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Saturday, August 31, 2019

Bloom Research and Response Paper Essay

Larkin and Burton’s abstract preface the Joint Commission’s directive for effective communication among caregivers during handoff to ensure patient safety (Larkin & Burton, 2008, p. 360). The case study reviews the lack of handoff practice and its effect on continuum of care provided to â€Å"Ms. C, a 64-year-old woman, presented to the ambulatory surgery center for an open cholecystectomy† (p. 390), and the subsequent workshop utilizing Bloom’s Taxonomy of Education Objectives to educate and change clinical practice among the staff members. From this reader’s vantage Ms. C’s respiratory de-compensation was a result of the nurses’ failure to communicate patients medical history and critical findings during unit-to-unit transfer and shift report, inadequate nurse to patient ratio along with incomplete charting, failure to recognize early signs and symptoms of respiratory compromise, and lack of critical thinking skills. Evidenced by the case study’s assertions, Ms. C required oxygen in the post anesthesia care unit (PACU) but was transferred without it. Second, the PACU nurse did not communicate to the patient’s need for oxygen to the receiving nurse during handoff report. It is unclear if the surgeon wrote vital sign parameters and pulmonary toilet orders, or if there were standard protocols for this post operative unit. Ms. C’s incomplete graphic record indicate she was placed on four liters of oxygen within two hours of her arrival to the unit at 1630; however, fail to adequately trend abnormal vital signs such as low grade temperature and tachycardia (Larkin & Burton, 2008, p. 392). The record does not document any nurse-initiated interventions or call to the doctor requesting a chest x-ray or recommending a respiratory therapy consult for breathing treatment and incentive spirometer. On post-op day two Ms. C’s respiratory status declined requiring a non-rebreather mask, rapid response team consult, and a transfer to the intensive care unit for a diagnosis of respiratory distress (p. 392). There were multiply factors that contributed to the above scenario; Larkin and Burton writes that â€Å"after this near-miss, failure to rescue incident† (p. 94) a task force consisting of management, clinical nurse specialist (CNS) and unit educator convened to discuss the event. The task force concluded that the nursing staff members were ineffectual in critically evaluating the patient’s signs and symptoms. The CNS chose a framework that utilized â€Å"Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives†, that provided measurable outcomes to the ed ucational activity and enabled the nursing team to optimize their critical skill levels. A workshop to assist staff to navigate through the case study in a realistic manner was implemented (Larkin & Burton, 2008, p. 95). The cognitive domain contains six intellectual skills that measure: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of information received. The affective domain contains five emotional factors: receiving, responding, valuing, organizing, also conceptualizing and characterizing by value concept. It is during this phase that individual buy-in occurs or not. Finally, the psychomotor domain contains five motor skills functions of imitation, manipulation, precision, articulation, and naturalization. The individual learn to adapt his or her movements intuitively to a given situation (Larkin & Burton, 2008, p. 395). The key component of continued nursing education is to advance and apply evidenced based practice at the bedside. The use of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives as the framework promote the transfer of evidence based information, in a setting that allow the nurse educators to evaluate and measure the learner’s: cognitive, affective and psychomotor processes. It allows the learner (nurse) to assess his or her level of application within each domain. Both the educator and the nurse can reinforce successes and target learning opportunities to areas of inefficiency. References Blais, K. K. , & Hayes, J. S. (2011). Professional Nursing Practice Concepts and Perspective (6th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Bouchard, G. J. (2011, November). In Full Bloom: Helping Students Grow Using the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. The Journal of Physican Assistance Education, 22(4), 44-46. Larkin, B. G. , & Burton, K. J. (2008, September). Evaluating a Case Study Using Blooms Taxonomy of Education. AORN, 88(3), 390-402.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Groupon Case

9-511-094 REV: JUNE 13, 2011 SUNIL GUPTA RAY WEAVER DHARMISHTA ROOD Gro oupon n e as of On November 29, 2010, the technology industry wa buzzing with rumors o Google’s bid for Group pon, a two-y year-old web bsite that pro omoted daily deals offeri y ing deep dis scounts from local merch hants. Google reportedly offered at lea $3 billion, eclipsing a r e o ast rival $2 billion bid from Y Yahoo. And as Groupon re a esisted, Goog quickly rai gle ised its offer t as much as $6 billion. 1 to s Ind dustry expert and financ analysts were sharply divided on Google’s mo and Grou ts cial w y ove upon’s poten ntial value. A multibillion A n-dollar valua ation for a com mpany that is in a busines with virtua no s ss ally barrie to entry an is younger than my tod ers nd r ddler is absurd Forrester Research reta analyst Su d,† ail uchitra Mulpuru said blun 2 David Kirkpatrick, a former Fort ntly. K tune magazin columnist, sniffed, â€Å"Gro ne oupon isn’t even a techn nology company, for goo odness’ sake. It’s a discou unter that ha appens to us the se Intern net. †3 Bu others rega ut arded the company highl emphasizi ly, ing its specta acular growt Forbes cro th. wned Group pon the â€Å"fast test growing company ev ver,†4 while m media indust veteran a try and journalist John t Battel marveled, â€Å"I’ve never seen anything like it—we since Goog And just as Google la lle s g ell, gle. t apped the Ye ellow Pages in a fraction of the time, Gr n roupon seems to be on trac to do the sa s ck ame to Googl 5 le. † At the end of a frantic week, Groupon surprised m t n many observe by rejecti ers ing Google’s offer. Shortl after, the company anno ly ounced that it had raised $ $950 million f from private investors, and was d rumored to be laying the groun ndwork for an initial publ offering. T events pr a lic The rompted a br roader debat about whether Silicon Valley—whic had recent seen very high valuati te V ch tly y ions for Face ebook, Twitte and Zyn er, nga—was sho owing signs of another b bubble. Jeff Clavier, man naging partn at ner SoftTe VC and a well-known angel inves ech n stor, predicte â€Å"There m not be a b implosion but ed, may big n, down the road there will be a bu n unch of blood and tears. †6 d Com mpany Origins Gr roupon, a por rtmanteau of the words â€Å"group† and â€Å" f â€Å"coupon,† gr rew out of Th Point, an o he online comm munity for col llective action The site hel n. ped people p propose and promote soci campaigns such ial s as com mpany boyco and chari fundraiser Each camp otts ity rs. paign’s creato specified i â€Å"tipping p or its point,† the pa articipation le evel that was required befo supporter were called to act. The ti ore rs d ipping featur was re _______ _______________ ____ ___________ ________________ _______________ _______________ _______________ ________________ ______ Professo Sunil Gupta an Ray Weaver an Research Asso ors nd nd ociate Dharmishta Rood prepared th case. The auth his hors thank Paul Bu utler for contribu uting to online dat collection. This case was develope from published sources. HBS case are developed solely as the basis f class ta c ed es for discussi ion. Cases are not in ntended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary d s data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective manageme s ent. Copyrig  © 2011 Presiden and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce ma ght nt H T n aterials, call 1-800-5 545-7685, write Ha arvard Business School Publishing, Bo oston, MA 02163, or go to www. hbsp o p. harvard. edu/edu ucators. This publica ation may not be d digitized, photoco opied, or otherwise reproduced, poste or transmitted, without the permis ed, w ssion of Harvard Bu usiness School. This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG 511-094 Groupon designed to allocate the community’s resources only when a campaign had broad support. It also gave advocates of a cause an incentive to recruit others. The Point was founded in 2007 by Andrew Mason, then a master’s student in public policy at the University of Chicago. When an investor approached him with a funding offer, Mason decided to drop out of school and focus on the project full-time. But with an audience too small for advertising to sustain it, The Point initially struggled to generate revenue. Then Mason noticed that many of the most popular campaigns banded consumers together to get volume discounts from retailers. He decided to try pre-arranging similar deals and promoting them on the site for commissions. 7 The experiment was such a success that in November 2008, it was spun off as a separate business, with 27year-old Mason its Founder and CEO. Two hallmarks of Groupon—a focus on local merchants and a self-imposed limit to a single promotion each day—were designed to cope with minimal scale and resources. Mason explained: Have a different [offer] but only one every day so our very small community will still be large enough so that if we channel it all into one thing we’ll be able to achieve the critical mass that we need in order to make a success†¦. That’s part of why we went local. It became possible to go around to the people in our office building for starters. We kicked it off with just 500 people that we got signed up on our mailing list. Sales representatives began pitching merchants across Chicago on the idea of promoting their businesses by selling aggressively discounted vouchers for services to Groupon’s customer base. In return, Groupon would take a cut of each sale. The concept resonated with both business owners and consumers, and Groupon quickly expanded to other cities , beginning with Boston, New York, and San Francisco. After six months, the company had run more than 100 deals and had acquired 60,000 email subscribers. 9 Running and Marketing Groupon Promotions Merchant Profiles and Sales To generate deals, Groupon initially relied on an inside sales team in Chicago that called on local merchants around the country, closing business over the phone and email. Over time, it also began building an outside sales force of account executives based in local markets, starting with large population centers and other cities in which its business had grown rapidly. Though Groupon featured a wide variety of businesses, some themes emerged. Services predominated, though deals for products were not uncommon, especially baked goods and other foods. There was a strong emphasis on leisure, entertainment and recreation (Table A), and occasionally on novel experiences such as helicopter tours and exotic car rentals. Utilitarian services were less popular. One early flop was pet daycare: â€Å"We learned over time that people don’t want to experiment with who is watching their animal,† a company spokesperson explained. 10 2 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG Groupon 5 511-094 Table A e Merchan Category Mix nt M Category C Activities A Dining D Salon & Spa S Merchandise M Membership (e. g. Gym) M Tourism T Hotel H % of Deals 29% 28% 20% 15% 7% 1% 1% Source: Steve Carpenter, â€Å"What Makes Groupon Tick,† TechCrunch, Ma 2, 2010. Based on analysis of a deals run in Q 2010. s † ay d all Q1 A survey cond ducted by mar rketing servic firm Merc ces chantCircle fo ound that loca businesses faced al a vari iety of challen nges in reach hing customer For one th rs. hing, they had very tight b d budgets: more than e half of the 8,500 bu o usinesses surv veyed spent le than $2,50 on marketi annually. They often lacked ess 00 ing . he expertise to adopt new media and te a m echnologies (Figure A). Consequentl the lure of an ly, outsourced online promotion with no up-fro expense w compellin And comp w ont was ng. pared to tradi itional adver rtising, Group pon’s impact was relatively easy to obse w y erve and mea asure. Figur A re Local Business Mark B keting Budgets and Preferr Outl ets red Facebook or other social me edia pro? le Online yell low pages or local n news site Custom emails mer Blog Print yell low pages Direct mail D Print n newspaper 0% 10% 20% 30% 4 40% 50% 60% 70% Source: MerchantCircl Merchant Con le nfidence Index su urvey, February 2 2011. Prepa aring the De eal When a merch hant signed on for a prom o motion, it wo orked with G Groupon to d decide the sp pecific produ or service to be offered and its disco uct d ounted price, ordinarily at least 50% of list. As wit The , ff th Point’ social camp ’s paigns, the de was valid only if the nu eal umber of buy yers achieved a tipping poi set int by the merchant. Other terms included the voucher’s ex e O xpiration date and, in som cases, lim on e me mits 3 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG 11-094 Groupon individual or total purchases. Groupon’s standard agreement was a 50/50 split of voucher revenues, but merchants sometimes negotiated better terms. Groupon’s editorial staff wrote advertising copy to promote each offer. Their descriptions were intended to be entertaining as well as informative, oft en striking an irreverent and offbeat tone. One early deal for a Swedish massage, for example, was accompanied by a FAQ that read: Q: Where is Sweden? A: Sweden is a moon colony where aliens have been teaching American astronauts advanced massage technique for hundreds of years. Q: What is so special about a Swedish massage? A: First of all, the technique comes from outer space. Second of all, it is very advanced. Finally, it relieves the body of lots of stress. Q: How big are the masseuses’ hands at Lincoln Park Massage? A: Good question, for hand size is extremely important in massage. They’re a size 25 on average. Q: That’s not like, disgustingly large monster hands, is it? A: No, that’s just a little above average for humans. Perfect for masseuses. Q: There’s gotta be a catch. Where is the fine print? A: There is no fine print. Here are the completely reasonable stipulations on today’s deal in totally normal size print†¦. The deal terms, ad copy and an accompanying photograph were then assembled for online presentation (see Exhibit 1 for an example, and Exhibit 2 for representative deals in selected cities). Groupon scheduled promotions according to merchant preferences, though it sometimes committed only to a launch window rather than a specific date. Running the Deal Consumers signed up at Groupon. com to get their city’s daily deals, and could request notifications via email, Facebook or Twitter feeds. Each deal was posted online at midnight; outgoing alerts followed in the early morning. Most Groupons were available for purchase for only 24 hours, and a virtual hourglass counted down the remaining time. The deal page also showed a running tally of vouchers sold throughout the day. Groupon processed consumers’ online transactions, then paid out the merchant’s cut of the revenue in three equal installments 5, 30, and 60 days later. Online accounts contained each subscriber’s available Groupons, which could be printed in advance or presented to the merchant on a smartphone. Groupons for online stores included a unique code to be entered at checkout. Although the vast majority of Groupons featured local businesses, national brands were occasionally promoted with deals that were coordinated across cities. Groupon ran its first such deal in August 2010 with The Gap, offering $50 worth of merchandise for $25. It was a huge hit, generating $11 million on sales of 445,000 units. 11 Subsequent offers from Nordstrom Rack and Barnes & Noble were even more popular. And in February 2011, a deal touting new routes on Virgin America sold out in eight minutes. 12 These big promotions generated buzz that increased Groupon’s brand awareness and motivated new customers to sign up. This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG Groupon 511-094 Groupon Subscribers Marketing Groupon to Consumers Many people first learned about Groupon when friends or family alerted them to deals through email and social media. T o encourage this word of mouth, Groupon gave customers $10 toward a future purchase for each referral. 13 It also set up an affiliate marketing program for bloggers and websites to earn commissions of up to 15% on referred traffic. 4 Facebook and Twitter were Groupon’s top referring sites, accounting for 44% and 8% of traffic respectively in January 2010. 15 Groupon also got attention for a contest in which one customer was challenged to â€Å"Live Off Groupon† for an entire year. This â€Å"Groupawn† would be provided an unlimited supply of Groupons for things to eat, do, and buy across America, but could not spend any cash. If successful, he would win a $100,000 prize. Several hundred hopefuls applied, and 28-year-old Chicagoan Josh Stevens was chosen as the winner. Stevens began the challenge in May 2010, posting updates and pictures in various social media along the way. 6 Over time, Groupon began supplementing these efforts with paid advertising, spending h eavily on Google AdWords and AdSense. And in February 2011, the company launched its first TV campaign with a Super Bowl ad, for which each spot cost a reported $3 million. 17 The campaign tried to capture Groupon’s quirky sense of humor, but became a lightning rod for controversy. Each spot featured a celebrity who first appeared to be promoting a social or political cause, then segued into a Groupon endorsement. Actor Timothy Hutton, for example, intoned: The people of Tibet are in trouble. Their very culture is in jeopardy. But they still whip up an amazing fish curry. And since 200 of us bought at Groupon. com, we’re getting $30 of Himalayan food for just $15 at a Himalayan restaurant in Chicago. Many people took offense, accusing Groupon of trivializing and exploiting the Tibetans’ plight. Although Groupon was the second-most mentioned Super Bowl advertiser in online discussions, much of the conversation was unflattering: negative sentiment spiked from 10% in January to 60% the day after the game. 18 One viewer tweeted, â€Å"Groupon seems to have achieved the unique feat of paying $3M to lose customers who previously loved them. 19 Mason initially defended the campaign as tongue-in-cheek, but when criticism persisted, he decided to pull the ads. 20 Consumer Response Groupon became very popular among a customer base that tended to be young, well-educated, unmarried, and relatively affluent. Over three-fourths of subscribers were women (Exhibit 3). Consumers enthused not only about the m oney Groupon saved them, but also about its convenience, variety, and other benefits. I Love Groupon! From my first purchase, I have been hooked. I have purchased several Groupons and have never had a problem redeeming them. The merchants have always been appreciative of my participation in the Deal. 21 I think I’ve gained weight trying all the restaurant and bakery deals! But that’s where the cycling and exercise deals come in, along with some pampering specials. I’m on a wellbalanced Groupon diet! 22 5 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG 511-094 Groupo on Groupon al llows me to discover even d nts/activities in NYC—I’m a tourist in my hometow m wn 2 th hanks to this savvy group. 3 s Redem mptions typic cally began with a big su w urge in the f first month a after a deal w run, the was en declined to a fairly stea t ady, lower rat and finally spiked again shortly befo expiration (Figure B). te, y n ore n Figure B Typical Gro oupon Redem mption Pattern n Source: Me erchant Welcome Guide, downloa e aded from www w. groupon. com/p pages/day-of-yo our-feature. But so ome vouchers were never used. Buye sometime reported fe s r ers es eeling â€Å"Grou upon remorse e† when offe that had seemed irresi ers s istible became less appeal ling in retrosp pect. One Ch hicago residen nt recalled th hinking, â€Å"Wh doesn’t wa a Segway tour? † as he spent $160 for four tick ho ant y e kets, only to let them expire because he never got around using them. And a Boston wom with $25 in voucher h a g man 50 rs from vario group bu ous uying sites lam mented, â€Å"Ther just isn’t en re nough time in the day to d it all. I mad n do de a spreads sheet, and it’s so sad, the ey’re all com ming due. † Gr roupon didn’ disclose no ’t on-redemptio on rates, but various estim mates put the number betw e ween 10 and 30 percent. 4 Many state l laws, howeve er, stipulated that vouchers could be re d edeemed for their purchas price after e t se expiration, of ften for several years. Th remedy was explaine on Group his w ed pon’s websit though it was unclea how man te, t ar ny consumer were aware of it. rs e Value to Merchan t nts Positive Reactions R Many merchants he eartily endors Groupon for its ability to raise awa sed y areness, increa traffic, an ase nd 25 acquire ne customers Among them was Gerric Adachi, ow ew s. ck wner of Aiea G Grill in Portla and, Oregon:2 The concept is sheer genius The web-s e s. avvy, interac ctive format is so well th hought out forwar and backw rds wards. Who ever heard of acquiring 51 new, quali customers in one day e f 16 ity with no money up front? You were also righ about the G n w ht Groupon mem mber being a high grade custom mer, operatin at a sop ng phistication level far ab bove that o the typic of cal bargain hunter r/coupon cutter. Bill Ra aupp of San Diego Desserts concurred: â€Å"There is cle D : early no othe program th creates th er hat his brand aw wareness, with a positive direct effect to my bottom line. Groupo far outweighs any othe h d o m on er 26 advertisin or free adv ng vertising prog gram out there e. † 6 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG Groupon 511-094 American Apparel ran a popular deal in which it offered $50 worth of clothing for $25, selling 133,000 vouchers. Afterwards, a company insider listed several positive effects. First, customers spent an average of $20 above the voucher’s face value when cashing in the deal. The promotion also attracted many new customers: â€Å"The killer was email address acquisition†¦. We converted approximately 25% of in store redemptions into signing up for our email list†¦ which is on track to generate an additional five to six figures in online revenue. † Finally, American Apparel negotiated a contract that gave Groupon â€Å"much much less than half† of the v oucher revenue. 27 Negative Reactions Despite such enthusiasm, Groupon’s effect on merchant profitability was hotly debated. One wellpublicized critique came from the owner of Posie’s Bakery and Cafe, who called using Groupon â€Å"the single worst decision I have ever made as a business owner†: I [told the Groupon sales representative] we would have to get at least 50% to cover our costs of product†¦. What I didn’t think clearly enough about was that that margin we mark up is what covers all of our other costs†¦ like staff, rent, utilities, etc. Our overhead is roughly $25,000/month, and this decision was about to make it so that we didn’t cover any of those other costs. [W]e met many, many wonderful new customers, and were so happy to have them join the Posie’s family. At the same time we met many, many terrible Groupon customers†¦ customers that didn’t follow the Groupon rules and used multiple Groupons for single transactions, and argued with you about it with disgusted looks on their faces, or who tipped based on what they owed (10% of $0 is zero dollars, so tossing in a dime was to them being generous). After three months of Groupons coming through the door, I started to see the results really hurting us financially. There came a time when we literally could not make payroll because at that point in time we had lost nearly $8,000 with our Groupon campaign. 28 U. S. Toy, a retailer in Kansas City, was also unsatisfied. It offered $20 worth of merchandise for $10, half of which went to Groupon. Customers snapped up 2,800 coupons, but managers became discouraged by their shopping patterns. Co-CEO Jonathan Freiden said, â€Å"It didn’t drive in new people, and the people that were coming in didn’t spend even our average sale. It was just sad. † He estimated that U. S. Toy lost money on three-quarters of the transactions, and that 90% of purchasers were existing customers. 29 Profit Drivers It became clear that the success of any particular daily deal depended on a ariety of factors, including the mix of new versus existing customers, upside spending at the time of redemption, and success in converting discount buyers into regular customers. Several surveys tried to measure these and assess merchant satisfaction, often with contrasting results (Table B). b a American Apparel’s gross profits averaged 53% of sales, accor ding to MSN Money. b Customer mix was not measured in any of these surveys. It was believed to vary widely, but a common assumption was that half of Groupon buyers were new customers. 7 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG 511-094 Groupon Table B Merchant Surveys about Experiences with Groupon and Other Daily Deals Merchant Responses Not reported 80 150 1,568 Promotional Partner(s) Groupon Groupon and others Groupon Groupon and others Spending Over Face Value avg redeemer spent 60% over face value Not asked 41% of redeemers exceeded face value Not asked % of Redeemers Who Made 1+ Repeat Visit 22% 19% 25% Not asked % of Merchants Who Would Run Another Deal 95% 93% 57% 45% Source Groupon Yipit daily deal aggregator Rice University marketing prof. MerchantCircle Sources: www. grouponworks. com/why-groupon; Ian Sherr, â€Å"Online Coupons Get Smarter,† The Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2010; Jim Moran, â€Å"Local Social Commerce: The Explosion of Group Buying,† blog. yipit. com, August 19, 2010; Utpal Dholakia, â€Å"How Effective Are Groupon Promotions for Business? †, September 28, 2010; MerchantCircle Merchant Confidence Index survey, February 2011. One cartoonist, poking fun at business owners’ potential naivete, summed up the dilemma this way: while Groupon â€Å"may bring in lots of customers,† merchants might â€Å"lose money on every sale† (Exhibit 4). Groupon, however, argued that bad outcomes were rare: 95% of merchants it surveyed were satisfied with their Groupon experience, and 96% would recommend it to others. 30 And in August 2010, the company reported a waiting list of 35,000 businesses. 31 Aggressive Growth Encouraged by its early success, Groupon expanded rapidly, replicating its model in new markets. By the end of 2009, the company operated in about 30 U. S. and Canadian cities, and business seemed to be booming in nearly every location (see Exhibit 5 for a sample). In 2010, Groupon set its sights on foreign territories, primarily by acquiring companies that had copied its model in their home countries—first in Western Europe, then South America, then Asia and elsewhere. The pace of this expansion was perhaps unprecedented: a little more than two years after its founding, Groupon had operations in more than 500 markets in 43 countries (Table C). One media outlet marveled, â€Å"We can’t think of a company—ever—that is so aggressive about going international so big, so fast. 32 The urgency was driven in part by the sense that an early mover could establish a lasting advantage. But some observers questioned Groupon’s ability to leverage its brand and experience overseas. 8 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG Groupon 511-094 Table C Groupon’s Expansion Date Nov 08 Mar 09 Jun 09 Sep 09 Dec 09 Mar 10 Jun 10 Sep 10 Dec 10 Mar 11 Countries 1 1 1 1 1 1 18 29 35 43 Cities 1 2 7 18 28 40 150 230 300 500 Subscribers (Worldwide) Savings to Datea (North America) 50k 700k 1. 7M 3M 6M 13M 50M 60M $4. 5M $18M $42M $100M $285M $400M $900M a Aggregate consumer savings on Groupons sold in North American markets. Aggregate worldwide savings were $1,800M as of March 2011. Source: Compiled from company press releases archived at www. groupon. com/press. These acquisitions were funded in part by several rounds of venture capital financing: $30 million in December 2009, $135 million in April 2010, and $950 million in January 2011. As a result of its efforts, Groupon’s revenue exploded from $33 million in 2009 to $760 million in 2010. 33 Still, significant upside remained: only 6. % of respondents to the MerchantCircle survey had run a Groupon pro motion, with another 13% planning to do so in the coming months. And the local advertising market was estimated at $100 billion in the U. S. alone. 34 Growing Pains Groupon’s growth created significant management challenges, not least of which was the training and integration of newly hired and acquired personnel. The company ended 2010 with over 4,000 employees, up from just 120 the year before. 35 By comparison, Facebook’s employee count was less than 100 after two years in business, and around 2,000 in early 2011. This environment occasionally contributed to service failures and other snafus. One Groupon in Yokohama, Japan marketed home delivery from a local restaurant of osechi, a traditional New Year’s meal. Demand overwhelmed the business, and many osechi sets arrived late or in poor condition. In response, Mason posted an apology on YouTube, conceding that his company had â€Å"really messed up. † Customers were given refunds and credited 5,000 yen toward future purchases. 36 Another incident involved an FTD Valentine’s Day promotion. When browsing FTD’s website to redeem their purchases, customers noticed flower arrangements with sale prices (for which their vouchers weren’t valid) below the Groupon discounted price. Some accused FTD of overstating its retail prices to make the offer seem more attractive. FTD and Groupon denied this and called the situation a misunderstanding. Again, refunds were offered to the affected customers. 37 Groupons also sometimes adversely affected a merchant’s regular patrons, as one customer expressed in an online vent: I go to a Sushi bar who has offered a Groupon promotion. When I arrive there, I encounter a busy, under-staffed, ran-out-of-menu items restaurant where my full price is subsidizing the half-off diners who have destroyed a perfectly fine business for the next few days after the 9 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG 511-094 Groupon Groupon offer. It works for merchandise. For services, a Groupon success is a curse for regular customers/patrons. 8 To alleviate such problems, Groupon undertook a variety of measures, notably the expansion of its customer service organization to 1,000 employees. The company also rolled out new services to help merchants run promotions smoothly, including a capacity planning tool and a smartphone app for voucher verification and redemption. 39 Widespread Competition For all Groupon’s acclaim as a web darling—media had hailed it as â€Å"the next web phenomâ € 40 and â€Å"the it digital phenomenon of the moment†41—the operation was at its core remarkably simple. Groupon neither held inventory nor carried out fulfillment, relying instead on its merchant partners. Much of the technology required—email broadcasting, transaction processing, and a website that was fairly basic by Web 2. 0 standards—was mature and fairly cheap. In principle, nearly any organization with a customer database and a business sales function could offer its own daily deals. Accordingly, competitors sprang up in droves, numbering nearly 300 in the U. S. by early 2011. 42 Many closely imitated not only Groupon’s business model, but its look and feel as well (Exhibit 6). The largest of these rivals was Washington, D. C. -based LivingSocial. Although significantly smaller than Groupon, LivingSocial was also growing rapidly, and in January 2011 got a big boost by promoting $20 Amazon gift cards at half off. (Amazon had recently invested $175 million in the company. 43) Nearly 1. 2 million customers took the deal. By March, LivingSocial had 24 million subscribers, and was operating in more than 200 cities across 11 countries. 44 Established e-commerce properties also scrambled to participate in the daily deals phenomenon. Some of these served particular niches, such as OpenTable (restaurants), The Knot (wedding services), and Travelzoo (travel). A cottage industry of aggregators also emerged. These sites sourced no deals themselves, instead collecting and presenting a summary of others’ offers to earn commissions on referred traffic. But despite the onslaught, Groupon held a domestic market share of over 50%. 45 Some competitors tried to win merchants over by offering lower fees or leveraging other media. One of these was Double Take Deals, launched by Clipper Magazine, America’s largest distributor of local coupon magazines. The owner of Haydn Zug’s restaurant in Lancaster, PA, was persuaded. When I learned that Double Take Deals could pay out a higher percentage than Groupon,† he said, â€Å"I was intrigued. But when they offered me a free full-page ad in Clipper Magazine too, it sealed the deal. I knew that was something no one else could offer. †46 But perhaps the biggest threat came from the web heavyweights. Spurned by Groupon, Google began developing a competing service of its own cal led Google Offers. Industry experts expected Offers to promote deals that were relevant to a consumer’s current location, tying them to mobile phones and Google Maps (Exhibit 7). 7 Similarly, Facebook launched a location-aware product called Facebook Deals. It offered merchants a menu of promotions to suit different objectives, such as attracting new customers or encouraging repeat visits (Exhibit 8). Groupon 2. 0 To stay ahead of competitors, Groupon was developing a variety of innovations, sometimes collectively referred to as â€Å"Groupon 2. 0†. One of these was Groupon Stores, which enabled merchants 10 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG Groupon 511-094 to set up virtual storefronts on Groupon’s website. From its store, each merchant could launch selfservice deals of its choosing, dictating the number and frequency of offers (Exhibit 9). Groupon took a commission of 10% of sales, rather than its customary 50%, on these promotions. Because this meant that consumers would have access to more than one deal at a time, Groupon created Deal Feed to collect and personalize each subscriber’s current offers. But the reception for these was lukewarm. One industry insider, noting that Groupon had quietly removed the â€Å"My Deal Feed† link from its navigation header, speculated that Groupon Stores was â€Å"dead on arrival. †48 A more ambitious initiative was Groupon Now. Its vision—similar to those of Google’s and Facebook’s new products—was to offer just-in-time, hyper-local promotions on GPS-equipped smartphones. Groupon Now featured a simple two-button interface: â€Å"I’m Hungry† and â€Å"I’m Bored. † The product was still in trials, but Mason made his ambitions clear: â€Å"It makes Google’s market look quite small if we get it right. It’s really tapping into the largest part of commerce in the U. S. —local. †49 Looking Ahead In a little more than two years, Groupon had transformed from an unknown startup into a global enterprise with 6,000 employees in more than 40 countries. A few months after Groupon turned down Google’s $6 billion offer, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that the company was in negotiations with bankers for an initial public offering that could value the company at $25 billion. 50 To some, Groupon appeared to be an unstoppable juggernaut. But detractors rattled off a laundry list of concerns. Could Groupon maintain the high fees it extracted from merchants? Would it be able to fight off Google, Facebook, and an army of copycats? Was the daily deals phenomenon a hot fad that would inevitably cool off? Some even questioned Groupon’s fundamental business model: did it deliver lasting value to merchants? Forrester’s Suchitra Mulpuru warned, â€Å"Everyone thinks this hyper growth is going to continue. If these merchants come to realize these consumers are not coming back, they’re not going to do more Groupons. And if they don’t do more Groupons the whole model falls apart. †51 Andrew Mason was acutely aware of these risks, laying them out in a 2010 year-end internal memo that cautioned his employees against complacency and challenged them to secure Groupon’s place among the great Internet businesses:52 Not only must we continue to beat the thousands of clones who lifted our idea and began at roughly the same time as we did, but now we must also beat the biggest, smartest technology companies in the world. They are coming HARD. If you feel a little like Frodo climbing Mount Doom, you can’t be blamed. Is it hopeless? How can we avoid the fate of the Internet darlings before us – Yahoo, MySpace, Friendster, AOL – that crashed as magnificently as they rose? Companies don’t lose to competitors – they lose to themselves. MySpace lost to itself, not Facebook. MySpace essentially handed Facebook the keys to the castle by devolving into a service that wasn’t delighting its customers. For whatever reason, it got stuck. It stopped innovating. By this time next year, we will either be on our way to becoming one of the great technology brands that define our generation, or a cool idea by people who were out executed and out innovated by others that were smarter and harder working. 11 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG 511-094 Groupon o Exhibit 1 Example Daily Deal D Source: Gro oupon. com. 12 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG Groupon 511-094 Exhibit 2 Deal Profiles for Groupons Run in Various Cities Median Deal Terms City Austin, TX Boston, MA Charlotte, NC Chicago, IL Kansas City, MO Omaha, NE Phoenix, AZ San Francisco, CA Tampa, FL Vancouver, BC Launch Date Sep 2009 Mar 2009 Oct 2009 Oct 2008 Nov 2009 Feb 2010 Aug 2009 Jun 2009 Sep 2009 Apr 2010 Voucher Price $43 $42 $32 $37 $31 $29 $33 $42 $28 $46 Retail Value $110 $109 $86 $94 $90 $85 $96 $106 $82 $116 Tipping Point 59 94 25 130 51 24 37 56 42 54 Months Valid 5. 7 7. 6 7. 7 7. 3 7. 4 6. 6 7. 1 8. 1 7. 7 6. 9 Source: Compiled by case writers from deals run 10/08 – 12/10, archived on Groupon. com and ThePoint. com. 13 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG 511-094 Groupo on Exhibit 3 Groupon User Demogra U aphics Source: http p://www. group ponworks. com/w why-groupon/demographics. e 14 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG Groupon 511-094 Exhib 4 bit A Cart toonist’s Take e Source: Tom Fishburn Marketoonist. com. ne, 15 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG 511-094 Groupon o Exhibit 5 Quarterly Results in Sel R lected Cities Source: Com mpiled by case writers from arch w hived deal results on Groupon. co m and ThePoint s o t. com. 16 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG Groupon 5 511-094 Exhib 6 bit Some Competing Daily Deals C D Sources LivingSocial. com, BuyWithM s: Me. com, and GiltCity. com. C 17 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG 511-094 Groupon o Exhibit 7 Sample De from Goog Offers eal gle Source: http p://techcrunch. c com/2011/01/25 5/sneak-peak-google-offers/. o 18 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG Groupon 511-094 Exhib 8 bit Facebo Deals ook Source: http://www. f facebook. com/deals/. e 19 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG 511-094 Groupo on Exhibit 9 Groupon Stores S Source: http p://www. group pon. com/merchants/welcome. a 20 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG Groupon 511-094 Endnotes Evelyn Rusli and Claire Miller, â€Å"Google Is Said to Be Poised to Buy Groupon,† DealBook, The New York Times, November 30, 1010, http://dealbook. nytimes. com/2010/11/30/google-is-said-to-be-close-to-buyinggroupon/? ref=grouponinc, accessed December 2010. Evelyn Rusli and Jenna Wortham, â€Å"Google Gambit for Groupon Raises Concern,† DealBook, The New York Times, November 30, 2010, http://dealbook. nytimes. com/2010/11/30/googles-gambit-for-groupon-raisesconcerns/? partner=rss&emc=rss, accessed December 2010. 3 Tiernan Ray, â€Å"Does Google’s Groupon Deal Make Sense? Barron’s, December 4, 2010, http://online. barrons. com/article/SB50001424052970204033804575645052537926526. html? mod=BOL_twm_col, accessed December 2010. 4 Christopher Steiner, â€Å"Meet the Fastest Growing Company Ever,† Forbes. com, August 30, 2010, http://www. forbes. com/forbes/2010/0830/entrepreneurs-groupon-facebook-twitter-next-webphenom_2. html, accessed February 2011. 2 1 John Battelle, â€Å"Thinking Out Loud: What’s Driving Groupon? † businessinsider. com, December 19, 2010, http://www. businessinsider. com/battelle-groupon-2010-12#ixzz1CGRvk7Sb, accessed February 2011. Jenna Wortham and Evelyn Rusli, â€Å"A Silicon Bubble Shows Signs of Reinflating,† DealBook, The New York Times, December 3, 2010, http://dealbook. nytimes. com/2010/12/03/a-silicon-bubble-shows-signs-ofreinflating/, accessed December 2010. Christopher Steiner, â€Å"Meet the Fastest Growing Company Ever,† Forbes. com, August 30, 2010, http://www. forbes. com/forbes/2010/0830/entrepreneurs-groupon-facebook-twitter-next-webphenom_2. html, accessed February 2011. 8 9 7 6 5 Ibid. â€Å"Groupon Saves Consumers More Than $1 Million in Less Than Six Months Chicagoans, Bostonians Save Big Using Daily Discount Website,† Globenewswire. om, April 22, 2009, http://www. globenewswire. com/ newsroom/news. html? d=163568, accessed February 2011. 10 â€Å"Daily Deals Dissected: Where the Popular Offers are and Who is Buying,† mint. com, December 24, 2010, http://www. mint. com/blog/trends/groupon-12142010/, accessed February 2011. 11 Wailin Wong, â€Å"Gap’s Gro upon Pulls in $11 Million,† ChicagoTribune. com, August 20, 2010, http://articles. chicagotribune. com/2010-08-20/business/sc-biz-0821-groupon-20100820_1_gender-and-zipcode-chicago-startup-coupon-site, accessed February 2011. 12 Owen Thomas, â€Å"Can Groupon Take to the Skies with its First Airline Deal? venturebeat. com, February 17, 2011, http://venturebeat. com/2011/02/17/groupon-virgin-america/, accessed February 2011. 13 â€Å"New on Groupon: Referral Rewards,† goupon. com, October 5, 2009, http://www. groupon. com/blog/ cities/new-on-groupon-referral-rewards/, accessed February 2011. 14 â€Å"Groupon: Collective Buying Power,† groupon. com, http://www. groupon. com/pages/affiliates, accessed February 2011. 15 Lindsay Steinbach, â€Å"Do You Groupon? † blog. compete. com, March 10, 2010, http://blog. compete. com/2010/ 03/10/do-you-groupon/, accessed February 2011. 16 â€Å"One Brave Soul. Living only off Groupons,† http://liveoffgroupon. com/about/, accessed February 2011. 17 Stuart Elliott, â€Å"Super Bowl Marketers Try to Score Points, Too, nytimes. com, January 31, 2011. http://www. nytimes. com/2011/02/01/business/media/01adcol. html? _r=1&scp=3&sq=groupon&st=cse, accessed February 2011. 18 â€Å"Like new customers? Then you’ll love Groupon,† grouponworks. com, http://www. grouponworks. com/, accessed February 2011. 21 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG 511-094 Groupon Laurie Segall, â€Å"Groupon Spends Big on Controversial (Tasteless? ) Super Bowl Spots,† money. cnn. com, February 7, 2011, http://money. cnn. com/2011/02/06/technology/groupon_superbowl_ad/index. htm, accessed February 2011. Wailin Wong, â€Å"Groupon Pulls Controversial Tibet Ad,† chicagobreakingbusiness. com, February 11, 2011, http://chicagobreakingbusiness. com/2011/02/groupon-pulls-controversial-tibet-ad. html, accessed February 2011. 21 22 23 20 19 http://amplicate. com/love/groupon, opinion by User-7855g5, posted Jan 27 2011, accessed March 2011. http://www. roupon. com/press, accessed March 2011. Ibid. 24 Beth Teitell, â€Å"For Coupon Overreachers, a Chance to Recoup,† The Boston Globe, March 9, 2011, http://www. boston. com/lifestyle/articles/2011/03/09/market_for_groupon_remors e_allows_users_to_unload _coupons, accessed March 2011. â€Å"Too Much of a Good Thing? † groupon. com, September 16, 2010, http://www. groupon. co m/blog/cities/ too-much-of-a-good-thing, accessed February 2011. â€Å"What do you get with Groupon that you don’t get anywhere else? † grouponworks. com, http://www. grouponworks. com/why-groupon, accessed February 2011. William Wei, â€Å"American Apparel Source Raves about a $3 Million Groupon Deal—Reveals Sales Numbers that Will Erase ‘Ongoing Doubts about Groupon’,† BusinessInsider. com, December 14, 2010, http://www. businessinsider. com/american-apparel-groupon-2010-12, accessed March 2011. â€Å"Groupon in Retrospect,† posiecafe. com, September 11, 2010 http://posiescafe. com/wp/? p=316, accessed February 2011. Shira Ovide, â€Å"Groupon Merchant: ‘There’s a Flaw in their Business’,† DealJournal, WSJ. com, January 7, 2011, http://blogs. wsj. com/deals/2011/01/07/a-groupon-customer-speaks-why-groupon-didnt-work-for-me, accessed January 2011. 0 â€Å"What do you get with Groupon that you don’t get anywhere else? † grouponworks. com, http://www. grouponworks. com/why-groupon, accessed February 2011. 31 Rolfe Winkler, â€Å"Groupon Has a Chance to Cash This One In,† online. wsj. com, January 24, 2011, http://online. wsj. com/article/SB10001424052748703398504576100203631870050. html? KEYWORDS=groupon, accessed February 2011. 32 Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, â€Å"Groupon Buys Up Competitors in Israel, South Africa, and India,† businesssinsider. com, January 11, 2011, http://www. businessinsider. com/groupon-snaps-up-more-internationalcompetitors-2011-1, accessed February 2011. 9 28 27 26 25 Michael Hickins, â€Å"The Groupon Frodo Memo,† WSJ Digits, February http://blogs. wsj. com/digits/2011/02/25/the-groupon-frodo-memo/, accessed March 2011. 33 25, 10, 2011, 2011, Bill Saporito, â€Å"The Groupon Clipper,† Time, February http://www. time. com/time/business/article/0,8599,2047215-1,00. html, accessed February 2011. 35 34 Michael Hickins, â€Å"Groupon Revenue Hit $760 Million, CEO Memo Shows,† The Wall Street Journal, February 26, 2011, http://online. wsj. com/article/SB10001424052748703408604576164641411042376. html? mod= WSJ_Tech_LEFTTopNews, accessed March 2011. 6  "Groupon CEO Apologizes to Japan Customers for ‘Osechi’ Mess-Up,† japantoday. com, January 18, 2011, http://www. japantoday. com/category/national/view/groupon-ceo-apologizes-to-japanese-customers-forosechi-mess-up, accessed February 2011. 37 Tim Krisher, â€Å"Groupon Users Furious about FTD Flower Deal,† HuffingtonPost. com, February 13, 2011, http://www. huffingtonpost. com/2011/02/13/groupon-ftd-deal_n_822360. html, accessed March 2011. 22 This document is authorized for use only by Boshen Wang in MACC 402 – Groupon taught by William Forster from August 2011 to December 2011. For the exclusive use of B. WANG Groupon 511-094 â€Å"Groupon CEO Apologizes to Japan Customers for ‘Osechi’ Mess-Up,† japantoday. com, January 18, 2011, http://www. japantoday. com/category/national/view/groupon-ceo-apologizes-to-japanese-customers-forosechi-mess-up, accessed February 2011. Kunur Patel, â€Å"Groupon Primes Itself to Become the Next Zappos,† AdAge Digital, March 1, 2011, http://adage. com/article/digital/groupon-primes-zappos/149141/, accessed March 2011. Christopher Steiner, â€Å"The Next Web Phenom,† forbes. com, September

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Currnt Strtgic ctivity within Mjr Intrntinl Cmpny Essay

Currnt Strtgic ctivity within Mjr Intrntinl Cmpny - Essay Example In 2004, th thltic pprl nd ftwr mrkt ws wrth mr thn US$ 58 billin. Th tp thr cmpnis - Nik, Rbk, nd dids - rpd pr-tx prfits munting t US$ 1123 millin, US$ 195.5 millin, nd US$ 408.9 millin rspctivly (rsnult, Fwzy, 2001). Th currnt mnufcturing prctics f th snkr industry, in prticulr cmpnis such s Nik, Rbk, nd dids, tks plc thrughut th glb. With th industry xprincing svr cmptitin, nd th prduct rquiring intnsiv lbr, firms r fcing xtrm prssur t incrs thir prfit mrgins thrugh thir surcing prctics. Th fllwing ppr will nlyz th snkr industry, whil xmining th multitud f vibl mnufcturing ptins, nd critiquing thir currnt mnufcturing structur. T prprly rviw th mnufcturing in th ftwr industry, it is ncssry t first gin n undrstnding f th dminnt ldrs in th mrktplc. Th industry is currntly xprincing hyprcmptitin, ld by six min firms - Nik, Rbk, dids, Fil, Cnvrs, nd Nw Blnc, with nrly $7 billin in rvnus dmsticlly. Nik is th industry ldr, with 47% mrkt shr, fllwd by Rbk, distnt scnd t 16%, nd dids t 6%. This ctgry is fcing dcrsing dmnd nd th rising ppulrity f ltrntiv ftwr, rsulting in mr prssur thn vr bfr t chiv high grss mrgins thrugh ffctiv glbl surcing prctics. Ftwr cmpnis hv tw bsic ptins in th mnufcturing f thir prducts, thy cn bth wn nd prt th fctris tht prduc thir prducts, r subcntrct thir prducts ut t scndry mnufcturrs. Ths fcilitis cn b lctd ithr dmsticlly r intrntinlly, nd bth prsnt myrid f psitivs nd ngtivs. Firms tht prduc dmsticlly bnfit frm s f mnitring, skilld wrkfrc, gvrnmnt stbility, jb crtin, nd wll undrstd lbr ruls, whil suffring frm th rltivly high wgs rquird in th U.S. s cmprd t dvlping cuntris. By mnufcturing prducts vrss, in prticulr in third wrld cnmis, trmndus fficincis r gind in th frm f rducd wgs, but r cuntrd by th incrsd difficulty f mnitring th qulity f thir prducts nd th ctul wrking cnditins in th fctris. Cmpnis tht r vrticlly intgrtd, wh wn nd prt th fctris whr thir prducts r mnufcturd, r fcd with lrg cpitl xpnditur rquirmnts nd th mngmnt f th fctris thmslvs, rsulting in lwr prfit mrgins. Strtgic utsurcing In nlyzing th snkr industry, w r fcd with th qustin, "Wht r ths firms cr cmptncis" If mnufcturing flls undr this umbrll, thn firms shuld lk t prduc intrnlly. Hwvr, th cr skills tht st ths cmpnis prt frm th cmptitin, r thir mrkting, distributin, nd tchnlgicl xprtis. pplying th dminnt snkr cmpnis rs f xprtis, lt's rviw th fllwing qustins: Is intrnliztin surc f cmptitiv dvntg Is mnufcturing skill ur firm ds bttr thn nybdy ls Will firms b bl t lvrg thir mnufcturing xprtis in th futur r w rlsing ny f th firm's prpritry skills/infrmtin by utsurcing With ll f th bv qustins psd t ny f th big fur snkr cmpnis, thy wuld rspnd with rsunding "n". Thrfr, in tdy's glbl nvirnmnt, th mst strtgiclly vibl mnufcturing strtgy is th utsurcing f thir prducts. Th fficincis tht r gind, in th frm f shifting f risk, rducd cpitl rquirmnts, lwr wgs, nd bility t fcus n thir cr cmptncis, strngly utwigh ll thr mnufcturing ptins. Th vlutin f Mnufcturing in Third Wrld Cuntris s th cnmis f cuntris rund wrld xpnd, s ds thir bility nd skill lvl in ll fcts f mnufcturing. Bginning in Lndn in th rly 1900's, nd fllwd thrugh t th prsnt dy, mnufcturing in its simplst frm cnsists f light

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Marketing report 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marketing report 1 - Essay Example Reports from social media comment that 75% of internet users actively participate in social platforms, which shows that online review of products will continue, and companies will not have control of the same. Similarly, consumer preferences are dynamic; hence, consumers are gradually becoming the brand managers. From such a standpoint, the consumers will continue sharing their opinions because they want companies to make or produce products in a particular manner. Such has a variety of implications, one; consumers are going to rely on online reviews to consider buying or consuming particular products. In addition, marketing will take a different dimension, in that; the ads on different products will gradually lose meaning. This means that, the message on a certain product will not serve as a motivator to consuming behavior. In other words, brands will not control the message because consumers are gradually becoming brand managers for the products they consume. Companies that fear online brand review should change their tact. Doing so is strategic, and consumers will find a sense of belonging, in that; they can give, their opinions and companies use them to create preferred products. Similarly, the feedbacks are not only beneficial to consumers, but also offer insight to marketers; hence, they can incorporate user-generated reviews into their marketing strategies (Adamczyk). Concerning the function of social media in marketing, the Gap Model of Service Quality applies. From the article, it is evident that renowned brands are shunning consumers from giving their feedbacks, particularly negative reviews for their products. However, considering that the consumers are becoming brand managers; therefore, there is a clear gap. The online reviews are suggestions on what the consumers expect, and what companies perceive they want. As for such, the companies fail to appreciate the consumer’s

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Stages of Business development Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Stages of Business development - Research Paper Example DISCUSSION Stage 1: Existence -This stage can be duly considered as the initial phase of a business wherein a new thought or an idea is developed for starting up a new enterprise. This stage includes various aspects such as emerging challenges of market acceptance, creating a distinctive business focus and sourcing of capital to enter into diverse markets among others. In relation to this particular stage, businesses may often face a problem concerning gaining greater satisfaction level of customers as well as delivering end products. Businesses or establishment in the existence stage thrive for raising customer acceptance and amplifying business reputation. Companies like Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and Apple Inc. are planning to launch new products or appliances for the customers in future. This can be duly considered as a new business idea which may provide with lot of valuable inputs to the overall mobile and telephony industry by a certain degree (Churchill and Lewis, â€Å"T he Five Stages of Small Business Growth†). Thus, Samsung and Apple can fit into this stage. Stage 2: Survival -This stage is mainly applicable for those businesses that have been able to survive in this competitive landscape. In this stage, a particular company actually takes the higher leap of development as well as growth in the competitive market in full motion. This phase provides a business with numerous opportunities in terms of earning significant profits and also creating a positive image in front of the customers. For instance, nutrition based company i.e. The Kellogg Company had achieved considerable amount of growth and is still surviving in this competitive landscape. This might be owing to the reason of offering better product quality and cheaper product price among others (Churchill and Lewis, â€Å"The Five Stages of Small Business Growth†). Thus, Kellogg’s can fit into this stage. Stage 3: Success- It is a particular stage wherein every business s trives to attain. In this phase, a business becomes quite mature and acquires a powerful position in the market. This stage eventually makes a business to attain a favorable position in front of the consumers with regard to goodwill and brand image. For instance, companies like Cadbury and Nestle S.A. have established themselves as premier chocolate varieties resulting in gaining greater success in this competitive business setting (Churchill and Lewis, â€Å"The Five Stages of Small Business Growth†). Thus, Cadbury and Nestle can fit into this stage. Stage 4: Take-off -In this particular stage, a company looks forward to enter into new business dimensions with prime objective of increasing its profitability and brand image and thus endeavors to achieve a take-off position. Considering, this particular stage, a new market segment or a portion of an existing establishment ensures to achieve growth and profit by implementing effectual marketing strategies (Sullivan 1-40). For e xample, the company i.e. Frito-Lay is undergoing its expansion stage as the company is introducing new variances in the flavor of its flagship product i.e. Potato Chips. By introducing new flavors in its product, the company wants to cater to huge figure of consumers and also to achieve higher growth rate in the global business markets (Churchill and Lewis, â€Å"The Five Stages of Small Business Growth†). Thus, Frito-Lay can fit into this stage. Stage 5: Resource maturity - It is a particul

Monday, August 26, 2019

Critical criminology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Critical criminology - Essay Example Plato, for example was in favour of a penal system which was curative, seeking to reform wrongdoers, and spoke out against retribution because it only increases suffering and brings no good result. (Bauman: 1996 , p. 3) Increasingly, laws were created to sustain a dominant view of society and silence any resistance to this from people who would rather escape such tight regulation. An increasing reliance on scientific methods, using all the benefits of new scientific discoveries such as magnification, fingerprinting and evidence based practice had the advantage of rooting out superstition and religion as judicial tools, but it had the disadvantage of subjecting human beings to ever tighter systems of control and regulation. Eventually critical criminology emerged to take issue with the free will argument and look instead at a much wider range of issues which contribute to the way people behave in society. In modern western societies these different views coexist in the academic litera ture and in society at large, because there is no agreement on one single view of how to define crime, its causes, its remedies and the way society should deal with it. Mainstream Criminology and its main assumptions. The fundamental basis of mainstream criminology is the thinking of utilitarianism developed by writers like Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). It is no coincidence that these ideas developed at a time when European society was becoming more urban and industrialized. (Morrison: 1995, pp. 71-76) The close proximity of large numbers of people, often in poor housing conditions and relative poverty, resulted in repeated crime waves and instability in society. This very rational approach to crime assumes that the needs of individuals must be balanced with the needs of society in general, and this results in a suppression of â€Å"deviant† behaviour which harms the majority. One of the good outcomes of this kind of criminology is that it clarifies what is sanctioned by societ y and what is not, and it provides a basis for setting up a universal legal and penal system that aims to treat people fairly. A less positive outcome is a tendency to promote the views and interests of powerful patriarchal figures, focusing on the maintenance of the status quo, and allowing people in law enforcement to abuse their power, often in institutionalised ways which become an inbuilt part of the system. The persecution of black people in America and the outlawing of gay people in most countries until very recently are examples of rules which set out deliberately to benefit one segment of society at the expense of another. Van Swaaningen believes that there are two major belief systems that have been at work in mainstream criminology since the Second World War and these are neo classicism and positivism which he explains as follows: â€Å"the first views crime as the moral lapse of the freely willed individual; the second, as a pathological determinism of individuals cause d by genetic, family or social defects.† (Young: 1997, p. vii) What these two approaches have in common is that they focus on the individual human being as the source of the problem, and they assume that dealing with crime is a matter of dealing with that person. This kind of criminology uses statistical evidence to build up a picture of how when and where crime occurs, and it focuses on methods of prevention and methods of detection and control of offenders. One big

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Types of Presentation Aids Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Types of Presentation Aids - Essay Example The use of pictures and sound can be communicated and remembered more effectively and efficiently than a speech or presentation without presentation aids. Presentation aids help the important parts of a presentation stand out. The selection of a presentation aid is based on the type of audience, the speech content, and the occasion where the presentation is being given. There are many different types of presentation aids like, objects, models, pictures, graphs, audio clips, videos clips, handouts, and multimedia clips. A presentation can include either one type of presentation aid or many different aids together. Using presentation aids can help make your presentation interesting and it also help you remember your key points easily. Pictures are a very effective presentation aid as it is easier to remember what you see than what you hear. Pictures are of different types such as, diagrams, maps, posters, graphs, pictograms, and the like. A picture can be a two-dimensional image of something or it can also be a schematic drawing that explains how something works. Pictures are best used hen a presentation is lengthy. The audience often looses interest and attentiveness when a presentation in long. The use of pictures can keep the audience engaged and help them remember the key ideas of the presentation. Diagrams, graphs, pictograms help the audience understand the concept of the presentation better. ... Statistical information can be presented much more effectively with the help of graphs, diagrams and charts than just through verbal communication. Pictures can brilliantly describe an event, scene, or object immediately. Using pictures as a presentation aid can also have its own disadvantages. If your picture is not clear and does not completely represent your concept, it can mislead the audience. If the pictures used are too complex and have too much information it does not serve the purpose of keeping the audience engaged, as the audience tend to loose interest if the picture shown is too complex. Also, it is important to have knowledge of graphs and charts when preparing a presentation using graphs or charts as a presentation aid, as it is necessary to use the right kind of chart or graph to present certain kind of data or it can misinform the audience. Another useful presentation aid is objects. Though the use if objects is not very common it is a very handy presentation aid. It is usually suitable for a science presentation or a presentation where the object is helpful in illustrating the actual subject of the speech or one of its main features. Objects can be inanimate or live things, for example, in a science presentation about the human body, a model of the human body can be used as a presentation aid to help the audience understand the presentation better. The use of objects as presentation aids can be advantageous when the topic of the presentation is complex and is difficult to explain just verbally. When an object is used in a presentation the audience is more attentive and engaged in what the speaker is saying as they see and hear the explanation at the same time. Objects also give a

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Compare and Contrast the theme of Good verse Evil in the two short Essay

Compare and Contrast the theme of Good verse Evil in the two short stories Barn Burning by William Faulkner and good Old Country People by Flannery O'Connor - Essay Example In both these stories, there is a struggle between good and evil but the outcome of the struggles differ from one another. The story Barn Burning is about the youngest son, Sartoris Snopess struggle of trying to do what is right for his family, against the wishes of his own father, Abner Snopes during the post Civil War period. Sartoris or Sartys wish to keep his family together is tested in the beginning of the story itself. When his father Abner was charged for arson, he knows that his father is wrong. But, Abner by constantly reminding him of the importance of family elicits a favorable response from him. He tells Sarty, "You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you aint going to have any blood to stick to you." (Faulkner). That is, Abner instills in Sarty that only if an individual is loyal to the family, even if it is right or wrong, he will in turn get familys help in needy times. But, in the course of the story Sarty feels an aversion towards his father because of his wrongs and violent behavior. Abner exhibits violence towards Sarty and also others who questions his authority. Sarty descri bes his father as: "There was something about his wolf-like independence" (Faulkner). So, the whole family including Sarty and his sisters dislike him. The main theme of Barn Burning is Sartys desire to stand by good and fight the evil which is represented by his wicked father. That is, when his father was bent on burning down Major de Spains barn, Sarty reveals to him about his fathers intentions, thereby leading to his fathers death and victory of good over evil. The theme of good verse evil is depicted in the story through Sarty’s struggle between loyalty for his family and morality. Similarly, the story Good Country People presents the theme of good verse evil. The protagonist of the story, Hulga is a thirty two year old woman. She had lost one leg in an accident

Friday, August 23, 2019

Security aspects of network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Security aspects of network - Essay Example Companys products enable IT managers to bypass costly RF surveys. Instead, they can use low-cost, commoditized access points. With Sputniks firmware, these access points configure themselves, and are controlled from a central management console. So instead of installing a few costly access points from vendors such as Cisco Systems Inc., Sifry said, an enterprise could mount a larger number of inexpensive access points and forgo the RF survey. Carriers are particularly interested in wide area wireless technology because it can help to boost cell phone coverage within buildings. The No. 1 reason enterprise customers switch carriers is poor service, Sly said, and this product can help carriers keep their customers, but it also gives them a presence inside the enterprise. SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- While Wi-Fi networks are often seen as simple and inexpensive to deploy, there are plenty of hidden costs and complexities lurking under the surface. Now, a number of new vendors are poised to rem edy those problems. Wireless LAN deployments are often expensive for companies because RF surveys, which help ensure proper network coverage, can cost as much as $1,000 per access point, said Albert Lew, director of product management for Burlington, Mass.-based wireless LAN vendor Legra Systems Inc. IT departments usually lack the expertise to do these surveys themselves, he said. Interference is also becoming a problem for many businesses, said Tyler Burns, product marketing manager with Ottawa-based wireless products manufacturer IceFyre Semiconductor Inc. He noted that the growing popularity of Wi-Fi, and the numerous technologies that compete with it, are taking up much of the space in the 2.4 GHz RF band.

Discussion Board 6 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Discussion Board 6 - Assignment Example NASA was blamed for creating a cover up story as well as creating complex aircrafts and recognizing the risk without taking necessary precautions while BP did not get much blame for remaining true to the disaster’s outcome even though they ignored the risks behind their oil drilling project. (47). The oil industry spends most money on researching for safe drilling operation while ignoring the possible outcome of a disaster spillage (Meredith & Mantel, 2012). For instance, BP spends approximately 29 million dollars in a span of 3years on the research of safe drilling methods. Robert Wine, the company’s spokesman admitted that the company does not invest on oil spill cleanup researches but support the non-governmental ‘oil spill response organizations’. (48). Million dollar firms have public relation departments whose primary purpose is to respond to emergencies. For instance, the NASA took much of the blame from the Gulf oil spill due to its reaction to the disaster (Meredith & Mantel, 2012). In this case, multibillion dollar firm have public relation departments whose role is to respond to emergencies thus preventing the companies from incurring losses when responding to disaster. (49). The NASA and FMEA have both similarities and differences in there in their approach to risk. Both the NASA and FMEA have ways of protecting the might fail. They also have ways of estimating the likelihood of a fail (Meredith & Mantel, 2012). Both firms have ways of estimating the likelihood of failure occurrences and severity of the mission. However the FMEA has devised possible ways of protecting the might fail while NASA has not gone to such

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Overview of the Film Free

Overview of the Film Freedom Writers Essay Based on a true story, Freedom Writers is an inspiring film about a young teacher named Erin Gruell (played by Hilary Swank) who chooses to work at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. It is a school that is torn by gang violence and racial tension due to the recent integration program in that district. The story begins in 1994, Erin is a newly hired teacher at the high school and is assigned to teach Freshman and Sophomore English. Teaching at the school is nothing like what she expected, as fights constantly break out both inside and outside of the classroom. Additionally, students come to school strapped with guns (if they come at all). The teachers have very little faith in the students and the students have very little faith in Erin Gruell, but as time goes by she develops their trust and respect. Erin throws out her more traditional lesson plans and instead appeals to the students by having them write daily journals about their personal stories. She teaches them about the Holocaust, Anne Frank, and takes them on field trips and to restaurants. At the same time that Erin tries to reach out and inspire these young people, Erin faces a divorce and protests from her fellow coworkers. However, Erin rises above these adversities to inspire her students to soar to new academic and personal heights, none of which they ever thought were imaginable. Erin displays unwavering faith in her students and in their capacity to learn. Likewise, these students find faith in themselves and each other and previous gang, racial, and territorial divides are broken down as students like Eva, Jamal, Marcus, and Brandi gain the courage to do what’s right and improve their lives. The ending is incredibly motivational as Erin gets 35 computers to be donated to her school so that her students can compile their stories from their journals into a book that would eventually be published in 1999. Most of her students went on to college and broke from their previous lives.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

A Smart Action Plan

A Smart Action Plan After I had started my first year at University I realised that if I want to become a successful student it is crucial to develop time-management skills. It is based on identifying our goals, prioritising and listing them in order to help us achieve the best result. We also need to identify our strengths, look at our work and think how we could improve it to get a better result in the future. We can do so using a diary or personal organiser. Time-management skills are very important because if we know how to organize our time properly, we can carry out more and meet deadlines. It is important to start with setting our priorities because sometimes there is no time to complete all of them. We need to be aware that some of them might take longer than we expected so we should write somewhere what we want to do and when we want to do it. Resources: We should start with identifying our goals and priorities. When doing so, we need to be realistic and definite about them. We must precise what needs to be done, how and when. Then, it is recommended to start keeping an academic diary or a personal organizer where we can write in everything we do (such us important dates or study activities). It will help us to look at the way we work and identify where further improvements can be made. (Oxford Brookes University) To take the most out of the diary we should always carry it with us and keep it up to date. It is also recommended to check it many times a day and add new tasks straight into it. The last step is to identify how we spend the time in order to see if we use it productively. We need to list the work we have to do and precise the amount of time we want to spend on carrying out particular tasks. The most important things should be highlighted or stared that can be easily seen, where the least important ones should be written in a pencil so we can change or remove them easily. (Cottrell S., 2003) Reflective comment: The first thing I did in order to improve my time-management skills was doing some background reading. I used a chapter of a book recommended by my tutor as well as some online resources. It gave me understanding of which steps should be taken in order to became successful. I started with identifying my goal, which was preparing a good set of notes for my oncoming exam. Then I started writing in a diary activities I was planning to do. The most important ones I wrote in using a pen (such as searching for material for my notes) and less important in pencil (like going to the store or meeting someone). The following, I highlighted the most important one so every time I opened my diary it was the first thing I saw. It was a reminder of what is need to be done. Then I identified how much time I want to spend on these tasks. This technique helped me a lot with organizing my time. Now I know that before my problem had lied in spending too much time on unimportant things, therefore I had not had too much time to complete everything I wanted. After getting into a routine of planning my time and studying at set times I am more systematic and precise. References: Cottrell, S. (2003). The CREAM strategy for learning. In: The Study Skills Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. p74-76. Oxford Brookes University. (2012). Time management. Available: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/student/services/health/time.html. Last accessed 12th Jan 2013. 3. Theme 2: Developing an academic writing style Theme: Developing an academic writing style Activity: As an international student I am even more aware of the importance of well-developed writing skills. It is crucial because the better our skills in writing are, the more flexible we can be while writing. There is no definitive definition what an academic writing style is but there are five technical qualities that help making a piece of writing academic. It needs to be Formal, Others, Cautious, Succinct, Impersonal (FOSCI). However, we need to start with developing a habit of writing which is fundamental when working on academic essays and writing under time and exam conditions. Resources: First what we should do is build up our confidence in writing. We can start with writing one world several times and find out our writing style. When a habit of writing is already developed, we need to get used to writing continuously. To do so, it is recommended to try to write for at least five minutes, whatever the content is. We can use this piece of writing in next step where we need to rewrite already done piece of work and add the new detail to it (such us information, opinion). Further step is focused on rewriting that piece and playing with what we have already written (changing the words, the orders). Then comes organising material where we highlight each idea in a different colour. Then rewriting the passage so colours are grouped. It is also important to know how to overcome writerà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s block. We can for example write in pencil (it will remind us that this is a draft so mistakes are allowed and nobody needs to see it). We can also write on th e computer where we can use a spellchecker. (Cottrell S., 2003) Reflective Comment: I decided to improve my academic writing skills because I know how it can affect my grades. I applied this technique in several steps. I started with writing in pencil about my first day in Scotland to get used to writing. I was doing it constantly for 5 minutes. Then, I read it and changed some words and added more details to it. The following, I have rewritten it and checked the grammar and spelling mistakes. Next, I again rewritten the piece but this time in different colours, each relating to a different section: what I saw, how I felt, what I wanted to do. While rewriting the last draft, I was grouping sections together so it looked all tidied up and therefore easier for the reader to understand. The final piece I have rewritten on my computer and checked for unnoticed spelling and grammar mistakes. This technique was time consuming as required rewriting each piece of work several times but it is really worth it. The time I spent on getting used to using this technique took me nearly two weeks but it was really worth it. It paid me off with better-quality and enriched in details work in later days, when I was working on my coursework. References: Cottrell, S. (2003). Writing for university. In: The Study Skills Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. p143-148. 4. Theme 4: Self-knowledge Theme: Self-knowledge Activity: In order to take some more control in my life and improve my performance I am going to improve my self-knowledge skills. Self-knowledge is about knowing ourselves intimately. It means knowing and understanding our inner feelings, motivations, weaknesses, strengths, motivations, desires, skills, etc. and how they affect our behaviour (Ong T., 2004). This is the starting point when developing a skill and in achieving set goals. When is well-developed, increases our confidence and chances of success. It allows us to turn our weaknesses into strengths and present ourselves well to others, develop confidence or set our priorities for creating new skills. Resources: It is essential to know where are we starting from. Therefore we need to estimate to ourselves what we want to improve and how are we going to improve it. There are many ways of developing it, such as self-evaluation questionnaires, psychometric tests, reflective journals or using tutor feedback on our work. All of these are valuable because are giving people an objective view of how they behave and compare in outlook with others. It is also recommended to put ourselves in new situations, go to new places, experimenting new hobbies (exploring unfamiliar roles and situations à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ we often discover new things about ourselves when were in unusual situations, or facing new challenges. (Mind Tools, 2012) It is also essential to write every day about our thoughts, feelings and emotions because regular writing improves self-knowledge (Cottrell S., 2003). It builds our emotional fluency and helps to find out things we need to work at in order to improve our performance. Reflective comment: To understand more about myself I am going to do a self-evaluation questionnaire or psychometric test. It will give me basic understanding of who I am and what should I work at, what my traits and preferences are. Then, I am going to apply the second step. I will present myself with new situation. I am planning to go the gym to attend aerobic class by my own. Because I had never been at this place before, I will be surrounded by strangers. I hope this experience will help me to discover new things about myself and how I deal with some of the aspects of my life. The following, I will write in my diary about my feelings of that experience and reflect on that. I believe that the collection of writing will help me understand the range of emotions I have experienced. I believe that out emotional self-analyse is a key-point in order to improve our performance. References: Mind Tools. (2012). Coaching to Develop Self-Awareness. Available: Coaching to Develop Self-Awareness. Last accessed 12th Jan 2013. Tim Ong. (2004). The Importance of Self Knowledge. Available: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Importance-of-Self-Knowledgeid=3560883. Last accessed 12th Jan 2013. 5. Theme 4: Becoming a reflective practitioner Theme: Becoming a reflective practitioner Activity: To improve my overall performance it is important to reflect on our work. Therefore I decided to improve my reflective practise skills. It is imperative because it helps us to better understanding of the work we are doing when we do it as well as after we have done it. It is critical evaluation of all the available evidence. Its purpose is reflecting on what went wrong and how we could possibly improve it and reflecting on what went good and thinking why it went good. It improves our evaluation skills, action plan for success as well as develops answers to our difficulties. Resources: Our performance is likely to increase when we know how to reflect on our work. Things like studying are going to improve when we look at things such as our motivation, skills needed, things that disturb us and so on. There are several methods of developing the act of reflection while studying: writing a learning journal, using the self-evaluation questionnaires, keeping portfolio, using the tutorsà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ feedback on our work or filling the progress sheets. In order to reflect on personal, academic and professional development we can start off with writing down anything we can reflect on. Such as our feelings about our friends or people we work with, the things we struggle with or the things we want to achieve. How everything we have learnt relate to real life or things we want to change. Writing our emotions down will help us to simplify our inner feelings, to work out plans and to focus on our development. The final step is reflecting on what we have learn t from the previous situation to the next one. (Cottrell S., 2003) Reflective comment: To improve my overall performance as a student at the University I am aware that it is crucial to start reflecting on my work and see what I do wrong or well. After doing some background reading, I decided to improve my reflective practise skills. To do so, I am going to use my copies of the assessments with the tutorsà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ comments on them. Then I am going to write down all the mistakes I have done and reflect on them, asking myself what I did wrong and why I did it and being focused on what skills I need to avoid this next time and how am I going to achieve this. I believe this will bring me a wider understanding of my mistakes and allow me to see what I could possibly improve and change to get a better grade. In the next step I am going to be focused on filling the progress sheets for each module. I believe this activity will enhance my motivation because it will allow me to see the progress I am making and see the things I did wrong and therefore this will be helpful in avoiding them. In my final step will be reflecting on what I have learnt from the previous situation and applying it to the next one. I think this step is very important because when we are aware of what had gone possibly wrong, we can avoid making the same mistakes next time, improving our work and performance.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

History of Concepts of Racism

History of Concepts of Racism MaKayla Chandler Views of Racism Have you ever looked at a coin and observe the words E Pluribus Unum? This phrase translated means Out of Many, One When the United States of America was established, this phrase suggested that out of many states shall emerge a single unified nation . Over the years, this phrase has been nothing more than words.  America once prided itself on being the melting pot uniting many people, races, religions, and cultures. We were supposed to bind together to form a unified nation; however the concept of the melting pot is nothing more than a forgotten idea.  Retired U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski summed up her thoughts of the melting pot when she said, America is not a melting pot. It is a sizzling cauldron (Mikulski). Racism is still alive and breeding its infestations on the American people. America is supposed to be the land of opportunity, the country that promises freedom of choices. As stated in the National Anthem, America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. Americ a is the country where dreams can come true. If America has emerged as a single people and nation, why does racism still exist in the twentieth century? In history, racism has always been an issue around the world and still is a big issue today. The term racism was created by the Communist Party as propaganda as they took over Russia and the surround European nations. According the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the meaning of racism is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. In simpler terms, it is a belief that a certain race believes they are the dominant race and should have better rights than another race. Racial discrimination is experienced across a wide spectrum of cultures, ethnic groups, and race. It happens passively when people exclude other people socially or have different views and experiences.  In its most serious manifestation, racial discrimination is observed in the behaviors and activities of people that embody hate, abuse, violence and even death. This is evident in the beating and rumored death o f John Smith. This event catapulted the 1967 Newark riots which sparked one of the deadliest civil disturbances of the 1960s. These riots accorded most major cities and over 100 deaths were reported. Many inner city neighborhoods in these cities were destroyed. Cory Booker, who was the second African-American to be elected to the Senate was quoted saying, You have to understand the Newark Riots a lot of people understand that the pain was the initial explosion of anger and alienation, but after that, the response, sending the National Guard troops a lot of violence was carried out and perpetrated by those who were allegedly coming here to protect residents. (Booker) As part of the U.S. history, racism dates back to the17th century with the Europeans arrival in North America.  Due to the idea to conquer this new land, came racism against Native Americans. The Europeans believed that the Native Americans were savages who needed to be civilized through Christianity and European culture.  My original convictions upon this subject have been confirmed by the course of events for several years, and experience is every day adding to their strength. That those tribes cannot exist surrounded by our settlements and in continual contact with our citizens is certain. They have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the desire of improvement which are essential to any favorable change in their condition. Established in the midst of another and a superior race, and without appreciating the causes of their inferiority or seeking to control them, they must necessarily yield to the force of circumstances and ere long disappear. (Andrew Jackson).   During the same century arrived the slaves.  They were thought of as being uncivilized and where prosecuted by violence.  Even though slavery was outlawed, racism continued to grow and filtered its hatred toward the African-Americans.  I have a strong feeling of repugnance when I think of the Negro being made our political equal. And I would be glad if they could be colonized, sent to heaven, or got rid of in any decent way. (James Garfield) The issue of racism in the United States continues to be a heated topic even now.  Many people believe that the white people have more privileges or are treated better than any other race. In his autobiography, Malcolm X writes, Its like the Negro in America seeing the white man win all the time. Hes a professional gambler; he has all the cards and the odds stacked on his side, and he has always dealt to our people from the bottom of the deck. (Malcolm X) It is viewed Many riots and protests have happened because of this topic of racism and unequal rights.  There has been a rise of protest when president Trump was elected into office.  Many people have blamed Trump for causing a rise in racism, do to his campaigns on the topic of immigrants and racial comments.  For example a Latino woman say, Donald Trumps hate speech against Latinos seems to be emboldening white Americans racism.(Vasquez).  Many people believe that whites cannot or will never experience racism, Its literally impossible to be racist to a white person.(Krishnan), says Manisha Krishnan who is a writer.  Is there revers racism? There are other races that believe they are more superior to the white race, so sure there is reverse racism, maybe whites do not face it as much or recognized but there is, especially in other countries. Racism is a topic that still hasnt been resolved, Joe Holt, a Contributor says This country has a long and relatively ignored history of racial di scrimination. (Holt). The topic of racism must be addressed and dealt with. No human being should ever feel like they are not equal or less important than another human being. The American views and prejudice on race, culture, or ethnic groups needs to be demised. An anti-racism activist and educator on the psychology of racism, Jane Elliott said, There is no such thing as multiple races, there is only one race and that is the human race.(Elliott).  Racism comes in different forms, like unequal rights, pay, service, or respect.  No one should not be judged or treated differently by the color of their skin, culture, or their beliefs.  Humans need to look beyond the trivial aspects of racism and treat people as they want to be treated.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Essay --

Personal Statement I have always had a great passionate for art and it never ending creation. I have always been fascinated with structures, sketch, designs, and many more, so therefore picking architecture as a career option will be the best career pathway for me. This is because it full faith the passionate that I have for art and design. Architecture is very graceful job as it takes into consideration both nature and nurture and this is the key motive why I would love to become an architect. Art has been one of the subjects which I enjoy the most and in my free time I like to research and develop my skills of fine art. I have a great interest in Art and Design which through out my educational career; I have learnt and developed my knowledge of fine art and 3d work. I have researched and worked on the bases which fine artist like Pablo Picasso or Van Gogh who were famous for their outstanding paintings and also worked in the way Kate Malone has presented fine pots which represents fruit and living objects. I have worked in these fields which the great artists have done and by following them and creating my own style of work which has given me the experience of the way these artists worked. I have an enormous interest in 3D work and one of my art works which I have done, a 76cm vases made from clay, then designed and craft apples and oranges around. This piece has been one of the successful works I have done. While building this large vase I have recognised that I have a c reation with 3D work and basing this to my career. During the experience I have learnt to use colour, still life, live drawings, 3D work, ink painting, oil painting and many more. Apart from Art and Design, I like to study about the world we live in, how we ... ...d. While working at D&A I have gained the knowledge of working within an organisation and following leaders or team member’s instructions. I have search to work in Architecture fields within an organisation and I was able to get into a business called ‘Hopkins Architects Ltd’ location near Marylebone Road which has happily offered me a place at summer to work. Through this work experience I will be able to understand and explore the work of creation and invention to make someone world come true. I aim for the best of my educational path and to expand my possibility in the field of Architecture. I recognise that been an Architect has a difficult stages but I aim to challenge the course and to become a professional Architect through your university. I aim to bring success to my career and to your university and I look forward with enjoyment to the challenges ahead.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

A Good Man is Hard To Find: “Good” When Faced With Conflict Essay examp

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, there are eighty-one entries for the small and seemingly simple word, â€Å"good.† The first definition given defines â€Å"good† as an adjective meaning â€Å"of a favorable character or tendency† ("Good"). In this case a â€Å"good person† must be someone who exhibits those qualities of â€Å"favorable character.† In the world of today, a subject of much debate has been the concept of what qualifies a person as a â€Å"good person.† In Flannery O’Connor’s short story, â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find,† the unnamed grandmother struggles to discover an individual with the traits of a â€Å"good person† both in others and ultimately, in herself. This is apparent when the grandmother suddenly repents and her â€Å"good† qualities show when the Misfit has a gun pointed to her head. â€Å"Good† qualities are found in a person if he is faced with a confli ct. Flannery O'Connor uses dark humor, grotesque characters and situations, and religious themes to lead the readers to an epiphany about their faith and their belief in God. Flannery O'Connor uses dark humor and grotesque situations to grasp the reader’s attention. O’Connor was born into a Catholic family in the predominantly Protestant Georgia. She learned shortly after her college education was complete that she suffered from lupus, an autoimmune disease that had killed her father ten years earlier (Meyer). She uses the dark humor and the grotesque characters and situations because she felt that people were actually truer and became â€Å"good† people when faced with conflicting situations. Her characters experience horrific moments that eventually leads to an epiphany. The belief in miracles and the â€Å"good† in people is what all people want to discover in others, but for many ... ...rary Journal 36.1 (2003): 46+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. "Good." 1a. Merriam-Webster. Online ed. 2012. N. pag. Web. 1 Apr. 2012. Hendricks, T.W. "Flannery O'Connors' 'Spoiled Prophet'." Modern Age 51.3-4 (2009): 202+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. Meyer, Michael. Introduction. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. 362-67. Print. O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man is Hard to Find." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. 367-77. Print. Owens, Mitchell. "The Function of Signature in 'A Good Is Hard to Find.'." Studies in Short Fiction 33.1 (Winter 1996): 101-106. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 61. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Mar. 2012.