Enhancing a Home Computer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Enhancing a Home Computer - Essay Example Buying a new one is quite expensive and is a waste of money if one already has a computer that is functioning well; in this case, upgrading the computer system seems to be a favorable option. A few changes here and there, and a computer system will be ready to take on any game to provide computer users with a better gaming experience (Kohler 234). Mostly, the problem experienced by gamers while gaming is the speed of the game; the games require higher amount of speed and the computer can only afford to provide a limited amount of speed. This happens because the Ram (Random Access Memory) of a particular gamer’s personal computer is lesser than the amount of space required to run a particular game. In this scenario, the gamer has to change the RAM of his/her personal computer. The RAM level should be higher than the desired amount of RAM required. Switching RAMs is quite easy and is less expensive than changing the entire personal computer. The current version of upgraded RAM on which the current high quality games are based and designed is DDR3; a 4GB RAM of DDR3 only costs around 50 pounds (Vandome 310). Just a small expense of 50 pounds, and the computer will be ready to help one play high quality games. Upgrade of RAM is not the only thing required to play high quality PC games; games now even require high quality video cards. Both RAM and video cards operate together to give a user the best experience of a particular game. The choice of video card depends on one’s pocket size; this means one’s willingness to spend money and the kind of games one wants to play (Dukish 210). If a particular game requires a gaming video card, it can not be played on a ordinary VGA card. Currently, the best available video cards for a gamer to make his PC a gaming paradise are GTX 460 and 570 (Debevec 125). The 460 one is much expensive than the

Dont give up on love Essay Example for Free

Dont give up on love Essay Shilpa’s heart was broken by the Khiladi of Bollywood, Akshay Kumar but she never gave up on love. The rumour mills were abuzz about her ‘relationship’ with director Anubhav Sinha, but she firmly denied them. After winning Big Brother, Shilpa went to launch her signature perfume S2 and met Raj occasionally for the launch preparations. On their first media appearance, Shilpa called Raj, her ‘business friend’ but their frequent meetings soon took a personal turn. Shilpa soon announced her engagement to the world and proudly showed off the 20 carat diamond ring which had been gifted to her by Raj. A firm believer of karma and past life, Shilpa went on to say in an interview that Raj was a part of her past life and now they are back together. Lesson Learnt: So girls, no matter how many boys break your heart; don’t ever settle for anyone except for your Mr. Right. Never embarrass your ex publicly You may be seething in anger and may want to kill your ex for two timing you, but in public, you must always be at your dignified best. Even though Shilpa was heartbroken after her break up, she has often said in interviews that there is no animosity between her and Akshay and they are good friends. Akshay and Shilpa have come face to face on a number of occasions, most recently on the celebrity dance show Nach Baliye, but Shilpa has always been pleasant to her ex-flame. Lesson Learnt: Your ex may be the devil’s incarnate, but you should never wash the dirty linen in public. Maintain dignity under pressure Life wasn’t easy for this gorgeous actress, but things took a turn for worse when she entered the celebrity Big Brother 5 in 2007. Racial slurs by her fellow contestants Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, Jack Tweed and Jo OMeara rattled her but she did not give up. She stayed in the house and soon emerged as Britain’s favourite with 63 per cent votes. Not the one to hold grudges, Shilpa soon forgave Jade Goody and other contestants. She told the host of the show Davina McCall, â€Å"People make mistakes and were all human beings, were all fallible. Lesson Learnt: In a high pressure situation, never let your attackers get to you. Keep yourself in positive spirits, maintain your dignity and always let bygones be bygones. Make time for family You may be swiftly climbing the success ladder, but don’t forget your family in all that excitement. Shilpa decided to take a break from her acting carrer for a year after her son Viaan was born. She signed up for a couple of endorsements, but ensured that her schedule would not take up too much of her time. 1. Dont give up on love Shilpa’s heart was broken by the Khiladi of Bollywood, Akshay Kumar but she never gave up on love. The rumour mills were abuzz about her ‘relationship’ with director Anubhav Sinha, but she firmly denied them. After winning Big Brother, Shilpa went to launch her signature perfume S2 and met Raj occasionally for the launch preparations. On their first media appearance, Shilpa called Raj, her ‘business friend’ but their frequent meetings soon took a personal turn.less 2. Shilpa soon announced her engagement to the world and proudly showed off the 20 carat diamond ring which had been gifted to her by Raj. A firm believer of karma and past life, Shilpa went on to say in an interview that Raj was a part of her past life and now they are back together. Lesson Learnt: So girls, no matter how many boys break your heart; don’t ever settle for anyone except for your Mr. Right. 3. Never embarrass your ex publicly You may be seething in anger and may want to kill your ex for two timing you, but in public, you must always be at your dignified best. Even though Shilpa was heartbroken after her break up, she has often said in interviews that there is no animosity between her and Akshay and they are good friends. Akshay and Shilpa have come face to face on a number of occasions, most recently on the celebrity dance show Nach Baliye, but Shilpa has always been pleasant to her ex-flame. Lesson Learnt: Your ex may be the devil’s incarnate, but you should never wash the dirty linen in public.less 4. Maintain dignity under pressure Life wasn’t easy for this gorgeous actress, but things took a turn for worse when she entered the celebrity Big Brother 5 in 2007. Racial slurs by her fellow contestants Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, Jack Tweed and Jo OMeara rattled her but she did not give up. She stayed in the house and soon emerged as Britain’s favourite with 63 per cent votes. 5. Not the one to hold grudges, Shilpa soon forgave Jade Goody and other contestants. She told the host of the show Davina McCall, â€Å"People make mistakes and were all human beings, were all fallible. Lesson Learnt: In a high pressure situation, never let your attackers get to you. Keep yourself in positive spirits, maintain your dignity and always let bygones be bygones. 6. Make time for family You may be swiftly climbing the success ladder, but don’t forget your family in all that excitement. Shilpa decided to take a break from her acting carrer for a year after her son Viaan was born. She signed up for a couple of endorsements, but ensured that her schedule would not take up too much of her time. 7. In an industry where actresses are always under the media scanner for their weight-issues, Shilpa says that she is no hurry to lose post-pregnancy flab. She believes â€Å"As we are in the glamour business, we are always scrutinised for our appearances and are bound to have insecurities. But for a mother, these first four months are very crucial for the childs health. You should not compromise with it.† 1. Dont give up on love Shilpa’s heart was broken by the Khiladi of Bollywood, Akshay Kumar but she never gave up on love. The rumour mills were abuzz about her ‘relationship’ with director Anubhav Sinha, but she firmly denied them. After winning Big Brother, Shilpa went to launch her signature perfume S2 and met Raj occasionally for the launch preparations. On their first media appearance, Shilpa called Raj, her ‘business friend’ but their frequent meetings soon took a personal turn.less 2. Shilpa soon announced her engagement to the world and proudly showed off the 20 carat diamond ring which had been gifted to her by Raj. A firm believer of karma and past life, Shilpa went on to say in an interview that Raj was a part of her past life and now they are back together. Lesson Learnt: So girls, no matter how many boys break your heart; don’t ever settle for anyone except for your Mr. Right. 3. Never embarrass your ex publicly You may be seething in anger and may want to kill your ex for two timing you, but in public, you must always be at your dignified best. Even though Shilpa was heartbroken after her break up, she has often said in interviews that there is no animosity between her and Akshay and they are good friends. Akshay and Shilpa have come face to face on a number of occasions, most recently on the celebrity dance show Nach Baliye, but Shilpa has always been pleasant to her ex-flame. Lesson Learnt: Your ex may be the devil’s incarnate, but you should never wash the dirty linen in public.less 4. Maintain dignity under pressure Life wasn’t easy for this gorgeous actress, but things took a turn for worse when she entered the celebrity Big Brother 5 in 2007. Racial slurs by her fellow contestants Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, Jack Tweed and Jo OMeara rattled her but she did not give up. She stayed in the house and soon emerged as Britain’s favourite with 63 per cent votes. 5. Not the one to hold grudges, Shilpa soon forgave Jade Goody and other contestants. She told the host of the show Davina McCall, â€Å"People make mistakes and were all human beings, were all fallible. Lesson Learnt: In a high pressure situation, never let your attackers get to you. Keep yourself in positive spirits, maintain your dignity and always let bygones be bygones. 6. Make time for family You may be swiftly climbing the success ladder, but don’t forget your family in all that excitement. Shilpa decided to take a break from her acting carrer for a year after her son Viaan was born. She signed up for a couple of endorsements, but ensured that her schedule would not take up too much of her time. 7. In an industry where actresses are always under the media scanner for their weight-issues, Shilpa says that she is no hurry to lose post-pregnancy flab. She believes â€Å"As we are in the glamour business, we are always scrutinised for our appearances and are bound to have insecurities. But for a mother, these first four months are very crucial for the childs health. You should not compromise with it.† 8. In another interview when she was asked what things she would grab in case there is a fire in her home, the gorgeous actress replied, â€Å"I would just make sure that my family escapes. Material things dont matter.† Lesson Learnt: Family comes first, always! And Ladies, enjoy each and every phase of your life. Motherhood is a blessing and do not let any nasty comments about your weight or appearance affect you.

The Visible Light Spectrum :: Free Essay Writer

The Visible Light Spectrum â€Å"Mr. Petersuh-uh-uhn†¦. I need a white crayon for the white parts of the map!†, my daughter’s classmate whines as she peers into her box of mismatched Crayons. â€Å"Don’t worry about coloring those parts of the map. White isn’t a color anyways†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , replies her sixth grade teacher. Uh-oh. Big mistake! The entire class is now in for an impromptu lesson in the properties of light and the visible spectrum, courtesy of the child of a laser student. Added bonus: elevated egg-headed status for aforementioned child. â€Å"Excuse me, Mr. Petersen, but I feel that I must correct you on that. You are sadly misinformed. My Mom says that white is the presence of all color and black is no color! What of that?! Hmmm?† (Yes†¦my kid really talks like this. She’s 10 and she skipped a grade level. She’s quite loquacious. I wonder where she gets it from? But I digress†¦) The flustered Mr. Petersen flashes my child a weak smile and mumbles something to the effect of, †Ã¢â‚¬ ¦technically, Jacki, you are correct. Just leave the white parts blank and stay on task!† Shame, shame, shame. The instructor has just dropped the ball on a wide-open opportunity for learning and discussion. Never one to miss an opportunity to exercise her mind and initiate a discussion/impress her peers, my kid goes on to explain the basic principles and properties of light and color. This precipitates a wave of â€Å"no way!† and â€Å"how’d you know?†s from the inherently curious and doubly impressed group of sixth graders. As she, in fits and giggles (true sixth grade girl fashion!), recounted the story to me, she re-iterated over and over that â€Å"most grown ups just don’t know ANYTHING!†. And I thought to myself, â€Å"You know†¦we might know a lot about some things, but she just pointed out one of the most popular misconceptions that abounds concerning light and the perception of color!†. White light is NOT the absence of all color! Black is NOT all of the colors all mixed together! (Remember second grade? When you ran out of black crayon and just scribbled all of the remaining colors together and got a muddy brownish gray at best? Uh-uh†¦never works.) Thus, I have taken it upon myself to enlighten the rest of us â€Å"just don’t know ANYTHING† grown-ups on the subject of color and the visible spectrum of light. The Visible Light Spectrum :: Free Essay Writer The Visible Light Spectrum â€Å"Mr. Petersuh-uh-uhn†¦. I need a white crayon for the white parts of the map!†, my daughter’s classmate whines as she peers into her box of mismatched Crayons. â€Å"Don’t worry about coloring those parts of the map. White isn’t a color anyways†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , replies her sixth grade teacher. Uh-oh. Big mistake! The entire class is now in for an impromptu lesson in the properties of light and the visible spectrum, courtesy of the child of a laser student. Added bonus: elevated egg-headed status for aforementioned child. â€Å"Excuse me, Mr. Petersen, but I feel that I must correct you on that. You are sadly misinformed. My Mom says that white is the presence of all color and black is no color! What of that?! Hmmm?† (Yes†¦my kid really talks like this. She’s 10 and she skipped a grade level. She’s quite loquacious. I wonder where she gets it from? But I digress†¦) The flustered Mr. Petersen flashes my child a weak smile and mumbles something to the effect of, †Ã¢â‚¬ ¦technically, Jacki, you are correct. Just leave the white parts blank and stay on task!† Shame, shame, shame. The instructor has just dropped the ball on a wide-open opportunity for learning and discussion. Never one to miss an opportunity to exercise her mind and initiate a discussion/impress her peers, my kid goes on to explain the basic principles and properties of light and color. This precipitates a wave of â€Å"no way!† and â€Å"how’d you know?†s from the inherently curious and doubly impressed group of sixth graders. As she, in fits and giggles (true sixth grade girl fashion!), recounted the story to me, she re-iterated over and over that â€Å"most grown ups just don’t know ANYTHING!†. And I thought to myself, â€Å"You know†¦we might know a lot about some things, but she just pointed out one of the most popular misconceptions that abounds concerning light and the perception of color!†. White light is NOT the absence of all color! Black is NOT all of the colors all mixed together! (Remember second grade? When you ran out of black crayon and just scribbled all of the remaining colors together and got a muddy brownish gray at best? Uh-uh†¦never works.) Thus, I have taken it upon myself to enlighten the rest of us â€Å"just don’t know ANYTHING† grown-ups on the subject of color and the visible spectrum of light.

The Pelican Brief Essay -- English Literature Law Court System Essays

The Pelican Brief 1Â º Summary Two Supreme Court Judges has been murdered. Darby Shaw, a law student, wrote a brief (The Pelican Brief) about the linking between the two murders and Vitor Mattience, the owner of an oil company which wants to build a factory in the Louisiana's Marshlands and also a close fiend of the United States' President. Shaw gave the brief to his teacher (and boyfriend) Thomas Callaham who gave it to a FBI lawyer friend of him. Several days after Callaham is murdered by a bomb-car. Shaw get scared because the bomb was thought to kill her too and run away from New Orleans. Meanwhile Gary Graham, a Washington Post journalist, knew about the Pelican Brief from a lawyer, who used the nickname of Garcia, and wrote an article about it. Shaw read Graham's article and called him. While Shaw travelled among all the East Coast of USA running away from killers she phoned several times to Graham. Finally they met in New York City. Both, Shaw and Graham wanted to publish the Pelican Brief but first they needed to affirm the information of the brief with another source. And this source could be Garcia so they began a search all over Washington with only a photo of him and a few details of his private life. Finally after quite a lot of time they found Garcia's widow. He were killed few weeks ago in strange circumstances. Luckily he left in a safe box an affidavit and a video which confirmed the information of the brief. While the Washington Post published the story, starting the biggest crisis in the United States since Watergate, Shaw and Graham flew to the Virgin Islands. 2Â º Description of the main character of the book: Darby Shaw. Darby Shaw is a smart law student at Tulane Uni... ...el, and this will take another three or four months." Chapter thirty. P 255 Bankruptcy: The estate of a person who had been adjudged by a court to be insolvent. "Yeah, I worked in the bankruptcy section on the eight floor, and oil and gas covers half of eight and all of nine." Chapter thirty-six. P 332 & 333. Lawsuit: court case brought by one person or group against another. "Tell Jackson Feldman the lawsuit will be filed at nine in the morning, just as soon as the courthouse opens." Chapter forty-two. P 392. Affidavit: A sworn written statement used mainly for supporting applications and as evidence in court proceedings. The person who makes it must swear that the contents are true before a person authorised to take oaths. "It was a four-page affidavit, typed real neat and sworn to under oath before a notary public". Chapter Forty. P. 367.

Fedex vs. Ups

THE BATTLE FOR VALUE, 2004: FEDEX CORP. VS. UNITED PARCEL SERVICE, INC. Executive Summary: As the U. S. package delivery business segment matured, International segment became the battle ground for the two package delivery giants – FedEx and UPS. FedEx is considered to be the innovative, entrepreneurial, inventor of customer logistical management, and an operational leader. UPS, on the other hand, is considered to be big, bureaucratic, and industry follower, although UPS is shedding this negative image with newer innovations. FedEx Corp. started in 1971, by the end of 2003; it had nearly $15. billion in assets, net income of $830 million on revenues of about $22. 5 billion and shipped more than 5. 4 million packages daily. UPS, Inc. founded in 1907, by the end of 2003; it had $28. 9 billion in assets, net income of $2. 9 billion on revenues of $33. 4 billion, and with excellent (AAA) bond rating. The struggle to deliver value and dominate the package delivery market between Fe dEx and UPS has reached titanic proportions and clearly evident from their respective expenditures. Between 1992 and 2003, capital expenditures for FedEx and UPS rose at an annualized rate of 34. 64% and 36. 78%, respectively. Currently both companies are matching each other’s investments in capital almost exactly. Placing ourselves in the center of the battle of giants and using the data provided in the Exhibits 1 through 11, we try to answer the following questions in this case analysis. 1: Who is creating more value and how? 2: Who is destroying the value? FedEx’s growth strategy is â€Å"Produce superior financial returns for shareholders by providing high value added supply chain, transportation, business and related information services through focused operating companies competing collectively, and managed collaboratively under FedEx brand†. UPS’s growth strategy is â€Å"Serve the evaluation distribution, logistics and commerce needs of customers with excellence and value in all services. With strong financials and broad employee ownership provide long-term competitive returns to the shareholders†. FedEx’s financial ratios are improving while UPS has far better ratios in liquidity, leverage, and profitability. UPS has consistently paid and increased dividends while FedEx just started paying dividends in 2003. FedEx’s EPS comp. annual growth rate (CAGR) 1992 -2003 is 27. 54% compared to UPS’s 13. 9%. However, since going public 1999, UPS has better EPS Compounded Annual growth rate (CAGR) compared to FedEx– 34. 30% vs. 6. 98%. UPS has far better Cum. Total market returns than FedEx – 705. 95% vs. 528. 02%. UPS has far better EVA(2003) compared to FedEx – $1,195 million vs. $170 million. MVA(2003) for UPS also far better than FedEx – $11,816 million vs. $69,31 5 million. By looking at the calculations above we can clearly say that both UPS and FedEx created value, but UPS has created more value for shareholders than FedEx. Case Analysis Detail: We start with analyzing both companies using the data provided in the book in the exhibits 1 through 11. We start the Economic profit analysis of both FedEx and UPS by review and analyzing the Return on Net Assets (RONA). A Return on Net Assets Ratio determines whether the institution is financially better off than in previous years by measuring total economic return. A decline in this ratio may be appropriate and even warranted if it reflects a strategy to better fulfill the institution's mission. An improving trend in this ratio indicates that the institution is increasing its net assets and s likely to be able to set aside financial resources [pic] to strengthen its future financial flexibility. Looking at the graph generated from data presented in Exhibits 9 & 10, shows from 1992 to 1994 the ratio for FedEx is improving while it is decreasing for UPS, although it is still well below UPS figures. A quick look at Exhibit 4, we did not find any competitive developments to support th e movement of the ratio for both companies. To get more insight into this movement for FedEx and UPS we check the Activity Analysis specifically the Asset turn over ratios for both companies. Review the Fixed asset turnover and Total asset turnover for FedEx and UPS for the period 1992-1994, it is observed that UPS is utilizing its assets better during this period – see graph below. [pic] Although by itself this ratio number can be misleading, since companies with lower margins can have higher asset turnover rations. In order to understand the real impact of asset turnover ratio we need to combine with margin ratio and then determine if it’s pricing strategy by UPS that is generating this high ratio or in fact UPS is much more efficient in using its assets than FedEx. Looking at the numbers for this period for both companies using Exhibits 2&3, we observed that UPS has far better Net profit margins compared [pic] to FedEx’s, that points to high asset turnover due to its pricing strategy. As we see in the above graph, UPS Asset ratios are declining while FedEx assets ratios are improving and correspondingly FedEx-RONA is also improving though lacking behind UPS’s RONA ratio even though FedEx has greatly improved their asset turnover ratios, the Net Profit margins are still well below UPS (see Net Profit Margin graph above). Does this mean UPS is creating more value than FedEx as shown by RONA graph? We need more concrete data to answer this question. Although RONA has a strong virtue of usage, as compared to traditional methods for measuring company success, is that it also considers the assets a company uses to achieve its output. However, RONA can’t alone be used to determine who is creating value to destroying value, because managers might bypass value-creating activities because they would reduce RONA (a risk if RONA is greater than WACC), or they might undertake value-destroying activities because they would increase RONA (if RONA is less than WACC). Moreover, since RONA does not explicitly measures capital charges, we need to analyze Economic Value Added to determine who is creating or destroying value. Ultimately maximizing EVA should rather be seen as the key financial success than maximizing RONA. [pic] Above graph shows from 1992 to 1994 both companies were destroying Economic value, UPS less than FedEx. 1995 UPS created $217 million value while FedEx was still in the negative territory. This is when UPS launched â€Å"guaranteed 8 A. M. overnight delivery† (Exhibit 4 – Timeline of Competitive Developments). This was frontal attack on FedEx who has â€Å"offers 10 A. M. delivery† (Exhibit 4 – Timeline of Competitive Developments). UPS EVA dropped to negative $138 million due to the strike by its union workers which cost UPS $700 million revenues. Interesting to see from the graph is that FedEx could not capitalize on this opportunity as its EVA was down by $215 million. In fact the graph shows, FedEx destroyed EVA from 1992 till 2002 and the only year it was able to create EVA was in 2003 by the amount of $170 million compared to UPS of $1,195 million. In year 2003, UPS EVA was whopping 703% more than FedEx. Reviewing numbers and graph, in the tech bubble of 2000-2002, UPS still maintain positive EVA while FedEx delivered negative EVA. Looking at the above graph and correlating it against the Exhibit 4, the positive EVA of FedEx can be lined up with Kinko’s Purchase in year 2003. [pic] Analyzing the cumulative Economic Value Added (EVA-Cum) graph, from year 1992 to 2003, FedEx destroyed $2. 2 billion ($2,252 Million) economic value while UPS has created $4. billion ($4,328 million) in economic value. This answers the questions put forward in the executive summary. But we will go further and analyze the Market Value Added (MVA) for each company to support our argument that UPS created more value than FedEx. [pic] Since going public in 1999, UPS has created close to $70 billion in Market Value Added (MVA) as compared FedEx’s $11 billion MVA. This shows UPS has created substantial values for the shareholders far better t han FedEx. Since FedEx’s MVA is not negative, it shows they did not destroyed value for the shareholders but UPS created more value for the shareholders. This is amazing achievement for UPS that is considered big and bureaucratic while FedEx is considered the innovative. What is the key to UPS’s success even being heavily unionized? The Key is efficiency. Business week wrote â€Å"Every route is timed down to the traffic light. Each Vehicle was engineered to exacting specifications. And the drivers endure a daily routine calibrated down to the minute. We can analyze UPS’s efficiency by analyzing the ratios and comparing them against FedEx’s financial and analytical ratios. Using exhibits 2 and 3, graphing the data, comparison shows UPS activity ratios are weakening and FedEx is doing great job in improving. [pic] The Average days outstanding for UPS have increased from approximately 25 in 1992 to over 50 in 2003. FedEx on the other hand, has done better job to manag e the average days outstanding. Average Days outstanding by itself doesn’t mean much and it must be analyzed with other activity ratios to conclude result. pic] The working capital turnover comparison shows except for 1993 FedEx has done better compared to UPS. The WC_Turnover for FedEx was 41. 25 in 2003 compared to 7. 72 for UPS, indicated FedEx is generated far more sales compared to cash it uses to fund these sales as compared to UPS. [pic] FedEx’s fixed and total asset turnover ratio is better than UPS. This indicates FedEx is using its asset better than UPS to generate sales. Although by itself this ratio number can be misleading, since companies with lower margins can have higher asset turnover rations. In order to understand the real impact of asset turnover ratio we need to combine with margin ratio and then determine if it’s pricing strategy by FedEx that is generating this high ratio or in fact FedEx is much more efficient in using its assets than UPS. Looking at the numbers for 2003 for both companies, FedEx with 3. 69% Net profit margins compared to UPS’s 8. 65% seems to have high asset turnover due to its pricing strategy. The above graph shows that activity financial ratios of FedEx are improving while they are weakening for UPS. Next we analyze Liquidity Ratios of both companies to see which company has the ability to pay its obligations in timely manner with minimal cost. [pic] The Current Ratio of UPS is better and improving than FedEx. The anomaly in 1999 for UPS was due to the public offering of its securities. The graph shows both companies can service their short-term debt, its UPS that has more efficient operating cycle than FedEx. The graph shows FedEx’s CR is improving but still behind its top competitor UPS. [pic] UPS has better cash ratio and thus can service its short term debt more comfortably than FedEx. This also indicates that UPS has less debt than FedEx too. The anomaly in 1999 is due to public offering of UPS securities. The graph shows UPS Cash ratio offer better safety of margin than FedEx when it needs to service its debt. Although FedEx’s Cash Ratio is improving but it is still behind UPS. Reviewing the Cash flow from operations ratio and Defensive interval shows that UPS has better liquidity ratios than FedEx and can handle short term cash requirement more efficiently, though FedEx’s ratios are improving. The above graphs show UPS has better liquidity ratios than FedEx. Now we review the Long-Term Debt and Solvency analysis of both companies. The below graph shows FedEx is more leveraged than UPS, though FedEx’s leverage position is improving. Graph shows UPS’s leverage was high in 2001 and 2002, we can find the answer in Exhibit 4 – Timeline of Competitive Development – UPS acquired all-cargo air service in Latin America 2000 and acquired Mail Boxes Etc. retail franchise in 2001. While in 2003 FedEx acquired Kinko’s which could explained higher leverage compared to UPS. pic] The Capital Expenditure Ratio shows, both companies actually almost matching each other’s Capital expense. Exhibit 4 –Timeline of Competitive Developments shows the details of the major Capital expenses by both companies in competition to gain competitive advantage. Both companies made acquisitions to grow in different fields. [pic] The above graphs shows UPS is co nsistently leveraged low while FedEx is improving. Next we analyze the profitability analysis for both companies. Data from Exhibit 2 & 3 shows, FedEx’s profitability is worse UPS. PS beat FedEx in almost all profitability ratios by handsome margin. It is evident from 2003 numbers for Net Profit Margins 3. 69% and 8. 65% for FedEx and UPS respectively. The following graph shows the comparison of profitability of both companies. [pic] Finally, we review the growth analysis of both companies. Exhibit 2 & 3, provides the picture that shows FedEx growth is higher than UPS. [pic] The below graphs summarizes and compares both companies EPS, Dividend payout, Stock price, and PE ratios. [pic] UPS’s stock price shows since going public, it has delivered better value to its shareholders than FedEx. [pic] The above graph shows, UPS has consistently paid and increased dividends to its shareholders, while FedEx started dividend payout in 2003. [pic] UPS has a higher EPS growth than FedEx implies that FedEx has been unable to translate net income growth into high EPS growth. Hence, our analysis conclude that both UPS and FedEx created value for their shareholders, but UPS created more value than FedEx in the long run.

Essay on Lonely PlanetEssay Writing Service

Essay on Lonely PlanetEssay Writing Service Essay on Lonely Planet Essay on Lonely PlanetUsing mobile devices opens new prospects for the development of the company because mobile devices and applications help the company to deliver its products and services to their customers directly (Viardot, 2011). Mobile devices and applications provide customers with precise information and travel guide that customers are interested in, instead of sending customers huge print editions, which they read only a minor part of.At the moment, Lonely Planet faces the risk of the deterioration of its marketing performance because of the emerging conflict because of its persisting focus on print editions and emergence of digital technologies. As a result, print editions of Lonely Planet become out of date, while its digital editions could be more specific and reach the target customer group (Peters, 2012). Hence, the conflict between the traditional business of Lonely Planet, which has brought the company success, and new technologies forces the company to implement in novations but innovations will change the traditional business strategy and will move a lion share of the company’s business online.Hence, it is possible to recommend the company to enhance its online business through the wider introduction of innovations that are essential to maintain the competitive position of the company. Therefore, the company will be able to meet needs of its customers and deliver them products and services, which they need.As internet may be a problem for customers of Lonely Planet traveling throughout the world, the company can offer them text messaging and sms notifications on specific locations, where customers are at the moment, as long as their mobile phones are available (Viardot, 2011). In addition, the company can offer digital products using digital navigation using satellites to locate customers and transmit required information to them.

How to Build Your Reputation at Work

How to Build Your Reputation at Work Having a good reputation at work is not only important to get along well with your colleagues, a less than pleasant reputation can follow you to future jobs and hold you back. If you’ve been too gossipy, difficult, testy or unreliable with your coworkers, it isn’t too late to change their perception of you by doing a little damage control. A few tips can get you started on the way to becoming an employee with a good reputation and these tips work for all types of jobs, whether in a health care job, at a desk or outdoors in construction. Keep DeadlinesYour reputation can be injured if you are one of those people who promises faithfully to have your work finished on time but can’t seem to hit that deadline. While you might be the nicest person in the office, bringing in homemade brownies and remembering everyone’s birthday with a card, that won’t count for much if you don’t get your work done on time. Make a serious effort to get your work in o n time, and your reputation as a reliable employee will increase.Make Your Office the No Whining ZoneEvery business environment has an employee who complains and is negative all the time. Instead of complaining and rehashing a complaint to everyone at work, if you have an objection to some issue or way of doing something, just say it and move on. When you do have an objection to something, try and say it tactfully and perhaps offer a suggestion that might be an improvement.Stay Away From GossipAll workplaces seem to have a gossip, and gossiping and spreading tales is a good way to get a damaged reputation. Ignore the office negativity and never spread rumors because it might come back to you in a bad way. If you feel the need to talk to someone, make it a friend outside the office environment. Gossiping at work can create hard feelings among other employees and cause you to lose their trust.Learn to Prioritize and Be PreparedEveryone in a business setting knows at least one individu al who doesn’t carry his or her load and is unprepared. This is a big way you can damage your reputation. It can make you look uninterested, lazy or flighty, even though you have the best of intentions. Use a calendar or planner to organize your work, include notations, deadlines and other information that can help you get the job done. Don’t take on more work than you know you can do. While you might want to be perceived as a super worker in the office, that can backfire if you can’t get the work done on time. Spend a little time to prepare for meetings in advance. Showing up at a meeting appearing as though you are the only one who doesn’t know what is going on can not only be embarrassing, but it can make others wonder why you are there.Offer an ApologyIf you do something wrong or offend someone at work, apologize for it. A sincere apology can do a lot to raise yourself in the eyes of others. If you are late getting your work done or were in a hurry an d brusque with someone, an apology can go a long way toward making amends.How Long It Takes to Change a ReputationThe amount of time it takes to raise a reputation can depend on what the offenses were and how long your reputation has been suffering. Just remember that once you begin to change that pattern, the faster you will reach your goal. People tend to be forgiving, especially when they see that someone is trying to improve themselves.Building a good reputation is important in any work environment because it makes the job more pleasurable. In addition, it may affect your future employment if you decide to check out the classified job ads to move up or just because you want a change. TheJobNetwork can help you by searching job ads for you and sending alerts to your email when those jobs come on the market. All you do is fill out a form with your qualifications and job preferences to start the search. Sign up with TheJobNetwork now to get started.

Chaucers Male Influence in The Wife of Baths Prologue essays

Chaucer's Male Influence in The Wife of Bath's Prologue essays Geoffrey Chaucer demonstrates his skill as a write with his "Wife of Bath's Prologue" in many ways. It is easy to lose ourselves in the character of the Wife of Bath because she is colorful and by reading her prologue, we feel as though we almost know her. Her unique qualities cause her to stand out and her honesty about her personal situation is admirable, among other things. Another critical element of the "Wife of Bath's Prologue" is the fact that a man pens it. This aspect of the tale makes it more enjoyable because such behavior by women was not acceptable during the fifteenth century. Additionally, because a man writes her prologue, we cannot help but consider why he wrote it. This fictional character provides Chaucer an opportunity to address many subjects that may have been taboo in his time. By employing irony and humor, Chaucer is able to make statements about women and how they are treated. It should be noted the Chaucer was indeed seeking to represent a woman's voice. In fact, by creating the Wife of Bath, we can assume he wanted to create a memorable character in her. Women were victims of subjugation in the fifteenth century, and the Wife of Bath would never have been able to speak out about the things she did. Women were especially not expected to speak out about such things as their sex lives and their physical desires. The Wife of Bath provides Chaucer an opportunity to create a character that speaks on behalf of women everywhere. Chaucer takes this opportunity to the extreme by not only creating a female character that is open and honest, but bold and brash as well. It is obvious that Chaucer is working against the stereotypes that existed about women during that time. Chaucer presents the Wife of Bath as a woman who has gained vast experience is the area of marriage. She therefore considers herself an expert on the subject. This first section...

The American approach to sport and physical education in the 20th Essay

The American approach to sport and physical education in the 20th Century - Essay Example Modernization theory is one perspective which explains the change and development in sports. It explains the transformation of cultural plays and games into modern sports. Thus, transformation of sports took place such that traditional games evolved into modern sports (Mechikoff and Estes 1998). The 19th century was also a turning point for women’s sports as women started participating in outdoor sports. Cycling was among the most popular sort among women and women began being seen in a wide variety of sports during the 19th century. Gender and equality factors played a great role in the development of women’s sports. As the 21st century unfolds, women sports team may become ubiquitous in every sport including extreme sports. Jim Thorpe was a great athlete who aided the development of professional as he joined professional sports teams after he lost his Olympic medals. Thorpe brought innovation to the sports he played including football and by creating unique playing strategies he developed the sports. Thorpe has lent many of his athletic tricks to the sports and can be considered as a critical sportsman to have revived the

Oil and us foreign policy in middle East Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Oil and us foreign policy in middle East - Essay Example Significance of Study The Middle East is one of the most strategic places that have attracted many nations from most parts of the world with regard to both commercial and political interest. Middle east is actually at the centre of world attention and always captured on the global news bulletin all around the world for both political social and economic reasons. This shows that Middle East is a key partner in the global economy. Its role in the global commercial and political ties cannot be undermined. Oil and petroleum are key element in the economies of all the nations of the world and changes in economic trends for various nations are often linked with changes in the oil prices in the world market. The major reason is that petroleum products are a major source of energy for both household and firms in all parts of the world. Cars, motor vehicles, airplanes and many machines rely heavily on fossil fuel as a source of their power. Thus, the demand for petroleum products is almost co nstant and increases steadily as global demand rises. The United States is then submerged in crude oil. Up from 2008 to 2013, domestic oil production in United States went up by 2.4 million barrels in a day this was the biggest in the country’s history. ... q or Saudi Arabia still have a big impact.  That is one conclusion of a major new report by a commission of  former generals and senior officials, backed by Securing America's Energy Future (SAFE). Wallander Celeste in his article explains that many experts who have worked for the U.S. government believe that there has been careless talk in the recent days that America can now ignore Middle East1. These middle east nations have come together to consolidate their power by forming the Organization of petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) which provides the oil producing nations a strong bargaining power to negotiate for the best deal in their commercialization and sale of crude oil. OPEC sets the production quotas and support in the provision of earning levels and standards for producing nations. This goes a long way to determine the prices of petroleum products. It is worthy to note that after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the bipolar global ideological war ended and th e United States and the Capitalist West emerged as the global leaders1. Currently, the United States leads the global economic order. Due to this, the United States plays a vital role in putting in place measures to ensure that OPEC and other nations are meeting all necessary requirements to ensure a reasonable and stable price for crude oil. Since the United States plays a fundamental leadership role in dealing with OPEC countries the volatility of Middle Eastern nations causes major fluctuations in oil prices, there is the need to understand the foreign policy of the US in the Middle East. The essence of this study is to identify the main ways the United States keeps oil prices stable to maintain stable oil prices. This will provide significant information and guidance on the core indicators

Fight Club - How Multiple Identities Were Portrayed in The Film Essay

Fight Club - How Multiple Identities Were Portrayed in The Film - Essay Example The symptoms vary over time according to different conditions (Ringrose 64). The movie, Fight Club, clearly shows how D.I.D can affect a person. This is as discussed below. Dissociative identity disorder normally tends to be exhibited by an individual during highly traumatizing, painful, and violent moments (Ringrose 123). This is fully exhibited in Fight Club when Jack fights to put off the bombs set by Tyler for the destruction of the credit card companies. The trauma at the scene transforms him into someone else such that he acquires two personalities while being in one body. He has exactly to know the side of the body where Tyler is hiding so that he can shoot him. He uses sense and conscience to determine the side Tyler is hiding and finally manages to shot him (Palahniuk 13). The main symptoms of the disorder are depression, sleep disorders like insomnia, and sleep walking. Mood signs, headache, panic attacks, and phobias can also be part of the first symptoms of the disorder. The disorder makes an individual perceive intrusive thoughts and emotions, which make the individual act in accordance with such emotions and thoughts (Ringrose 63). It also causes them to forget information and thus act as a blank personality driven by the implanted thoughts and no logic or reasoning. This is the most dangerous part of the disorder. It thus makes it necessary to take good care of such patients. The treatment of such a disorder is not yet fully defined but is mostly dependent on past case studies. The reaction a patient gives is the one that gives the doctor a clue about the required action to be taken. A patient is handled according to how a previous patient was handled (Ringrose 78). It is thus important to notice any early symptoms for the treatment to be easier. Complicated cases can be difficult to handle. Considering Fight Club as a movie, identity is used as a style. Identity is used to show how the character of Jack, the narrator of the movie has the same pe rsonality with Tyler. This is well exhibited at the end of the movie when Jack has to shoot through his cheek so that he can hurt Tyler (Palahniuk 23). It clearly shows how Jack and Tyler have merged into one person and are operating using the same body and characteristics. Identity is also exhibited at places when people are referring to Jack as Tyler. This was mainly when Jack was following the trail of places where Tyler used to do the preparation for destruction of the credit card companies. All the people he met during the trip referred to him as Tyler. Marla also is seen to refer to Jack as Tyler. She even gets confused and ends up having an affair with both of them. This shows that most probably the two personalities having have merged into one body are inseparable and unidentifiable (Palahniuk 16). Fight Club as a movie exhibits a number of film techniques. Suspense as a technique is used in the movie at the place when the narrator is not given a name at the start of the mov ie. In this case, the viewer does not fully understand the position of the narrator. Finally, it comes out that he is the main character and suffers from failure of identity (Ringrose 92). This again brings up another film technique of symbolism. The disorder affecting the narrator that leads to lack of identity makes the narrator not be given a name. Suspense is created at the place when

Consumer Protection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Consumer Protection - Essay Example These are the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 and Unfair Contract Terms Act. To make the situation clear, here is its short description. Duck visited the showroom of Swan and looked at a television set priced at 500. He asked Swan about the set. Swan replied: "It's a beautiful model, never used, a snip at 500." In fact some of the internal wiring was not properly connected and the set had been switched on and used as a display unit in Swan's showroom for three days prior to Duck's visit. In this situation, and according to the Trade Descriptions Act, Swan is subject to the criminal offence as the one who has provided his consumer with misleading information. According to the Act, the description to the consumer may be given verbally or in the written form, thus there is no possibility for Swan to be justified on the basis of the information having been given in the oral form. The Act makes the verbal statement, including misleading information, an offence and thus it is a criminal action. ... The Act includes the following types of descriptions into the trade descriptions category: quantity, gauge or size of the goods; manufacture method; composition; performance, strength and fitness for purpose, which means that the goods should be mechanically sound and unbreakable, etc. In the situation described, it is clear that the misleading information provided by Swan, is included into the paragraph relating to the performance, strength of the TV set, and the fact that it must be mechanically sound. Thus, knowing the problem of the TV set and the wrong connections inside it, Swan has intentionally committed an offence and is subject to the penalties according to the Trade Descriptions Act 1968. As far as it is known that the statement made is false, it is also supposed to be a criminal offence under the Act, and as Swan is not a simple employee but is supposed to be a manager, he can be sued and subjected to these penalties, however the Act presupposes that any person guilty of intentional or unintentional mislead bears responsibility under the law. The maximum penalty is equal to 5,000 per offence. This penalty is provided by the Magistrates' Court; as for the crown Court, the fine size is unlimited, while the person guilty of misleading the customer may acqu ire up to two years of imprisonment. It is possible that Swan may lose his consumer credit license, but according to the situation described it is supposed that he does not have this license, having an agreement with Chicken-Credit Ltd, which provides Swan's customers with hire-purchase credits in case they cannot afford buying the goods in cash. Thus, the action, performed by Swan in relation to Duck, is supposed to

Economy Fashion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Economy Fashion - Essay Example The lines of authority, decision making and the planning processes are unclear to the employees and the owner of the company. As the company was to be inherited by Joe through his father, it was pretty much evident that he would not focus on the performance aspect of company. He focused on the designing process of the business, leaving the main area of performance vacant. Although it was a good step to follow the designing process which would help Joe to focus on the production area of the company but this focus alone would not really help in isolation. Proper business sense, entrepreneurship and the some ability and knowledge to run the management of the organization was as important as the designing process. The lack f this ability from the start led Joe to act as an autocratic leader within the organization. Although the system within the organization seemed to be a decentralized one, it was not actually a decentralized one. The decision making power lied in the hand of Joe and th is blocked the way for innovative ideas being forwarded by the management of the organization, even the smallest decision involving immaterial items were taken by the owner himself. This clearly shows that there is a lack of delegation within the organization and proper delegation would result in better flow of information within the company. Collection of Evidence There are two ways of collecting evidence about these problems, one way is to do quantitative analysis and the other is to perform a qualitative analysis. The quantitative analysis would include analyzing the financial performance of the company and assessing whether those financial records are properly recorded and maintained as per their specified standards. The reduction in the function of the Vice President to a mere office manager suggests that the company may not be recording the financial information correctly. To analyze this further, a proper analysis of all the financial statements prepared by the company should be assessed to ensure that the information is recorded correctly. As Economy Fashions is growing gradually, it would need proper financial records to ensure responsibility accounting within the organization. Responsibility accounting would help in identifying those people kept responsible for the running of any particular department/division. The qualitative analysis would include the assessment of the organization’s structure and the organizational culture to ensure whether a decentralized system can be implemented within the organization. Besides the decentralization issue, there is a clear lack of succession planning within the organization. Succession planning would help in future planning for a company i.e. a replacement for an existing employee at an important position should be properly planned such that when the existing employees retires or quits the job, the replacement of that employee should be ready and he/she should be equally good as the one who quits the job. Quantitative and Qualitative Issues With the implementation of the decentralized structure and the â€Å"Coach and Team Syndrome† Concept there would be some other problems that need to be addressed within Economy Fashions. The quantitative and qualitative issues that would need attention would be; Divisional managers performance being appraised on the basis of the â€Å"Return on Capital Employed† concept, this would mean that each division’s return would be compared with the initial investment made in that division and finally upon those basis, the performance of the divisional manager would be ascertained. The evaluation of the manager using the ROCE concept would lead to dysfunctional behavior where the manager

Consumer Protection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Consumer Protection - Essay Example These are the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 and Unfair Contract Terms Act. To make the situation clear, here is its short description. Duck visited the showroom of Swan and looked at a television set priced at 500. He asked Swan about the set. Swan replied: "It's a beautiful model, never used, a snip at 500." In fact some of the internal wiring was not properly connected and the set had been switched on and used as a display unit in Swan's showroom for three days prior to Duck's visit. In this situation, and according to the Trade Descriptions Act, Swan is subject to the criminal offence as the one who has provided his consumer with misleading information. According to the Act, the description to the consumer may be given verbally or in the written form, thus there is no possibility for Swan to be justified on the basis of the information having been given in the oral form. The Act makes the verbal statement, including misleading information, an offence and thus it is a criminal action. ... The Act includes the following types of descriptions into the trade descriptions category: quantity, gauge or size of the goods; manufacture method; composition; performance, strength and fitness for purpose, which means that the goods should be mechanically sound and unbreakable, etc. In the situation described, it is clear that the misleading information provided by Swan, is included into the paragraph relating to the performance, strength of the TV set, and the fact that it must be mechanically sound. Thus, knowing the problem of the TV set and the wrong connections inside it, Swan has intentionally committed an offence and is subject to the penalties according to the Trade Descriptions Act 1968. As far as it is known that the statement made is false, it is also supposed to be a criminal offence under the Act, and as Swan is not a simple employee but is supposed to be a manager, he can be sued and subjected to these penalties, however the Act presupposes that any person guilty of intentional or unintentional mislead bears responsibility under the law. The maximum penalty is equal to 5,000 per offence. This penalty is provided by the Magistrates' Court; as for the crown Court, the fine size is unlimited, while the person guilty of misleading the customer may acqu ire up to two years of imprisonment. It is possible that Swan may lose his consumer credit license, but according to the situation described it is supposed that he does not have this license, having an agreement with Chicken-Credit Ltd, which provides Swan's customers with hire-purchase credits in case they cannot afford buying the goods in cash. Thus, the action, performed by Swan in relation to Duck, is supposed to

Existentialism is a Movement of the 20th Century Essay

Existentialism is a Movement of the 20th Century - Essay Example Kierkegaard is known to be the father of existentialism. He is also a highly known philosopher of the 19th century. Kierkegaard developed the idea of living life in a variety of stages. Aesthetical, ethical and religious were his divisions of life. In his work, he claimed that he went through similar experiences during his lifetime, and he used the stages to establish his own philosophy of life and of human existence. He assessed the first two stages with regard to the normal set of beliefs and behavior. However, the last stage developed based on personal and non-rational opinion â€Å"leap of faith† (Cooper 517). The aesthetical stage was characterized by immediacy and failure, to reflect with seriousness upon the nature of a person’s life. The people in this stage were defined as like material things and fulfilling their desires as they occurred. People become slaves to their senses and they tend to want to fulfill desires propelled by their senses. People would tend to fulfill needs they consider appropriate and other people’s opinion did not count. The stage represents two types of lifestyles; reflective and non-reflective immediacy. Alcohol, sex and drugs are some illustrations of satisfying unrefined immediacy. An individual act without thinking because the satisfaction expected does not require thinking, refined immediacy, on the other hand, characterized by thoughtful planning (Cooper 518). Sometimes people think before undertaking a certain action, but the thoughts do not put into consideration moral and ethical values. Reflection of the lifestyle embarked not put into consideration. Planning made in order to gain full satisfaction of the lifestyle. According to Kierkegaard this pleasures of life will eventually vanish, and an individual will be caught in a moment of despair (Kierkegaard n. p). In the end, one will get tired of the life of luxury and satisfaction would hardly be achieved.

Childhood and Adolescent Depression and the Risks of Suicide Essay Example for Free

Childhood and Adolescent Depression and the Risks of Suicide Essay Introduction Problem and its Background   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the most common reasons for referral of children and adolescents to mental health professionals is suspected depression. There are continues debate as to whether childhood and adolescent depression are a reflection of normal variation in mood. It is reasonable for the primary care physician to view childhood depression as a constellation of factors that forms a syndrome. This constellation consists of a persistent mood disorder and dysfunctional behavior that intrudes and distorts the child’s day-to-day activities (Gottlieb Williams, 1991 p. 1). A firm denial gave way into a general and strong conviction about significance of depressive syndromes in childhood and adolescents, and of the implications throughout the life course. The realization of the problem occurrence made it possible for the therapeutic interventions and prevention programs to be developed and set up for depressive children, and to have these programs sponsored and evaluated on a scientific perspective. Various factors have facilitated the progression of this study concerning the recognition of childhood depression. Society is approached with enormous cost of untreated childhood depression later on in life (Corveleyn etal, 2005 p.165).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The concept of a depressive syndrome that is distinct from the broad class of childhood onset emotional disorders has been linked to incidence of suicidal rates worldwide. The condition of such incidence is becoming evidently alarming as the number of suicidal rate continue.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The treatment of such depressive states range from pharmacologic drugs up to psychological modifications and therapies, such as behavioral, peer and group focused groups, etc. With the serious nature of childhood / adolescent depression, it is crucial that treatments with known efficacy and more than transitory effects be provided promptly and skillfully (Maj Sartorius, 2002 p.292). Scope and Limitations   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The treatment procedures and the condition of health care management for the case of childhood and adolescent depression are the primary subjects of the study. The concept on treatment procedure involves the pharmacologic, medical and psychological interventions that are absolutely necessary in the health care management of such condition. The study shall cover the discussion of depressive condition of the childhood and adolescent age group. Diagnostic procedures and issues shall be tackled in this research in order to portray possible conflicts and difficulties that occur in diagnosing the condition. The neurobiology of the depressive state shall be elaborated utilizing psychophysiology of the disorder, and linked to probable external physiological occurrences. Lastly, since the study focuses on therapy and medication as treatment modalities, the following methods and means of treatment shall be involved in the study. The following shall be the objectives of the over-all study. To be able to define, discuss and elaborate the conditions involved in the occurrence of depression in adolescent and childhood stages To be able to provide and tackle the treatment procedure as the center scope of study, accompanied by the issues, physiology and specific drugs involved in depression health care management. Discussion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cases of despondency and depression in children and adolescents were reported as early as the seventeenth century. Prior to the 1970s, however, little attention was paid to depression in youth (Hersen Hasselt, 2001 p.243). The study on depression had been more inclined to adulthood depression and not on childhood and adolescence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Depression among children and adolescents is relatively common, enduring, and recurrent disorder that has an adverse impact on a youngster’s psychosocial development and in some cases is associated with self-destructive and life-threatening behaviors. Depressive disorders during childhood and adolescence may be more virulent and of longer duration than depressive disorders in adults. Depressive disorders during childhood are a risk factor for the development of additional psychological disturbances and for the development of depressive disorders later in life. The number of youths who are experiencing depressive disorders is increasing at the same time that the age of onset is decreasing (Mash Barkley, 2006 p.336).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Depression can be conceptualized both as a dimension and as a category. Epidemiological studies suggest that juvenile depression is a continuum that is associated with problems at most levels of severity. According to Oregon Adolescent Depression Project, the level of psychosocial impairment increased as a direct function of the number of depressive symptoms. Moreover, in line with studies of adults, much of the morbidity associated with depression occurred in the â€Å"milder† but more numerous cases of minor depression. Such results suggest that even mild forms of adolescent depression are a risk factor for depression in early adulthood (Rutter Taylor, 2002 p.463).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In recent years, increased attention has been given to evidence-based psychosocial and pharmacological interventions for depressed youth. The need to highlight what we know about treatment is underscored by the fact that most depressed youth do not receive treatment. However, as knowledge about treatments for youth depression has increased, the rate of treatment appears to have developed. Although depression among youth is treated more often, it is not clear that standard practice is effective at alleviating depressive symptoms or preventing recurrence. Moreover, there is a bias toward the utilization of pharmacologic drugs and extremely brief psychosocial interventions (Gotlib Hammen, 2002 p.441). Diagnostic Issues involved in Depression   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, text revision groups mood disorders into two categories: depressive disorders and bipolar disorders. Both types of disorders are characterized by depressive episodes. For a diagnosis of depressive disorder, the child must be experiencing a mood disturbance for a period of at least 2 weeks, and the symptoms must be present more often than not. At least four of the following symptoms must be present during the same period (Mash Barkley, 2006 p.337): Significant, unintentional weight gain or loss Insomnia or hypersomnia Psychomotor retardation or agitation fatigue or loss or energy feelings of worthlessness or extreme guilt Diminished concentration pr ability to make decisions Recurring thoughts of death, suicidality, or suicide attempts In depressed preadolescents and adolescents, a lack of perceived personal competence was associated with depression; however, in adolescents, the more abstract concept of contingencies is also related to depression (Mash Barkley, 2006 p.338). Confusion sometimes arises in the childhood depression field, as it does with adult depression, because of different usages of the term â€Å"depression† and associated differences in methods of assessment. Moreover, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is the primary reference of psychiatric diagnosis, frequently changes. One example is in studies of childhood and adolescent depression, the term is variously used to identify depressed mood, a constellation of mood and other symptoms forming a syndrome, or a set of symptoms meeting official diagnostic criteria for depressive disorder. The usage of such term connotes various meaning, such as depression as a symptoms (lonely, fear impulses, guilt, etc.) and depression as a syndrome (comprises clusters of various signs and symptoms) (Mash Barkley, 2003 p.336). Neurobiology of Childhood Adolescent Depression   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Biologic studies in children are difficult to implement since they often require several blood draws, subjects remaining still more long periods of time, and the overall cooperation of the children and adolescents. Three types of investigation have provided information on possible developmental differences in the neurobiology of depression. The first is the study of Cortisol secretion, measured by investigations such as the dexamethasone suppression test (Rapoport, 2000 p.230).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Studies of neurotransmitters in depressed adults have focused on norepinephrine, serotonin, and acetylcholine. Serotonin regulation studied in adults with depression reported that in response to L-5hyroxytrytophan in 37 pre-pubertal depressed children secreted less Cortisol and more prolactin than age-matched and gender-matched normal controls, suggesting a deregulation of central serotonergic systems in childhood depression.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Abnormalities of the hypothalamic pituitary-thyroid axis and the hypothalamic pituitary-growth hormone axis have been reported in depression in adults. However, Cortisol hypersecretion, as measured by repeated samples over a 24-hour period or by nocturnal sampling, has not been identified in depressed children and adolescents although adolescent showed a Cortisol elevation at the approximate time of sleep onset (Coffey, 2006 p.266).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The second type of developmentally informative investigation is the study of sleep. Polysomnographic studies of depressed children and adolescent have tended to demonstrate abnormalities of sleep, including shortened rapid eye movement (REM) latency and reduced slow wave sleep. These generally positive results of polysomnographic studies with children have shown few differences (Rapoport, 2000 p.231).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The third type of developmentally informative investigation is the study of growth hormone. A variety of pharmacological challenge agents that stimulate release of growth hormone have been studied in depressed adolescents and children. Interestingly, the results with adolescents have been negative in terms of slow blunted growth hormone response to provocative stimuli. However, some studies have reported high levels of growth hormone in adolescents with major depression. Moreover, pubertal children both during depressive episode and after recovery have demonstrated blunted growth hormone response to provocative stimuli (Rapoport, 2000 p.231). Psychopharmacology: Antidepressants (SSRIs)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Special considerations arise in treating children and adolescents with antidepressants. Empirical data on antidepressants in young patients are quite limited. Psychiatrists, faced with depriving children of potentially effective medication or prescribing medication or prescribing medications â€Å"Off Label,† need information on which to base treatment decisions, and efforts are underway to promote research in this area. Clinically significant differences in pharmacokinetics and possibly pharmacodynamics between adults and younger patients can also complicate treatment. Moreover, younger patients may also be more sensitive to adverse effects of medications (Preskorn, 2004 p.356).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The antidepressant drugs are a heterogeneous group of compounds that, in adults, have bee found to be effective in the treatment of major depressive disorder. This particular pharmacologic intervention is also utilized in adolescent and children with major depression; although, there have been no studies that validate the appropriateness of such medications. The following are considered as the major treatment of adolescent depression, specifically Tricyclic Antidepressants and (SSRI) Selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors (Rossenberg Ryan, 1998 p.28).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) have long been the first-line antidepressants used by most clinicians for adults because of their established efficacy, safety, and ease of administration, but they have been less successful in the treatment of child and adolescent conditions. The mechanism by which TCAs are effective in the treatment of adult depression and other disorders has not been clearly established. There is, however, evidence that these agents affect monoamine neurotransmitter systems in the central; nervous system, such as serotonin and norepinephrine (Rossenberg Ryan, 1998 p.28-29). The TCAs inhibit the reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin, potentiating their action. It has been suggested that antidepressants work by increasing noradrenergic and/or serotonergic transmission, compensating for a presumed deficiency. Controlled studies failed to demonstrate that TCAs are superior to placebo in the treatment of childhood and adolescent depression (Rossenberg Ryan, 1998 p.28-29).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since serotonin is also implicated in the etiology and maintenance of affective disorders, particularly depression; hence, the use selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs) is possible. SSRIs prevent the re-uptake of serotonin, which poses significant therapeutic value although has been shown to be less effective in therapeutic trials in children (Mash Barkley, 2006 p.384). The SSRIs are now first-line agents for treating child and adolescent depression. The newer antidepressants, such as bupropion and mirtazapine, do not have an adequate empirical base with children; however, they are sometimes used as second-line treatments for those youths who do not respond to SSRIs. Thus far, none of the SSRIs has produced irreversible damage in children and adolescents. However, as the SSRIs gained wide use with depressed adolescents, concerns emerged about the safety of this class of medications. Reports suggested that they were responsible for increased suicidal ideation and behavior among youths (Mash Barkley, 2006 p.384). In 2003, the British Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency   (MHRA) concluded that most of the SSRIs do not show benefits exceeding their risks of suicidal ideation, and thus should not be prescribed in the child and adolescent population (Mash Barkley, 2006 p.384).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If the adolescent fails to respond to any SSRI, then switching to a different class of antidepressant is recommended. At present, no data support the use of one agent over another. Therefore, whether the clinician chooses a TCA, nefazodone, or venlafaxine should be based on clinical experience. Other factors to consider for a given adolescent are medication side effects, medical conditions, previous medication trials, comorbid psychiatric conditions, and familial history of a positive response to particular antidepressants (Esman, 1999 p.222). Other classes of antidepressants are fluoxetine, setraline, paroxetine, fluvoxamine, venlafaxine, bupropion, trazodone, and nefazadone. As major depression has a high recurrence rate, it is recommended that pharmacologic treatment continue for a minimum of six months achieving resolution of symptoms. Medication discontinuation should be accomplished gradually, with a slow, stepwise reduction in dosage over a two- or three-month period. The health care providers should carefully monitor the adolescent for withdrawal syndromes and reemergence of depressive symptoms (Esman, 1999 p.222). Relationship to Suicide Rates   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Suicidal thoughts and attempts are among the diagnostic criteria for major depression. Suicidal ideation is quite common, and has been reported in more than 60% of depressed preschoolers, preadolescents, and adolescents. Actual suicidal attempts also may occur, at rates that appear to be higher among depressed adolescents than among depressed adults (Mash Barkley, 2003 p.336).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Studies have shown consistently high rates of comorbid psychiatric disorders in depressed children and adolescents. The comorbidity rate in children and adolescents with depression has been reported to be 80% to 95%. The most common comorbid disorders in adolescents with depression are anxiety disorders, with rates ranging from 40% to 50%. Moreover, substance abuse frequently co-occurs with depression. Adolescents with major depression are at risk for impairment in school performance and interpersonal relationships, which may interfere with achievement of appropriate developmental tasks. Suicidal behavior is a common sequela. A 10-yar follow-up of depressed child and adolescent outpatients found that 4.4% committed suicide. Mood disorder, prior to suicide attempt, and substance abuse are major risk factors for adolescent suicide (Esman, 1999 p.216).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Depressed and suicidal children and adolescents are often not identified. Identification of children and adolescents who express suicidal ideation or suicidal acts is crucial since such symptoms are recurrent and strong predictors of youth suicide. Other risk factors for youth suicide behavior have been described including family, other environmental and biological factors. Notably, family history of suicidal behavior increases risk for youth suicide (Rapoport, 2000 p.231). Reference Coffey, E. C. (2006). Pediatric Neuropsychiatry. Lippincott Williams Wilkins. Corveleyn etal, J. (2005). The Theory and Treatment of Depression: Towards a Dynamic Interactionism Model. Routledge. Esman, A. H. (1999). Adolescent Psychiatry: Developmental and Clinical Studies. Routledge. Gotlib, I., Hammen, C. L. (2002). Handbook of Depression. Guilford Press. Gottlieb, M. I., Williams, J. (1991). Developmental-behavioral Disorders: Selected Topics. Springer. Hersen, M., Hasselt, V. B. (2001). Advanced Abnormal Psychology. Springer. Maj, M., Sartorius, N. (2002). Depressive Disorders. John Wiley and Sons. Mash, E. J., Barkley, R. A. (2006). Child Psychopathology. Guilford Press. Mash, E. J., Barkley, R. A. (2006). Treatment of Childhood Disorders. Guilford Press. Preskorn, S. (2004). Antidepressants: Past, Present, and Future. Springer. Rapoport, J. L. (2000). Childhood Onset of Adult Psychopathology: Clinical and Research Advances. American Psychiatric Pub., Inc. Rossenber, D., Ryan, N. (1998). Pocket Guide for the Textbook of Pharmacotherapy for Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Disorders. Psychology Press. Rutter, M., Taylor, E. A. (2002). Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Blackwell Publishing.

Dominos Pizza: A Crisis Management Case

Dominos Pizza: A Crisis Management Case Josefina Vasquez According to (PRSA, 2009), in 2009, the company Dominos pizza experienced a tremendous PR crisis because of a couple of their employees. In fact, in a restaurants kitchen, in a slow working day, the two of them, with the employee uniforms, contaminated some food ingredients and then placed them onto sandwiches and pizza; they recorded a video and later posted it on YouTube. This video reached more than one million views in just three days because it became viral. The company realized that social media has the power to turn small incidents into huge marketing crises. This is a real case very interesting to analyze from the point of view of public relations and ethics. Because something simple could be the cause of the failure or success of significant companies, and what would construct the difference are the decisions taken in crises. In this review, we will be looking at this case from the point of view of the public relations professional and the ethical bases and how this addresses companies direction. Dominos Pizza: A Crisis Management Case According to (PRSA, 2009), the vice president, the communication team and the rest of Dominos corporate members sooner became aware of this situation. The first reaction was anger, but they channeled into action. The company proceeded to intercept the store, the authors of the video, took away the videos, and the company pressed charges against them. One of the first actions was to find out if the contaminated food was finally delivered to a client, fortunately, it was not. Domino has had the plan to introduce the company to Facebook, Twitter and some other social media sites by 2009 just before the crisis, but they did it during the crisis in order to communicate with the active core audience. The CEO decided to the response by YouTube instead of distributing a press release because even at a million views, they thought there were 307 million people in America, so they focused on that audience. They received criticism from the media during the first twenty-four hours, because people thought that they were not doing anything about it. The company understood that the most important thing was to keep the companys credibility with customers. Dominos pizza learned that is so important to keep in touch with media web community all times. (Randallreilly.com, 2015) stated that the company listened to their audience and later they admitted that their product was awful, so that, they started a campaign called Pizza Turnaround, in order to acknowledge the problems they were facing and reinvent their pizza, this along with an extensive media coverage, documentaries, promotions, advertising, etc. Problem Statement. The companys PR team faced an important challenge. The company had a disadvantageous place due to the lack of presence on social networks. Dominos faced the dilemma of obviating persons opinion by denying, and only focus on defending their brand or putting on the customers side and reinforcing their product. This crisis could have undermined this large multinational company, so they had to deal with some ethical principles such as fairness, honesty, expertise and loyalty. Personal Critique of the Case. In this context, is important to point out the conflict management life cycle concept from (Wilcox, Cameron and Reber, n.d.) which has a proactive, strategic, reactive and recovery phases, and the way the companys PR professional applied it during this situation. The proactive phase involves crisis-planning, issues tracking by creating strategy plans in ways that address the emerging issue. The strategic phase allows organizations to place itself favorably in anticipation of actions. The reactive phase occurs when the issue or conflict reaches a critical level of impact; it involves the implementation of crisis management plan, crisis communication and conflict resolution. The recovery phase involves reputation management and image restoration. PR professionals at Dominos pizza implemented both the reactive and recovery phases as well, once the issue became critical. They initiated a crisis management plan by establishing communication channels with the target audience through social media. They also implemented reputation management and image restoration when they decided to reinvent their pizza with a campaign called Pizza Turnaround by using an extensive media coverage, documentaries, promotions, advertising, etc. Once the crisis was overcome, they started implementing the proactive and strategic phases of establishing constant communication with customers through social media channels, with a strategy to pay special attention to customer feedback. References Wilcox, D., Cameron, G. and Reber, B. (n.d.). Public relations. PRSA. (2009). Dominos Delivers During Crisis: The Companys Step-by-Step Response After a Vulgar Video Goes Viral. [online] Available at: http://apps.prsa.org/Intelligence/TheStrategist/Articles/view/8226/102/Domino_s_Delivers_During_Crisis_The_Company_s_Step#.WNMO7PkrLIV [Accessed 23 Mar. 2017]. Randallreilly.com. (2015). Dominos Pizza: A Case Study in Customer Feedback | Randall-Reilly. [online] Available at: http://www.randallreilly.com/dominos-pizza-a-case-study-in-customer-feedback/ [Accessed 23 Mar. 2017]. Tesco and Sainsburys: A Comparison of Strategies Tesco and Sainsburys: A Comparison of Strategies 1. Introduction Business strategies are largely unique to individual business organisations and depend upon the objectives of their primary stakeholders, namely the shareholders and the senior management. While these two entities are the main decision makers for the road maps followed by firms, which they exercise through formulation and articulation of objectives, mission statements, and strategies, many other issues like product or service features, strengths and weaknesses of business organisations, economic, legal and political environments, nature and intensity of competition, opportunities and threats, environmental and ecological needs, as well as technological advances, often play major roles in determining and implementing business strategy. Work in these areas, by management experts, have led to the development and construction of models and theories that attempt to elaborate, explain and demystify these issues. The tackling of these challenges previously depended upon the thought processe s and ingenuity of business owners, and played vital roles in the successes or failures of business organisations. The work of Igor Ansoff and Michael Porter led to the enunciation of well known strategic models for growth and the Five Forces theory for analysis of competitiveness. These tools, as well as decision making aids like SWOT and PESTLE analyses have become commonplace in today’s business scenario, and are widely used by managers all over the world. While most growth strategies deal with marketing, other areas like production, human resource, information technology and finance also need goal setting, and are important to overall strategy for optimisation of organisational wealth. Total Quality Management, for example has emerged in recent years as a necessary item in every strategic manager’s toolbox for achievement of organisational objectives. Apart from these tools, business strategies for growth and shareholder wealth appreciation are also influenced by t he ethics and value systems of individual corporations; while many firms chose to forsake both growth and profitability for ethics, the reverse, as evinced by scams like Enron and WorldCom is equally true. Every so often, companies in the same industry, and operating in the same national or global environment, adopt sharply different strategies with spectacularly divergent results. Search engines like Yahoo and Alta Vista existed for years before Google arrived on the scene and swept everything before it. Toyota, a Japanese car manufacturer, formed much after the end of the Second World War, entered the car market of the United States in the face of widespread scepticism, and over a few decades, orchestrated a business strategy that saw it overtake Ford, the iconic American car making giant. Among British companies, the last two decades saw the rise and rise of the retailing company, Tesco. The company changed its down market â€Å"pile them high, sell them cheap† public perception to emerge as the largest retailer in the country, first overtaking the much older market leader Sainsbury’s and then proceeding to widen the gap until its’ market share was twice that of its erstwhile condescending rival. This assignment aims to examine and analyse the different strategies adopted by these companies, which have similar products and services, and also operate in the same environment. 2. Commentary and Analysis Business organisations constantly face challenges in every sphere of activity, be they in marketing, sales, production, workforce, human resource management, information technology development, or in raising and controlling finances. Many of these challenges arise from the social, political and economical environments in which organisations operate. While businesses in the UK operate in democratic and market friendly environments with institutionalised legal and financial systems, they need to conform to the stipulations laid down by numerous regulatory bodies (of the UK and the EU) and governmental organisations, and that too in almost all operating areas. Furthermore, firms with global operations have to frequently function in conformity with different environmental requirements, necessitated by dissimilar political and legal systems, or by widely divergent local, infrastructural or market conditions. Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s both entered the UK retail market, as small convenience stores, not much different from the many such establishments that exist all over the UK. Both organisations outgrew and outperformed other businesses in their genre to become colossal retailing chains with countrywide presences. Sainsbury’s, a much older firm than Tesco’s was the market leader in the UK retailing sector, until 1995, when it was overtaken by Tesco’s. a. Sainsbury’s J Sainsbury, plc, is one of Britain’s most famous firms, represented across the country, through its chain of supermarket stores that operate under the Sainsbury’s brand. Apart from supermarkets, the company operates convenience stores, an internet-based home delivery shopping service, and Sainsbury’s Bank. The company, originally started as a partnership in 1869, and while incorporated as a private company as far back as 1922, listed on the London Stock Exchange only in 1973, in what was until then the LSE’s largest stock issue. Sainsbury’s grew to become the UK’s largest supermarket company and retained its privileged position for much of the twentieth century. Tesco’s overtook Sainsbury’s in 1995, and ASDA/ Wal-Mart relegated it to third position in 2003. (J Sainsbury, 2007) While the business, in the beginning, grew organically into a chain of convenience stores, its first major strategic decision came, in 1950, with the opening of the first self service store, in Croyden, London. This initiative was followed by increasing the number of self service stores, expanding the range of non food goods, opening of hyper markets, acquisition of smaller chains, and commencement of operations in Scotland and North Ireland. The company grew to become the country’s largest supermarket chain, fuelled by increasing economic affluence, changing buying habits, customer convenience, and the ability of Sainsbury’s to provide a large and diverse range of products under one roof. Large Sainsbury’s stores typically stock 50,000 products, of which 50% are home brands. While the company grew slowly in its initial years, real growth came only in the post war years, with the development of a strong market economy, economic prosperity, increased spending powe r, and customer desire for a large range of better quality goods. Sainsbury’s responded to this changed economic environment, by concentrating on the increasing and upwardly mobile middle class. The company refrained from taking too many risks or initiatives, possibly feeling that its reputation would enable it to grow steadily and retain market leadership. The strategy of least resistance was interspersed by a few initiatives like the introduction of Do it Yourself (DIY) products, and acquisition of chains like Bell’s Stores, Jackson’s Stores, and JB Beaumont, which served to add to and broaden its customer base. The company has more than 750 stores today, and with a turnover in the range of 16 billion GBP, is one of UK’s more successful corporates. A prima facie assessment regarding the company’s response to business and environmental challenges would tend to give credit to the company’s corporate strategies in an extremely competitive bus iness environment. This assessment would however be substantially incorrect. Even as the company continued to grow steadily, in both profits and sales, through the 1990s and into the 21st century (except for the difficult years of 2004 and 2005), it was overtaken, first by Tesco’s in 1995, and later by ASDA in 2003. Tesco’s , which had a turnover of less than 11 billion GBP in 1994 saw its sales touch 38 billion GBP in 2006 and now sells more than twice of what Sainsbury’s does. Very apparently, Sainsbury’s has committed serious errors in handling and responding to business and environmental challenges, and has yielded the high ground in supermarket retailing to younger and possibly more effective competition. b. Tesco’s Growth Path Tesco’s started off as a small one man grocery operation, in 1919, in London’s East End. It took Jack Cohen, the founder, 10 more years to start his first store, in 1929, a full 60 years after Sainsbury’s. The company grew organically in the initial years, spurred by Cohen’s hard work. In the beginning business strategy revolved around providing cheap and economical goods, (pile them high, sell them cheap) espousal of trading stamps to induce customers, and relentless opening of new stores. Strategies, broadly similar to those followed by Sainsbury’s in the post war years led Cohen to open Tesco’s first self service store in 1947, and the first supermarket in 1956. In retrospect, Cohen’s better understanding of the demands and changing moods of customers is possibly evinced by his decision to open his self service store, a full three years earlier than Sainsbury’s. When Cohen resigned, in 1977, the company had achieved significant growth and traction but was still much behind Sainsbury’s, both in size and reputation. The years that followed Cohen’s handing over of Tesco’s leadership were marked by strategic swings designed to take the company away from its image of a purveyor of cheap and low quality goods. This period saw the management launch an aggressive campaign for market share, a multi dimensional effort that involved (a) rapid expansion of stores, (b) acquisition of medium sized supermarket chains, (c) entry and consolidation in a number of foreign markets, (d) large scale expansion of non food products, (e) opening of a number of hypermarkets, (f) introduction of loyalty cards, and (g) exploitation of online markets. The company assessed the existing national and global environment and felt that it would be able to work towards significant increases in sales and profitability and make it into a global leader from i ts status of a lowly down market UK based retailer. These strategies, combined with effective systems and operational implementation, enabled Tesco’s to power past Sainsbury’s, the British market leader, and establish itself as the third largest retailer in Europe. With sales of 38 billion GBP and 2 billion GBP in profits, Tesco is today the undisputed market leader, way ahead of both Sainsbury’s and ASDA. It played for glory and won hands down. (Pringle and Cohen, 2007) c. Management of Environmental Conditions In the early 1960s, Cohen lobbied Parliament to have the Retail Price Maintenance (RPM) act abolished, efforts supported by Edward Heath. The RPM allowed manufacturers and suppliers to set the price of goods thus preventing large retailers, who could buy in bulk and had greater buying power, from benefiting from economies of scale and undercutting the prices of smaller shops. To get â€Å"around† this, Tesco offered another incentive to get customers through the doors Green Shield Stamps. These were collected by customers when they spent money in the store, and were then traded for goods in a catalogue. An effective discount (Tesco, a corporate profile, 2004) This extract serves to illustrate Tesco’s response to environmental challenges and the many innovative ways the company found to constantly improve customer value. The emergence of Thatcherism, in the 80s, coupled with the break up of the Soviet Union, the consolidation of a unipolar world, sharp improvements in internet technology, and the commencement of globalisation, created a number of opportunities that Tesco was quick to spot, grab, and exploit. The company closed down 500 stores, revamped and modernised hundreds of others. Store formats like Tesco, Tesco Express, Tesco Metro, and One Stop, catered to distinct sizes, products, and locations, and ranged from small street corner shops to huge all inclusive supermarkets. The company was quick to realise that its image as a purveyor of cheap products, with its perceived down market connotations, would not help growth in a society that was rapidly becoming richer, and did not hesitate to close down its coupon scheme. In a br illiant segmentation exercise, the company created three product categories, good, better, and best, across most of its product lines. While this enabled customers to access different price ranges, it also allowed the company to access an â€Å"inclusive† and huge market. Sainsbury’s, which had traditionally catered to the middle class clientele with zealously protected margins, tried to enlarge its product base, but was unable to make any headway, because of its lesser supplier base and inferior logistical capability. (Pringle and Gordon, 2007) Tesco’s introduced customer loyalty cards in 1995. While it took Sainsbury some time to catch up with the idea, the two companies used it for widely divergent aims. Even as Sainsbury’s used the cards primarily to drive repeat visits and purchases, Tesco’s processed the information feedback from the loyalty card customers, to assess customer demands and needs, and keep on adding to its product range. The company also foresaw the potential of the internet and globalisation, and established profitable online sales channels, as well as successful overseas forays. Tesco’s international business now accounts for nearly 25% of company sales, and the immediate priority is to drive it up to 50% of company revenue. Apart from maintaining strong market leadership, Tesco is now focussing on two major areas that are propelling the company’s growth and increasing the gap between the company and its competitors. Its aggressive growth in the non-foods market means that it is possibly selling more clothes than Next and more health and beauty products than all the others put together. (Hunter, 2006) The company has set up base in numerous countries in Europe and Asia and should soon have a significant presence in the USA. â€Å"Indeed, some 60% of Tesco’s floor space is now based outside of the UK.† (Hunter, 2006) Sainsbury’s, on the other hand has been too busy handling its inadequate stocking mechanism, half empty shelves, and falling market share, to be able to pay much attention to new thrust areas, and opportunities, made available by changes in environmental conditions and advances in technology. (Tesco, a corporate profile, 2004) 3. Conclusion While this analysis does not intend to eulogise Tesco’s management practices, or its planned and meticulous exploitation of available opportunities, the stark difference in the working of Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s tend to make any comparative analysis of strategy, and management practice, enormously one sided. Even as Tesco was using feedback from its loyalty card scheme to add enormously to its product range, Sainsbury’s was trying to adamantly protect its margins and cutting down on service quality, practices that inevitably led to further customer dissatisfaction and loss of market share. It was not until 2004, a full 9 years after Tesco overtook it, that the company realised that its major problem lay in under stocked shelves, inadequate logistics and poor supply chain management. While Sainsbury’s strategy appeared to be one of risk avoidance and slow growth, in reality it proved to be akin to that of an ostrich in the face of danger. The company however still remains a respected and successful retailer. Recent initiatives, taken after a change in top management, have seen a priority shift and led to revived sales, reduced costs and improved profitability. The company has its heart in the right place and contributes a much higher percentage of its post tax profit to charity than Tesco. The tremendous success of Tesco, in assessing customer needs and environmental opportunities, came about because of a new aggression that evinced itself after the departure of jack Cohen and is an indicator of the possibilities that exist for Sainsbury. The fact that Tesco lagged behind Sainsbury’s until 1995 is proof of the levels to which Sainsbury can aspire without being impractically optimistic. Sainsbury’s has a number of strengths, namely its goodwill in the UK market, access to enormous amount of shop space and property that have been built up over the years, very strong domain knowledge in the retailing business, and adequate capital resources. The company has also become active in the online segment, the fastest growing market segment in the retailing market. It however definitely needs to scan the environment constantly, look for new opportunities, upgrade technology, and be more fleet footed in responding to opportunities and challenges. Both the companies have seen rapid departures from existing strategies after changes in top level management. Strange as it may appear, changes in management appear to have been critical to Tesco seeing opportunities that were not explored earlier. Sainsbury’s too has commenced implementation of measures that should have logically been done much earlier, only after a change of guard at the top. The solution to the paradox possibly lies in realising that management theories, practices and strategies, in most cases, become relevant only if the CEO thinks them fit. The boss is the key. Bibliography Annual report and Financial Statements, 2006, J Sainsbury plc, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/ar06/fullfinancials/notestofinancialstatements5.shtml Annual Review and Summary Financial Statements, 2006, J Sainsbury plc, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/ar06/summaryfinancials Cavazza, M, 2007, Sainsburys bid is very close, thisismoney.co.uk., Retrieved April 3, 2007 from www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=418580in_page_id=3 Cole, R, 2007, Sainsbury’s progress offers reason to hold even if no bid comes, Times Online, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing Hunter, H, 2006, Revolution in the British aisles: why Tesco will continue to rule the roost, msn.money, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from money.uk.msn.com/Investing/Insight/Special_Features/Markets_Comment/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1054991 J Sainsbury, 2007, Wikipedia, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_Sainsbury Jordan, D, 2007, Tchenguiz adds to Sainsbury stake, Times Online, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article1578864.ece 2 Apr 2007 Pringle, H, and Gordon, W, 2007, The Tesco Story, customerserviceworld.com., Retrieved May 27, 2007 from www.ecustomerserviceworld.com/earticlesstore_articles.asp?type=articleid Tesco, 2007, Retrieved May 25, 2007 from www.tescocorporate.com/page.aspx?pointerid=A8E0E60508F94A8DBA909E2ABB5F2CC7 Tesco,  A corporate profile, 2004, Corporate watch, Retrieved May 27, 2007 from www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?bid=28