Who Are the Kachin People

The Kachin people of Burma and southwestern China are a collection of several tribes with similar languages and social structures. Â  Also known as the Jinghpaw Wunpawng or the Singpho, the Kachin people today number around 1 million in Burma (Myanmar) and around 150,000 in China. Â  Some Jinghpaw also live in the Arunachal Pradesh state of India. Â  In addition, thousands of Kachin refugees have sought asylum in Malaysia and Thailand following a bitter guerrilla war between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the government of Myanmar. In Burma, Kachin sources say that they are divided into six tribes, called the Jinghpaw, Lisu, Zaiwa, Lhaovo, Rawang, and Lachid. Â  However, the government of Myanmar recognizes twelve different ethnic nationalities within the major ethnicity of Kachin - perhaps in a bid to divide and rule this large and often war-like minority population. Historically, the Kachin peoples ancestors originated on the Tibetan Plateau, and migrated south, reaching what is now Myanmar probably only during the 1400s or 1500s CE. Â  They originally had an animist belief system, which also featured ancestor worship. Â  However, as early as the 1860s, British and American Christian missionaries began working in Kachin areas of Upper Burma and India, trying to convert the Kachin to Baptism and other Protestant faiths. Â  Today, nearly all Kachin people in Burma self-identify as Christians. Â  Some sources give the percentage of Christians as being up to 99 percent of the population. Â  This is another aspect of modern Kachin culture that places them at odds with the Buddhist majority in Myanmar. Despite their adherence to Christianity, most Kachin continue to observe pre-Christian holidays and rituals, which have been repurposed as folkloric celebrations. Â  Many also continue to carry out daily rituals to appease the spirits that reside in nature, to request good fortune in planting crops or waging war, among other things. Anthropologists note that the Kachin people are well known for several skills or attributes. Â  They are very disciplined fighters, a fact that the British colonial government took advantage of when it recruited large numbers of Kachin men into the colonial army. Â  They also have impressive knowledge of key skills such as jungle survival and herbal healing using local plant materials. Â  On the peaceful side of things, the Kachin are also famous for the very intricate relations among the different clans and tribes within the ethnic group, and also for their skill as craftspersons and artisans. When the British colonizers negotiated independence for Burma in the mid-20th century, the Kachin did not have representatives at the table. Â  When Burma achieved its independence in 1948, the Kachin people got their own Kachin state, along with assurances that they would be allowed significant regional autonomy. Â  Their land is rich in natural resources, including tropical timber, gold, and jade. However, the central government proved to be more interventionist than it had promised. Â  The government meddled in Kachin affairs, while also depriving the region of development funds and leaving it dependent on raw materials production for its major income. Â  Fed up with the way things were shaking out, militant Kachin leaders formed the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in the early 1960s, and started a guerrilla war against the government. Â  Burmese officials always alleged that the Kachin rebels were funding their movement through growing and selling illegal opium - not entirely an unlikely claim, given their position in the Golden Triangle. In any case, the war continued unrelentingly until a cease-fire was signed in 1994. Â  In recent years, fighting has flared up regularly despite repeated rounds of negotiation and multiple cease-fires. Â  Human rights activists have recorded testimony of horrific abuses of Kachin people by the Burmese, and later the Myanmar army. Â  Robbery, rape, and summary executions are among the charges leveled against the army. Â  As a result of the violence and abuses, large populations of ethnic Kachin continue to live in refugee camps in nearby Southeast Asian countries.

Why Is Food Important For Our Life - 1524 Words

Mmm-mm Good #1: Introduction â€Å"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.† This quote by Virginia Woolf is like my motto for life. She should have added that â€Å"one cannot live well† in there also. Food is the basis for life; if someone wants to live they have to eat. Food is what provides people with enough energy to get through the day, it is what satisfies hunger cravings, and it also is what provides your body with the nutrition needed throughout your life. People eat when they are happy, sad, angry and mad. People make a living off of cooking good food, and some people even make a living off of eating good food too. Whether it is a family gathering or a quick pick up and go meal, food plays a huge role in my everyday life. #2: Importance of food Food plays a very important role in my life. Not only because it is needed for survival, but also because of the way food can bring people together, symbolize an entire culture, and either positively or even negatively affect someone’s life. Food has brought my family and I closer through picnics at family reunions, huge dinner parties for super bowl Sunday and family gatherings for the holidays. Usually everyone in my family will bring a specific dish they are best at making to a get-together. This makes the food even more enjoyable because everyone cooks and seasons differently. For instance, my grandma might have a more spicy Cajun style of cooking but my auntie might be more on the simple garlicShow MoreRelatedWhat Is The Single Most Critical Problem Facing Us Today?886 Words   |  4 PagesWhen I polled a few of my friends about â€Å"what is the single most critical problem facing us today?† I got a frequent response that’s not so s hocking, climate change. So why climate change? Why not obesity, or population control, or education? While all of those are problems that deserve discussion, no single topic is so fundamental to us as humans as climate change. In 2007 Al Gore stated in his person of the year interview that â€Å"Today we re dumping 70 million tons of global-warming pollution intoRead MoreHuman Connections With The Land1147 Words   |  5 PagesHuman Connections with the Land The life-sustaining bond of human beings with the land has a strong connection. Centuries have gone by†¦ throughout the many years, humans have relied on the land to provide, evolve, help survive, and move forward with their lives. The land provides for humans in a non costly manner. The land provides humans free shelter. For example, Humans use the dirt we walk on to build shelter. The Earth provides humans natural resources, such as water from lakes, streams and rainRead MoreLife Sustaining Bond Of Human Beings With The Land1148 Words   |  5 PagesResearch Paper The life-sustaining bond of human beings with the land has a strong connection. Centuries have gone by and throughout the many years, humans have relied on the land to provide for Humans, they need to evolve, survive, and move forward with their lives. The land provides for humans in a non costly manner. The land provides humans free shelter. For example, Humans use the dirt we walk on to build shelter. The Earth provides humans natural resources, such as water from lakes, streamsRead MoreWhy Is Nutrition Important For Us? Essay968 Words   |  4 Pages Body I. Why is nutrition important for us? A. What does nutrition mean? 1. According to Whitney, nutrition is the science of the nutrients in foods and their actions within the body. (Whitney, 2013, p.3) a) Good nutrition is part of having a healthy lifestyle. b) Knowing what types of food you eat can help reach your goals, whether it is to help you maintain a healthy weight or reduce the risk of diseases. c) According to Bales (2011, August 1), â€Å"What you eat significantly impacts your heartRead MoreHarmful Effects of Dietary Supplements Taken in Excess1129 Words   |  5 PagesImport nutrients that our body needs in small amounts to work well. Those who do not take enough vitamins and minerals daily through the consumption of food may suffer from vitamin deficiency and may have a higher risk of getting sick, therefore the need for food supplements. Muslims can eat food that is considered according to Islamic law as pure, clean, wholesome, nourishing, and pleasing to the taste. They are enjoined by their own religion to abstain from eating certain foods in the interest ofRead MoreExpository Essay About Mcdonalds1696 Words   |  7 PagesExpository Essay: Topic A: Fries for Life The idea of free McDonalds for life is a no brainer, right?! †¦. Wrong! but why? McDonald’s is well known to be the largest fast food retailer in the entire world. It is a global phenomenon which has been the market leader for the past decade or more. There are many reasons for this; it is cheap, fast, reliable and tasty. It is tantalizing on our eyes and our taste buds. The very colors that McDonald’s use on its packaging and in marketing are there to elicitRead MoreHow Fast Food Affect A French Health907 Words   |  4 Pages How Fast Food Affect a French Health Over time eating has become easier than ever. United States created fast food which the main purpose was to benefit people from eating on the go and today this eating efficiently has spread all over the world. Not only U.S. joined the new eating concept, but many other countries including France. Fast food has spread all over France, and it is the second country with the largest fast food consumer. It is very surprising to see an European country as the secondRead MoreCulture Essay1357 Words   |  6 Pagesmost â€Å"status† in your family? Why? Answer: My dad; he is the main person that receives income. 4. How do you define success? Answer: Success is a moment where you have completed your goal. 5. Do you consider your parents to be successful? Answer: I believe they are extremely successful because they came here from Poland and started fresh and created several of their own company’s. 6. How important is education in your family? Answer: Education is very important. My mom is constantly checkingRead MoreWhy Is Eating Healthy?1157 Words   |  5 Pagesperson is in need of food, they’re usually dealing with the conflicting feelings of whether or not they want to eat healthy, or just spoil themselves with junk foods. Dealing with those feelings, one thing decides for that person; the price. Granted that sometimes there might be good deals for the healthier section, it’s the unhealthy section that is normally cheaper. Even though burgers and fries are much more preferred than a salad. By decreasing the prices of healthy foods, you not only are beingRead MoreHealthy Eating: Reducing the Risk of Cancer, Diabetes and Heart Disease1120 Words   |  5 Pagesis what we all need to consider in our everyday life. Healthy eating good prevent you from getting cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. There are many choices that we can make that can either benefit us or be hazardous to our health. There are many factors out there that can cause harm to the body. I have chosen three to discuss. What I am going to be talking about throughout my paper will be cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. I will be discussing what foods that would benefit and lessen your chance

Comprehensive Analysis of Staples Free Essays

string(111) " the Staples Soul programs is beneficial to the organization, the environment, the community and the customer\." Comprehensive Analysis of Staples Harding University Angela Maloch Ashley Perez Keith Miller Ricky Griffin Abstract This paper will review Staples, Inc. comprehensively. The authors will discuss Staples’ visions, missions, and objectives, in addition to outlining the firm’s internal strengths and weaknesses and their external opportunities and threats. We will write a custom essay sample on Comprehensive Analysis of Staples or any similar topic only for you Order Now Several matrices will be included to provide visual aid and better observations of the operations and current practices of the company. Recommendations will be provided on new courses of action that may benefit the company and help increase sales and brand awareness. Vision and Mission Staples, is the world’s largest office product organization, and a reliable source for office solutions. The company products and services include office supplies, copy and print supplies, and technology to support these products. Staples, also provides supplies for facilities, break-room, and furniture (Staples, Inc, 2012). Staples conceptualized the office superstore in 1986. It has more than 88,000 associates worldwide, in 26 countries, and fosters annual sales of 25 billion (Staples, Inc, 2012). Many organizations foundations began with a vision and an organizational mission. The vision and mission are set to be accomplished by setting objectives, and implementing strategies to achieve the goals set by the organization. According to Business Improvement Architects: Creating a compelling vision and developing the strategies to achieve it is one of the organization’s most difficult challenges. The vision is more than a dream; it must convey a larger sense of organizational purpose, so that employees are able to picture themselves â€Å"building the dream company† rather than â€Å"laying the stones. It is an ambitious view of the future that everyone in the organization can believe in, one that can be realistically achieved, yet offers a future that is better in important ways than what now exists. (Business Improvement Architects, n. d. ) Staples mission is â€Å"to make it easy to buy office products (David, 2013). † The mission is simple yet it encompa sses what the organization strives to do with the products and services it provides to its customers throughout the world. Staples, does not have a written vision, but he the organization utilizes a unique approach in identifying the future direction of the company. Staples Soul program is a program designed by Staples, Inc. to help make the organization an employer and neighbor of choice, and sets Staples brand apart from competitors. The program is also aimed at allowing Staples to grow profitably and responsibly (Staples, Inc, 2012). Objectives and Strategies In Staples 2011 Annual Report, Ron Sargent who serves as the organization’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer stated: At Staples, we take great pride in our consistent execution and our ability to evolve and meet the changing needs of our customers. Throughout our 25 year history we’ve succeeded by setting aggressive goals, acquiring and retaining customers, and being accountable for our performance. We took the same approach in 2011 and made progress on many of our key initiatives, despite the challenging economic environment. (Staples, Inc, 2012) Staples has established goals and objectives to keep the organization viable in the fast changing market, and the sluggish economy. The Staples Soul program, separates the organizations objectives into four pillars, and outlines the strategies to obtaining those objectives. The four pillars of focus of the Staples Soul Program are community, ethics, diversity, and environment (Staples, Inc, 2012). Staples Community Objectives and Strategies Staples is dedicated to bring education, hope and opportunity to the communities of where their customers live. The community efforts are strategically approached through local grassroots programs, and large scale initiatives that build ties in the global community (Staples, Inc, 2012). Staples has donated more than $17 million to nonprofit organizations, in the United States, and around the world in 2011. Through its Choose a Charity program, Staples has enabled associates to donate nearly $1. 9 million to organizations, in which they care about (Staples, Inc, 2012). Staples has also been established volunteer programs, and associate volunteer programs which has led to more than 33,000 hours of volunteer work to being performed in 26 countries (Staples, Inc, 2012). Staples and Ethics and Strategies Staples 2011 Annual report discusses their objective to meeting the ethical component of the organization. The report states: We believe that doing right is just as important as doing well. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of honesty, fairness and integrity, and continually implement strategies to ensure ethical conduct from the boardroom to the supply chain to the store. Our strong ethical foundation, demonstrated in the daily relationships with our stakeholders, and ensures our continued success. (Staples, Inc, 2012) Staples stress the importance of ethics in the business organization. The good business ethics must span throughout the entire organization. In efforts to achieve and maintain an ethical environment Staples has done the following: * Ethics, helpline, and training and awareness program in every business unit and function worldwide (Staples, Inc, 2012). * Established a new Ethics scorecard that allows senior leaders and the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors to monitor compliance with program requirements (Staples, Inc, 2012). * Created and established a monitoring and measurement framework to assess how well we are preventing, detecting and responding to ethics and compliance risks (Staples, Inc, 2012). Updated the Staples Suppliers Code of Conduct, by adding an Environmental and Business Ethics section, while modifying other sections (Staples, Inc, 2012). Staples, the Environment and Strategies Staples Annual Report focused on environment as its third organizational objective. The organization’s 2011 report states: At Staples, our vision is to generate business and environmental benefits for ourselves, our c ustomers and our communities by leading the way in sustainable business practices. his vision through a continued focus on sourcing more sustainable products; improving our offering of recycling and other green services; maximizing our energy efficiency and renewable energy use; and eliminating waste. In 2011, we communicated several new global sustainability goals and continued to work in several program areas to help move us closer to our sustainability vision. (Staples, Inc, 2012) As mentioned before the environmental pillar of the Staples Soul programs is beneficial to the organization, the environment, the community and the customer. You read "Comprehensive Analysis of Staples" in category "Essay examples" Staples has been instrumental in environmental progress by: recycling more than 67 million ink and toner cartridges, and 13 million pounds of technology waste in the United States. Staples has continued the implementation of its Race to the Top Initiative, which is focused on key suppliers reducing the environmental impact of their product (Staples, Inc, 2012). At the end of 2011, Staples had 286 facilities in the U. S. that have received the ENERGY STAR ® for buildings certification. By the close of 2011 Staples had 36 solar installations at 33 facilities and purchased a large sum of renewable energy certificates. Staples has a goal of reducing operational electrical intensity by 25%, and global carbon emissions by 50% by 2020 from a 2010 baseline (Staples, Inc, 2012). Staples, Diversity and Objectives Staples believes that being a successful company is dependent on people with rich backgrounds and diverse views. Staples commitment to diversity and inclusion opens the doors for the people of different races, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, physical ability, background and thinking styles. This in turn allows the company to be more innovative, because the organizations associate base reflects the diversity of the customers. Staples’ diverse workforce and suppliers help to build and enrich relationships with customers. While building upon these customer relationships, the organization is able to adapt to the ever changing global market place (Staples, Inc, 2012). Although Staples does not have a written vision statement, the Staples Soul Program has outlined the path, in which the organization wants to proceed over its business life. Fred R. David states: â€Å"A vision statement should answer the basic question, â€Å"What do we want to become? † (David, 2013, p. 45) David also states that a comprehensive mission statement is formulated by a clear vision. It is suggested that the vision statement be established first, and should be short approximately one sentence (David, 2013, p. 45). Many organizations have both a vision and a mission statement. David states that an organization’s mission statement distinguishes one organization from another in the same industry. An organization’s mission statement is â€Å"its reason for being. A mission statement is important for effectively establishing objectives and forming strategies (David, 2013, p. 45). It is important when formulating a vision and mission statement, it is important to include the managers and the employees. When employees and managers work together to formulate the organizations vision and mission, the statements will reflect the personal visions that employees and managers alike feel passionate towards, and sets the foundation for the future. The shared vision leads to a common objective and can motivate employees and remove the mundane atmosphere in the work environment (David, 2013, p. 47). An organization’s vision and mission statement can: * Ensure unanimity of organizational purpose * Provide a standard for allocation of organizational resources * Establish organizational climate or general tone Serve as a focal point for people to identify with the organization’s purpose * To help translate objectives into a work structure assignments and task * To specify organizational purpose and translate those into organizational objectives (David, 2013, p. 48). The Staples Soul Program sets the tone for a vision statement for the organization. Staples vision statement could re ad: â€Å"Staples vision is to be a world leader in providing easy assessable office supplies while being committed to improvements in ethics, environment, community, and diversity for those we serve. The Staples mission as stated before states that the company’s mission is â€Å"to make it easy to buy office products. † (David, 2013, p. 69) Staples mission and vision projected through its Staples Soul Program has set then foundation for the organizational to expand and utilize its strengths and opportunities to continue to be a leader in its industry. The organization can also utilize this foundation set to identify weaknesses, and potential industry threats. Eternal Opportunities and Threats External Opportunities Opportunities can give an organization an edge over the competition. Staples, Inc. isplays the potential to increase its growth in additional countries. Currently Staples has 300 stores internationally. An international expansion would increase the profits for the organization. According to David (2013) â€Å"Growth is forecast to reach almost $88 billion by 2013, reflecting a five-year average growth rate of less than 1 percent† (p. SM-66). The advancement in technology can provide Staples with a balanced diversity for its shoppers. New technological gadgets continue to bring additional efficiency for individuals in a number of ways such as online shopping, reading books, and playing games. Staples, Inc. artnered with Barnes and Noble to offer an alternate color reader commonly known as The NOOK. This technological device competes with Amazon’s Kindle and the Apple’s iPad. The partnership with Barnes and Noble will provide Staples with the opportunity to expand within the digital era. External Threats Threats are external and could occur at any time. Threats most often occur from other competing companies. Staples, Inc. continually competes with a number of organizations in regard to price competition and retail competition. Price competition occurs with equal ground stores such as Office Depot and OfficeMax. Staples, Inc. s the largest office supply company compared to Office Depot classified as the second place organization. David (2013) stated the following interesting fact, â€Å"Staples is larger than Office Depot and OfficeMax combined† (p. SM-76). The three organizations display similar challenges in regard to the reduction of sales because of businesses going paperless. The retail competition includes stores such as Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Target. These organizations display the need to obtain additional market share. As stated earlier, Staples, Inc. began the route of digital services with the latest product from Barnes and Noble commonly known as The NOOK. With the consumer trend of digital services reduces the need for traditional supplies. Green initiatives continue to be another factor for the reduction of traditional supplies, which reduces the need to stock a lot of cases of copy paper in the distribution centers. Competitive Profile Matrix External Factors External Factor Evaluation Matrix (EFE) Key External Factors WeightRatingScore Opportunities International growth (only 300 stores overseas). 12 4. 48 Trends towards digital items. 12 4. 48 New partnerships (Barnes Nobles). 11 3. 33 Implement research/development. 15 4. 60 Threats Price competition. 10 3. 30 Retail competition. 12 4. 48 Unemployment rates. 06 2. 12 Oil prices. 06 2. 12 New technologies reduce need for traditional supplies . 10 3. 30 Green’ initiatives might shift demand for products . 06 2. 12 Totals12. 04 The External Factor Evaluation Matrix (EFE) demonstrates how opportunities and threats may affect the company. Similar to the IFE, this gives a visual rating of the importance of external factors that may contribute to or inhibit the success of Staples. Seen in the matrix above, new opportunities can greatly contribute to the success of Staples. With such broad expansion opportunities, it would be easy for Staples to make new connections overseas, whether in creating new locations or promoting online sales. New partnerships should be looked into as well. Staples has already teamed up with Barnes Nobles, but opportunities with other major brands might impact Staples’ sales in a positive way as well. Implementing a research and development team can give Staples the opportunity to study consumer patterns, marketing techniques, and what products to offer to better meet the needs of society. Competing companies that offer similar products are the greatest threat the Staples. To best combat this, Staples needs to be prepared to offer the best customer service and technologies to stay in the competition. New technologies are changing what consumers need in regards to office supplies. For example, most consumers have switched to computer filing, rather than paper filing. This reduces the need for so much paper, files, folders, and filing cabinets. While some may still need this, Staples may want to look at reducing their inventory of these items and offering a larger supply of more current and modern items. Internal Strengths and Weaknesses Internal Strengths Strengths refer to the factors that exist within the company and exhibits formations of competitive advantage. The organization has dominance worldwide in more than 22,000 locations to include China, Australia, Germany, North America, and a number of other countries. Staples, Inc. is an established organization with a well developed infrastructure that offers business services such as supplies, technology, furniture, and office machines inside the stores as well as online. Staples, Inc. has a competitive advantage with the use of its online sales market. Instead of keeping a large inventory, the majority of the retail store locations stock approximately 7,000 products. When customers do not find a particular item inside the store, he or she can receive next day service at the local store when ordering from Staples. com. This avenue provides customers the option to review over 30,000 products in approximately 125 distributions. When the customer orders a product, he or she can request to receive shipment at the local store, at work, or at a home address. This type of service provides convenience for Staples, Inc. shoppers. In addition, Staples, Inc. ade an investment in regard to its delivery system with a purchase of small fleet of electric trucks. The purpose of this investment was to improve the organization’s efficiency and cost minimization by reducing fuel cost by 75% compared to diesel trucks. Internal Weaknesses Weaknesses are the areas an organization needs to try to correct imperfections for improvement. Understanding potential weaknesses can help an organization to both manage and remove possible threats. In contrast to a limited inventory as strength, this concept can be a weakness in regard to customers not wanting to wait for a specific product. Customers may go to a competitor to purchase the needed product or purchase it online. A number of challenges exist because of the advanced technological era. For instance, Staples, Inc. reported a seven percent decline in stock prices according to its 2010 Annual Report. Internal Factors Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix (IFE) Key Internal FactorsWeight RateScore Strengths Strong international growth and partners. 12 4. 48 Advertising and marketing. 12 4. 48 Strong Online sales market. 10 3. 30 Many convenient Locations. 10 3. 30 Staples Delivery System. 11 3. 33 Weaknesses Only 1. % increase in Sales (2010). 06 2. 12 Stock price fell 7% (2010). 06 2. 10 Poor executive compensation plans. 12 4. 48 Poor inventory management. 11 3. 33 No research/development Budget. 10 3. 30 Totals13. 19 As seen above, the Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix (IFE) is used to provide a numerical and visual score of key factors of the internal strengths and weaknesses. This gives management an idea of how to prioritize any issues that may be affecting or attributing the growth or success of the company. With more than 1500 locations throughout the United States, Staples is easily accessible to the population. Their advertising and marketing campaigns are successful and catchy; this creates brand awareness, and can potentially bring in more consumers. The internal weaknesses have caused such financial stresses on the company that it is very important that these issues are addressed. For instance, in 2010, there was only a 1. 1% increase in sales and stock prices fell 7%; however, the CEO of Staples, Ron Sargent, took a 41% pay increase. Moves like this can set Staples up for failure, so it is important for management to be aware of these internal issues through the use of an IFE. With no research and development budget, Staples is falling behind the trends of fast-paced society. They are not current on what is popular and what issues may be hurting their sales. * SWOT Analysis According to Thompson, Gamble, and Strickland (2006), â€Å"A SWOT analysis is a simple but powerful tool for sizing up a company’s resource capabilities and deficiencies, its market opportunities, and the external threats to its future well-being (Chap. 3, p. 85). A SWOT analysis is a significant portion of the strategic planning model. An organization uses a SWOT analysis that consists of strengths as internal forces of the organization to accomplish the objective; weaknesses are internal forces of the organization that harm the objective; opportunities are external forces that can expand the organization; threats are external forces that can destroy the organization’s success. In developing a strategic plan, leaders must ask if the current strategic plan is adequate to achieve the goal and are there allowances for contingency plans if the current plan is not working. Therefore, an effective strategy will consider the internal and external factors of the SWOT analysis by looking at the big picture of what an organization will face in the course of goal achievement. SWOT Matrix Space Matrix Current Strategies Inventory Staples is looking to reduce physical inventory in stores and offer a wider variety via Staples. com (Donoher as cited in David, 2013). In doing this, they can limit the size of store locations and be able to cut building costs, utilities and floor space on new locations. In addition, research done by Shankar, Rangaswamy Pusateri (1999) indicates that online shopping is more convenient than offline shopping and allows consumers to find products to best fit their needs. This strategy, once fully implemented may promote more business to the website and offer better selections. The only issue that may arise is not having an item in stock that competitors might have. It would helpful to research buying trends and patterns of this industry and keep those items stocked. Prices Low prices have been the ultimate focus of Staples. This is understandable in retail today, however customer service and loyalty programs are just as desirable to consumers. Indicated by Shankar, Rangaswamy Pusateri (1999), customers are not sensitive just to price increases, but rather a mixture of factors that contribute to the overall buying experience. Slightly raising prices and focusing more on customer service can produce a better experience for in-store shoppers and may encourage them to return. Also, in some cases, low prices can correlate with low quality. When Staples offers their own brand items for extremely low prices, consumers may consider the price in relation to the quality. Recommended Strategies Based on the case study, Staples, Staples has seen gradually declining sales and profits in recent years (Donoher, as cited in David, 2013). In order to turn that around and be a successful office supply company, they need to implement new strategies. Staples is not a competitor with other office supply companies. They cannot maintain desirable inventories of what consumers are looking for and they cannot beat the prices and leverage that other similar stores offer. If left alone, Staples will go out of business. Suggestions on strategies that may offer aid to Staples are outlined below. Retrenchment â€Å"Retrenchment occurs when an organization regroups through cost and asset reduction to reverse declining profits† (David, 2013, P. 146). If Staples would try this strategy, they might be able to save the company and turn it around. In order to implement this strategy, they would stop opening new stores, and perhaps even close stores throughout the United States. Closing stores throughout the United States can greatly reduce costs and increase revenues. It would be most logical to close the locations with the lowest annual sales. In addition, by reducing the number of store openings would allow for more focus to be within what Staples already has. This means there would be more time to focus on customer service, inventory management, product display, management, and online sales. Online sales are such a large portion of their business, it may be more effective to put more efforts into obtaining sales through that medium, rather than brick and mortar locations. Related Diversification In order to remain in the competition, Staples must be open to diversifying the products they currently offer. Staples needs to revamp their current inventory and look at what it is consumers want today. With such a boom in technology, there is a consumer desire for new and up-to-date items. The items they rarely sell need to be taken off the shelves or offer a very limited inventory in stores. That clears up space for new items, and a greater inventory capacity. By stocking items that customers want can increase the traffic flow through the store. Often, consumers know competing stores, such as Office Depot and Wal-Mart have more of what they need, so Staples is eliminated completely. Recommended Annual Objectives and Policies Organizational Annual Business reports are a vital tool in making recommendations for annual objectives, and policies. The annual report identifies the company’s short falls, but more importantly it shines the light on the organizations achievements. The annual report also illustrates the plans and strategies to rectify its weaknesses, and refute potential threats. According an article by Jill Leviticus, an annual report; â€Å"provide information on the health of your company to shareholders, stakeholders, the media and your community. † (Leviticus, 2012) The article also states that the organizational annual report provides financial information, highlights achievements, promotes the organization, and other key information to the stakeholders (Leviticus, 2012). Staples 2011 Annual Business Report outlines the organization’s recommended annual objectives and policies, which is based on the needs of the employees, shareholders, and customers. Annual Business Reports and meetings cover a broad range of objectives and policies. Staples 2011 Annual Business Report covered topics on beneficial of ownership of common stock, corporate governance, and election of directors, employee stock plans, and long-term cash plans (Staples, Inc, 2012). Adjustments to these specific objectives and policies will specifically impact the viability of Staples, Inc. The aforementioned Staples Soul Program has been instrumental in making the organization the â€Å"employer and neighbor of choice. † (Staples, Inc, 2012) Staples has been proactive in implementing policies and objectives to acilitate the organization in achieving goals centered around the four pillars of the Staples Soul Program, which are community, ethics, diversity, and environment (Staples, Inc, 2012). Strategy Review and Evaluation Defining a strategy is an educated guess. The guess is a key process in any organization. The changes that occur in today’s society ca n make or break an organization. Strategy, as any other process improvement, cannot be determined unless it is measured. There is an old saying that says it is hard to know where you are going until you know where you have been. Strategy has to be evaluated to determine if the direction of change is favorable or unfavorable to the organization. There are acronyms of famous cycles to help lead an organization to improve. PDCA, PDSA or DMAIC are some of the well-known cycles. These cycles define a basic process of evaluating changes made to determine if the actions taken reflect the desired results. A similar process of planning, doing, studying and acting has to be defined in each organization. Organizations can vary in the data used but the process will be the same. Data There are a number of inputs that need to be included into strategy development. External inputs include items such as customer needs, customer survey results, industry trends, regulatory requirements, technological advancements, market risks and competitive intelligence to name a few. Internal inputs include company vision, mission, goals, philosophies, employee survey results, SWOT analysis and balanced scorecard results. These inputs will help determine what a company’s balanced scorecard should be. The balanced scorecard could be used by location moving up to the organizational level. It could also translate down to specific goals and objectives for individual performance management. Measure Once the balanced scorecard has been developed then it is time to capture the results. In most cases these results are measured monthly. There are some cases where the time frame may extend to a longer period of time depending on the metric being measured. For instance, financial information would probably be calculated monthly by an internal team. An external assessment could be used to challenge or protect your company such as Sarbanes-Oxley audit. These measurements help determine direction. Review Periodic reviews of balanced scorecard information are required to determine if the actions taken are effective or not effective. These reviews can occur at different time intervals. Changes or actions taken can immediately take effect or it could be a period of time before the change is realized. An example of immediate effect could be actions taken to reduce inventory levels. Depending on the action the company may see the results on the following month. An example of a longer term effect may be implementing an â€Å"open door† policy which involves a cultural change that may not be seen immediately. A general understanding of the metric and the anticipated impact time should be rationalized during the review process. Adjustment Once the review has been analyzed actions should be taken to correct metrics that are not performing to the desired results. There are several methods of problem-solving that can be used to help work through the possible contributors of poor performance. The A3 process was derived by Toyota. The process is a collaborative problem-solving tool used to manage individual issues from beginning to end. The A3 process identifies the team, the problem, the metrics used to measure the issue, potential causes, countermeasures to potential causes, responsible party assigned and results. The cycle starts again similar to the Plan, Do, Study and Act cycle mentioned earlier. Recommendation The recommendation for Staples is to have monthly reviews as well as annual reviews. The monthly reviews would consist of A3’s developed for each of the metrics. The A3’s would be reviewed to see how the countermeasures are impacting the metric. This type of review will help monitor performance in the short-term time frame. Annual reviews should be conducted on the internal and external inputs and balanced scorecard results. The annual review would be designed to develop the strategic plan for the following year or longer. References Business Improvement Architects. (n. d. ). Understand the organization’s vision. Retrieved November 22, 2012, from www. bia. ca: http://www. bia. ca/vision. htm David, F. R. (2013). Strategic Managment: A Competitive Advantage Approach (14 ed. ). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Leviticus, J. (2012). What Is the Purpose of Company Annual Reports? Retrieved November 23, 2012, from www. smallbusiness. hron. com: http://smallbusiness. chron. com/purpose-company-annual-reports-57428. html Shankar, V; Rangaswamy, A. Pusateri, M. (1999). The online medium and customer price sensitivity. Penn State School of Information Sciences and Technology. Staples, Inc. (2012, April). 2011 Annual Report. Retrieved November 22, 2012, from www. thomson. mobular. net: http: //thomson. mobular. net/thomson/7/3218/4642/document_0/SPLS_2011AR. pdf Staples, Inc. (2012, November 14). Corporate Profile. Retrieved November 22, 2012, from www. staples. com: http://investor. staples. com/phoenix. zhtml? c=96244p=irol-IRHome How to cite Comprehensive Analysis of Staples, Essay examples

Personal Writing

Personal Writing- Non Fiction Essay Mrs stokes is talking to herself during the evening about her feelings. She is feeling upset and jealous with Albert and is feeling sorry for herself for the way in which she treated Albert like.  MOTHER: What shall I do now Albert has left? I feel really lonely and scared in the house myself. Where will my son have gone? Why couldnt he have stayed in for once? Is it because I am a selfish and mean mother? Albert does not listen to me. Why is this? (Thinks to herself) (Crying) I have been very overprotective and loving to him and should have been sensible and mature. How could I have said so many terrible things about my Father? (She feels worried inside her stomach) It was my duty as Alberts mother to talk to him in a good manner. However, why didnt I do this? Is because I was a silly and an unrepectful mother. Its so mean and horrible what I have done and treated like Albert like. Nevertheless, I regret treating Albert like a child. He is a young adult. How could I have done such a terrible thing to him? I am going to hate myself for doing this to him if he does not forgive me. Why was I so jealous of him? It was not any of mine business what he does and who he goes out with. (Stressfully and sighs her hands over her head) How could I have been mean about Alberts father and said upsetting and terrible things? During the evening Mrs. stokes is talking to herself about her feelings. Mrs stokes then of  all a sudden starts to talk to herself about her past. She is upset on that evening because of all the things she said to Albert and Mr stokes in the past.  MOTHER: How could I have been so silly to Mr. stokes? I was such a selfish wife. Why was I so rude at him at the time I was alive? How could I have been so hard on him? (Crying) Probably my husband in heaven now with all his past people. Now I am living alone without a husband and my 28 year old son probably hates me because I have probably ruined his life. Mrs stokes has a terrible headache and is feeling sick. She takes a pain killer from the kitchen cabinet and falls asleep  Albert arrives to his local pub where he is meeting Leane his girlfriend. He was to arrive at the pub at 6.30pm but he is an hour late.  ALBERT: Is that all you can say.  Then Mrs stokes starts to confuse Leane.  MUM: Why am I making you upset and sad? Now you no how I feel.  LEANE: No not really me and Albert are leaving today. Mrs stokes go all quiet all of a sudden. When Mrs stokes go quiet Leane and Albert tell her that they are leaving. They are going to Leanes flat.  ALBERT: We are leaving now and going to Leanes flat across the city.  LEANE: Bye Mrs Stokes.  After Albert and Leane leave Mrs Stokes, she feels upset and lonely and starts to talk to herself again.  MOTHER: Why has my son left me? I am a lonely, selfish woman now. My son might not even give me an invitation to the wedding due to the way I carried on at him. I really feel like killing myself.  Mrs stokes is feeling mad in a terrible mess. Due to her feeling in a mad mood she go the to medicines wardrobe in the kitchen and takes a few pills and take a glass of water and swallows them all at once. After she does this, she is feeling sick and ill and she is feeling cold. Then after three hour later Mrs stokes is feeling and she is going to dye.

Standards Essay Example

Standards Essay The no child left Behind Act was established to ensure that the schools of the United States of America were able to meet the standard required to compete with countries such as China and India (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?article ID=26115).   It is also aimed at helping students with various disabilities including physical, economic and learning.   It will also benefit the student of African American origin. It has looked into school standards and ensured that no one will be disadvantaged because of their race or disability.   The schools are to be propely equipped to ensure the standards in all schools are raised so as to produce competent adults who after schooling will be able to compete in the twenty-first century.   It requires yearly progress reports and also quality teachers who qualify for the displine they are to teach. The standards are grouped according to the people being targeted.   There are teacher standards, student achievement standards, state laws among others.   In the documents below all the standards are explained and expounded. Evers, W.M.(2001) Standards and Accountability Stanford CA.: Hoover Institution Press We will write a custom essay sample on Standards specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Standards specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Standards specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Hirsch, E. D. Jr 2001) Curriculum and Competence. Moe,T.M.(Ed) (2000) A Primer on America’s Schools Stanford, C.A. Hoover institution Press New Jersey Core. Curriculum Content Standards http://www.nj.gov/education/cccs/cccs.pdf. State of New Jersey Department of Education http://www.state.nj.us/education/cccs/s1-upa.htm. The state of New Jersey has had a keen interest in eduction since as far back as 1917 where efforts were to improve school heath, safety and physical education.   From the first to the twelveth grade two and a half hours were to be used each week for instruction in health, physical and safety education.(http://www.nj.gov/education/cccs/ccs.pdf).   In 1996 the New Jersey core curriculum content standards for comprehensive health and physical eeducation was adopted to replace it.   The No Child Left behind Act was put in place in 2001. There are teacher competency standards put in place by the state laws.   A teacher has to be highly qualified and possess the ability to understand the central concepts, how the discipline is structured, the tools required for inquiring and also be able to make the subject matter appealing to the students and also understandable.   This is under the subject matter standard.   There is also the human growth and development standard which demands that the teacher has to have an understanding or the growth of children and adolescents.   They have to be diverse learners who practice teaching that is responsive to the culture.   They should also have long and short term plans for the way they will conduct their instructions. Teachers must also be able to introduce and implememnt assessment strategies that gauge how well the students have benefited from instructions.   The learning environment should be made conducive while looking into the needs of those children with special needs.   The teacher must be able to communicate the information they have to the students eloquently and clearly.   Collaboration and partnership with the wider community is also essential in development of children aand this includes partnering with parents and the community.   The teacher has to be able to inspire professional development in themselves and also in the students. Ther are also standards put in place to guide school leaders on how to ensure the success of students.   To begin with they have to first understand then respond and finally influence the political, economic, cultural, social and legal affairs that concern the school.   They must also be able to collaborate with the students’ families and the community to encourage success of students from their significant others.   They should be able to facilitate development, stewardship, articulaton and implementation of school policies while exercising fairness, ethical standards and integrity.   This is also important in the management of the organization, resources and the operations taking place in the school.   They should also be able to introduce a school culture that they can nurture and in the long-run sustain to improve school standards. (http://www.state.nj.us/education/profdev/profstand/standards.pdf). The students’ standards include maintaining a good grade for aid to continue being approved.   A slip in the standard gotten may lead to stopping of educational financial aid.   There are also laws put in place against bullying.   This was done so as to ensure a condusive learning environment. The state laws demand that all curricula should be in line with the standards put in place.   The teachers are also supposed to deliver instructions according to the standards and ensure that they conduct assessment of the students along the course.   There is also the accountability system put in place for schools and districts which also includes the requirements of high school graduation.   Some subjects like reading and maths are to be assessed in each grade from first grade to eighth grade and again in the eleventh grade.   Science is to be graded in fourth, eighth and eleventh grade.   The teacher must also be highly qualified in the research based methodologies that are to be used in class (education.state.us/cccs/?-intro-19k-). At the national scale the New Jersey Department of Agriculture is more concerned with the healthy eating of students to promote their motivation in class to learn.   This they do by providing nutritious food, nutritional education and encouraging physical activity to reduce the number of obese children and adolescents that are in school.   There is also prohibition of certain foods in the vicinity of schools whether selling, promoting or serving them to students. The state of New Jersey has many documents as seen in the previously part of this paper.   The standards that they speak of are also seen as the objectives since they lead to the goals that are to be achieved.   They are divided according to the grade whereby each grade has specific standards that apply to it although some standards are general.   The statements are clearly explained and thus are understable.   Though it may require a lot of time to get the information needed it is available in the website but one has to try many others before getting what they need. The documents contain various glaring similarities although there are some differences.   The teacher standards and the school leaders’ standards are all aimed at improving the school standards.   They both require the teachers and leaders to establish a partnership and collaboration with parents so that they can be aable to help the students even from the home setting.   They also involve the community because it is a key component in the success of the school. Together with the state, they enforce the law against bullying.   This is to ensure that the school has a condusive learning environment for each student.   The students are then able to get quality education regardless of their status in life. The teachers and the state combined in ensuring the student grades remain impressive.   The teachers conduct assessments that rank the students.   The state provides econonic aid to students which can be denied if the student starts getting poor grades.   The state is also in charge of ensuring qualified teachers are sent to the public schools.   They are supposed to be highly qualified and meet the standards. The national department of Agriculture has teamed up with the school to ensure the provision of a healthy diet.   This is done by providing education to the students on nutritional facts.   The school reinforces this gesture by ensuring harmful foods are not served or sold in the school compound and also include pysical activity in the curriculum. All the documents however, differ from each other in what they do to achieve the overall goal of improving education in New Jersey.   They differ in the approach used to reach the end-goal.   There is emphasis on diet, teaching skills, learning environment, financial aid among others that are identified by different documents as being the major components of improvement of education.   They also differ on who is seen as being the one responsible for the improvement to occur. A teacher would be better off reading the standards put in place and striving to implement them in teaching.   This would aid in abiding by the guidelines while at the same time impacting     the children positively.   By adapting to the prominent culture they would be able to understand the childrens attitudes and behaviours and thus know how best to approach the issue of education with each child

No Furture for Humanity Essay

No Furture for Humanity Essay No Furture for Humanity Essay The Future of Humanity By: Jason Lee We live in a world where we have many different types of life. One that is exponentially grown within the past century is humanity. This type of life consists of many different aspects because of the universal expectation put on life forms. Once again, this complicated process of expectation is exclusive to humanity. It is said that one of the most influential forces in the development of humanity is religion. Religion has caused humans to find peace with themselves and others, but also have been known to disrupt the peace as well. The way religion achieves these results is by having control. To control something, is to be able to alter its state without consent or a rebuttal. Religion does this in a very intellectual way. Religions reassure that the individual is the one with the control, but the way they should use that control should be limited and/or confined. When this type of deception occurs, people become blind and are unable to reach their true potential. Of course, this ty pe of deception is passed on to the next generations until stopped. Parents and religious organizations brainwash children who are unaware that they are given the birthright to be free. Since children are unable to analyze information critically, they feel that the only right thing to do is follow the herd. If the world is filled with followers, then who’s left to lead? Only the ones who are smart enough to attain those followers are. Religion is very similar to the way the government systems and politics work, which is why they are so successful. Religion is able to strike fear in the hearts of many, without a way for them to retaliate safely. Religions have taught their followers that if they are with someone who hasn’t followed a similar way-of-life, then their opinion and thoughts shouldn’t account for anything important, or that their ideas are ‘wrong’. Some religions even impose that those who oppose their religion shouldn’t deserve to live to the end of their natural lives. Life’s questions that can’t be answered by an ordinary individual’s mindset seem to be answered by religions across the globe. The masses are unable to think freely, so they attend masses, and participate in classes, that only enforce the fact that their religion is correct. Many people are content with the ideals that religions have to offer, but to impose them on people who are unwilling is wrong. Are people willing to seek what is truly right and wrong, or are they just searching for an easy way out? Many people that follow religions don’t seem to follow the practices that an individual in the religion should. Prayer is an important aspect of staying true to one’s religion, but not many follow this sacred ritual. Communicating with the ultimate power that supposedly gave you and everything around you life and animation should be a significant part of daily routine. Thanking the force that

Coaching and Mentoring in Organisations Literature review

Coaching and Mentoring in Organisations - Literature review Example The essay is an analysis of the ‘Letters from the forgotten men’ and the photographs from the Great Depression. According to the letters, it is evident that the continuous measures applied by people to counter economic turmoil were never sufficient. Also, the middle-class citizens often thought that the economic depression affected their lives more than it did to the working-class individuals. However, this was not the case and by 1932, a greater percentage of the American population had lost their major source of income. People lost their income either through unemployment or the sudden loss of the family’s breadwinner.More than half of those who were lucky to have consistent work were allocated part-time schedules that affected their normal rate of income. For instance, letter 20 of (McElvaine 62) reflects on the life of a humiliated family that has lost and used up all the savings and been forced to go on relief in order to survive. The letter was written by a devastated woman requests for Mrs. Roosevelt to lend the family an amount of $28 so that they can pay for the storage charge of their things, and move into one room. The move is quite detrimental to the health of the family and reveals how the middle-class individuals suffered and sought help from American bourgeoisies. The Great Depression period also sounded quite ironic to some extent. The more people had in the 20s, the more they seemed to want to accumulate and encourage the habit ofacquisitive individualism. However, the influence of the Great Depression led people to start thinking about having enough of the material things and food. Having enough to get by was not as much important as having the values of working together with others to survive the effects of economic mayhem. For instance, letter 51 (McElvaine 91) highlights a letter from a

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 46

Assignment Example Compared to average gross earnings, the cost of Russian labor continues to grow at a very high rate, it has been the strongest at 20% and over, due to which industrial production and exports had declined significantly towards the end of 2008. (Rapid increase of labour costs in Central and Eastern Europe in 2008) According to the Pew Research Center poll, many Russians believe that they were better off in terms of their economic well being under the communism because even though democracy promised them an equal distribution of poverty, that has not been the case. Ordinary citizens believes that democracy has been beneficent for elites, educated and the political leaders and it has had little or adverse affect on ordinary people. Hence, the negative perception that prevails among is that those who belong to the rural, old and the average citizens are behind the privileged, educated elite, which was not the case in a communist regime. (End of Communism Cheered but Now with More Reservations) "End of Communism Cheered but Now with More Reservations." 2 November 2009. Pew Global Attitudes Project. 7 October 2010 . Lazzaro, Joseph. "Russia cuts off all natural gas to Ukraine; Europe shortages may spread." 7 January 2009. Blogging Stocks. 7 October 2010

History of Linux Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

History of Linux - Essay Example Miller and his team have briefly explained the evolution of this free to use software. In 1994, Red Hat Linux 1.0 got released and it was called Red Hat Commercial Linux in the beginning. It was the very first distribution of Linux that utilized the RPM Package Manager as the format of its packaging. In the late 1990s, other variants like Yellow Dog Linux, Mandriva Linux, MEPIS, Debian, etc. were also developed from the Red Hat Linux code base. In 2003 Red Hat severed the distribution line of Red Hat Linux and introduced Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for the enterprise setting. But much before, Fedora Project had taken off, which was an effort of the technical community. Fedora and Red Hat Linux are almost the same distribution since Red Hat explicitly patronized the Fedora Project. In this way, the premium operating system remains a free to use product. In 2004, Red Hat Linux 9 was released. Miller and his team further point out that for the next two years, Fedora legacy project was continued, while the official line of Red Hat Linux came to an end. In 2003, Red Hat Linux merged with the Fedora project and today it mainly service in the form of the Fedora distribution. The RHEL, on the other hand, continues to be distributed as a prime network operating system. In 2011, Distrowatch has marked Fedora as the third most popular distribution of the existing Red Hat Linux legacy following Ubuntu and Mint. 1. Linux supports full multitasking with the help of its robust UNIX code base. Along with the facility of running several background programs simultaneously, you can also access multiple devices such as a hard drive, a modem, and printers in one go. 2. According to InformIT, â€Å"Linux safely uses a portion of your hard drive as virtual memory, which increases the efficiency of your system by keeping active processes in RAM and placing less frequently used or inactive portions of memory on

British Airways: SWOT and Porters Five Analysis

British Airways: SWOT and Porters Five Analysis Before establishing an analysis of the financial performance of British Airways, and stating the main reasons as to why this organization has been chosen as the proposed case study of this report, the most predominant issue at hand is to define ‘financial and ‘business performance. It performance of a certain organization stands for a measure, which shows how a company can efficiently use its assets from primary mode of business to produce revenues and returns. It can also be considered as a measure of the overall financial performance of the firm over a specific given period or a scale to make comparison of two or more firms in a single industry. Researcher will provide a detailed account of significance of financial performance, but before that, a brief summary of BA as a leading airline company of UK is necessary to explain. British Airways is the flag carrier airline of United Kingdom and it was first established in 1971 in Waterside. The airline was initially formed to control the two nationalized airlines already operating in UK, i.e. BOAC, and BEA, as well as two other regional airlines operating within the country, Cambrian Airways, and Northeast Airlines. All these four airlines were then liquefied to form British Airways which had much larger infrastructure than any individual company and had high prospective earnings. In the recent times, British Airways provide air transport services as well as deliver cargo shipments in to more than 90 countries all around the world. Reason for choosing the organization: There are plenty of reasons as to why this particular organization has been chosen as subject case study. As we know the ongoing economic recession, and this has folded the developed countries into a web of economic decline. The rise of oil prices from $48 to $110 per barrel since the last 6 years is also a reason for the deepest economic downturn for transporting companies. BA faces a challenge of a permanent shift in the business travelling where the larger organization do not prefer their employees to travel for short trips by paying high premium prices. The financial access that was readily available few years ago is now declining and less finance is readily accessible and cash level is decreasing All three challenges force us to make up an analysis that would reveal the financial performance of British Airways over the three years period, i.e. 2007 2009. The review of the financial performance of any particular company that is facing a financial crisis would be the best approach to determine the factors and develop a clear understanding as to why the financial crisis is being faced by that company. A number of factors can be counted towards explaining the problem. Researcher has chosen the financial performance as the main indicator for developing a clear understanding of the financial crisis BA is facing. The financial performance over a specific three years period would also assist the researcher in making up the prediction concerning the future prospects, which would be based on the recognition of significant variables affecting the organization as well as its financial performance. The next two sections would be based on discussion of aims, objectives, and research questions raised by the researcher. Research Aim: The main aim of the research is to make up an analysis of financial performance of British Airways (BA) over a three year period (2007-2009). Apart from the discussion of the financial performance, the report would also be looking at the micro and macro economic factors that lead to the expansion and development of the overall growth of aviation industry in UK. Research Objectives: To analyze the financial performance of British Airways in lieu of the recent financial crisis, and forming an in-depth discussion of how the financial crisis has affected the revenue, cash balances, and stock prices of BA. To evaluate the factor s that lead to the direct effect on growth rate of the airline industry. To ascertain the macroeconomic as well as microeconomic factors those affect the financial performance of BA. To understand the global trends and fashions adopted in the industry as well as viewing the BA as playing a key role in global aviation industry. Observation of the effects of modern technology on the performance of BA on financial and economic grounds. Research Approach: Researcher will make the most of qualitative as well as quantitative methods to ascertain the research objective and aims. The Qualitative method uses a number of approaches and it will be based on different theoretical principles, such as Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, and Social interactions. The quantitative approach would also be taken, based on the principles of positivism, as well as neo-positivism. The approach would be based on the pre-designed standards which are developed before carrying out the actual research (Adams et al. 2007. The significance of qualitative and quantitative methods in a research project as follows: â€Å"If graduate students are to blend qualitative and quantitative research methods in their research study, they can profit at the outset from considering three questions: How are the terms qualitative and quantitative best defined? What are examples of qualitative and quantitative methods? How can the two methods be compatibly combined?† (Murray, 2003) The argumentative reasoning adopted in this report would be based on inductive as well as deductive approach. Saunders et al. (2003) define the inductive approach as the one in which you gather data and form data analysis on the basis of which you develop a theoretical approach. On the other hand, they have defined the deductive approach as the one where a hypothesis is developed first and then a research design is established to explore and test that hypothesis. The very useful approach is to attach both of the approaches to different philosophies; the inductive can be considered more as qualitative approach, where as deductive as more of a quantitative approach (Saunders et al. 2003). Methods of Data collection: There are two types of methods which are given below. Primary Data collection: This data collection is based on interviews, group discussion, Informal Discussion, Debates, Surveys, Community meeting and events (Kumar, 1996). Secondary Data collection: This data collection is based on books, journal, articles, websites, newspapers, magazines, television and company financial reports (kumar, 1996). Data Collection process: Researcher has used mainly secondary source due to availability of reliable and bona fide information. The sources that the researcher has used would basically concern the annual reports from 2007-2009 periods from the website of British Airways. The economic survey of United Kingdom, as well as stock prices would also be used to explore the financial performance of British Airways. Researcher has managed to gather these sources through secondary approach. Therefore the primary sources are not very much often used. The audited financial statements of British Airways are the most relevant source for data collection on the basis of which analysis would be conducted. These financial statements or other relevant data is attached in the Appendix at the end of the research study for the convenience of reader. Researcher has used reference books as well as ACCA text books of paper F7, F9 and P3. Use of secondary sources can be associated with many advantages as well as disadvantages: Advantages Adams et al. (2007) have described the advantages as below: Larger delegate samples are available, which are considered well beyond the research of an individual researcher. Secondary data is an excellent source for inspecting the longitudinal data as well as other trends. Researcher can focus more on the data analysis as well as on its interpretation. Limitation of Data collection: According to Adams et al. (2007) the disadvantages of the secondary sources as below: Data may not be compatible, or the information that has been collected for the data analysis may not be relevant to what is required. The research might be limited in terms of its depth and information gathered might be odd or not up to date and recent concerns might have been over shadowed that can make the research and analysis outdated. The information might not be gathered from whole time period that should be covered and there might be found research gaps. Business and financial performance techniques used: Researcher would exploit the following four business and accounting techniques in this research: Value chain analysis Porters five forces analysis SWOT analysis Financial Ratios As the above mentioned techniques will be elaborated below : Value chain analysis: This technique would be useful in gaining the competitive advantage as well as generation of the shareholder value in the market. The analysis basically divides the business into a series of value-generating activities, known as value chain. The actual purpose of the value chain is to better understand the activities with the help of which the firm develops competitive advantage with the course of time in the market. These activities can best be described by the following picture: (Source: http://www.provenmodels.com/26/value-chain-analysis/michael-e.-porter/) Porters five forces analysis: This technique allows an organization such as BA to seek for outside forces, i.e. companies involved in market competition that tend to affect the competition within the airline industry. Porter five forces model is as follow. Source: Book On Competition By Michael E. Porter Monczka et al. (2009) stated five points as follows: Highest level of competition in the market would lead to creation of more options and chances for buyers as well as suppliers. Risk of entry of new competitors in the market. The threat posed by substitute entrants, i.e. products and services. Extent and power of buyers. Extent and power of suppliers. The key limitation posed in this model is occurred when there is some innovative movement in the market in terms of technological progress which may alter the whole status quo market structure in a very short span of time. SWOT analysis: This technique would analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, as well as threats for BA through inside or outside forces. The main issue at hand then would be to minimize the threats as well as maximize the benefits by British Airways Strengths: Business strengths are, the things which business doing well or, it have which are better than others e.g. Loyal experienced personnel, efficient processes, Advanced IT systems, better customer care, or any other internal factor that leads to success. Strengths of an organization give it a competitive advantage over its competitors Weaknesses: Activities which an organization carries out badly and dont have specialist knowledge to perform in better way are weaknesses of the organization. These weaknesses are internal to organization. Opportunities: These are the factors which the management could take benefit of, e.g. new IT systems, latest technology t, new products etc. Threats: These are issues which can have harmful effect on the performance and activities of business. Threats are generally from outside the organization unlike its strength and weaknesses e.g. substitute products or economic downturn, and these factors are outside of control of organization. International institute of business analysis (2005-2009) A Guide to Business Analysis Ethical issues: As a professional ACCA student it is my responsibility to comply with ACCA five ethical principles i.e. integrity, confidentiality, objectivity, professional competence and due care. It is therefore in my research I have not breached any of these ethical principles. So that research work done is not copied or duplicated and I have complied with oxford Brooks Universitys outline that is the used Harvard referencing system. Business status Of British Airways: British Airways is leading scheduled premium international airlines which flays to over 150 destinations and ha 250 planes in service. British Airways is based in UK and its main revenue earner is UK and in 2008/ 09 48% was generated from UK .22% was from continental Europe and from USA it was 17% and rest was from rest of the world. Since 2008, British Airways have taken many new initiatives to reduce their additional costs that can enhance their profits. They also have increased the number of flights including Africa as well as Central Asia. These flights will definitely help them in finding new routes and clients as well as cutting down their overall costs. The new routes or flight might however not be very much profitable for them as the flights to central Asia and Africa are not organized very often and are not considered quite profitable routes. Another notable point is concerned with the bad performance of British Airways which was due to sudden rise in the prices of oil during the period 2007-2009. According to British Airways chief financial officers report, the profits reached record levels in 2007-08 as they achieved the target of 10% operating margin for the first time. But for the year 2009 even though revenues were increased but operating costs were significantly increased which turn the profit in to loss. Economic recession has hardly hit British Airways and exchange rates have also adversely affected on British Airways. Pound starling has lost its value to euro and dollar. The increased fuel prices in years 2007-2009 have directly affected the revenue as well as profits of the industry, whereas it is evident from the graph below that the reduced prices in oil have again raised the profits of the firm to greater amount. The major loss incurred in 2007 by BA was due to the volatility in oil prices and devaluation of pound sterling against dollar and euro. The reduction in the number of passengers lesser than the average annual rate was also low, which can be due to social and economic constraints on the individual level. Even though there was plenty of reason for economy shrinkage but British Airways sales were increased. The graph given below would explain the trends concerning revenues and profits of BA for the period of 2007-2009: British Airways revenues increased from 8492  £million in 2007 to 8992  £million in 2009 and as in the graph above it can be seen that operating revenues are increasing through the period by 3% which is a healthy sign for the company. Even though BA‘s revenues are increased but profits have fallen sharply and converted in a loss after tax profits have become losses and 401  £million loss which was recorded in year 2009 is very significant. It is specifically down to fuel and oil cost which has increased sharply by 900 £million and some restructuring is been done in its employees contracts which will give benefits in future. Share price of British Airways was at its peak in 2006/07 but after that there is rapid decent as shown in graph below: http://www.financial-spread-betting.com/shares/Spreadbetting-British-Airways.html Share price was at 6.60  £ in 2007and it start dramatically falling and in year 2009 it was as low as to 1.34  £.but after that there is a recovery and share price is increasing gradually. The reduction of the carbon footprint was the one step that was taken in early 2008 and has been quite successful in attracting more customers than ever before. The 2009 annual report also stated some of the new IT systems being introduced as well as implemented, given as follows: Cargo tracking Reservation system ULD management system AIRCOM; a technology that provides the location and movement of the aircraft in real time Movement manager and dispatch manager in flight operations of British Airways The performance of British Airways is very much closely related to the economic conditions. Therefore, it would be very important to consider the state of economy. It should first be noted that the economic crisis has badly affected the economy of US and UK, and after the recession economic growth is far less than inflation. The individual economic condition would suffer so it would also be affecting the whole states economy, and based on that the customer base of the airline industry would also be affected as most of the customers would prefer to travel through train for domestic travel. On the other hand, the consistent downfall in the purchasing power of the consumer as devaluation of pound would also affect the per capita income which would directly impact the consumer base of British Airways. The economic survey held in UK in 2009-10 stated that year 2007 was the worst year for airline industry. The overall decline of 2.4% in the passenger demand was recorded in the year 2007 alone. However, the losses incurred in 2007, as some economic analysts say, had been met in the 2008 year as the profits were higher and losses lesser, which became worst again in 2009. Although there was some relief in fuel bills but economic recession continued to cause a decline in passenger and freight demand. Long term investment in the period 2007 to 2009 specially restructuring of employees and there contracts BA will gain advantage from it in future. Even though BAs financial performance is not great but operationally however, BA is achieving levels of excellence which were never seen in the history of the airline and have won awards for that. Analysis of British Airways using business and financial techniques By using different business and financial models heres a brief explanation of value chain and analysis of British Airways value chain. Analysis of British Airways through Value chain analysis: The similar approach as mentioned above in the value chain analysis section would be adopted here, as to develop an understanding of several activities in BA and concerning how it is important in offering the competitive advantage to the firm in discussion. The British Airways have managed to control the system through forward and backward integration. The primary activities for BA to take great care would be considered as follows: Inbound logistics: BA has managed to control the stock. It has also managed to make ongoing relationships with the suppliers. Operations: The BA management has enabled to make increased bagged security. The management has also taken steps to improve the quick check in services as well as secure online bookings. It has also enabled itself to pre-book additional services. Outbound logistics: BA has managed to improve the customer services. It has larger database of airport slots which provide majority of the passengers a facility to access their destinations from preferred airport. Marketing Sales: The BA has also developed the marketing relations with all the well known and large stake holders. British Airways support Activities The structured chain of command permits the BA to utilize the multitude of specialist for gaining the competitive advantage of the downsized organizations. The human resource management is the integral part of this analysis. The investment made in the development of the customers through service training in 2007 which attracted the best employees. The surveys and questionnaires appreciate the employees and other support staff to provide the feedback. The technological development is also an integral part for BA to look for keeping the services up to date. BA has managed to add value to the smaller companies due to the floppy resources that can be used to recreate the resources, The size of this business as well as coalitions and alliances BA has succeeded to make since the long time in history has led to make BA able to leverage the suppliers as well as through the economies of scale for developing efficiency where the other competitors have most of the times failed. Application of Porters five forces to evaluates British Airways performance: The porters five forces analysis would discuss the negotiating power of the suppliers, and consumers; threat posed by the substitute products, and new services or products into the market, as well as the competition in the market. Existing competitors/rivalry. UK airline industry can be divided in two major sectors budget airlines and schedule airlines. Where schedule airlines operate worldwide as well as in Europe. While budget airlines mainly focus on the short distance destination. British Airway has to compete at the same time in both sectors. Market share in relation to their competitors is not very significant. It is important to discuss existing competition in the industry because this situation may offer opportunity or threat and company might have to take some actions e.g. innovation, deliver excellent customer services, research and development. Market share of British Airways in UK can be divided into two categories in respect of long haul and short haul destination. As given below graphs illustrate the long and short haul destinations from the year ended 2004 to 2008. Data Source: www.mintel.com (2009) As the above mentioned graph demonstrate that British Airways market share is declining. Graph shows market leader Delta airline share is reducing significantly since last three years. But there are some airlines industry like Emirates and Singapore airlines capturing more market share. And also low cost carriers like easy Jet has also start flaying to long haul destinations and has shown increase in there market share over the last five year period even though comparatively it is not that much worry as it is in short haul destination market share. Source: mintel (2009) The above given graph explains that market share of British Airways increased by 15.6%. But as compare to its competitors easy Jet ,whos market share increased by 106%,BA increase is not significant not significant and Rayanair is market leader and capturing more and more market share every year and over the last 5 year they have recorded 117% increase in there market share. Threat of new entrant. According to Mockler (1994), threat of new entrant indicates the new firm entry in an industry with innovation, new ideas and creativity such elements enable new firms to capture market share. In the case of airline industry the entry barriers are significantly high because it is much more regulatory industry. But still in the past there are many new entries in the industries e.g. easy jet which are performing outstandingly as compare to British Airways. Any new entry in that industry could lead British Airways to decrease in profits and revenues as well as loss of market share. Power of the customers According to Mockler et el (1994), determining bargaining power of customers is important for strategy and overall business objectives. The strength of negotiation power of customers of British Airways is nether very high nor very low . Customer have different kind of choices like low cost airlines e.g. Rynairs airlines, easy Jet etc and schedule airline virgin airlines, BMI airlines etc. Therefore customers have wide range options to choose from and there is no switching cost to customer. Therefore it is important for British Airways keep customer loyalty. Fare levels are very crucial to attract all class of customer and provide them with things which they value. Power of suppliers. The negotiating power of the supplier is always very high as there is always limited number of suppliers in the market e.g. Boeing and air bus. As both of these are major supplier of airplanes in the industry and providing more planes to more than 650 airlines. Other major suppliers for airline industry are the oil companies, who are providing oil and energy to many industries and the airline industry is not the major consumer of their products. BA has restriction to choose the oil provider, one who has contracted to supply oil to that airport. BA employees are well unionized and force their power collectively which we have seen in resent strikes. Threat of substitute. Geographically UK is an island and main methods of transportations in past to Europe and rest of the world through the sea or by air. But recently introduction of channel tunnel from UK to France has given another alternate route for travelers to Europe. And introduction of euro star means much faster route to travel to continental Europe compare to airline industry long waiting before boarding and after arrivals. And this has forced some threat to air line industry in UK. But it is not that much significant for BA because it fly all over the world not just to continental Europe. Application of SWOT Analysis on British Airways: The SWOT analysis would provide a detailed analysis for British Airways concerning its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, as well as threats. Strengths BA has a very strong power even in an oligarchic system which gives this firm capability to even set the prices not by coming on the pressure of the other competitors by using its differentiation strategy. Major strength of British Airways is that it controls the landing and take of slots at Heathrow air port which is one of the largest airports in the world. BA, as compared to its competitors, is considered as well in a sense it is more equipped with technology and always uses up to date technology, e.g. it relatively has new planes than other firms. It has relatively larger market to target including domestic as well as international customers. Weaknesses Main weakness of British Airways is its suffering financial performance. The high amount of debt that BA had incurred in 2007 was a result of their bad organization of operational activities .British Airways employees are highly unionized which means strikes are still on the cards and BA has a great deal of influence from the UK government in terms of devising several rules. This type of outside mediation can greatly reduce the organizational efficiency. In the organization internally or externally there are lot of issues of trust which are effecting its performance. Opportunities British Airways have lot of opportunities to exploit in future .Mega sporting events of next decade are to be held in UK including Olympics, cricket, football and rugby events through out .which means BA has opportunities to take advantages .it needs to make strategies to exploit the International market. British Airways also can start flying more flights to other growing economies e.g. China ,India because London is the financial hub .United kingdom is metropolitan so BA can exploit this opportunity and start flying to other countries from where people are coming more often. Threats. Major threat which is faced to British Airways is from the cost competition. As number of low cost carriers are performing well in last five years it can be speculate that in economic down turn these low cost carriers will perform better. Threats to BA also include the fact that extremism and terrorism has made the whole world its prey and any kind of activity can be expected from such fanatics as well. Additionally, the high interest rates, as well as the depreciating currency have also affected the overall performance and profits. Recently bank of England has announced the inflation rate will be far more than growth so this can lead in to down fall in sales. Financial ratios: This section will discuss the financial ratios which would analyze the behavior of the firm in terms of the financial performance of BA. The financial ratios are being calculated for the period of 2007-2009 and after the calculation of the ratios of all the three different periods separately, the results will be drawn which will compare the financial performance of BA over the three years concerning different periods of times. This section would also develop the detailed account of the use of financial ratios which would also be discusses in terms of what these ratios are determined for and what is the reason and intuition behind each of them regarding the financial ratios calculated. These ratios are used as a standard in building the comparison of BAs performance over a period where different years performance would be compared actually. These can also be compared with the other companies which are in competition with BA, either domestically, or internationally. Calculation of the financial ratios is very important and if the companies do not do this exercise, then they would not be able to track their performance efficiently. The companies will keep themselves in dark if they do not keep the record of the financial ratios and they would also not be able to keep informed themselves concerning what and how their growth can be made. Interpretation of these ratios can sometimes put up ambiguous results, so the companies do need to the exact calculations and to put those numbers exactly. Now the research would turn to determine the important financial ratios for developing the understanding of the financial performance of the British Airways over a three year period of 2007-2009. Liquidity ratios: The liquidity ratio is calculated to measure the ability of a certain firm to pay off the bills. Some of the key financial liquidity ratios would be mentioned as follows: Working capital: Working capital is like blood in company, which is necessary to make company operate. Working capital is the measure of the difference of current assets and the current liabilities of the company. Working capital is actually operating liquidity which is there for business to operate and is necessary for day to day operations and it quantify business short term financial health. The equation for the ratio goes as follows: Working Capital = Current assets Current liabilities The net working capital of British Airways and Easy jet for the period of 2007-2009 is as follows: Graph As it could be seen from graph that working capital position of British Airways is not very satisfactory, and the negative figure indicate that working capital management is poor so current assets are less than its current liabilities British Airways can be in danger to fade short term financing problems .which can give a little indication of overtrading in some cases .it is clear from the graph that over the three year period its net working capital is gone bad to verse, and from 194  £million deficit its now 1820  £million deficit. While on the other hand its competitor Easy jets working capital level is relatively stable over the three year period. Decrease in British Airways working capital was 1439  £million from year 2008 to 2009 which was 377% decrease and it is alarming for its liquidity. Current ratio: Current ratios indicate business capability to pay its short term debts. Higher current ratio suggests business has more power to pay its obligations. Current ratios formula takes the assumption that the inventory which is in fact part of the curr

Special Education in Rural Communities Essays -- Learning Disabilities

Special Education in Rural Communities Christmas in January, I hurried quickly to the party, stereo in hand. Checking the time, I rushed across Pollock road to attend my first function as a member of Best Buddies, a community based program sponsored by universities throughout the world to enrich the lives of college students and adults with intellectual disabilities. I entered the room; a low buzz nagged at the edge of my hearing. As I placed my stereo upon the piano and plugged the chord into the socket, I kept my face adverted from the room. I struggled, as flashes of memory coalesced into bright beads, markers, and hours of speech therapy. If you are among the 2.9 million Americans with a Learning Disability (LD), you realize that LD has no cure; instead, you manage it in a series of patterns and behaviors (LDA 1). I was fortunate; my last moments in a Special Needs classroom were as a fifth grader leaving State College. However, I remember clearly Mrs. Weiss and Ms. White and their impact upon me. Years later upon my return from the Army, I found among my old things the posters, alphabet book, and little stories that had made me so proud and received such encouragement from my teachers and parents. Returning to the present, I turned back towards the room and walked to the table, pinning on my Santa Hat name tag as I went. Milling around me was a throng of adults, buddies and students. I meandered to the air-hockey table and saw an unaccompanied buddy. Hitting the puck to him, he casually returned the stroke and a conversation ensued that ranged from his prowess as a bowler, to difficulties with his dad, to the small escapades at his work, a local Sheetz. Talking in often excited tones, the intensity of the air... ...d, expressed in alphabet books, stories, and posters. Works Cited Bureau, U.S. Census. Meeting the Challenge: Americans with Disabilities, 1997. Washington D.C: U.S. Census Bureau, 1997. Jimerson, Lorna. Special Challenges of the "No Child Left Behind" Act for Rural Schools and Districts. Washington, DC: The Rural School and Community Trust, 2003. LDA. Postion Paper of the Learning Disabilities Association of America. 2000. webpage. LDA. 12 February 2004. McIntyre, Alexander Ph.D. Special Education and Rural America. Washington D.C: Department of Education, 2002. MST. Multisystem Therapy: Treatment Model. 2000. Webpage. MST. Available: http://wwww.mstservices.com/text/treatment.html. 25 March 2004. Sitlington, Patricia L., Gary M. Clark, and Oliver P. Kolstoe. Transition Education & Services for Adolescents. 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000.