Dyspraxia

The term dyspraxia derives from the Greek work praxis, meaning â€Å"movement process† (Dworkin, 2005). It is a disorder that affects motor skill development. People with dyspraxia have trouble planning and completing fine motor tasks. This can vary from simple motor tasks such as waving goodbye to more complex tasks like brushing teeth. Throughout the years, dyspraxia has also been called congenital maladriotness, developmental coordination disorder, clumsy child syndrome and sensory integration disorder (Hamilton, 2011). The first documented research in â€Å"poor muscular coordination in children† was in 1926 by Louisa Lippitt.She developed a manual for corrective gymnastics for women to help correct coordination problems. Lippitt felt that the coordination issues were a condition of the nervous system and was one of the first to want to treat it with therapeutic measures (Cermak & Larkin, 2002). The term Dyspraxia was first documented and given a name in 1937 in the U. K. by Samuel T. Orton, who called it developmental dyspraxia. He was a neurologist and he felt that dyspraxia was caused by lesions in the brain, especially to the dominate hemisphere of the brain.The technology available at the time could not prove or disprove his theories. Most scientists since have discounted his view, and instead believe it to be a problem with neural connections. Even so, his work was important because he was the first to note that dyspraxia caused problems with complex movement and could involve speech as well as body movements (Platt, 2011). In the USA, dyspraxia was first given recognition in 1947, through the work of Strauss and Lehtinen. They published research and were considered pioneers in the observation of behavioral characteristics of what they termed â€Å"the brain injured child†.Lehtinen was actually one of the first to use the term â€Å"learning disabilities† (Kass & Maddux, 2005). In 1975, people began to call it â€Å"Clumsy Child Syndrome† and children who had the disorder were called â€Å"Clumsy Children†. This term is now considered inappropriate, as it describes the child and not the movement and has negative connotations (Hamilton, 2011). There are four categories of dyspraxia. They include ideomotor dyspraxia, ideational dyspraxia, oromotor dyspraxia and constructional dyspraxia. Ideaomotor dyspraxia is the inability to complete single step motor tasks like waving goodbye or brushing one’s hair.Ideational dyspraxia is difficulty with multi-step tasks like making a bed or buttoning and zipping pants. Oromotor dyspraxia has to do with speech in that it presents itself as a difficulty coordinating the muscle movements needed to say words. Lastly, constructional dyspraxia is difficulty with spatial relationships like moving objects from one place to another (NCLD Editorial Staff, 2010). Dyspraxia also presents itself differently in different age groups. In babies and young childr en, it can be seen as a difficulty learning to walk or jump.It can also show as a difficulty in speaking and being understood. Also, some young children will be slow to establish left or right handedness. Young children with dyspraxia may seem clumsy and frequently bump into things. Babies and children may be easily irritated by touch, like the feeling of some fabrics on their skin (NCLD Editorial Staff, 2010). In school aged children, dyspraxia looks a bit different. Students will have trouble with fine motor skills and it exhibits itself as difficulty holding a pencil or holding scissors.These students will also have trouble with sports or gym class due to poor coordination. If they have oromotor issues, they may have slow or difficult to understand speech. These issues often cause social withdrawal because these students feel embarrassed and awkward. This is the age in which students begin to have psychological issues in addition to their dyspraxia (NCLD Editorial Staff, 2010). I n adults, dyspraxia looks similar, with some slight differences. Adults with oromotor issues will still have speech issues, but it is generally problems with volume, articulation and pitch.Some adults with dyspraxia will have difficulty writing. They may not be able to drive and are still very clumsy. It can also become evident when an adult has difficulty with personal grooming due to motor skill issues. They also continue to have texture issues and sensitivity to touch (NCLD Editorial Staff, 2010). References Cermak, S. A. & Larkin, D. (2002). Developmental Coordination Disorder. Albany, NY. Delmar, a Division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Dworkin, J. (2005). Apraxia. Gale Encyclopedia of Neurological Disorders. Retrieved from http://www. encyclopedia. com/topic/Apraxia. spx. Hamilton, S. S. (2011). Overview of Developmental Coordination Disorder. Retrieved from http://www. uptodate. com/contents/overview-of-developmental-coordination-disorder. Kass, C. E. and Maddux, C. D. (2005) A H uman Development View of Learning Disabilities: From Theory to Practice. Springfield, IL. Charles C Thomas Publisher, LTD. NCLD Editorial Staff. (2010). What is Dyspraxia? Retrieved from http://www. ncld. org/ld-basics/ld-aamp-language/writing/dyspraxia. Platt, G. (2011). Beating Dyspraxia With a Hop, Skip and a Jump. Philadelphia, PA. Jessica Kinglsey Publishers.

A Paper On Customer Satisfaction

Marketing Is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering values to customers and for managing customer relationships In ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. These values are related to an economic dimension and the psychological dimension of the said marketing definition. The same dimensions speak about perceived price through transaction values and cognitive and affective influences on brand choice and affective influences.This definition of marketing leads to the importance and critical roles of customers perception of corporate Images and reputation leading to customer satisfaction as an Intermediary to customer loyalty. This Is done In relevance with the belief and fact that customers are the primary ‘assets' of a market and not the product itself. With customers being satisfied, or if customers show a high level of satisfaction then only can the market for the particular product grow. This in turn can lea d to customer loyalty and loyalty intention. What is Customer Satisfaction?Customer Satisfaction Is said to be able to Increase product sales and bring about fulfillment response. It is a Judgment that a product or service feature, or the reduce itself, provided or is providing a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfillment including levels of under or over-fulfillment. † It is the degree of experience that a customer receives from a good or service provided by a market. Thus ‘Customer Satisfaction' is the measure of this degree of experience or pleasure of customers measured by the number of repeated customers who repeatedly use the goods or service.It is also seen that customer satisfaction leads to the customers being loyal to the product or service thus in return be loyal to the particular brand of the product. It can also be used as a measure of loyalty intention. Oliver(1997) defined customer's loyalty as â€Å"a deep held commitment to rebury or re-patron ize a preferred product or service consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive same brand or same brand-set purchasing, despite situational influences and marketing efforts that have the potential to cause switching behavior. Loyalty then is the intent or the customer's behavior to rebury the same product or service from a particular source (thus linking to a brand) because of the satisfaction that he or she achieved from using the product/service repeatedly. Why is Customer Satisfaction Important? Talking about customer satisfaction, one must understand why customer satisfaction is important. In asking that question the following reasons come up based on research. The main point is because customer satisfaction as a measure of loyalty intention and customer retention is a leading indicator and a point differentiator.Studying customer satisfaction or performing customer satisfaction surveys yields a better understanding of customer lifetime value and reduces customer chur n. In saying so, keeping and making old customers satisfied is a lot cheaper than acquiring new ones. Making customers happy reduces negative word of mouth for the product or service and thus doesn't affect the product or service negatively. On the other hand, with satisfied and happy customers word of mouth would enable an acquisition of many more other customers who can then be transformed to satisfied customers and then into totally satisfied customers.Retaining customers who are satisfied isn't much of a problem, it is those customers who often have problems with the products or services offered that needs to be looked into. Suppose if a ‘satisfaction' survey is carried out on a particular product, and the result gives a list if any customers who are not satisfied with the product or who gives a low rating for the product; then one must look into how and why they are unsatisfied with the product. One can keep a watch list on these customers and follow up with different que ries so as to determine why they are not satisfied.In knowing this, the brand can know the actual number of people who have intent of repurchase and of those who are actually loyal to the brand. The main difference between competitors in a market is their ability to retain and satisfy those customers who continue to be with them. Bringing customer satisfaction as a main strategy or a core point of action for a brand can be a detrimental factor for two or more competitors offering the same service or product. Take for example Competitor A and Competitor B both offering Product X.A customer C would go for either of the competitor's Product X if C would have received feedback from another customer (say D) if D would have given a positive feedback to given a positive word of mouth feedback to C of the Product X from Competitor A if the competitor A had offered or given a high level of satisfaction to the customer D. Thus the main differentiating factor for C for choosing product X from A and B would highly depend on the recommendation from D. This is what is meant by acquiring new customers and retaining old ones based on customer satisfaction.Studies have shown that totally satisfied customers are more loyal to a brand than Just satisfied customers. The Customer Lifetime Value (CLC) which can yield profit from a customer based on prediction of spending of the customer on a particular product or service is different for totally and Just satisfied customers. Just satisfied customers can and eight defect to other products or services and have a lower CLC. This is because with just satisfied customers, chances of new products from competitors who offer better services and benefits might make them shift from their regular brand and products.This can be attributed to the effect of the new product attributes that wooed them to shift or because of the lack of retention capability of the current brand. In the case of totally satisfied customers however, a new product or s ervice with better offers and benefits than the current brand isn't enough to deter them to take a shift. This might be due to the high loyalty they have towards their current brand because of their high levels of satisfaction they achieved from using the product or service or because of the brand's capability to retain them by incorporating customer satisfaction strategies in their business plans.Thus we can see that Just satisfied customers are willing to shift to other products more readily than totally satisfied customers. Markets should be able to distinguish between these two and formulate strategies to convert Just satisfied to totally satisfied customers which can raise the Customer Lifetime Value and thus increase profit. Consistency as a Customer Satisfaction Tool For a brand to be able to retain customers and to make them satisfied and happy, consistency is one of the major routes in achieving total customer satisfaction.The consistency that the paper talks about is the c onsistent satisfaction of a customer and its measure of relation to the overall sum of customer satisfaction over a period of time. This is in contrast to the measure of a five point scale satisfaction survey of individual customers. In measuring this satisfaction consistency, we measure the attestation levels of an individual customer for a particular product or service provided by a certain brand over their continued use and repurchase of the product or brand. This gives us a better understanding of the customer's response to the product or service though out the customer lifetime value.With increasing use of the product the customer can either be satisfied, totally satisfied or be frustrated with the product. This study based on consistency can then be translated into strategies or plans to enable the brand to retain the dissatisfied customer, convert the Just testified and improve the totally satisfied customer. Throughout the customers' lifetime with the product the brands cons istent work to provide them with excellent and effortless service and a consistent support mechanism can ensure maximum customer satisfaction. However not all brands can offer and deliver the same.Having a positive customer-experience emotions- encompassed in a feeling of trust-were the biggest drivers of satisfaction and loyalty in a majority of industries. Consistency with customers in relationships, services and relations is important to forge trust brands' customer pool. A company's brand is driven by more than the combination of promises made and kept. It is also critical to ensure customers recognize the delivery of those promises. This requires communicating and key messages that consistently highlight delivery and themes.In this case customer's perceptions and views of the brand are reinforced. This in turn generates goodwill in the minds of the customers thus leading into a satisfaction level though the communication of these fulfilling promises and on time market communica tions to reinforce experiences. Relationship between Price and Satisfaction Say a customer A was traveling and had to stop to stay for a night. The hotel that he stayed charged him an exorbitant amount as the room rent and other charges and this caused A to be upset and thus dissatisfied with the hotel.But because of the urgent requirement he had to put up with it. But in staying at the hotel he found out that the overall service of the hotel, the staffs and the facilities provided were much more than he anticipated. When asked to rate the hotel he gave it a ten out of ten. This is an example of how price can be related to satisfaction. But this is not the case with most products and services. Customers often expect good sales and services when they pay a hefty price for a product. If the product performs they are more likely to continue the use of the same product and recommend the same to others.The opposite is the case if the product doesn't meet the necessary requirements the cu stomer had in mind while paying for it. If that's the case, a sure negative response from the customer via word of mouth would go to others, thus making the brand lose out on a potential customer while not retaining a customer. Thus customer satisfaction and price has a direct negative relationship and impact on customer attention. This is regardless of satisfaction with the service experience or reward programmer membership status.This also shows the price sensitivity of customers in relation to being satisfied with a product or service. Achieving Customer Satisfaction As customer satisfaction is an important factor for brands, companies and the market, plans and strategies must be included to achieve the same. This part of the paper will give a simple layout on how to achieve customer satisfaction. Since the business or the market continues to exist because of the customer, the customer should be made the first priority. This is in accordance to what was said at the beginning of t he paper where customers where declared as assets of a market.If customers are unhappy and uncaring for a product or service; chances are they have already made up their minds to shift to another. They also are highly capable to spread negativity about the same product or service via word of mouth. A â€Å"Can-Do† attitude by sales executives and the staffs in general can go a long way to making customers happy and satisfied. Inconvenience caused by the staffs and personnel at a retail shop or outlet can cause a very long lasting negative impression on the minds f the customers. The lesser the complaints received, the more highly the customer is satisfied with the service.Communication with customers also offers a great platform in creating relationships with them and building trust in them. Also communication about the services and products provided by the brand to increase the knowledge of the customer is an ideal way to retain customers. If the full quality and service of a product and the extent to which the product or service can be used is made known to customer gets about the product or service, the more highly it can affect his/her purchase decision again and again. This can then lead to customer retention and satisfaction.Timing is also one of the basic factors that can lead to customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. On time deliveries, sales and services, and deadlines are real time factors influencing customer satisfaction. Uncertainty and lack of confidence with customers are negative points on the customer's mind. Your customer expects prompt, courteous service. When asking for service help, your customer should never have to make a second call. Establish clearly defined and attainable service standards using the input of customers and employees. Ensure hat those standards are thoroughly understood by employees and promoted to customers.Put the standards into practice through employee reward programs that establish and recognize excellenc e in service. Research into competitors actions to improve your own goals and improve your own techniques and services. Remember that the customer is the markets' everything. Complains must be listened and taken into account. Positive solutions must be encouraged along with politeness, compliments and enthusiasm. You are the company that the customer sees. The customer is always evaluating you, so offer a better service than your competitors ND always show interest in the customer.Conclusion In concluding we can see that although there are customers who will always buy and purchase a product or service because of needs and requirements; totally satisfied customers are hard to find. Retaining Just satisfied customers also is a hard process since it entails a lot of work and research into why there can be a shift even when they are satisfied. Customer satisfaction is thus seen as not Just a unit of measure for brands and markets to calculate their profits and revenues but is seen as a n important factor for marketing strategies and plans.This is because the more satisfied the customers are, the more loyal they can become and the more loyal they become the more benefit the brand and the market can achieve from them in terms of profit and revenue. The results of the study shows that the markets offering different products and services should concentrate on customer satisfaction as it plays an important role in retaining customers which are the â€Å"Assets† of any market. References 1. Enhance Plus; â€Å"Why is Customer Satisfaction Important? † 2. â€Å"The effect of price on return intentions: Do satisfaction and reward programmer membership matter?

Analysis of Internationalisation Strategy Tesco and Lidl Essay

Question 1: Globalisation has, in the last few decades, been one of the dominant trends in retailing. Retailers around the globe are striving for higher global market shares. The food retailing industry which has an oligopolistic market, especially, has strong competition although, with a few large firms dominating the market. Among them Tesco and Lidl are one of the major European retailers. Tesco is the UK’s largest retailer with 28.7% market share, which is 11% more than its closest rival, ASDA (Statista.com, 2015), and is the 5th largest retailer in the world (Deloitte, 2015). And Lidl is the main retail chain (accounting for more than 70% of its sales) of Schwarz group, which is the 4th largest retailer in the world (Deloitte, 2015). Both of these firms are based in Europe with Tesco being a British firm and Lidl a German. These firms are similar not only in their revenues and market shares but also in the generic strategy they have adopted. In terms of business operation, both firms follow Porter’s cost leadership strategy. However, Tesco also incorporates the differentiation strategy (Baroto et al., 2012), hence pursuing a hybrid strategy combining the two, while Lidl solely follows the no-frills cost leadership strategy (Geppert et al., 2015). Both these firms have internationalized in different countries around the globe. Lidl has mainly focused its internationalisation in the European markets, while Tesco, in addition to expanding in different eastern European countries, has also started its operations in drastically different markets such as South Korea, China, India and The USA. However, they have followed different strategies in their modes of entry into foreign markets, with different levels of success. The decision to and the outcome of internationalisation for these two firms have depended on different factors like government regulation, availability of the factors of production, their business operation strategy and so on. One of the main criteria for internationalisation for firms is to possess some sort of competitive advantage, in order to overcome the threats and difficulties usually associated with entering into a new foreign market (Vernon 1966). Lidl being a discounter has a huge advantage in terms of price compared to other supermarkets and hypermarkets. As a result of its no-frills strategy, Lidl can significantly reduce costs in different stages of its logistics and supply chain. Entering into a new country has a lot of challenges and firm  size is one of the things a firm must consider when choosing a country for internationalisation. If th e firm does not have significant market share in its domestic market, it will find it difficult to maintain its operations in foreign markets. In Lidl’s case, they have built a very strong domestic market and therefore, had a strong foundation for further expansion to foreign markets. From Lidl’s previous Foreign Direct Investments, it is evident that that the firm has adopted both acquisition strategy as well as Greenfield investment. However, it has mostly focused on Greenfield investments (Nayak, 2011). Greenfield investment, which entails starting the operations from scratch, gives firms more freedom in selecting their business strategy in terms of choosing suppliers and managing logistics etc. This market entry strategy allows firms to fully utilize their company-specific advantages (Ando, 2005). One of the reasons Lidl chooses this strategy as their international mode of entry, is because of its consistency with their business model. Lidl, like other hard discounters, follows a global standardised strategy (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1989), where majority of the decisions are made by the corporate headquarters, in things like variation of product assortment, design of store outlets or policies and procedures and there is very little localisation (Geppert,201 5). This allows Lidl to implement its own strategic model into a new business in a foreign market. However, in addition to centralizing the strategic aspect of the business, they also centralize some physical aspects of it. â€Å"A global retail strategy relies on standardization to achieve economies of scale and of replication. This means that in different countries similar product lines, distribution system, communication, service level and store design are used† (McGoldrick 2002). Lidl’s business strategy includes a standardized supply chain which allows it to efficiently operate its business in different countries and also provides an economies of scale. Upon entering a foreign market, they set up regional distribution centres (RDCs) to service a significant number of their stores in a certain region. They source their products (except perishables) through their headquarters in Germany and those products are distributed through the RDCs to their respective regional stores. Each of the RDC is linked to a regional management headquarters and they supply around 60 a nd 120 stores (Geppert, 2011). Through this kind of horizontal FDI, Lidl operates in its foreign  markets just as it does in its domestic market. Also, the fact that Lidl has expanded into countries that are geographically closer makes this strategy and business model very effective. This strategy is also consistent with the gravity model of bilateral trade which states that volume of trade is inversely proportional to the distance between the countries and directly proportional to the size of the economies. Lidl’s operating countries are geographically closer to each other and they, as a result, incur less transaction costs, which allows a discounter like Lidl, to adhere to its cost leadership strategy in its foreign markets as well. Moreover, Germany’s central location in Europe as well as it being the largest economy in Europe increases the prospect and efficiency of trade. Furthermore, due to Lidl’s choice of internationalisation strategy, factor abundance plays an integral role, especially in terms of land and space. Greenfield investment requires land to build new stores or the availability of already built stores. â€Å"Discounters’ stores are standardized not only in neighbouring markets, but worldwide, which allows for efficient in-store processes† (Warschun, 2011). Therefore, Lidl which follows a similar standardization strategy, requires specific sizes of land and stores in different parts of the country it wants to expand to. An exception in this case is Sweden, which is geographically a bit farther relative to other countries. Lidl, establishing a Greenfield investment, built their own warehouse in South West of Sweden, however, the warehouse was still served by the same logistics firm used by Lidl in Germany, Pape (Nyberg, 2007). This still allowed for the standard distribution process to be implemented, as Pape is already familiar with Lidl’s business model and distribution modes. Government policies, in both domestic and foreign markets, also have a significant effect on food retailers and their decision to internationalise. In 1968, a retail planning policy was devised in Germany in order to protect the small stores by limiting the size of stores outside city centres and special zones (Geppert et.al, 2015). This helped discount stores like Lidl by stopping bigger competitors from introducing huge supermarkets and hypermarkets. As a result, Lidl gained a significant portion of the market share in the German food retailing market. This strong position in their domestic market meant they had the resources and the motivation to expand  into other markets and a strong domestic presence also benefits Lidl’s centralised business model. Since then, Lidl has expanded rapidly, mostly in European markets, and the number of Lidl stores in Lidl’s major operating countries can be seen from the table below. The table above shows that the total number of stores Lidl had in 2011 in its foreign markets is three times its number of stores in Germany, its domestic market. This shows that Lidl’s endeavours in foreign markets have been successful as majority of their international efforts have resulted in a profit. Lidl doesn’t publish country-by country profit figures, although, its turnover in the UK in 2012, which was  £202 million, increasing by around 40% in the five years since the recession hit (Gibb, 2013), shows that it is making a profit. In 2012, Lidl’s overall profits were up by 37% (Kantarretail, 2012). This can partly be attributed to the recession, because of which the demand for cheaper discounted goods increased, however, it can also be attributed to Lidl’s mode of entry into new markets and its business strategy which takes into account the local culture of the community and country in its foreign markets. For example: Lidl locally sources its pe rishable food products in the UK locally and uses it as its marketing strategy to attract local consumers and to create a friendly brand image. Similarly to Lidl, Tesco also has a very strong presence in its domestic market as it is the market leader in the UK. Being among the top five retailers in the world, Tesco has stores in various countries in Asia and Europe. After achieving rapid growth and gaining the highest market share in the UK, the move to enter foreign markets was part of Tesco’s disciplined international growth strategy (Tesco Annual Report, 2014). Tesco has also adopted Horizontal Foreign Direct Investment in most of its international expansions, usually acquiring existing retailers in foreign markets and implementing its own business strategy like undercutting competitors and introducing own brand products and its club card scheme and so on (corporatewatch.org, 2004). For example: Tesco’s acquisition of American company K-mart’s stores in Czech Republic in 1996 (tescoplc.com) and it currently has more than 300 stores there (Tescopoly.org) Tesco’s first  attempts at internationa lisation were not very successful as their acquisitions of relatively small supermarket chains in Ireland and France were divested soon after acquisition (Geppert et al., 2011). Tesco, then changed their strategy in acquisitions by acquiring larger foreign firms rather than smaller ones. In addition to the acquisition of K-mart in 1996, they acquired 26 S-Mart stores in Hungary in 1995, and ventured into the Irish market again in 1997, this time acquiring the market leader Associated British Food (ABF) (Geppert et al. 2011). As they grew Tesco has favoured large hypermarkets for its international stores rather than supermarkets, since in most countries it is easier to get planning permission for these than it is in the UK. (corporatewatch.org, 2004). One of Tesco’s main strategy in internationalisation has been to understand the market and operate in accordance with the local shopping culture to build better relationship with the consumers as well as suppliers. This is much easier to achieve in choosing acquisitions or joint ventures than through Greenfield investments. Through acquisitions, as a result of the knowledge of local customs and associations on part of the acquired firm, the investing firm can take advantage of pre-existing business network with suppliers and distribution chains. It also takes over the brands (in some cases), the reputation and the existing market share of the acquired firm and this can result in a stronger market presence very quickly (Marinescu & Constantin, 2008). Therefore, using an entry strategy suitable with a lot of market research, Tesco has had success in its foreign expansion in European markets. Some examples include its operations in Hungary, where they strongly focus on local suppliers and 85% of their sales are through local products and In India where they operate a scheme to donate to local charities and organisations (tescoplc.com). The following table with Tesco’s number of stores in 2011, shows that unlike Lidl, Tesco has more stores in its home market compared to all of its international inves tments and the proportion of sales is higher in its domestic market as well since it brings in about two thirds of its total revenues from its home market (Thomas et al., 2013). Contrary to its success in the European markets, Tesco has recently suffered some major setbacks in internationalisation in Asian markets like Japan and  China, and the US. Tesco entered the US market in 2007 and instead of using their tried and tested approach of acquisitions or joint ventures, they preferred to adopt a different strategy and entered the market by establishing a new wholly owned subsidiary as a Greenfield investment. This meant that they did not possess the local knowledge about the market and consumer behaviour. In addition, they initially filled their management positions with mostly British expats instead of hiring locally (Silverthorne, 2010). Competing as a new business in a highly oligopolistic market requires a strong strategy and considerable market research and knowledge about the consumer base so, a lack of that meant Tesco could not entice American consumers. Moreover, their timing of internationalisation was also unfortunate as recession had seriously effected Tesco’s chosen states of California, Nevada and Arizona. Tesco is estimated to have made more than  £1 billion in accumulated loss (Finch & Walsh, 2012). Similarly, also in China in 2013, Tesco had to fold its unprofitable business into a state-run company as a minority partner; this was attributed to a difficulty foreign companies like Tesco, have in negotiating with suppliers and regulators in a fast-growing but tricky market. Furthermore, Tesco also withdrew from the Japanese market in 2012 in a â€Å"move that follows decisions to†¦ focus on investing in its British home market† (Thomas et al., 2013). Tesco’s exit from Taiwan can be credited to low factor abundance, as all the most attractive sites for expansion already been developed or were held under future development option by Carrefour, who had been a well-established retailer in the country. In addition, the highly complex land ownership system was a hindrance for Tesco’s as it obstructed the transfer its skills in site location analysis and property development (Lowe & Wrigley, 2010). However, Tesco has had success in Asia, with Thailand, and South Korea, which is its largest foreign market. Tesco outperformed its global rivals Wal-Mart and Carrefour in South Korea and they were forced to exit the market leaving Tesco as the dominant international retailer there (Lowe & Wrigley, 2010). Tesco had entered both South Korea and Thailand through joint ventures rather than acquisition, this key difference helped the firm massively as the partnerships with local firms offered Tesco the knowledge of local business/regulatory conditions and consumer culture, plus it provided the opportunity to build upon the ‘local’ appeal, especially in  South Korea where Tesco had partnered with Samsung and the use of the name, Samsung-Tesco, proved to be vital (Lowe & Wrigley, 2010). Tesco’s failures in internationalization in some of the Asian and the American markets does show to some extent that geographical distance might have played a part even though the size of the economies involved were quite large. The culture of these markets were very different and as per Krug man’s love of variety model, individuals’ tastes are even more diverse, and Tesco could not adapt to these vastly different markets. In these kind of markets, a joint venture, like it adopted in its Korean and Thai markets, seemed to be the preferable option. Comparing and analysing the strategies of Tesco and Lidl’s shows that, in order to have a successful internationalisation and subsequently continue to have a strong foreign market, the firms must be strong in its domestic market. Both firms use different primary strategy to enter into foreign markets but their internationalisation strategy suits their respective business strategy, as Tesco’s opts for quick growth and seeks to be a market leader in all of its markets usually by acquiring large existing retailers, while Lidl opts for greenfield investments in order to maintain its cost leadership and utilize its standardized supply and distribution chains. Both firms use Horizontal FDI, which does decrease international trade as their services are usually aimed at host country, however, individual governments welcome Horizontal FDI as it boosts the local economy by providing jobs as well as increases competition. In Tesco’s case, it has recently turned its focus on its home market, as it has been losing market share in the UK and two thirds of its revenue come from the UK, however Lidl is growing more internationally and plans to open more stores in its already existing international markets like the UK (Butler, 2014). The world is very small now, especially with the ability to replicate technology easily and the power to move freely between countries. However, the strategies these two forms have used and their effectiveness in different countries show that, although there are fewer differences in consumer cultures and market structures, these differences still matter and play an important role in the success and failure of firms. The ability of a firm to understand the consumer culture is key when it comes to internationalisation. Furthermore, the gravity model does hold to an extent even in the case of internationalisation of firms, as evident from Tesco’s  failure to penetrate most Asian markets they entered compared to their successes in most European markets they ventured into. Tesco’s success in Thailand and Korea shows that a Joint venture with a locally established company would be the ideal mode of entry into risky markets. And a firm’s Internationalisation strategy must also be consistent with its business strategy in order to have a consistent growth in the foreign market after a successful entry. Reference: Baroto, M. B., Abdullah, M. M. B. and Wan, H. L. (2012) ‘Hybrid Strategy: A New Strategy for Competitive Advantage’, International Journal of Business and Management, 7. doi: 10.5539/ijbm.v7n20p120. Bartlett C.A., Ghoshal, S. (1989): Managing across Borders. The Transnational Solution. Boston., Mass: Harvard Business School press Butler, S. (2014a) ‘Lidl launches  £220m UK store expansion programme’, The Guardian, 27 June. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jun/27/lidl-launches-store-expansion-programme (Accessed: 7 April 2015). Corporate Watch (2004) Tesco Plc, Corporate Watch. Available at: http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/company-profiles/tesco-plc#international (Accessed: 9 April 2015). Deloitte (2014) http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/tw/Documents/consumer-business/tw-cb-retailing2014-en.pdf, Deloitte. Available at: http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/tw/Documents/consumer-business/tw-cb-retailing2014-en.pdf ( Accessed: 8 April 2015). Finch, J. and Walsh, F. (2012) ‘Tesco’s American dream over as US retreat confirmed’, The Guardian, 5 December. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/dec/05/tesco-american-dream-retreat-us-fresh-easy (Accessed: 6 April 2015). Geppert, M., Williams, K. and Wortmann, M. (2014) ‘Micro-political game playing in Lidl: A comparison of store-level employment relations’, European Journal of Industrial Relations. doi: 10.1177/0959680114544015. Geppert, M., Wortmann, M., Czarzasty, J., KaÄŸnicioÄŸlu, D., Kohler, H.-D., Rà ¼ckert, Y., Royle, T., Uà §kan, B. and Williams, K. (2011) Work and Employment Relations of European Multinational Grocery Retailers – Discounters and Hypermarkets. Hans-Bà ¶ckler-Stiftung. Available at: http://www.boeckler.de/pdf_fof/S-2009-317-1-1.pdf (Accessed: 6

Adidas Value Chain Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Adidas Value Chain Analysis - Research Paper Example The value chain analysis of Adidas strongly borrows from Michael Porter’s perspective in that the company strongly maintains its primary activities since its beginning. For instance, the inbound and outbound logistics are increasingly strongly in the company and this ensures that it operates optimally in the current environment. Adidas Group has certain inbound logistics chain for raw material movement as well as un assembled products inside the organization. Further, the outbound systems logistics for finished products transportation is effective and timely. The main operations, sales, marketing, and related operations are increasingly strong and this has pushed the company to be the main sport industry in the sector. The team of researchers responsible for new and innovative product development and shifting market demands has been increasingly sustainable, and has assisted Adidas to maintain its position in the market and attain competitive advantage. Adidas Group has introd uced electronic sales, and continued to dominate the strategic marketing in e-sales. The company monitors service quality, staff training, and satisfaction of customers through the franchisees as a crucial aspect of value chain. Additionally, the supporting activities of Adidas Group, which includes procurements, research, human resource management and development as well as development of the company’s infrastructure and is well operated to ensure strong reputation of the company, value of the brand and status of market. Adidas mainly emphasize on materials procurement and all other activities related in the cost effective mode, making necessary use of worldwide strategies of off shoring and sourcing. For instance, Adidas Group put more emphasis, effort and resources on product innovation in ensuring competitive advantage in sport industry. Research and development will make the company produce better products and meet the goals and expected customer demands and preferences. Each year, the Adidas Group expands and procures new and innovative techniques to satisfy consumer needs. Similarly, Adidas has expanded some of its activities of manufacturing to nations such as China and Vietnam, considering c osts of labor. Additionally, the Adidas company workers are well treated and always satisfied, (Kaplinsky & University of Sussex. 2000). The organization believes that their workers an increasingly crucial resource for the organization and therefore, has a very string human resource management unit that performs activities such as recruitment, hiring, development, training, discipline, reward and dismissal of personnel. To attain employees’ welfare needs and attain the target in sporting product industry that is entirely depended on employees’ enthusiasm, well-being, and talents, the company boosts employees’ morale. This is done through compensations, medical insurance, and transport allowances. Moreover, Adidas

Behaviour in Organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Behaviour in Organisation - Essay Example The change in organizational behavior has been multi-faceted and dynamic and the most defining transformation has taken place in the workplace, pertaining to major components like Globalization, Motivation, Technological developments and Workplace Values and Ethics. These changes have occurred in keeping up with the changing social, political, economic and structural aspect of the society. The paper will now discuss the above stated factors in detail and how they affect behavior of employees. Globalization During the late 1990s, a miracle called Globalization occurred. It led to an â€Å"integration of economies and societies through cross border flow of goods, services, capital, ideas, information, technologies and people† (Mcshane, 2008, p.10) and brought in the free market regime. Globalization had led to an increase in the centralization of control over business organizations and a decentralization of the performance of work. At any rate the exploring and capturing new tra de routes and maintaining control over the territory from the headquarters of one’s kingdom is a practice that was prevalent in older times as well. Globalization has re-established the same process, more effectively by using latest technological advancements. Three main trends have been observed in the development of organizational behavior. Firstly, the scope of business has been internationalized. Organizations have expanded beyond the geographical boundaries of the home countries and assumed the title of ‘Global Capitalist Corporations’. As the small size of the market was a barrier to trade due to inadequacy of demand, spanning of organizations across the globe has proved to be lucrative. For example, Switzerland’s Nestle and the Netherlands’s Heineken have both entered the global arena. Till the last decade, only big organizations could invade selective foreign markets but by the beginning of this century, globalization has aided even small an d medium firms in engage in regular buying and selling in the international market. Secondly, organizations are attempting to apply cost-effective methods of production. Thus, there has been a great emphasis on reducing labor costs. Cheap labor from developing countries of Latin America and Asia are in high demand and the level of outsourcing has risen rapidly. And, finally, exposure to the international markets is making the organizations more competitive as lagging behind in sales and profits are not an option. Chevron and Exxon increased their shares in the international markets to compete with international competitors like BP and Royal Dutch Shell. (Griffin and Moorhead, 2008, 32) All in all the changes brought about by globalization, in organizational behavior has been positive. Technological developments The transformation from industrial to information age has brought about some basic changes in the workplace. There is a need for constant innovation, decentralization of deci sion making process, dejobbing of the labor force (home based business and both temporary/part time and full time jobs), reducing the size of work units, ‘demassification’ (flexible ways of manufacturing and several options), change from â€Å"institutional help to self-help† leading to personality development. A knowledge economy and network based structure has taken the place of bureaucratic

Research report assisting a client in a career choice Essay

Research report assisting a client in a career choice - Essay Example Even though the job market is promising for both accountants and real estate agents the ability, taste and preference of the candidates are the factors that determine the job that should be provided to them. Only then right persons can be placed on right job. In this report at first the various factors that are to be considered before selecting the job are studied in detail on the countries perspective. After that an analysis of the interview conducted with the you is done to help us determine which job suits you the most. Human Resource Management or HRM is playing a prominent role in the modern economy for taking an appropriate organizational or personal decision in a most significant manner. As far as an organization is taken in to consideration, human resources or the people belonging to an entity are the most valued asset. Personal management is quiet important, because the selection of right person for the right job is necessary to accomplish the goals and perform the work in a better manner. In this particular report, it is necessary to take a most appropriate decision about the career selection in the present scenario. At present, due to the modernization and change in values and living style, the standard of living of the society or people got changed a lot. As a result of which, the level of education also got improved. As far as an individual is taken in to consideration, employment is one of the key concepts in the present scenario. Identification of proper career choice is a key concept during the life time of humans. For the selection of a best suited career, requires a combination of knowledge, skill, experience, interests, and resources. Proper and effective utilization of theoretical knowledge and skills in to practical life is essential in this regard. In case of humans, it is important to set personal goals, which will accomplish during the life time through the proper career selection. While making recommendations about the better career selection, it is necessary to taken in to consideration certain areas like nature of the work, salary, working conditions, qualification, experience and Personality. All these factors can be studied in detail on the country's perspective at first. Nature of work: Nature of the work is the core factor that is to be considered at first. Nature of the work refers to the activity or work the employee should do when he is placed on a job. This is what an employee considers at first. While considering the post of accountant it can be seen that the accountant is left with the job of maintaining the day book and preparing the final accounts. But nowadays the scope of the job has been extended towards analyzing the financial data too. Real estate agents are those who act as middle man between the customer and real estate broker. The nature of job of a real estate agent is to find persons who are in need of apartments or any other property and to make them purchase the apartments or properties from the real estate broker whom he is contracted with. In simple words his duty would be to boost up the sales of real estate broker. "Real estate agent in America helps seller by marketing their properties and selling it for the highest possible price and on the other hand helps buyer in finding a real estate according to their needs and helps them in purchasing a property for the lowest possible price" (US Real

Roman Civilization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Roman Civilization - Essay Example During the rule of Augustus, Rome experienced prosperity and peace and it is regarded as the golden age. Rome had an autocratic form of government and Augustus ruled Rome for around 40 years. Rome had a civilization which has set an example for other countries. The civic life, religious principles, culture and norms, economic ties everything was worth praising. The Rome had a superior infrastructure and the building and transportation was of high quality. Roman Empire was the largest in the world history and covered much of the world’s regions from Europe and Africa to Middle East. Even the population of the Empire was largest and was around 60 million inhabitants. The military and army of Rome was superior and many battles have been won by them. Roman had laws which were based on morality and justice. Rome had multi -cultural society and believed in shared identity. For the very same reasons, Roman civilization has had a great impact on the modern world. Impact on Law and Political System The major influence of Roman civilization on modern world was the Roman law. The Roman law distinguished between public law and private law which we can see in the modern law constitution. This is the basis of Western law and is known as civil law. Also the private international law is also influenced by the Roman law. In Roman civilization, they practiced jury trials, same as today’s’ practice. The Roman can also be credited with many defense techniques practiced by the modern people. The concept of â€Å"innocent until proven guilty â€Å"which is the basic rule of American Judiciary system came from ancient Rome law. The written law to protect the human rights and freedom was also a system followed by Roman people. The law regarding taxation is also taken from Roman civilization. According to Roman law, people were to be treated equal and fairly. Their laws were based on common sense and practicality. Most of the legal system in the world is following Roman practic e of law. Roman has also influenced the way in which the political system works today. The voting system which we followed today is the legacy of Roman people. Even they had lower and upper class senate like we do. They had legislative bodies and senate just like modern political system. The Impact on Language The language of Roman civilization was Latin and they depended little on order of words. The Roman alphabets were formed with Greek alphabet as a basis. The Roman people mostly studied literature that was in Greek. As the Roman Empire grew, so did their language spread to different parts of the world,With some time the classic Latin took a form of Vulgar Latin in some parts of the world which gave birth to different Romance language. So it can de definitely said that Indo European languages evolved from Latin, which is the language of ancient Roman civilization. Later, Latin language gain prominence in Western empire and became the foundation of French, Italian, Portuguese, Sp anish and Romanian languages. Even though, they all started as bad Latin as time passed by these established themselves as different languages. Latin language also had influenced many words used in other different countries. For Example, English has many Latin words although it does not follow Latin syntax- grammar. Since Latin was the language of Roman Catholic Church it influenced even the non –romance languages. The Impact on Infrastructure The Roman civilization

The Representation Of The Australian Landscape In Contemporary Visual Essay

The Representation Of The Australian Landscape In Contemporary Visual Culture - Essay Example Mitchell’s opinion in his work, According to WJT Mitchell, landscape as a subject in painting has caught the attention of artists in the seventeenth century and reached its zenith in the nineteenth century. His essay Imperial Landscape is very argumentative where he not only describes his understanding of landscape as a medium of communication between man and nature and between self and the other but he further problematizes the concept of self-questioning the assumptions related to ‘we’ as opposed to the ‘other’, the nature (Mitchell, 2002, p.6). It should be the historical study of the development of landscape painting tradition that Mitchell aligned with the rise and fall of imperialism. Keeping this in mind and using appropriate examples the paper moves forward to illustrate the political undertone reflected in Australian artworks. The landscape has always been interpreted as a manifestation of the spirit of the land in the Western colonization pr ocess, be it Africa or India or China or Australia. How Nature acts as an active resisting force in the perception of colonizers is probably nowhere more clearly expressed than in Conrad’s novels like, Heart of Darkness. In case of Australia as well, the nation was perceived primarily as hostile and incomprehensible. Compared to the peace of English garden, it was considered disorderly and chaotic. It posed a serious threat to the White colonial paranoia, a destabilization of the national identity of the whites. But their presentation of Australian landscape was rather a representation—defined by their own vision and habits. Beilharz questions this phenomenon and asked why ‘representation of Australia looked like England’ (Beilharz, 2002, p. 29). To answer this, Beilharz fingers at the ‘formal qualities of the landscape to which they [British] were aesthetically accustomed in England’ (Beilharz, 2002, p.29).

Advanced medical-surgical nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Advanced medical-surgical nursing - Essay Example rocedures and equipment, coping with incomplete and rapidly changing medical knowledge, addressing workforce shortages and ensuring appropriate adherence to correct procedures with right nursing attitude. These finer concepts in nursing when applied lead to the identification and establishment of a patients risk management process within the overall ultimate design of a health care process. Such processes are more required at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)/facilities of any hospital as ICU is one of the most critical services of any hospital and the quality of such critical patients response is important in determining the success of the entire hospital itself. In the following paragraphs we examine the application of the finer concepts of nursing care in three specific areas of nursing the critically ill patient. Areas discussed, with relative analysis are; airway management, sensory imbalance/overload and family communication within the intensive care unit. The discussions in these areas of nursing care become more pertinent if the patient is mechanically ventilated. Both short and long duration airway management in critically ill patients require substantial caution and skills. Right approach which can be termed a model approach is still being evolved in research algorithms. Difficult ventilation has generally been reckoned as a state in which a trained anesthetist experience inability to maintain the oxygen saturation more than 90% using a face mask for ventilation and 100% inspired oxygen, given that the pre-ventilation oxygen saturation level was within the acceptable range.(American,1993) Difficult intubation ,on the other hand, has been reckoned as the need for more than three intubation attempts or attempts at intubations that last more than 10 minutes.(American,1993) Schwartz et al (1995) furnish data that 3% of critically ill patients hospitalized suffer death within 30 minutes of administering emergency intubation, and another 8% of intubation events

Private Law and Public Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Private Law and Public Law - Case Study Example The public law issue, on the other hand, refers to the criminal liability (for theft, robbery, physical injuries, kidnapping or death, among others) that happened on occasion of the theft or robbery aboard the cruise ship The Minnow. Specifically, the public law issue is whether the criminal law of Liberia (the country of the ship's flag), or the criminal law of Nassau, Key West, and Grand Cayman (the possible place where the crime was committed or any of the elements of the crime occurred) or the criminal law of the United States. For the purpose of the given problem however, the detailed discussion will be limited to tort law and contract law. At the outset, it should be emphasized that the resolution of the contract law issue must be resolved and decided under the law chosen and agreed by the contracting parties as stated in the contract. However, the problem of ascertaining the applicable law in the case of torts is scarcely less perplexing than in the case of contract. The reasons for this are as follows. First, there is a variety of different connecting factors that can be raised by the facts of the case: the place where the tort was committed; the residence, habitual residence, domicil, or nationality of the parties; and the place where the parties' relationship was centered. Second, in the situation where, for example, a wrongful act takes place in one country and the consequent injury in another, there is a serious definition problem in determining the place where the tort was committed. Third, a wide variety of tortuous issues may arise. For example, there can be issues of capacity (can Mrs. Lowell sue on behalf o f her husband), vicarious liability (is DWI liable for the acts of its employees), defences and immunities, damages, limitations on recovery, wrongful death, or intra-family immunities. Should the same law govern these issues Furthermore, there are different types of tort or delict, ranging from simple negligence to torts involving ships. Should the same rule apply regardless of the type of tort involved Fourth, if a foreign tort law is to be applied, this could lead to liability being imposed for torts unknown to the parties which may reflect radically different views and protect radically different interests from those recognized by the law of the parties. The common law rule in relation to foreign torts are derived from three leading cases.1 The law can be summed up as follows: there is a general rule of double actionability (there must be actionability by the law of the forum and the law of the place of the tort) with a flexible exception to this rule based on the concept of the most significant relationship. There is a double limbed choice of law rule derived from Phillips which means that a claimant who seeks to recover damages in the forum for what is an admitted tort according to the law of the place where the tort was committed will fail, unless the claimant proves that, had the defendant's act been done in the law of the forum, it would have constituted an actionable wrong by the forum law. Hence, the Lowells can claim only if the complained act is actionable under Liberian law or the law of the place where the tort was committed if the such act is also deemed to be an actionable tort in Florida (the forum). The second

Pros and Cons of the Implementation of Accounting Standards Essay

Pros and Cons of the Implementation of Accounting Standards - Essay Example The question also arises as to whether or not the accounting standards are effectual in improving the quality of accounting information or these happen to be a waste of time and money.The other matter concerns with the need for standardization of accounting standards in Europe, or in other words, is standardization the best possible solution to implement accounting standards in Europe. Hence, this essay encompasses the discussion on advantages and disadvantages of accounting standards combined with a discourse on the effectiveness of standardization in Europe.Accounting standards are basically the set of policies and procedures that are commenced by a specific body responsible for standard setting. Apparently, as the name suggests, these standards are set out to direct the recognition, preparation, and demonstration of accounting and financial information in a company's financial statements. Fogarty et al. (1994) describe accounting standards as the guidelines the purpose of which is to delineate a procedure to present transactions and outcomes in the company's financial statements. ... Therefore, the investors as well as the management, both remain aware of the standards to be followed for the preparation and presentation of financial statements. Formulation and implementation of accounting standards connote that there is uniformity of the procedure through which the companies account for various transactions, prepare the reports and present it to the shareholders. If the accounting standards are fair and unprivileged, it further suggests a binding investor trust in the company that all the information presented to him is true and fair devised and displayed under the prescribed standards. This, on one hand, leads to enhancement of investor confidence and on the other, maximises regulation on the companies to present a genuine picture of its position and performance. In short, the accounting standards are meant to enhance both, the investor trust and transparency. Moreover, when all the companies prepare their financial statements in full compliance with the accounting standards, it leads to the comparability between the financial statements of various companies for the purpose of improved decision making. It was this need for transparency, investor protection and comparability that led to the development of International Accounting Standards (IAS) to promote all these factors on an international level as a consequence of globalization. These accounting standards are also meant to serve all these functions but among international companies.  

Of Mice and Men Essay Essay Example for Free

Of Mice and Men Essay Essay Throughout the book, â€Å"Of Mice and Men† George is Lennie’s everything! From dusk to dawn he is Lennie’s caretaker, friend, and he also works in place of himself and Lennie, too! He doesn’t have the easiest job in the world, either. He is faced with many challenges throughout the book. I do believe that towards the end George was finally getting enough, and he was getting tired of watching Lennie struggle. It got the best of him in a way. George has a job as a ranch hand out on the ranch. He does a little bit of everything. From making sure that the animals are in good health, and to helping the boss with anything he needs. George even watches over the slaves, to make sure they are doing what they need to be doing and are staying away from the whites. He carries a lot of responsibilities! He is also doing Lennie’s job at the same time. As we found out very quickly, Lennie is not the best at doing the task, due to his mental illness. He doesn’t know his strength, and tends to hurt/kill people and animals. Lennie has a heart of gold, and means absolutely no harm. Because of Lennie’s mental state, he needs a caretaker. George has been the one to step up to the plate and take that position. They got kicked out of Weed because Lennie went to feel a lady’s dress, and she accused him of rape. George somewhat felt guilty because as his caretaker it is his responsibility to make sure and keep an eye on him. George has to keep a close eye on Lennie and make sure that he is doing right. Any wrong thing that he may do could easily fall back on George, and they can lose everything, such as their job and shelter. At the end of the book, George had had enough of watching Lennie do wrong. He knew that after killing Curley’s wife, it could be something much worse, and being the friend he was he couldn’t watch him go through that anymore! As a friend, George is Lennie’s everything! Throughout the book, George was Lennie’s only true friend. He understood him, when everyone else didn’t. George knew when he messed up, but he still treated him like a best friend. He was more than just a caretaker, he was like a brother! I give props to George! He had been around the world and back with Lennie and he still loved him for the person he was. Even when he killed things, he was still there  and didn’t think of him any less. Now that my friends, is a TRUE friend! This book was very touching, and sad. It helped open my eyes to realize that there really are people out there who do wrong, but don’t mean to. You may be proven guilty, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t innocent. George really was a great friend to Lennie! He had a lot of responsibility on his shoulders! He would be one to look up to. Next time you see someone do wrong, you need to stop and ask yourself, â€Å"Did they really mean that?†

Enterprise Rent A Car Case Analysis Commerce Essay

Enterprise Rent A Car Case Analysis Commerce Essay With a vast network of over 6,000 rental locations and 850,000 cars, Enterprise Rent-A-Car is the largest rental car company in the United States. In fact, based on these statistics alone one can evaluate Enterprise as a success story. Indeed, the company offers a unique and customer friendly service such as picking up customers and taking them to the rental office. Enterprise has developed many assets that provide competitive advantages, such as proprietary computer applications. The company carefully cultivates and trains its employees in a methodology that is highly useful for its business while also receiving accolades from peer organizations. By focusing on local rental opportunities, Enterprise has successfully continued growing its business against rivals such as Avis and Hertz, while keeping up with current trends. At the same time, the company has been able to open up more opportunities through its recent growth of the car sharing market. Additionally, the business model tha t Enterprise runs can be deemed largely successful as it has been able to accomplish many of the goals that Enterprise has established. Moreover, as popularized through its now famous commercials, Well pick you up Enterprise has been able to demonstrate its philosophy to its customer base. This slogan clearly states that at its core, Enterprise is all about customer service, making rental easier for its customers by picking customers up and taking them to the rental office. Yet this only scratches the surface in terms of understanding the broad and effective customer service programs that Enterprise employs. In fact, through extensive research, Enterprise has learned that customer loyalty was driven not only by just the idea of customer satisfaction, but by ensuring that customers were indeed completely satisfied. This distinction between satisfaction and complete satisfaction was as result of Enterprises customer service researched that revealed local renters ranked ratings for completed satisfaction based on three criteria such employees attitude and helpfulness, speed of the transaction as well as the cleanliness of the vehicle. If 70% of the customers were completely satisfied (checking off all three criteria) then such customers were deemed as completely satisfied and likely to be repeat customers where as if the satisfaction figure was at 22%, this meant these customers are less likely to be repeat customers of Enterprise. Thus in this way, complete satisfaction meant repeat business for Enterprise. In fact, a total commitment to complete customer satisfaction is engrained within the Enterprise culture, and is best exemplified by the Enterprise Service Quality Index, a proprietary evaluative tool designed by Enterprise to measure customer satisfaction. Enterprise also has sought competitive advantage by developing tools and assets that its competition failed to duplicate. In fact, from early in its history, Enterprise has chosen to focus on local rentals, leaving airport rentals as the focus of a large number of its rental competitors. Enterprise has dominated the insurance rental market not only by applying for and becoming preferred providers, but also because the company has provided its clients insurance companies a direct interface into Enterprise reservation system, empowering the insurance companies to make reservations for their customers. Thus, in this way, the company essentially has invested heavily to create its clients insurance companies their own proprietary software reservation system, allowing them to supply the specific features most needed tailored to their needs while also avoiding the licensing fees and other challenges associated with a third party software application. The company is very choosy with the types of employees it hires, and considers its employees and training program to be of critical importance. The training of personnel by Enterprise begins at recruitment, with an expectation that each employee will slowly rise through the ranks of the company by earning each step they take. This provides the employees with a full understanding of how Enterprise prefers to do business and a full commitment to the eight founding values of the company. There is a clear promotion path that is laid out before them, so employees understand at all times that they have a future with the company as long as they are willing to work for it. Employees are empowered at Enterprise, as the company views each branch location as a separate, semi-autonomous little company within their network. Although a high turnover rate would be of concern to most companies that experience the level of turnover that Enterprise does, the Enterprise business model is such that beca use the company places its employees in such a competitive environment, higher turnover is expected and is accounted for through additional recruitment efforts. Thus Enterprise feels that this makes its employees more driven to succeed, thereby attaining higher levels of performance as a result. From a competitive standpoint, both Avis and Hertz have made efforts to enter the local car rental market that Enterprise dominates. It is hard to see how these two companies can be nearly as successful in this market as Enterprise because of the companys unique positioning with insurance companies as a preferred provider. As long as Enterprise maintains this position and continues to tap into new growth strategies such as shared car rentals, it should be successful in maintaining its leadership status within the local rental category. In addition, car sharing is a current growth market that many companies such as Enterprise and Hertz and investing into in order to grow. There are multiple considerations that explain the interest of this segment to customers, such as environmental considerations of reducing car ownership, less expense for renting a few hours versus days, and convenience for those who do not wish or need to have a car full time. In areas such as large cities or college universities, the appeal is very clear and significant. With the largest network of local car rental offices, Enterprise should have easier access to this new market since the can easily offer car sharing option as an added service to customers from their existing locations. In fact, both Hertz and Enterprise are developing contracts with universities, corporate campuses, and municipalities. Therefore, Enterprise should continue this expansion in order to achieve a leadership status within this rental category. In order to properly evaluate the Enterprise Rent-A-Car business model and determine its success, the Enterprise Service Quality Index (ESQi) was developed through extensive customer research. ESQi evaluates each location branch in its ability to deliver complete customer satisfaction. This index provides a specific measurement for each location branch through surveying of customers. In this way, the branches are essentially put into competition with each other, and compensation is based partially on performance criteria. Enterprise strives to achieve balance across its branches to remain consistent with respect to customer service. The main goal of the company is to increase the number of customers who are described as completely satisfied. Therefore, based on both criteria, Enterprise is considered to be effective in its customer service efforts. In fact, within a ten year period, the ESQi index increased from 67% to 80% for those customers considered completely satisfied. In addit ion, the gap between the best service and worst service branch locations narrow from twenty eight points to nine points over the same time period. Moreover, tools and assets can be evaluated based on the success of sales and achievement of customer satisfaction. Human resources methodology such as hiring and training were also assessed through employee retention, industry accolades and employee achievements. Furthermore, Enterprise has continued successfully in forging ahead in the local car segment based on the companys market growth and penetration. Of course, how effective Enterprise will be in the growing car sharing market remains to be seen, although at this point the success rate can easily be determined by what has been accomplished, and how well Enterprise is positioned to move forward. Based on the current evaluation, the company has been successful thus far in these areas as well. Other tools and assets that are considered to have made a difference at Enterprise such as linking and empowering insurance companies that use Enterprise as its preferred provider to the companys reservation system, proprietary software that runs the Enterprise reservation system, and the companys focus on customer service through proprietary software applications. Enterprise holds a dominant position in the insurance car market, enabling insurance companies to better serve their customers. The proprietary software better services customers as it is totally customized to the Enterprise business model. This proprietary software also provides additional services to the insurance companies by providing direct access to the status of repair work on vehicles, notifying them when repair work is complete and lowering their car rental expenses as a result. In these ways, Enterprise has indeed effectively reached its objective. Employee retention is a potential issue for Enterprise. While the company does compensate through additional recruitment efforts, twenty five percent of new hires leave the company after six months, undoubtedly increasing recruitment costs. On the other hand, Enterprise is considered among the top 50 companies to launch a career by Businessweek magazine, and the company has articulated a clear career track that provides employees with knowledge that there is a future at Enterprise. Another important consideration is employee achievements. The company does provide many awards and recognition for those employees who are considered to have achieved excellence and it is notable that many of the companys service innovations were created by branch managers and their teams. One such innovation that was created in the field is what arguably Enterprise is best known for, which is picking up customers and bringing them to the rental office. Enterprise is considered effective in this category a s well, although it would be a good idea for Enterprise to increase its effectiveness by exploring ways to increase employee retention, perhaps through additional management training and conducting internal surveys to determine the right course of action in this realm. Additionally, Enterprises continued success in the local car market is virtually ensured through its close partnership with insurance companies and status as a preferred provider. The additional services Enterprise has provided to the insurance companies, such as access to its reservation system and the ability to check on the status of car repairs, augment their position in this market. Indeed, in this way Enterprise has a fundamental strength in the local car segment and its business model has been very effective. Moreover, the car sharing market has proven to be an area of growth for Enterprise, having successfully brought on dozens of partners such as universities, corporate campuses, and cities. There are competitors such as Zipcar that are larger in this segment, yet such competitors are currently not profitable. Hertz is also growing in this area and they appear to have a larger presence at this point than Enterprise. Of course, although Enterprise has been effective at expanding into this new area whether the company can continue to be effective still remains to be seen. While not a direct part of the evaluation, there are other tangible advantages within the business model of Enterprise. As the largest rental car company in the United States, Enterprise enjoys the status of industry leader, and perceptually there are advantages to this status. Historically Enterprise has maintained very low overhead in many types of expenses, which is achieved through limited national advertising and employee incentives to keep operational costs down. Finally, in conjunction to insurance local rental market, Enterprise also has enjoyed a large share of the leisure discretionary rental market. Enterprises fleet management program is also unique and advantageous, as this program handles the sales of its own used rental cars without being locked into a specific car manufacturer for new car purchases like most of competitors.

Risk Management in Childcare Services

Risk Management in Childcare Services Adults are faced with a dilemma: on the one hand, children need opportunity to become competent risk managers; on the other, adults have the responsibility to keep them safe. Critically assess whether this dilemma can be managed within the delivery of services for children. Risk management has become a high concern in childcare services. Increasing changes in policies and procedures to ensure that risks are minimized have resulted into children not been given the same opportunities that we would have had as a child when we were growing up. Over recent years increasing attention has been focused on childcare services to reduce risk and ensure children are kept safe from danger. In this assessment I hope to identify what is risk and looking at how society has changed over the years. I will look at both the dilemmas faced by both parents and children’s services, looking at the how anxiety has changed the thinking of risk management. The subject of risk management is causing great concern in the children’s services. Practitioners face the dilemma of given children opportunities to explore while at the same time ensuring that they are safe. When looking at risk we have to consider what is a risk? We face risks in everyday life from the moment we get up. When heading to work either in the car or walking it is a risk as we may have a car accident or get knocked down. Children from the moment of birth face risk when growing up. A baby may choke on their bottle or a toddler may fall when taking their first steps. The severity of the risk depends on the consequence. In our current society parents have become more anxious when allowing the children to explore and learn about risks. Today’s generation have moved from allowing children the opportunity to experience risk to the extreme where children are protected from risks by not allowing them to have the same challenges and opportunities we would have had at a young age. Stover et al., 2013 evaluates asome very valid reason to why this may have come about. It has looked at how parents have become more anxious on where there child plays or goes and the quality of freedom they have, ensuring they are safe from risk and harm. Over resent years it can be seen how attitudes have changed and children are spending more time under adult supervision play area, non- risk environments or indoors in what is seen as safe and secure, replacing adventures play. Children’s play has moved from the positive play also known as risk play where children developed motor skills, control through physical rick, learn new skills and develop confidence. When looking at comments made during learning guide 13.4 discussing wherediscussing where we played at 11 years of age it can be seen that we were given as children were given more freedom and parents did not have the same concerns about risks as they do today. With growing up in the country side it was normal to take risks and was seen as a safe place for children to develop to their full practical skills. We were rarely questioned about where we played, but rather we had more fears of being caught by our parents and getting in trouble. When looking back on my childhood and growing up with my six siblings, I can also state that we did not have any serious accidents due to the risk play rather than the normal bumps or bruises that every child faces. In today’s society attuides have changed due to growing changes and trends in young children today. They are not allowed to explore the fields or visit friends without adult supervision. It can be even said that children today are not as outgoing and street wiseh but rather spend more time playing with the latest technology or game. Modern technology such as internet and influence of media has escalating fears in parents and therefore made them more curious or is it simply of the mistakes we learned as a child and we are being over proactive? Furedi’s (2001) work on paranoid parenting cited in Gladwin and Collins 2008 cover issues on how these changes result from parents lacking the confidence and rather than set boundaries being their child’s best friend. Are we as parents protecting or children or is it our own fears we have of them facing risks. It can be critically argued that yes while parents are seen to lack confidence in today’s society parents are under a lot more pressure with keeping up with media and how children are exposed today to media trends e.g. Through social media, Facebook, mobile phones. When I was growing my time was spend outdoor with friends creating our own play. It was also taken to my attention the article by Stover et al., 2013 (2013) on how parental responsibility has changed from children not having freedom to protect them from risk, but also society has changed to where children today are seen as ‘human capital’. Children are not given the opportunity to play but rather institutionalising children to education. It can be critically argued that while yes this has been seen over recent years but it has changed around again, that while education is an important aspect of live studies has shown that children need play and the value of play is the developmental stone for lifelong learning. Piaget cited in Springate and Foley (2008) research has an important conclusiontusion to this as he believes that not only the play is important but involving children in risks contributes to a child’s development. As citied in Maynard (2007) ‘Encounters with forest school and Foucault article learning guide 13.3 shows how two different approaches on risk taken in play. When looking at the forest schools created by McMillians Sister and the video clip 2 on Risk both using a ‘hands off approach allows children the freedom of play and learning to risk manage. Children on the video also have the responsibility of looking after their own health and well-being. Comparing this to our schools today while there has been develops on the importance of play in the child’s development and through the Plowden Report cited in Springate and Foley (2008) we have changed to a play based curriculum like Foucault suggests in learning guide 13.3, teachers still focus on the sense that we must keep our children safe from harm. In my own setting yes we use the hands off approach but will interveneal before a children comes to risk for example when on balancing beams and unsteady we will help rathe r than allowing the child the risk of falling. While Foucault suggests that teachers like to keep power and maintain control through not being allowed to take part in risks and adventures play I have to critically disagree. As an early years leader I feel that it’s not being in control but rather the pressures we have to follow. We are protecting or children from risk and not allowing them the freedom due to the extreme pressures put in place from â€Å"the social care trust regulations (2012) coming from the Children Order (1995) and it could be said we are keep ourselves safe. Like Power (2004) cited in Gladwin and Collins (2008) states it the uncertainty of known what is right and wrong. As practitioners we carry out risk assignments on a daily basis however we still are responsible if something goes wrong. In my own setting children are be given the opportunity in the outdoor area were we have adventurouses play. We have having types of challenges where children can climb and learn how to be safe. Children make mud pies and have learned that it’s important to wash our hand after so they don’t become ill. We have had no serious injuries beyond the usual bumps and bruises which we would expect with any young child. While we do allow this type of play children are limited to the extent of risk play we can provide. We are located beside a lovely glen where the river runs alongside the playgroup, we are unable to have logs untreated in case of infection or children being able to stand on steps to see the river in case they fall. I feel that this is a shame as it limits their ability to explore and learn thorough the natural environment. Unfortunately due to the minimum standards (2012) and regulations we are unable to experience the adventures play in our local woodland where children can experience climbing trees and explore in the natural environment. This is seen as a high risk to children and the safe ratio is seen as too low. I have to critically disagree as it is a rural area and it’s a safe environment but children are being neglected from the experience like the forest schools these risks gain where children learn about keeping safe through the natural environment. It also defines the legal framework of the UNCRC(1989) citied in Foley (2008) where children have the right to play. As pre-school teacher we are inclined to put away the sharp edge object, not allowing children to run and ensuring that benches and tables are bleached to reduce risk. We have to ask ourselves are we preceding the children or ourselves. Do children learn from protecting them or would it not be better to turn risk into a learning experience for children? Lindon (2003) citied in Gladwin and Collins (2008) studies believes that involving children in risk allows the child to understand why we can’t do something and allows them to value the harm it can cause, giving children the values of life and making their own decisions. I feel that while this is vitally important and we should allow our children more risks again it relates back to adults protecting themselves in case of serious injuries. While we are restricted to how much risk we allow our children and have an implication on practice it can be critically argued like Power 2004 citied in Gladwin and Collins (2008) in maintained has come from failure within the health services. While Both social workerss failing the system causing deaths to children e.g. Victoria Climbie (2003) and Baby P citied in Blewett and Foley (2008) and other high profile cases, but also hospitals where deaths have accrued due to lack of services has affected the freedom of our childcare service like playgroup, after schools etc.. and what was seen as good risks have been come into the classification of putting children at danger. These high profile cases have led to government relooking at Legislation. Government published green papers â€Å"Every Child matters† (2003) Lord Laming report identified changes needed introducing the children’s Act (2004) citied Blewett and Foley (2008) in which made developed the child protection register. UNCRC give children the right to grow up in a safe environment free from abuse and neglect. In 1997 New Labour government relooked at the health services and while child protection was still and main concern it also came into play the identification of children ‘at risk’. Through the Assessment framework (DH et AL2000) citied in Blewett and Foley (2008) give more responsibility on practitioners to report any concerns on child protection issues. While this has been a break in the system for safe guarding children and has joined together multi agencies it has left increased concern for childcare services. Practitioners are worried about getting it wrong or likewise missing something. This again results to adult reducing risk to children in their care to not only protect the children but themselves. While this is the case it has been equally as important for these changes to happen as children today are more aware of what is right and wrong. Stanger danger has become a focus in child education Scott et al. (1998), cited in Gladwin and Collins, (2008), points out it is such a big worry when the objective risk is so tiny clearly demonstrates the distortions of popular risk perceptions. While this has had great impact on making children more aware the NSPCC have campaign on ‘underwear rules’ has been of great impact in terms of abuse as it also someone makes children aware that a person we know can also cause use harm. Therefore as adult we have to empowering children to speak out about abuse whenever it is within the family or by people they know and trust. In conclusion to looking at risks and what is seen as risk management it can be seen that while society today has left more concern for both parents and practitioners there has been tremendous work done in this area. While we still face the challenges of known how fear we can provide opportunity for children to be confident learner, creative and learning from their mistakes and being able to explore freely under supervision but without the direction of the adult, we have to also look at our work as practitioner. Sandseter Hansen (2012) identifies some relevant points where it is seen how practitioners look at how risk decisions are made by the adult as they are managing their own anxieties rather than the risk. Policies and procedures preducces are in place to help safeguard ourselves, but as practitioner we have to be able to define what is a safe risk and when does it become a danger. It can be seen that a lot more work is done with children through different school programmes like the school bus in learning guide 13.3 it gives children the opportunity to learn about risk taken and making the right decisions in life. As disused earlier this will help with parent’s anxieties about their children. Professionals working in partnership with other agencies and organisations will help to ensure the safe guarding of children. Bibliography Springate D Foley P (2008) ‘Play Matters’ in Collins, J and Foley P (eds), Promoting Children’s Wellbeing’ Bristol, The Policy / Milton Keynes, The Open University. Gladwin M Collins J (2008) ‘Anxieties and Risks’ in Collins, J and Foley P (eds), Promoting Children’s Wellbeing’ Bristol, The Policy / Milton Keynes, The Open University. Blewett J Foley P (2008) ‘Staying Safe’ in Collins, J and Foley P (eds), Promoting Children’s Wellbeing’ Bristol, The Policy / Milton Keynes, The Open University. KE312 Working together for children Activity 13.3 KE312 Working together for Children Video clip 2 Journals Stover, S. (2013) ‘Odd alliances:Workingtheorieson unintended consequences ofearlychildhoodeducation in Aotearoa, New Zealand’ .Australasian of Early Childhood’ vol.3, no p4-8. 5p. Available at http://www.open.ac.uk/ Sandseter, Beate E, Hansen.(2012)Restrictive Safety or Unsafe Freedom? Norwegian ECEC Practitioners Perceptions and Practices Concerning ChildrensRiskyPlay. Child Care in Practice., Vol. 18 Issue 1, p83-101. 19p. Available at http://www.open.ac.uk/ Internet http://www.nspcc.org.uk/help-and-advice/for-parents/keeping-your-child-safe/the-underwear-rule/the-underwear- Sinead Bartley (C6449275)Page 1

My Philosophy of Education Essays -- Education Reflective Writing Teac

Philosophy of Education Education provides people with the understanding and basis of life. It enables us to explore the world. Teachers are important in a child’s life because children are dependent for guidance, love and knowledge. It is up to us to provide these guidelines to the younger generations. As an educator, I am anxious to guide the pursuit of one’s goals and acquisition of knowledge. I believe in emphasizing the importance and value of an education that should carry beyond their high school years. I not only plan to teach the basic skills, but also provide students with knowledge of the world they will face outside the classroom. I lean towards the philosophy of progressivism. It enables students to relate decision making, creative thinking, and projects to their studies. Children will think that material at school is genuine if they can connect it to real life. Kids need to be engaged in higher level thinking skills. Therefore, I am a strong proponent of cooperative groups and active learning. Progressivism not only focuses of children’s academic needs but also their interests. I am a reflective teacher meaning that I take every characteristic of the class and students and plan around it. I love active learning which place children in an atmosphere where they feel safe and can participate in fun, learning activities. Children can learn from each other which also creates a positive, relaxing learning environment. If you walked into my classroom, you would very seldom see kids sitting at their desks in complete silence. It is all about maintaining control. I am not an essentialist. I understand that students need to take standardized tests, but i... ... Education reform is necessary for effective teachers and schools. The world is changing, curriculum changes and teaching strategies changes. I will not get set in one teaching style and refuse to change. I will be up for any type of constructive criticism and suggestions. All children are different and therefore every class will be different. Effective teachers can not teach the same way each year. I hope to further my education by going to graduate school. I would like to earn a master’s degree in Reading. After I get positioned in a school, I would like to become nationally certified. I also want to subscribe to journal magazines such as The Reading Teacher or organizations such as Reading Association. In accomplishing these goals, it will further my knowledge in which I can pass down to my students as well as doing it for myself. My Philosophy of Education Essays -- Education Reflective Writing Teac Philosophy of Education Education provides people with the understanding and basis of life. It enables us to explore the world. Teachers are important in a child’s life because children are dependent for guidance, love and knowledge. It is up to us to provide these guidelines to the younger generations. As an educator, I am anxious to guide the pursuit of one’s goals and acquisition of knowledge. I believe in emphasizing the importance and value of an education that should carry beyond their high school years. I not only plan to teach the basic skills, but also provide students with knowledge of the world they will face outside the classroom. I lean towards the philosophy of progressivism. It enables students to relate decision making, creative thinking, and projects to their studies. Children will think that material at school is genuine if they can connect it to real life. Kids need to be engaged in higher level thinking skills. Therefore, I am a strong proponent of cooperative groups and active learning. Progressivism not only focuses of children’s academic needs but also their interests. I am a reflective teacher meaning that I take every characteristic of the class and students and plan around it. I love active learning which place children in an atmosphere where they feel safe and can participate in fun, learning activities. Children can learn from each other which also creates a positive, relaxing learning environment. If you walked into my classroom, you would very seldom see kids sitting at their desks in complete silence. It is all about maintaining control. I am not an essentialist. I understand that students need to take standardized tests, but i... ... Education reform is necessary for effective teachers and schools. The world is changing, curriculum changes and teaching strategies changes. I will not get set in one teaching style and refuse to change. I will be up for any type of constructive criticism and suggestions. All children are different and therefore every class will be different. Effective teachers can not teach the same way each year. I hope to further my education by going to graduate school. I would like to earn a master’s degree in Reading. After I get positioned in a school, I would like to become nationally certified. I also want to subscribe to journal magazines such as The Reading Teacher or organizations such as Reading Association. In accomplishing these goals, it will further my knowledge in which I can pass down to my students as well as doing it for myself.