since many houses exist here. Government engagement This is another force, although non normally talked as, which influences any industry. It is a demand for the houses in any industry to follow with all authorities ordinances including enrollment, paying revenue enhancements and be responsible to the environment. Government engagement determines the profitableness of an industry. Sometimes, the authorities comes in to protect its consumers from development by houses in any industry[ seven ]. They can make up one's mind to command monetary values and quality of services offered. The sum of revenue enhancement charged besides reduces the company operating in that industry ‘s net incomes. It can be realized that in Florida, the authorities ensures that the safety of crewmans is maximal and the quality of services offered is optimum. Since the house operates in H2O, it is supposed to keep high criterions to protect the environment, H2O in this instance. Harmonizing to Kassing ( 2006 )[ eight ], Government provides substructure for all commercial diversion and touristry endeavors. However, the authorities engagement in this industry is minimum. This is because the industry does non offer basic trade goods which would do the authorities intervene to command monetary values. The company enjoys authorities protection from sea challengers. The demands the authorities has put in footings of new entrants are excessively affecting doing the industry one of those that are difficult to come in into by new companies. Decision The forces determine profitableness of any industry as they influence the costs, monetary values, and needed investing of houses in that peculiar industry. Buyers power influence the monetary values Ocean Village Company and any other company can bear down. It besides has an influence on investing cost since sceptered purchasers asks for expensive services. Supplier ‘s bargaining powers influences input costs like fuel. The competition influences monetary values and viing costs. On the other manus, entry menace bounds monetary value charged and makes incumbent houses invest to avoid it ( porter, 1985, p. 7 ) . The Florida based companies runing in the sail industry formed an association, Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, which has changed the industry construction. They agree on how to carry on concerns, how to make entry barriers and common characteristics to follow so as to fulfill their clients in Leisure-Cruise industry. It is a strong association of houses that have ma de the industry one of the popular in Florida and profitable.

Project Management Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Project Management Theory - Essay Example I worked in project to install 100 office cubicles for a call center during a summer. I worked as part of 12 person crew. A person created the layout while the rest of the crew worked on organizing the materials of used cubicles which came in a truck. We had two week deadline and the team worked two eight our shifts. Once we had about 50% of the worked done we took photos and send them to the owner of the company for him to monitor our progress. He was happy with the progress made and we continued and were able to close the project within the established time constraint. LRH products is a marketing company that has a project underway which is mainly a trade show presentation. A member of the marketing team has been assigned the task of becoming project manager for the trade show for the first time. The young project manager must use the PMBOK framework to accomplish the task. Before initiating the project he should interview the members of the team ask them about their experiences with the previous trade shows the company has performed. In the planning phase he has to create the work schedules for the team, the travel arrangements, inventory of materials to be utilized and plan the customer relationship strategy that will be utilized in the trade show by the company representatives. The execution of the plan starts by building the booth and placing all the marketing materials. The training of the employees should be performed by Pat, one of the executives working on the project. The project manager has to closely monitor the performance of his emplo yees. A feedback box is a good tool for clients to express their opinions about the trade booth. This information can be utilized by the project manager to evaluate performance. The project will end after two weeks. At that time the project manager is responsible for cleaning up the trade show area and creating a report for the management team of LHR specifying the operating results of the

Framework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Framework - Essay Example This paper reviews and compares the methodologies, recommending the best strategy to develop the system. Analysis Fixit’s Nature of business Fixit TV repairs and video repairs deals with the repair of various electrical and electronic equipment while also selling part of the equipment. The employee base of the enterprise is made up of proprietor, who deals with customers and does most of the repair work, a part-time administrator who deals with the book-keeping and bill payments, and a team of sub-contractors who are brought in as necessary. At present the day-to-day running relies heavily on the proprietor’s memory or is written on a scrap of paper. As indicated, at the moment all procedures are manual, repairs are logged as they arrive, and the equipment and the customer details together the descriptions of the fault are always noted, giving each job a unique job ticket. The ticket has a unique number and contains the customer demographic details, the equipmentâ€℠¢s details and the fault’s description. As a result of the complexities associated with the current procedure, the business through its proprietor seeks to implement a new system to run the business operations. However many question arise in how to develop the system. Questions How can the requirement be captured How can these requirements be conceptualized How can the system design be implemented, tested and debugged How will it be documented? How can the system be integrated, evolved, maintained and finally decommissioned? Comparison Agile development approach and object oriented design have various features which make them significant though distinctively separate. The main distinction is the approach in which the developer employs to realize an end product. The agile development approach involves a set of software development approaches which are founded on incremental and iterative development (Satzinger, Jackson& Burd 2012). On the other hand, object based design is a p rocedure of planning a scheme of relating objects for the reason of resolving a software issue. The primary thing to consider in the assertions is the reality that one encompasses planning while the other employs emergent and incremental development approaches. To begin with agile development approaches, it utilizes some principles and practices which can be glowered upon by various developer who favor planning and implementation of plan as opposed to bind coding. The major setback with this approach is that the design models do not need to model each single detail. The models do not require to be complete and perfect. This implies that an iterative methodology is utilized whereby no specifics are being operated with, instead they are operated on in tandem with the deliverable system. The other challenge relates to the documentation of the end system. With the case of agile development approach, the documentation of the system though essential is not accorded the much desired emphas is as it is the case with object oriented design(Yourdon 1994). Instead, the agile approach focuses on unit tests to form a greater part of the documentation of the design. Now as we develop the system using the agile approaches and procedures guided by spiral or waterfall model, without the presence of

Argument on Gay Marriage Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Argument on Gay Marriage - Research Paper Example Same – sex marriages have good aspects and bad aspects depending on which paradigm it is being assessed in to. The way I shall approach this paradigms are dependent on the current political discourse and on the social order of things. In the current political discourse, the Republicans are the ones who are strongly in opposition with the legalization of same – sex marriages; with the exception of Fred Karger. Fred Karger is an openly gay person who is vying for the presidential seat (Harris). He is the only in the whole nomination list of the Republicans who is in support of same – sex marriages, which is totally in contrast with his fellow Republican who are aspirants for the candidacy (2012 Republican Candidates). What makes him apart from the other nominees aside from being a supporter and part of the LGBT community? The answer is plain and simple. Each of them has separate standards. In most cases, the paradigms of the other potential bearers are mostly guide d by religious conventions. Assessing the paradigms, there are several contentions that must be engaged carefully. Political activity is considered to be free of any detrimental conditions. If there is a principle of separation of church and state in a democratic society like the United States, then there is a need to fully implement this matter. In a civil society, there is a need to secure the rights of the people because choices are part of it. Should anyone be deprived of their choice because of sexual orientation? Definitely, it should not be. Discrimination is seriously dealt with by constitutions where people should not be discriminated because of the choices made (Johnson and Kuttner 183). In this case, it can be considered that sexual orientation is also a preference that should be discriminated. Individuals have the freedom to decide what they want to do with their lives and the government must secure all the possible means to ensure that these liberties are protected. Rel igion, in most instances, has provided a fundamentalist approach when it comes sexuality due to institutionalized ethics it propagated (Johnson and Kuttner 180). This is where most of the contentions about sexuality and gender comes in. Does the religion have the right to forbade people who want to pursue their ideal as part of LGBT community? No. In order to fully understand this matter, there is a need to point out that marriages have certain types: the religious and the civil marriage. In religious marriage, sex and sexuality are means for procreation. In civil marriages, there is a need to include the freedom to choose partners. Marriage, in a strict sense, is a basic civil right (Johnson and Kuttner 186). People who are religious may opt to have a civil marriage, a religious marriage or both. All of them still boil down to the choice of those who wants to get married. Now, do LGBT couples would opt to have a religious marriage? Most likely, they would not. They would prefer to have a civil marriage where there is no religious intervention. The very act of the conservative and religious orders in preventing same – sex marriage is already an imposition. The predicament is plain and simple. LGBT marriages face double standards which can be quite problematic due to interference. In my opinion, I would even be sensitive to the LGBT couples attitudes and

The rehabilitation act of 1973 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The rehabilitation act of 1973 - Research Paper Example It is one of a number of United States laws concerned with discrimination such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, (1990), the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, ( 1997) and the Fair Housing Act ( 1968). The act has been amended twice – in 1993 and then once more in 1998, perhaps reflecting changes in public perceptions. The legislation has its own administrators - the Rehabilitation Services Administration. The aim is to prevent any discrimination, intentional or unintentional, which has its basis in a person's disability. Under Section 501 there is a requirement for affirmative action and an absence of discrimination in employment. Section 503 is concerned with contractors and sub-contractors. The next section, 504 allows for what are described as ‘reasonable accommodation. It provides for the provision to be incorporated into new constructions. Each of the federal agencies have their own version of the sections 504 regulations, for which the individual agency is responsible for regulating. Although these rules do vary, they have a common core which includes making accommodation for their disabled employees, making programs accessible and ensuring effective communication, especially with those people who have hearing or sight difficulties. The regulations allow funding for the provision of accessible new constructions as well as for making alterations to existing establishments. Section 508 includes a requirement for Federal electronic and information technology to be made accessible to those with disabilities. This means that such information must be available in a number of formats so that it can be used by those without disabilities as well as those with sight or hearing problems. This includes state employees, but also for members of the public who need information provided by such agencies. This begs the questions of definitions, of what is a disability and what can be considered to be ‘reasonable’. The research article in Appendix 1, Diabetes and the Rehabilitation Rights Act, ( 2007) gives the example of someone with a facial deformity which does not prevent them carrying out a particular job without any specific accommodation and is therefore not considered to be a disability. In the case of those with diabetes, under this legislation, students with diabetes have the right to ask for an Individualized Education Plan. However diabetes, like a lot of other such conditions, is a very variable problem, even within one person. There will therefore be times when the condition is well controlled and all that is required is somewhere private where medication can be taken. This should not mean having to do the necessary injections in a toilet cubicle, with all the possible risks of infection involved, even if care is taken. It would be reasonable to require the provision of a safe and private place for medication to be administered. If the condition is proving harder to control then the student m ay require more support such as staff who know what to do in an emergency if he collapses or shows signs of doing so. There needs to be an action plan in place. The bill is concerned with protecting the person from the ignorance of others - this can be merely to do with ignorance of the condition, but also includes such things as feeling that diabetes are somehow

Human Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Human Behavior - Essay Example On this account, diversity management spells that incorporating a diverse workforce in an organization is indispensable to tapping into international markets, adapting to the varying business environments, and taking advantage of the rising opportunities. Diversity management thus embodies appreciation of differences in human behaviour and fully capitalizing on them to ensure optimal organizational performance. This paper reviews the role played by cultural diversity and ethical differences in organizational functionality and overall the performance. Seymen O. A. (2006) reviews the concept of cultural diversity and the different approaches to managing the diversity in an organizational set-up. Cultural diversity here is defined as a mixture of different people having distinct identities in matters pertaining to behaviour, traditions, and attitudes towards some issues. Cultures tend to differ as one moves from one geographic location to the other. Therefore, since business operations are no longer limited by geographic boundaries, it is almost impossible for an organization to operate successfully operate on a global scale without a culturally diverse workforce. Workers belonging to a given culture have a very distinct way in which they express their ideas and perceive the various issues in the corporate world. For instance, some cultures have negative perception about the idea of women dressing in tight trousers. On the other hand, there are those cultures which permit the freedom of dress code. Therefore, an organization having members drawn from such a diverse workforce must acknowledge this variations and effectively learn to manage the diversity. The other aspect of human behaviour which exhibits considerable diversity is in so far as matters of personal ethics are concerned. Just as is the case with culture, ethical standards which a person subscribes too is

Short Answer Questions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Short Answer Questions - Coursework Example An example of a landscape radically transformed for economic reasons is the Mississippi River – Gulf Outlet Canal. This canal was constructed on the river for the transportation of goods into the interior of the United States of America from the harbor. In the long run, humans do not benefit from such environmental changes since the construction of this canal has resulted in storm surge amplification and wetland erosion. Severe weather conditions such as those witnessed during Hurricane Katrina lead to massive loss of life and property (Jones, 2010). The social functions of kinship in traditional non-state societies may be considered unsociable and dangerously selfish because it involves dividing duties based on ones gender. This is unsociable because boys and girls will not socialize when performing their social functions and will not know how to act in each other’s company. For example in marriage the woman has the role of taking care of the children, while the father protects the family from physical harm. This is dangerous since it portrays the woman as a weaker sex. The man in society is also considered the head of the family; this means that the opinion of the woman shall not be taken into consideration. In certain religions, women are not allowed to perform certain rituals and this leaves them spiritually unfulfilled. An example of soft power is the several fast-food franchises exported to Asia and Europe such as McDonalds. This has changed the manner in which people eat whereby people prefer French fries and fried chicken. The social media in the internet has influenced the political world in the Middle East. This is evident through the â€Å"Arab Spring† that liberated several Middle Eastern countries from tyranny. Such influence turns into propaganda when these freedoms encouraged are meant to bring a nation to its knees through civil war (Jones,

YOUR FIRST DRAFT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

YOUR FIRST DRAFT - Essay Example Illegal immigration is one of such possible threats because of its unmonitored nature that offers avenues for criminals’ illegal entry into the states. The criminals who could be escaping legal systems from their countries are likely to engage in criminal activities once they are in the United States. People with criminal intentions such as terrorism may also resort to illegal immigration to avoid identification as they enter the nation. The department however ensures its efficiency in managing the nation’s borders as a measure to controlling illegal immigration. It has implemented three measures to facilitate management of illegal immigration with special interest in preventing potential threats to America’s security. Deployment of skilled personnel in different countries in order to identify people who intend to enter the United States through fraud is one of the approaches to re-enforce borders. The department also ensures strict identification process of indi viduals travelling to the nation. International sharing of immigrants’ biometric data for identifying trends in fraudulent immigration, and people who pose threats to countries is another strategy that has been implemented by the department. Apart from the security threat, illegal immigration burdens the nation’s resources and increases competition for resources and economic opportunities against citizens. The immigrants are, however, also a source of different types of labor that are scarce in America. The fact that the immigrants are a potential threat to national security however undermines their potential economic contributions and strict measures should be taken to screen their entry into the nation. Some laws such as sanctuary policies have been developed, locally, to protect immigrant’s rights (Kenney, 2010; DHS, 2013). The department, in addition to

Fieldwork observation report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Fieldwork observation report - Assignment Example In order to ensure that the learners grasp the knowledge the teacher asked both oral and written questions some were simple while others were a bit complex. As a professional the teacher was very kin on the way he was handling the pupil’s answers. Whenever a pupil gave the correct answer, he would personally appreciate him and request the pupils in helping him to do so by applauding. However what pleased most is that the teacher did not refute wrong answers whenever the student gave a wrong answer, the teacher would commend the attempt made and encourage the pupils to make the necessary improvement then proceed to ask another pupil to correctly solve the sum or do it by himself. In conclusion this was a very interactive class. A part from giving all students equal treatment, the teacher effectively used verbal and non verbal communication skills to teach. At the same time he carefully handled the pupils’ answers in the best manner he could. This was quite

Impact of e-commerce in Banking sector Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Impact of e-commerce in Banking sector - Essay Example The concept of electronic commerce is descriptive of the process of conducting commercial transactions of services, goods, and information by means of computer networks. In e-commerce products and services can be bought online. Due to the fact that the banking sector is probably the busiest service sector, running it efficiently usually requires more manpower. Technological innovations such as computer based commercial transactions, however, do not usually need direct supervision from workers, and thus have contributed towards banks being more efficient in their dispensation of services. In traditional banks’ manual services, consumers usually have to queues to get to the necessary services. The introduction of e-commerce brought a much needed change to combat such inconveniences (Mahdi and Mehrdad, 2010). Banks have to make use of the offerings of e –commerce so as to remain relevant while outwitting their competitors. In the banking industry, productivity is dependent on the delivery of high quality services. E-commerce in the banking sector has to do with allowing customers to be able to access their bank accounts through the internet by means of a modem. Online banking options were first provided, in a limited capacity, by baking institutions in America in 1995. It has been speculated that this was as a result of the pressure faced by American banks as a result of aggressive competition between international banking institutions across the globe (Mittal and Sanjay, 2007). At first, the ‘online services’ only had to do with providing customers with information about the various services that were being offered by different bank branches. The rapid development of communication technology witnessed in the last two decades, however, allowed for banks to start allowing their customers ways of accessing their accounts through the internet. Banks also made it possible for customers to transfer money while also being able to procure finan cial offerings on their behalf. Since then, there has been a rapid spread of the use of online banking options across the world. While, in traditional banking, workers handle all financial activities such as the provision of loans and the collection of deposits, in e-commerce in banking, a number of distribution channels are used to supply information about banking transactions. In the use of e- commerce, banks use delivery systems such as digital television, cell phones, and laptops to relay information to their consumers. In transactions conducted through the traditional system of banking, payment transactions are conducted through a bank branch. The utilisation of e-commerce in the banking system today, however, has allowed for the automated delivery of services to banking customers by use of the internet (Khalfan and Abdullah, 2006). In most banking facilities in developed nations, the electronic banking system involves the automation of factors such as ATMs, direct deposit, tel ephone banking, debit and credit cards, web-based banking, and bill payment. Most banking institutions around the world have some sort of e-commerce function. While some scholars have observed that e-commerce in the banking sector might soon be responsible for the abolition of traditional functions of banking, this is not likely unless banks begin to gain substantial profits through e-banking services (Kjell, VebjOrn and TjOstheim, 2006).

International Strategic Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

International Strategic Marketing - Essay Example For more than a decade now the automotive industry has been facing issues such as slow time to market, costly inventories, overcapacity, and low customer satisfaction and loyalty (Deloitte, 2003). In an attempt to overcome these challenges the automakers have been launching numerous initiatives to boost profitability to create value. They have been introducing product innovation to lean manufacturing and customer relationship management. The automobile industry is nearing a major turning point where it has become essential to adopt strict regulations like U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations and Europe’s CO2 regulations (Toyota website). The Big Three in the US have been replaced by the Big Six (Toyota, Honda, Nissa, GM, Ford, DC) in the automotive industry with Toyota emerging the market leaders. It is now America’s third most admired organization and enjoy a 17.4 percent share of the US retail market (SD, 2007). It has a small market share in Europe but is a market leader in Australia while also selling cars in Africa (Glover, 2006). Due to its Daihatsu subsidiary it has a presence in the Southeast Asian countries. Toyota Motor Company is clearly one such automaker that has thrived where other manufacturers have struggled. In 2002 Toyota’s earnings exceeded the combined earnings of Ford, GM and DC (SD, 2004). Toyota has been innovative in its strategy and its success lies in its corporate philosophy known as the Toyota Production System. Toyota is now the world’s richest car company and this is the reason that this company has been chosen to understand the strategy that they have been pursuing . TMC created the first prototype vehicle in 1935 and started its exports to the United States in 1957 (Company Website). The company gradually expanded its scope across the entire globe and today has its presence in 170 countries and

Protein Supplements for Enhancing Sports Performance Essay

Protein Supplements for Enhancing Sports Performance - Essay Example As the discussion stresses BCAA   is believed   to delay   fatigue in   the central   nervous system   as it   enhances performance   in prolonged   aerobic endurance   activities by   increasing the   ratio of   BCAA: free tryptophan   thus mitigating   the formation   of serotonin. Studies have   led to   the conclusion   that   BCAA   supplementation reduces   mental fatigue   during prolonged   exercises. It also improves physical performance and cognitive performance after exercise. These findings   have however   not been deemed   sufficient enough   to qualify   BCAA   as an   effective ergogenic. Experts have   therefore recommended   more investigations   to be carried   out on   BCAA.This paper highlights that  glutamine is an important fuel for some cells of the immune system. For example, lymphocytes and macrophage. Prolonged intense exercise can reduce these cells in the body. Muscle glycogen synth esis can be promoted by glutamine. Although glutamine   can stimulate   muscle glycogen   synthesis, ingestion of   adequate carbohydrate   alone has   no advantage.  Aspartic acid   is an   amino acid   made up   of potassium   and magnesium   aspartates as   its salts. The aspartates   have been   used as   ergogenics by   enhancing fatty   acid metabolism   and sparing   utilization of   muscle glycogen.

The Persuasive Message Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Persuasive Message - Assignment Example During the Reclassification Program, six extra workers were transferred to my department from Public Relations department (two employees) and from Financial Monitoring department (four employees), and made work under six experienced workers. However, extra workplaces for employees on reclassification have never been specifically prepared and equipped due to their new positions. New workers of External Relations department have stayed on their previous workplaces in Public Relations department and Financial Monitoring department on a fourth floor, room 403 and 404 correspondently. Due to the nature of reclassification process, extra workers tend to experience problems and seek the advice of experienced personnel who they were made to work upon, and experienced workers often have to leave their workplaces and go on a fourth floor to consult new workers. Conversely, new workers have to go on a second floor to receive the qualified advice. Therefore, despite the encouraging first statist ical results of the Reclassification Program, I’m forced to ask you to reconsider working conditions of External Relations department and consolidate both its qualified and new workers within a single floor and a single

Personal Training Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personal Training - Essay Example Here is the menu: The Biggest Loser’s Diet: It is a 12-week program, containing menu that is loaded with fiber and protein, and so, one stays energized while lowering calorie intake. Total calorie intake will be around 1,200. This is based on four servings of fruits and veggies; three of lean protein; two of whole grains; and one serving of choice. This diet suggests exercise (Zelman, 2003b), which is good for intense training. This plan focuses on healthy eating habits, and thus, the results can prove to be long lasting. Since physical activity is involved in combination with consumption of fruits, veggies, and lean meat, this diet plan is very favorable for intense training. The Caveman (Paleo) Diet: This is a very healthy diet plan. It is â€Å"based on eating plants and wild animals† (Zelman, 2013c). It has many benefits, like reducing blood pressure and cardiac diseases, while maintaining healthy body weight. This diet plan includes consumption of meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, tree nuts, vegetables, roots, fruits, and berries. No dairy, grains, sugar, and oil is involved. Drinks must include only water and organic drinks. Since this diet suggests eating like cavemen did before agricultural revolution, there is increased chance of long lasting and natural results. It also suggests physical activity, so it can be recommended in intense training. There is no fixed number of days, so, it can be used randomly to maintain a healthy weight. Comparison: A comparison of the three diet plans shows that the 3-day diet plan is the worse, since it is the lowest in nutritional value; cannot be taken for intense training; and, the weight comes back soon. The biggest loser diet is better since it suggests physical exercise, and offers a variety of food to be eaten. The caveman diet is the best since it is based on natural standards of eating habits and physical exercise, and does not focus only on burning calories. It also recommends

Infinite Truth Essay Example for Free

Infinite Truth Essay Since the dawn of philosophical thought there has been a desire to find truth. Now exactly what truth is depends upon whom you ask. Philosophers have been searching for truth in various forms for at least as far back as Aristotle in the first century B. C. all the way up to Carl Hempel in the 20th century A. D. To Aristotle and Plato truth was reality; To Descartes truth was found in God; To Hempel truth was found in explanation. None of these are accurate and yet all of them point toward the same truth. Reality, as defined by Plato and Aristotle, God, as proved be Descartes and ideal explanation as modeled by Hempel, all allude to the same thing. They point out that mankind is a finite being and that truth is only attainable in infinite understanding, an impossibility of man at our current stage of development. Two of the earliest known men to approach the study of reality, or metaphysics were Plato and his student/rival Aristotle. These two inquisitors of reality looked at it from opposite schools of thought. Plato sought after answers by looking at the world with an outside/in point of view. Meaning he used what he perceived in the world to draw conclusions. Aristotle on the other hand approached the world from an inside/out perspective. He applied his thoughts and beliefs to the world. Aristotles beliefs lead to him seeing only one level of reality. He felt there was only one imminent world and that forms existed within particular things. Aristotle held that form had no solitary existence and existed in matter. In order to explain that form is an inherent trait of matter he quotes Antiphon and points out that if you planted a bed and the rotting wood acquired the power of sending up a shoot, it would not be a bed that came up, but wood. (Matthews, pg. 9) To Aristotle the form of the matter was wood and form is the unchanging reality. Platos view of metaphysics shows two realms to our reality: there is the realm of changing, sense-perceptible, becoming things and a realm of forms; eternal, fixed, and perfect. The realm of form was the source of all reality and of all true knowledge. Both Plato and Aristotle use form to describe reality, which to them is truth, as being eternal in nature. So truth is eternal, or infinite in nature, but what of Platos other realm, the realm of perception. Plato, in the republic, gives an in depth explanation of how he views this sense-perceptible realm. He uses his allegory of the cave. In the allegory, Plato compares people, unlearned in his theory of forms, to prisoners chained in a cave. They are unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave and behind them burns a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk. The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up puppets that cast shadows on the wall of the cave. The prisoners are unable to see these puppets, the real objects that pass behind them. What the prisoners see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do not see. Such prisoners would mistake appearance for reality. They would think the things they see on the wall were real. They would know nothing of the real causes of the shadows. So if the prisoners were to talk to one another about a passing object and called it a doll they would think they are talking about a doll, but they are really talking about a shadow. (Plato, Book VII) Plato portrays in his allegory of the cave a dualistic view of truth. He speaks of the eternal properties of form as Aristotle does, but he also adds his insight into mankinds finitude and inability to perceive the realm of forms completely. The fact that people take as truth what they perceive will plague philosophers into the modern era. Much later, in the 17th century A. D., in his Third Meditation Descartes proves the existence of God. He builds his entire argument upon his proof in the previous meditation that in order for him to think, he must exist. From this single observation, Descartes notices that the idea of his existence is very clear and distinct in his mind; based upon this clarity and the fact that he has just determined his own existence, he deduces a rule. All the things that he sees as very clear and very distinct are all true. He then explains that he knows that he is imperfect due to the fact that he has doubts. Clearly, knowing is more perfect than doubting. From this notion, he realizes that within him lies this idea of a perfect being and that he is incapable of producing this idea alone. Descartes also determines several qualities that God possesses merely by observing himself. Descartes thought that whatever ideas he himself had, if they contained perfections, then God would possess them. If the ideas were in any way imperfect, then God would not possess them. The attributes of God that Descartes came up with are that He is infinite, independent, supremely intelligent, supremely powerful, and which created myself and everything else (Descartes, Pg.45). Descartes then makes the point that he has the idea of infinite describing God. At the same time, Descartes is a finite being. Since it has already been established that this more perfect idea of infiniteness cannot come from the less perfect idea of finiteness, the idea could not have originated from Descartes alone. Therefore, Descartes concludes that God necessarily exists and in so doing is infinite. In his Principles on Philosophy Descartes describes how God is the primary cause of motion; and that he always maintains an equal quantity of it in the universe. (Matthews, pg. 99) To Descartes God is the infinite cause and balance in the universe. Descartes states in the beginning of his proof that all things clear and distinct are true. That is no more accurate than saying that all ideas that are ambiguous to someone are unconditionally untrue. He also states, the existence of God depends on the clarity and distinctness with which we perceive the idea of God. Therefore, if to me, it was not clear and distinct then it would not necessarily be true. But the clarity and distinctness of our thoughts depends on the existence of God. This seems to be a very circular argument and is dependent on the existence of God to prove the existence of God. Again human perception falls short of truth. Do people understand truth more in more modern settings? Over the course of the 20th century Carl Hempel came up with two models of human explanation that he organized as ideals. Bas Van Fraassen puts forth a few problems with the models. The problems he states are; asymmetry, relevance, low probability, and legality. These are not the problems with the models. The real problems come from, as Hempel puts it, the universal laws invoked?can have only been established on the basis of a finite body of evidence, which surely affords no exhaustive verification. (Balashov, pg. 51) He also says that because of this all the laws used in the deductive-nomological method of explanation are all only probabilistic. This means that the only method that Hempel actually explains is his probabilistic method. Since all laws have been shown to be probabilistic the problem falls back to the fact that they been established on the basis of a finite body of evidence and therefore causes an epistemological problem. We cant define to what degree our laws are true. We cant know the probability of these laws on an infinite scale. Hempels models should be taken as models for ideal situations, for if we had the knowledge of infinity then the laws needed would be defined and all of the infinite variables could be accounted for. So true explanation can only be attained with infinite understanding. The search for truth is as old as man himself. The world in which we live seems as true to us as anything. We see, feel, smell and touch what is around us and yet we cannot accept that that is all there is. Man instinctively has a need to organize, order and explain the universe. We have concepts like reality, God and perfection, all of which we cannot completely grasp. We are not perfect and we are not sure what it means to be real, for we know only what we can sense and yet we know our senses can fool us or be wrong. If our senses and thoughts are the only way for us to interpret the universe and they can be fooled then we cannot know what is real. We cannot fully explain anything. And yet we have a need, a desire for a force that is infinite and true. We name that force God. For in God is explanation and truth and the infinite understanding that we lack. God is what we use to explain Platos form and we are the shackled prisoners in a cave of illusion. Work Cited Balashov, Yuri and Rosenberg, Alex. Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Readings. Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group. NY  ©2002 Descartes. God and Human Nature: Third Meditation Matthews, Michael. The Scientific Background to Modern Philosophy. Hackett Publishing Co. Indianapolis  ©1989 only probabilistic. This means that the only method that Hempel actually explains is his probabilistic method. Since all laws have been shown to be probabilistic the problem falls back to the fact that they been established on the basis of a finite body of evidence and therefore causes an epistemological problem. We cant define to what degree our laws are true. We cant know the probability of these laws on an infinite scale. Hempels models should be taken as models for ideal situations, for if we had the knowledge of infinity then the laws needed would be defined and all of the infinite variables could be accounted for. So true explanation can only be attained with infinite understanding. The search for truth is as old as man himself. The world in which we live seems as true to us as anything. We see, feel, smell and touch what is around us and yet we cannot accept that that is all there is. Man instinctively has a need to organize, order and explain the universe. We have concepts like reality, God and perfection, all of which we cannot completely grasp. We are not perfect and we are not sure what it means to be real, for we know only what we can sense and yet we know our senses can fool us or be wrong. If our senses and thoughts are the only way for us to interpret the universe and they can be fooled then we cannot know what is real. We cannot fully explain anything. And yet we have a need, a desire for a force that is infinite and true. We name that force God. For in God is explanation and truth and the infinite understanding that we lack. God is what we use to explain Platos form and we are the shackled prisoners in a cave of illusion. Work Cited Balashov, Yuri and Rosenberg, Alex. Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Readings. Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group. NY  ©2002 Descartes. God and Human Nature: Third Meditation Matthews, Michael. The Scientific Background to Modern Philosophy. Hackett Publishing Co. Indianapolis  ©1989.

Technology and Social Skills Essay Example for Free

Technology and Social Skills Essay Not long ago people took the time to get to know a person whom he or she had just met. In years past, for a person to claim he or she had a relationship they would invest time in building that relationship. Years ago when people spent time together they paid attention to those they were with, they socialized and interacted with other human beings in a real life environment. The technology today has provided many ways to interact with others via cell phones; computers and PDA’s, just to name a few. With all this technology, it seems as though the true social interaction between people has started to disappear. This technology allows people to interact more but has it made us less sociable? The interaction is taking place in separate rooms, states and even countries, but not together. Is this true interaction? Social interaction is vital to our physical and mental health and it has been proven that maintaining healthy relationships help us to live longer. It is becoming more common for people to socialize via simulated means, internet, texting, and chat rooms to name a few, and ultimately replacing a part of human behavior that is vital for society to function. A second grade teacher of 20 years is shocked when her students do not know what to do when the time comes for recess. AIM, a feature from AOL, encourages the butchering of the English language with abbreviations such as LOL, (lots of laughs), and IDK, (I don’t know). The incentive for going out to make friends has disappeared because of the idea of hundreds of friends on Facebook and MySpace (Knapp, 2008). The dating world has also been completely turned upside-down. Just a couple decades ago chivalrous romance was the way to go about finding a date. Today one would send a friend request on facebook and the prospective date would look at the online profile to see if he or she would be interested. I must admit that I have fallen victim to these new ways of dating and technology but not to the end of chivalry and romance. In due time these ancient ways will be gone as well. Cell phone texting and social networking Web sites such as Facebook help keep today’s teens connected to their peers at all times. A recent national survey of 800 teens and nine focus groups in four United States cities revealed that half of the teens surveyed send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month. One in three sends more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month (Gore, 2011). The book â€Å"Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community,† by Robert D. Putnam states that over the past 30 years, nationally, community involvement has declined. In his book Putnam debates that the baby boomers and their children have contributed to this decline. Reasons blamed for this decline has been the growing availability of the Internet and electronic entertainment and gadgets such as IPods, portable computers, and smart phones (Putnam, 2000). Dr. Philip Aspden and Dr. James E. Katz conducted a study that covered several aspects of the internet; the influence on societal infrastructures, and the role the internet had in creating new modes of interaction and communication. Aspden and Katz were unable to find any support to prove that internet activity contributed to any decline in community involvement. In fact, some of the internet users that were interviewed stated they were more involved in social activities than the non-users surveyed. Also found was that 70 percent of internet users had four or more online friendships with 60 percent of this group having met at least one internet friend in person (Blair, 2001). A three year study by sociologist Barry Wellman and Keith Hampton of a social interaction in â€Å"Netville,† a community in Toronto Canada that was one of the first neighborhoods in the world to have broadband internet technology. According to Hampton and Wellman (1999) â€Å"Relationships are rarely maintained through computer-mediated communication alone, but are sustained through a combination of on-and off-line interactions. Despite the ability of the Internet to serve as a global communication technology, much online activity is between people, who live (or work) near each other, In Netville, the local network brought neighbors together to socialize, helped them to arrange in-person gatherings-both as couples and as larger groups (barbecues, etc. facilitated the provision of aid, and enabled the easy exchange of information. The high rate of online activity led to increased local awareness, and high rates of in-person activity. † People today can live in Florida, work in Texas, go to school in Arizona and never leave their house. They can buy a car in their pajamas, attend a meeting halfway around the world and do all their shopping on the Internet. Basically one can do just about anything necessary over the Internet and never see or touch a human being. At times this will be an ideal situation but society is becoming isolated and self absorbed even lonely. Indeed, the fact that people in the United States today claim to be lonelier than prior generations, suggests that although technology has increased interactions it has not created true connections between people. For children raised on the illusion of connection through technology, the danger is that of never understanding how to develop true relationships and to grow up not understanding that without social connections societies easily fall victim to self-interest and fade away. Reference http://www.strosechronicle.com/2.13878/new-technology-replaces-social-interaction-1

Business Ethics And The Fast Food Industry

Business Ethics And The Fast Food Industry Ethics is the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group. It is the study of morality. This paper is research based on ethnographic study conducted in one of the outlets of Burger King an American based fast food company with over 12000 outlets across 73 countries. This paper includes observations that were made in one of its outlets, interviewing some of its employees, and also includes inputs given by some chosen customers. Once all these recordings were made, the aim was to relate our findings to identify if this company is ethical in its practices. I visited Burger King Outlet in M. L Hampstead, which was pretty spacious, with about sixty seating capacity. Out of which forty were lower seats, 10 high chairs and the also had some 10 chairs specially meant for kids. Considering the crowd it seems to be enough seating facility, but during peak hours that is between twelve to three in the noon its bit difficult to get seats. Nether There neither is a specific smoking zone inside the burger king nor is it allowed in burger king. The shop is handicap friendly all the parts of store are wheel chair accessible, the doors can be opened pressing the button sitting on a wheel chair. Toilets specially meant for handicaps are facilitated. They have toy cars in which children can sit and play, it is a special attraction for children. parents bring children because of this reason. It costs fifty pens for ten mins ride. They also give free toy pack with kids meal which cost 2.99 pounds. They dont have any discount like student discount or any other discount targeting specific section of customers but they have offers like buy one get one free which is applicable for any sandwiches, expect sandwiches its not applicable to any other items . I found that many people asking for specific type of burger called whopper burger which coast 3.79 pounds. Other than this more customers opted fizzy drinks these two items seems to be very famous with burger king. I also noticed that only few people opted for take away like 20% but maximum about 80% of customers opted to eat in. one more thing I observed that from 12 to 3 in noon it is peak hours and for every ten minutes we can expect 30 to 40 costumers .so at that time six service staff were attending customers in the front desk but on other times in off pick hours there will be around 15 to 20 customers in a span of 10 minutes , so there will be 3 to 4 service staff in front. I interacted with staff and tried to collect some data. They were very friendly and cooperative and were generous to give following information They told that, there were 30 people working in that particular burger king .out of that 24 were male 16 female .In that 6 of 24 male staff were designated as shift mangers, 3 out of 6 female staff were also shift managers and there was only one branch manager. Expect this 10 members all other were service staff and they were paid 5.80 pounds per hour and shift managers were paid 6.20 pounds per hour and branch manager was paid a fixed monthly salary. They were allowed to take 40 days of paid sick leave others than this they didnt had any special comforts or benefits, and employees were given permission to have food worth 50 pens per hour. And they were paid 50 percent extra salary when they work during bank holidays and festival holidays . The staff was really diverse which include people from all ethnicity, out of which 10 were student working part time and remaining were working full time. They said they prepare a burger within 30 sec n they dont take more than 2 min to serve a customer, whatever may be the order. As far as customer concerned majority of them were middle aged, compared to young or old people and there were more female customer than male. When I spoke to some of the young customer I came to know that that rates in burger were bit costlier compared McDonalds, KFC and its other competitors and hence less in number of younger crowd. Majority of customer were very polite in the behavior but sometimes young customers behave very rudely, they even use abusive words and even through the burger if some minor mistake is happened while serving this young customers. Unlike McDonalds and star bucks, in burger king I didnt see them collecting money for any kind charity work, nether I saw any information regarding burger king charity connection. Ethics, which often called as moral philosophy is not easily defined and philosophers offer contradictory explanations of it. It is a subject which includes discussions about how we should live, what is right? What is wrong? And what we mean? To get an idea of ethics, its important to have a look at these questions: Are some of the things always wrong, If so what are those?, or does it defer on the point of view or even situation? How to measure goodness and badness? Are all humans selfish? Are really some people better at morality than others, or is everyone equally capable of being good? Why should you be good? Is Ethics a special type of knowledge? If it is so what sort of knowledge is it and how do we get it? Dose morality means obeying a set of rules? If people say, I know cheating is wrong, do they know it is wrong or simply believe it very strongly? Are moral laws the same as societies laws? This means, ethics covers a wide range of topics. The answers for these questions are hotly debated for hundreds of years and are still debated today. They affect every aspect of the way we live. They cover even issues such as whether we should pay our taxes or not and even how we treat our pets. There are two different kinds of ethics: Ethical theory and Practical ethics. Ethical theory examines the various philosophies, systems, ideas or principles used in making judgments about right/wrong/good/bad things. Practical ethics is more focuses on subjects that always invite ethical questioning such as is it is right to have an abortion or help someone who is terminally ill. No doubt these two things are related. The theory we use influences the decisions on every particular moral issue. For example, one who believes in a set of principles which states that life is sacred and no one can ever take it. This principle may lead him to think against capital punishment. So the ethical theory leads him to a view about the moral issue (the death penalty). Before we proceed, some definitions should not go amiss. Ethics comes from the Greek word ethikos which in its root form (ethos) means character or custom. For the Greeks it refereed to the appropriate or customary way to behave in society. Morality is derived from the Latin word Moralis and is concerned with which actions are right and which or actions are wrong, rather than the character of the person. Today the two terms are often used interchangeably. Business ethics concentrates on the moral standards applicable to business policies, institutions, and their behavior. In other words, is a form of applied or practical ethics. It includes not only the analysis of moral norms and values, but also attempts to apply the conclusions of this analysis to that assortment of institutions, technologies, transactions, activities, and pursuits that we call business. Business ethics investigates three different kinds of issues: systemic, corporate, and individual. Systemic issues in business ethics are ethical questions raised about the economic, legal, political and other social systems within which the businesses operate. Corporate issues in business ethics are ethical questions raised about a particular company. Individual issues in business ethics are ethical questions raised about a particular individual or an individuals within a company. The multinationals operating in more than one country creates ethical dilemmas for their managers that managers of a firm limited to a single country may not face. The ability to shift its operations from one country to another enables the multinational to escape the social controls that a single nation might attempt to impose and can allow the multinational to play one country against another country. It can even sometimes transfer goods, raw materials and capital among its plants in different countries which enables it to escape fiscal obligations and even taxes that companies operating in a single nation forced to bear. They often get the opportunity to transfer a new technology or set of products from a more developed world to nations that are less developed. It is often faced with the dilemma of deciding which of these different norms and standards to implement in its operations. Ethical relativism is the view which states that there are no ethical standards that are absolutely true and that can be applicable to the companies and people of all societies. Thus, the theory of ethical relativism implies that whatever the majority in our society believes about morality can be considered automatically correct. Utilitarianism is a term for a view which holds that actions and policies can be evaluated on the basis of benefits and costs they will impose on society. usualy business analysts think that the best way to evaluate the ethical propriety of a business decision or any other decision is by relying on utilitarian Justice and Fairness Issues involving justice and fairness are usually divided into three categories: Distributive justice is concerned about the fair distribution of societys benefits and burdens. Retributive justice refers to the imposition of punishments and penalties on those commit wrong deeds. Compensatory justice deals the best possible way of compensating people who were wronged by others. Least Harm This deals with condition where neither choice are beneficial. In such case, a person can choose least harm possible option and which harms the fewest people. One should also sensibly argue that people have superior responsibility to do no harm than to take steps benefiting others. For example, a person has a greater responsibility to simply walk past a person rather than to hit a person as they walk past with no specific reason. Rights In the rights ethical theory the rights accepted by a society are protected and given the highest priority. Rights are considered to be ethical since a large population endorses them. Individuals may also confer rights upon others if they have the capability and resources to do so (1). For example, a person may say that his friend may borrow the car for a day. The friend who was given the ability to borrow the car is now having the right of the car for the day. Based on the theories and utilitarianism which explains ethics based on benefits and cost though burger king charging more than other counterparts like Mc Donalds and K.F.C, people thought, it worth paying and liked the quality, thus it seems to be ethical as for as the pricing is concerned. But some also thought its pricing was expensive especially the youngsters and many avoided Berger king and rather preferred other options. With there prospective it may be unethical pricing. . As for as employee rights are concerned burger king is paying the minimum pay directed by the government. Though it seems to be nothing wrong legally but when charging more than all its counterparts it seems to be unethical to stick to bottom of the payment scale, when it come to paying its employees. And in case of Mc Donalds, there rival brand they had some special schemes for its employees through corporate tie ups, but any such facilities are missing in case of burger king, says the employee. But burger king employee are happy that unlike many other fast food companies it allows its employees to have food. Food they can have is like 50 pens worth per hour, but it seems to be unethical seeing the pricing of its food items, it should be sensible and ethical if they try to increase this. And it cannot be uneconomical considering the fact that only 5to 10 employees work in most of its outlets at a time, Thus it doesnt make huge impact to its revenues. Seeing the fact that all of its outlets are disabled friendly it seems to be an ethical practice, but they might be doing it for compulsion since it is mandatory under law. Further opinion regarding being disabled friendly can be given only if we can come to know whether they are having similar practice in countries where its not a compulsion under law. They do have facilities for entertaining the kids, but they are charging for it so it hard to categories it has a act of social concern or a commercial one. But they are also giving some gifts along with kiddy meal, again this can be considered a marketing activity. They doesnt even have student or any kind of discounts which again doesnt really come under ethics , it could have been considered as a mere promotional activity ,even if they were having. One thing that really needs a mention, is its diversified staff which included all kind of people from different ethnicities, male female and students and had both part timers and full timers. The staff were very friendly and polite they treated every one in a same way the did not do any differentiation based on race, color, religion and ethnicity. There was no gender bias they treated every one the same even when some young costumers behaved very rudely they were trained to be very polite. From some of its behavior it brings a notion that it is very ethical and socially responsible. but its might not be totally true because many of these acts may be carried out of legal compulsion and some time even because of business compulsions, but one good thing, which need to be mentioned is that, its not involved in any notable un ethical behaviors. The topic of ethics itself is a debatable subject in every step. So on this topic it hard to decide or conclude whether the Burger king is ethical or not. And its might be the case of many other companies References: Manual g velasquez business ethics andrewson university 2001 Serrelo.c and fraedrich john 1994.

Morgan Motor Company Case Study

Morgan Motor Company Case Study Automobile industry has a long history, since 19th century it has been continuously developed. The auto industry is often thought of as one of the most global of all industries. Its products have spread around the world, and it is dominated by a small number of companies with worldwide recognition. In this assignment I am going to discuss Morgan Motor companys strategic position which includes: marketing position, culture of the company, competitiveness and the future development. Profile of the Company The Morgan Motor Company is unique in building cars in England since 1909 and still being privately owned by the Morgan family. Indeed in its 100-year existence only three Morgans have headed the company. Since the first four-wheeled car in 1936 the factory has only built sports cars. The traditional Morgan is still being built using the separate steel chassis, with an ash body frame panelled in aluminium, but using excellent modern drive trains from Ford. This combines the pleasure of driving a real classic with a modern day performance and new car reliability. The launch of the all new Morgan Aero 8 in 2001 was the first all new Model since 1936. It was also an all aluminium super car incorporating the very best of British race car chassis technology in a stunning road car. Powered by a BMW 4.4 V8 the Aeros bonded aluminium chassis followed the Morgan tradition of great strength yet lightweight. Built alongside the traditional cars, the Aero 8 is proving its outstanding competence to a new breed of Morgan owners. The product market mission Morgan is unique in a car industry. They consistently keep making the hand- made and ash-framed cars. They dont have as much customers as other car companies and its niche market is relatively small than others. Their output is also small in comparison with other car brands. Morgan is not trying to change its cars to more modern cars and to increase its production number, this is what gives Morgan its uniqueness. If they start producing more modern cars and increase its output they may loos its uniqueness. This does not mean that Morgan is consistently using the same technology of producing cars as they used to, they are continually improving the quality. Morgan is a niche operator and it does not compete with others. If they moderate their production with increasing the output and produce more modern cars they will face the competition with other car manufacturers. They are always staying at the position they are now and keeping the same strategy, if they keep doing this they will n ot have many competitors in the market. There are number of approaches to understand the product market mission in deep. I will discuss some of them below. Porters Generic Strategy Porter (1980, 1985) suggested that some of the most basic choices faced by companies are essentially the scope of the markets that the company would serve and how the company would compete in the selected markets. Competitive strategies focus on ways in which a company can achieve the most advantageous position that it possibly can in its industry (Pearson, 1999). According to Porter, there are three generic strategies that a company can undertake to attain competitive advantage: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. Focus Companies that use Focus strategies concentrate on particular niche markets and, by understanding the dynamics of that market and the unique needs of customers within it, develop uniquely low cost or well-specified products for the market. In Porters Generic Strategy model Morgan Motors can be placed in differentiation focus, because Morgan cars price is quite high so it can not follow the cost leadership strategy, they are not selling their product in a standard market price. Morgan do deliver high quality product and service, their cars are unique in car industry market, as already mentioned above, Morgan is the oldest hand-made car manufacturer. The company concentrates on a particular niche market and is different from other mass production car manufacturers. Parnells Idea Parnell suggested that valuable resource is more important for the company than cost leadership and differentiation. He believed that valuable resources could help the company to achieve more success. He said that if company can have inimitable, rare and valuable resources it could help the company to gain the competitive advantage. Organizations possessing rare, valuable and inimitable resources possess a greater capability to perform a strong value proposition than those without such resources (Parnell, 2006) In case of Morgan the idea of Parnell can be aplicable because Morgan uses valuable resources and they are inimitable. What are their valuable resources and what makes them to be inimitable will be discused after. Strategy Clock The strategy clock is another appropriate way to analyze a companys competitive position to cost or differentiation advantages (Bowman Faulkner, 1996). The strategy clock uses differentiation and focused differentiation in a similar manner to that of the generic strategy model. As it is already explained above in Porters Generic Strategy Morgan Motors in Strategy Clock takes the same place which is the focused differentiation. Morgan Motors product price is high and the market niche is relatively small it concentrates on particular niche market. Customers perceived value is also high. Strategy Cube A model that allows the discussion of competitive strategy from both market and resource perspectives has been described by Jenkins (2004). A framework is proposed in which products/services are described by three variables: Relative level of consumer perceived product benefits Relative product price to the customer Relative product cost to the producer If we compare the cube with porters generic strategy and strategy clock point A in the cube is similar to Differentiation Focus in above mentioned models, which means that the companies which are placed in this point has got high price, high benefits, particular market niche. The point E is similar to Cost Focus in Porters generic strategy and it is similar to 1 and 2 positions in strategic clock. In the case of Morgan Motors Company in this model it is positioned in a point A because of its high cost, high perceived benefits, low market niche and high price. The Cultural Web, which I will discuss below will help us to understand the Companys culture. The Cultural Web identifies six interrelated elements that help to make up what Johnson and Scholes call the paradigm the pattern or model of the work environment. By analyzing the factors in each, the companies can begin to see the bigger picture of their culture: what is working, what isnt working, and what needs to be changed. The six elements are: Stories Rituals and Routines Symbols Organizational Structure Control Systems Power Structures Company has been owned by Morgan family since it has been established. Company has about 150 employees. The managers seat together with the employees on a traditional tea break and talk with them, this is the way to know better all employees and share their thoughts. For the Company it is very important to have high skilled staff. Company is situated at the same place as it was since it has been established, most of the employees have worked for the Company for more than ten years, mainly the employees are from the same area and moreover they are from the same family. All the employees have a very close relationship with each other. All this makes the Company to have a different culture from other manufacturers. The activities and the resources of the Company Value chain analyses The value chain framework of Porter (1990) is an interdependent system or network of activities, connected by linkages. When the system is managed carefully, the linkages can be a vital source of competitive advantage (Pathania-Jain, 2001). In order to conduct the value chain analysis, the company is split into primary and support activities. The primary and secondary activities of the firm are discussed in detail below. Primary activities The primary activities (Porter, 1985) of the company include the following: Inbound logistics These are the activities concerned with receiving the materials from suppliers, storing these externally sourced materials, and handling them within the firm. Morgan is using high standard and high quality materials. Morgan always keep improving their quality and they are continuing using the aluminium and recently they bought the BMWs engine to make their cars better and faster. Operations These are the activities related to the production of products and services. Morgan cars since the Company has established are made by hand with ash-frame. This is what makes Morgan cars so special and valuable. All Morgan cars are different from each other, they are made according the taste of the customer. Comparing to other car manufacturers, to produce Morgan cars takes much longer time, but this doesnt make to shorten their customer waiting list and people are still keen to get Morgan car which can be made according to their taste. Outbound logistics These are all the activities concerned with distributing the final product and/or service to the customers. As it is already described above, because of Morgan car is made by hand, it takes much longer time than other car manufacturers. The waiting time till Morgan car is finished is between one and two years, but sometimes it takes much longer to collect the car to its final face. Morgan has only one plant, but it has dealers all over the world what makes much easier for the customers to get their car more conveniently. Marketing and sales This functional area essentially analyses the needs and wants of customers and is responsible for creating awareness among the target audience of the company about the firms products and services. Morgan Company doesnt do many marketing activities. For many people the brand still can be unknown. It is because of its low productivity, but their uniqueness and brand still brings them enough customers. It is obvious from their waiting list. Demand is much higher than supply. Service There is often a need to provide services like pre-installation or after-sales service before or after the sale of the product or service. Support activities The support activities of a company include the following: Procurement This function is responsible for purchasing the materials that are necessary for the companys operations. Human Resource Management This is a function concerned with recruiting, training, motivating and rewarding the workforce of the company. For Morgan well trained and high skilled employees are very important as it is for many Companies. As in many Companies Morgan also has the training programs to develop their employee skills. As above mentioned there are around 150 employees in Morgan Company and all of them are in a good relationship with each other. The heads of the Company is also trying to have a good relationship with each of their staff member and to share their thoughts with each other. Technology Development This is an area that is concerned with technological innovation, training and knowledge that is crucial for most companies today in order to survive. Morgan consistently is improving their product and technologies. For example: launching the Aero 8 model, and purchasing the BMWs engine to make their cars much comfortable and faster. Firm Infrastructure This includes planning and control systems, such as finance, accounting, and corporate strategy etc. (Lynch, 2003). The value chain should be analysed with the core competence of the company at its very heart (Macmillan et al, 2003). Resource Based View The resource-based view theory is based on the assumption that a competitive advantage is the result of optimal resource allocation and combination in imperfect markets. Resources are assets, skills, and capabilities. The resources leading to competitive advantages have to be scarce, valuable, non substitutable and it has to be hard to imitate them (Barney, 1991). In case of Morgan, the resources they are using are very special, high quality and valuable. They pay very big attention of the quality they are producing, using high quality materials to produce cars. The Morgan car has always been built around an ash-frame, and a steel chassis. The new Aero 8 also has an ash frame. This gives unique strength, flexibility and surprisingly, research showed that the frame made the car safer on impact tests. There are approx 50,000 colours to choose from. There are many things that makes Morgan cars so special. Its uniqueness in a world of look-alike cars. Its handmade quality the use of wood in many areas of construction long standingÂÂ   hands-on craftsmanship displayed in the bodywork and interior by the highly skilled workforce. Ability to tailor a model to the customers exact requirements. Most of the components of Morgan cars are made in-house. All this gives to Morgan to be inimitable. VRIO Analyses Given that almost anything a firm possesses can be considered a resource or capability how should you attempt to narrow down the ones that explain why firm performance differs? In order to lead to a sustainable competitive advantage a resource or capability should be Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, and Organized. Value: Rarity: Materials (Ash tree) 1. Limited edition Reputation 2. Rare materials Craft skill 3. Design High experienced workers 4. Unique cars 5. Choice of colour Inimitable: Organization: Skilled workers 1. Strategy Design 2. Tea break Materials 3. Friendly atmosphere Brand name The competitive context of the Company Five Forces The ideas and models which emerged during the period from 1979 to the mid-1980s (Porter, 1998) were based on the idea that competitive advantage came from the ability to earn a return on investment that was better than the average for the industry sector (Thurlby, 1998). The original competitive forces model, as proposed by Porter (1998), identified five forces which would impact on an organizations behaviour in a competitive market. These include the following: The rivalry between existing sellers in the market. The power exerted by the customers in the market. The impact of the suppliers on the sellers. The potential threat of new sellers entering the market. The threat of substitute products becoming available in the market. Understanding the nature of each of these forces gives organizations the necessary insights to enable them to formulate the appropriate strategies to be successful in their market (Thurlby, 1998). Force 1: The Degree of Rivalry. Force 2: The Threat of Entry. Force 3: The Threat of Substitutes. Force 4: Buyer Power. Force 5: Supplier Power. The rivalry in global automotive industry is very intense. However in the case of Morgan Motors, the Company is very unique and only the one in automotive industry with its old fashioned hand made cars. Morgan doesnt have competitors and there is no rivalry between Morgan Motors and other car manufacturers. There is no substitute of Morgan cars. The threat of substitutes to the automotive industry is quite mild, numerous of other car manufacturers are competing with each other in the global car industry, but none of them offer the same kind of cars as Morgan does. None of them can offer to customers the hand- made, with an ash body frame panelled in aluminium, the classic old fashioned and herewith modern car, which can be made with the taste of customer. Entry barriers exist whenever it is difficult or not economically feasible for an outsider to replicate the incumbents position (Porter, 1980b; Sanderson, 1998). In the case of Morgan as I have already mentioned before it has a long history with its unique production, the Company has already obtained a solid position on the market and from my point of view it will be hard and not feasible for new entrants to replicate them. PESTEL Analyses PESTEL Analyses help organizations to analyse factors such as tax changes, new laws, trade barriers, demographic change and government policy changes. PESTEL stands for: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal. PESTEL analysis is a useful strategic tool for understanding market growth or decline, business position, potential and direction for operations (Kotler, 1998). PESTEL analyses also ensures that companys performance is aligned positively with the powerful forces of change that are affecting business environment (Porter, 1985). Typical PESTEL factors to consider include: (P)olitical e.g. international trade, taxation policy (E)conomic e.g. interest rates, exchange rates, national income, inflation, unemployment (S)ocial e.g. ageing population, attitudes to work, income distribution (T)echnological e.g. innovation, new product development, rate of technological obsolescence (E)nvironmental e.g. global warming, environmental issues (L)egal e.g. competition law, health and safety, employment law Applying PESTEL to Morgan Motors Political: Political decisions can impact on many vital areas for business, but in case of Morgan the political factor does not impact on the companys environment. Question 2 Product Life Cycle The typical Product Life Cycle consists of five main aspects. Product development Introduction Growth Maturity Decline The Product Life Cycle begins with product development, during which time the firm devises and creates a new product (Kotler and Armstrong, 2004). The introduction of a new product onto the market is typically characterised by very slow sales, which may grow only very slightly over a long period of time. (Porter, 1980; 1985; Kotler et al., 1996; Blackwell et al., 2001; Grant, 2002; Kotler and Armstrong, 2004). The growth stage in the PLC typically involves a rapid growth in sales as early adopters replace pioneers as the main consumer group.ÂÂ   The maturity stage in the PLC is a key point for a firm because it marks the turning point in the products success.ÂÂ  Morgan Motor Company in Product Life Cycle takes Maturity stage.