Spirituality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Spirituality - Essay Example The first is a moral code of conduct and justification that will guide health care providers to tend to patients in a manner that is in alignment with religion. Such as the fact that they cannot present life threatening drugs or force people to take a drug that may cause death. At the same time, women cannot be advised of abortion etc. Secondly the doctor patient relationship needs to be built on the element of trust; the patient is entitled to receive all the information regarding treatment, health care and any aspect of a procedure that they have to undergo. Even though the provider is the true healer and is believed to be so by the patient as well, all sides of the story is a duty of the doctor to the patient. Thirdly, patients are autonomous, that is, they are allowed to make any decision they want to, after being presented all the facts of the situation. At the same time, health care providers have to act like good citizens, taking it on their conscience to care for the patient and heal them; and not just go through with this procedure in a mechanical fashion, but to be caring and loving and compassionate towards the patient. God will only show mercy to him who showed mercy on his creation, and so providers need to offer not just treatment but compassion and mercy to patients, praying for their well-being and taking it as a duty as God’s servants to take care of his creation. At the same time there is the concept of non-maleficence in Christianity; which essentially translates into â€Å"never harm anyone.† According to this principle, health care providers need to be such that they give the right kind of prescription to the right patient and they need to assess whether a particular treatment would harm or benefit the patient in question. Christianity also believes in the principle of justice. Therefore patients are all to be treated equally and fairly, and treated till depth of the provider’s ability as

Major issues in second language classroom research Essay Example for Free

Major issues in second language classroom research Essay Chapter one is all about the major issues in second language instruction that arose during classroom research. There are four general issues concerning the effectiveness of the classroom instruction that was mentioned. The first issue is entitled â€Å"Learning from instruction† which concerns Krashen’s extensive analysis of the role of instruction within his framework of interpreting L2 acquisition, wherein he views the effects of instruction as limited, however: the classroom should function to provide the learner with comprehensible target language (TL) input in an affectively supportive climate. The second issue is entitled â€Å"Teacher talk† the main goal of this research has been to determine what makes teacher talk an aid to learning, the initial approach of this research has been to describe the features of L2 teacher talk which distinguish it from speech to L2 learners in non instructional settings. The third issue is entitled â€Å"learner behavior†, both the teacher and the learners have been investigated not only their linguistic behavior but their learning strategies and social interactions with other learners have been the target of research. Some researchers have placed great emphasis on finding out whether the learners are viewed as being in control of their own learning. The last issue is entitled †Interaction in the classroom †, interaction is viewed as significant because it is argued that 1) only through interaction can the learner decompose the TL structures and derive meaning from classroom events, 2) interaction gives learners the opportunities to incorporate TL structures into their own speech. In chapter one the four major issues were introduced, because in the chapters that will follow, each chapter will treat the issues just outlined in greater detail. Chapter 2: Classroom research methods. Chapter two presents the principal studies and concepts that have elaborated the methodology for observing and analyzing classroom instruction and interaction. Several approaches were mentioned in this chapter, majority of it is the methodological approaches. Methodological approaches to the study of L2 classrooms are extremely varied, reflecting both a great diversity of research questions and purposes, and a range of theoretical perspectives on the conduct of research. There is a continuous give-and-take between the success and failures of quantitative and qualitative approaches to portray and explain precisely the processes and products of classroom interactions. These approaches have followed methods adopted by researchers in native language schooling or other sociological and sociolinguistic studies of communicative interaction. In this chapter these methods were described with regard to their capacity to extract and validate generalizations about social and linguistic processes occurring in L2 classrooms. Chapter 3: Teacher talk in second language classrooms Chapter three surveys research on the linguistic and discourse characteristics of teacher speech to L2 learners. This chapter reviews research that has investigated second language classrooms in terms of teacher’s language use in the classroom, especially the characteristic features that differentiate speech to nonnative speakers from that to native speakers. It was also mentioned here the four modifications in teacher speech which are: first is the modifications of speech rate, prosody, phonology, wherein the researchers that were involved , found teacher’s speech to second language learners to be slower, in comparison with other contexts and conditions. Second is the modifications of vocabulary, where they claim that both non teachers and teachers tend to use a more basic set of vocabulary items in their narratives told to L2 learners. Third is the modifications of syntax, it is by far one of the most investigated and quantified characteristics of teacher talk has been teacher’s syntactic modifications. These can be grouped into five types: measures of length of utterances, measures of subordination, measures of markedness, measures of grammaticality, and measures of distribution of sentence types. And the last one is the modification of discourse, which has two categories: the framing moves, where the only significant difference in framing moves was that visiting teachers used more, compared with the regular teachers. The second category is the self-repetition, where on the assumption that repetitions may provide the learner with more opportunities to process information or follow the teacher’s model. In this review, a variety of teacher behaviors have been described and compared across different contexts. Chapter 4: Learner behavior in second language classrooms Chapter four reviews research on the characteristics of learner behavior- participation and speech. They consider research on the contribution of the learner acquisition of a second language. Classroom researchers have focused on learner’s verbal and social interactions and have inferred learning strategies from learner’s behavior in such interactions. There were also hypotheses in the data and tentative conclusions about relationships to learning that are described in this chapter. These hypotheses will form the basis for organizing the results of studies on learner behavior. Research on learner’s classroom behaviors addressed several major hypotheses. In addition, a final section of this chapter examines studies of learner’s learning strategies, a relatively recent area of investigations in second language classroom research. As for learner strategies, there are clearly fruitful topics for further research. It is evident that the strategies identified to date constitute a very mixed set of phenomena, not all of which can be investigated under classroom conditions. Chapter 5: Teacher and student interaction in second language classrooms Chapter five describes research on teacher-leaner interaction. In this chapter several of the factors that have been considered to influence the quality and quantity of teacher-student interaction are examined. The interaction which occurs as a result of these factors is described, and some of the likely consequences of the interaction for learners are suggested. In the view of many researchers and practitioners, conversation and instructional exchanges between teacher and students provide the best opportunities for the learners to exercise target skills, to test out their hypotheses about the target language, and to get useful feedback. The classroom research has shown that teachers may be less likely to address L2 learners when they are mixed with native speakers. It has also been revealed that teacher’s different questioning strategies may be either helpful for inhibiting of communication in classrooms. The greatest error teachers make may be the assumption that what occurs as †correction† in the classroom interaction automatically leads to learning on the part of the student. The nature of interaction in L2 classrooms is perhaps the most critical issue concerning formal second language learning, and although the research cited in this chapter suggests important ways in which current instructional practice may be both effective for and detrimental to promotion of TL skills, the complete picture remains to be developed. Chapter 6: Learning outcomes Chapter six draws together all of the foregoing research, as well as other studies, to determine the state of knowledge about learning outcomes resulting from teacher’s and learner’s classroom interaction. This chapter will review research on L2 classroom processes that have a potentially positive effects on learner’s perception and incorporation of the forms and functions of the target language. It should be clear that there is substance to the view that classroom instruction will aid L2 acquisition. The direction of results in the few large-scale classroom studies favors slightly a focus on form or explicit talk about grammar. Research on outcomes of learner production and teacher-learner interaction, suggests furthermore that other factors in classroom learning may contribute greatly to acquisition. Some of these factors may underline or interact with the effects noted in this section. The research reviewed here concerning the TL learning effects of interaction in L2 classrooms is limited in its conclusions, yet highly suggestive for further research. But still there are many research that remained unsolved, but hope that in the future many of these will be once and for all solved. Chapter 7: Directions for research and teaching As the last chapter it is obvious that the major findings of the research will be summarized, and that implications for further research and teaching in second language classrooms will be suggested. Despite the increase of classroom-oriented research in recent years, few can be made with great confidence because of the difficulty of synthesizing. When all the research has been carefully analyze it has been shown that research is lacking in consistent measures of classroom processes and products. Sometimes inadequate in design to address critical research question. It is also incomplete in its quantitative or qualitative analysis, which leads to a need of greater theoretical specification of the constructs and relationships to be investigated. A discussion of these methodological issues is to be carried out before any future directions are suggested. In this chapter it was also pointed out the areas for future research on classroom reading, outline major implications for curriculum planning and L2 instruction, and lastly to suggest ways of achieving greater consistency across classroom research studies. The reason of pointing these out is because, it makes it more easier for future researchers to find answers. Summary Since the 1960s, there has been an increasing attempt in research on teaching and learning from instruction to relate the major features of teacher and student behavior in classrooms to learning outcomes. The research in this book deals with the nature of the teacher and student behavior in real classroom. Using this set up , researchers were able to observe and analyze what is really the nature of the teacher and the student’s behavior. They were able to determine what are the factors that can affect a L2 learner in acquiring language. They were focused on the learning and acquisition of the L2. In the first chapter, they discussed the major issues that arose during the research. The chapters that follows, the primary research studied is that conducted in L2 classrooms, in simulations of language classrooms, or in semi-instructional, tutoring interactions between teachers or L2 speakers and language learners. Many theories, hypotheses and approaches were formed and used in these research. But there was a memo in the start of the chapter, it says that the fact that this book is reviewing research on the preceding issues does not guarantee that the research will provide unambiguous answers to them. It’s because the research that was done in this book has not yet been proven to be accurate. The purpose of this book has been to attempt to elucidate the critical issues and findings of research in and about second language classrooms. While the studies reviewed here clearly are not always as rigorous or convincing as we would like, the past ten years of classroom-oriented research is impressive in the breadth and depth of study of a variety of issues, when virtually every study was groundbreaking in one respect or another- methodology, research questions, population studied, analytical techniques applied. At the same time, second language instruction has been gaining importance, as more people throughout the world find the need to acquire one or more second languages. There is diversification in the specific purposes of language instruction, an increase in language schools and programs, and an expansion in training programs for second language teachers, researchers, and program developers. For these reasons alone, second language classroom research has an important role to play. Reflection I think this book is quite the catch. Especially if you are an English major like me. This book helped me to understand a bit more the importance of second language acquisition. I already know from my ESL/EFL class that learning a second language is important, but this book made me realize that acquiring a second language will be very advantageous for me. Because if I learn my second language perfectly, I know that I will be more confident in myself. And that I can be globally competitive. This book does not only talk about second language acquisition, it also talks about classroom-oriented research. In the classroom-oriented research they tackled the nature of the teacher and the behavior of the students. They wanted to know what are the factors that affect the L2 leaner in acquiring language and how can they overcome these if they were to be problems, and how can they improve it if it were a solutions. In this book there were also hypotheses theories, and approaches that were formed and used. The setting that was used is the classroom, and that the main subjects are the teachers and the learners. This book is a big help in understanding second language acquisition. Although some words are a bit hard to understand , I will still recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning and acquiring a second language. And also to my fellow majors, because I know this book will be a big help in our studies.

Organizational Structure of Starbucks

Organizational Structure of Starbucks Starbucks have built a global coffee empire on the basis of quality inexpensive drinks. In February 2009 the Seattle based Company announced that it will close more than 300 stores which would impact 6,000 people and result in 700 layoffs. Starbucks have stated that they will continue to expand its presence in Europe and staff that is laid off will be given the opportunity of alternate jobs in these stores. They are planning to open 150 new stores in 2009/10. At this moment in time Starbucks are represented in more than 15,000 locations worldwide. The Mission statement of Starbucks has been defined as Our mission: to inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time. (Farfan, 2012). The vision of Starbucks is all about quality and people. They want to enrich the lives of people by making Starbucks the premier neighborhood coffee shop and be seen as a social influence of good in peoples daily lives. Starbucks have a number of value statements and this is illustrated on their Canadian web site  [1]  where they enumerate:- where they enumerate:- The Coffee its all about the passion for coffee and finding the best ingredients and roasting the beans. They believe passionately in concepts of fair trade and enriching the lives of the coffee growers Partners The firm considers all of its staff as partners and inclusive in the contribution and wellbeing of the business. This ethos extends to its entire international operation. Customers Its all about social interaction with our customers and ensuring that they have an enjoyable experience at all of the Starbucks retail outlets The Stores All of the stores should have a unique Starbucks quality providing a consistent image of quality and an enjoyable social atmosphere where people can meet and enjoy fine coffee Community Starbucks wants to be seen as an important part of the community and an important force for good. It wants to enrich the lives of the local community and be seen as a desirable meeting place. Shareholders Starbucks recognises the important contribution of its investors and wants to remain a business that the shareholders can be proud of and provide them with good returns on investment. SECTION 2 The Organizational Structure The Organization structure of Starbucks is similar to most large groups of its size. The organization is controlled by a Board of Directors who functions from the Group HQ based in Seattle, Washington. Around the country it is split into regional jurisdictions with district Managers who oversee a group of regional stores. A store manager acts as the local boss for supervising the staff at a particular store location. The company does not operate as a franchise system but it does license store fronts. These are owned and operated by the Starbucks Corporation under strict quality control guidelines. The entire Starbucks team work as partners and are geared towards quality customer service and client satisfaction. Starbucks emphasises a policy of inclusion amongst its entire staff and no matter where you fit in the hierarchy the firm attempts to recognize individual contribution. Most of the consumers who are fans of Starbucks will endorse the level of consistency found across the Starb ucks locations whether you are in Seattle, New York or London. The Company has been extremely successful in this regard. (Schreiner, 2012). SECTION 3 Starbucks in China Starbucks have been instrumental in helping to increase the popularity of Coffee in China. The CEO has said that it plans to start and grow coffee in Yunnan province of China. This essentially will make a strategic commitment to help strengthen and develop the Starbucks brand in China. Yunnan province coffee already has a well-developed reputation in China for the production of high quality coffee beans. Starbucks have indicated that they would like to export Yunnan coffee beans throughout its world-wide distribution of retail stores. Starbucks has now been in China for 12 years and has 400 stores on the mainland and 800 stores in greater China. The firm has stated that China will be the fastest and biggest growing market in North America (CNN, 2010). The provincial government in Chinas Yunnan Province has said that it will invest $450 million to help expand the green bean volume of production from the current 38,000 tonnes per annum to that of 200,000 tonnes by 2020. It will also help Starbucks to expand its hectares in Yunnan province from 26,700 to 100,000 acres in the same period. This will help to create employment in China and develop the educational system within the Universities in the province of Yunnan, thereby promoting the development of the coffee industry in China. Starbucks will offer Yunnan province their agricultural expertise gained in coffee plantations in Cost Rica and Rwanda. This will help promote local knowledge and expertise in Yunnan province. When entering Japan they looked for local partnerships that would help them to ease their way into the Japanese market place and the approach was more one of stealth and careful navigation than opposed to that of a blockbuster announcement. The approach followed the typical model shown to the right. External Factors consider such items as cultural implications, market potential, and the intensity of competition and market barriers. Whereas internal factors are more focused upon such items as the characteristics of the country and environment for successful operations, the local resources available, speed of entry, ability to gain local support and investment. Statistics show a strong performance in sales between 2005-2008 but in 2008 the net income showed a sharp decline. So despite a growth trend in Sales the Company was losing money. The decline in the US market is however less likely to impact the potential investment and growth in China as the market forces are very different in the Chinese provinces as opposed to the USA economic determinations. (Tung, 2010) Starbucks and Sustainability When considering the concept of sustainability, the first word that comes to mind is that of the environment. Paper cups, are one of the most common consumables in our daily life. The disposal of these has become a serious problem in latest fifty years. This has contributed to the effect of global warming. Every day in the U.S. Millions of people will consume six cups of coffee as part of their routine life and only a few of them will choose not to use paper cups. As coffee has become the most popular drink for the breakfast and afternoon tea, all over the world, the expending of paper cups will only increase. Owing to the impact that paper cups will cause to the environment; some of the coffee stores advocate some discount activity to decrease the damage caused by paper cups. This project considers how paper cups are contributing to the destruction of the environment and the need for future actions of sustainability to protect the environment. The Environmental impact on paper cup disposal A paper cup is made of paper and lined with plastic or wax to prevent any drink from leaking out through the paper. Paper cups as the most popular drink container in the world, however, most of them are not recycled paper and as such they bring many negative impacts to the environment. According to a study of paper cups, it illustrates that a single cup will produce 0.25 pounds of CO2 emissions. When one paper cup is made, 0.90 square meters of natural habitat will be lost. Another statistic shows that in 2006, in excess of half a million trees were felled to make paper cups used by U.S consumers, in addition 4 billion gallons of water were used to make coffee and tea but resulting in 253 million pounds of waste. The only result of using large amount of paper cups is heavy air pollution, which is related to the thesis in this paper: sustainability. Wasting too many paper contributes to the wastage factor in the felling of trees. In particular, the disposable paper cups. Basically, a tree needs ten to fifteen years to mature . During this period how many other trees will be destroyed purely for the use of paper cups? Since the paper cup is a vital component of our routine life, most people do not consider the serious impact it creates. Meanwhile, landfill is another problem that disposable paper cups bring to the environment. The world administration is simply not equipped to deal with all of the recycling required and we are left with a quantum anount of plastic cups and lids which are virtually indestructible Starbucks are taking the campaign seriously Fortunately, there are some of the institutions and coffee store already realized the serious impact of paper cups. In this project, I am going to look at the most famous coffee store around the worldStarbucks. Starbucks is one of the most popular coffee shop in everywhere in the world, especially in its original placeU.S. And before 2006, paper cups were banned for recycling because of healthy. According to the graph above, U.S paper consumption has decreased in recent years. Starbucks serves 2.3 billion coffee cups a year. Owing to the huge consumption of paper cups they have realised the importance of environment concerns. Starbucks was the first company in the U.S to recycle content coffee cups. Those cups included ten percent post-consumer recycled fiber (PCF), this activity saved tens of thousands of trees, a half million gallons of wastewater and million pounds of garbage from being trucked to landfills. (Fusso, 2011). Starbucks also recommend people bring their own coffee cup nowadays, while one customer bring their own cup, they could have a ten cent discount for their order. This campaign encourages customers to be more environmentally friendly. Sustainability usually reminds people about green products and protecting the environment. However, when confronted not many people will agree upon how to achieve these objectives . Governments usually are indifferent on the subject and the only effective way is making sustainability related to profit. Modern Corporate entities become more interested in the concept of wealth accumulation and making profits. As a multi-national company Starbucks sets a good example to achieve paper cups sustainability. Customer Service Starbucks are an excellent example of excellence in customer service. They have had a lot of time in terms of getting the model right but they have persevered and never been complacent regarding the needs of their customer base. It starts with the quality of the product itself. They provide a range of coffees that are custom designed in order to meet the needs of even the most demanding of customers. The staff pays attention to the detail and little points that make your experience enjoyable; there are no real throwaways at Starbucks. One example is the type of background music played in the stores. This is designed to provide a light convivial atmosphere. Very often a light smooth jazz or the mellow sounds of Sinatra. The music is designed to make you feel good in a relaxing atmosphere. Another point is that Starbucks have never tried to nickel and dime their customers; they dont mind how long you sit at the cafà © with a single coffee. They want you to enjoy yourself. The Cafes often provide very comfortable seating arrangements and lounge chairs. This helps in the creation of customer loyalty and is indicative of the fact that they care about their customers (Hanft, 2012) Ethical Practices Owing to the amount of an ethical and dishonest marketing practices, as carried out in the USA, the public are looking for improved codes of ethics and marketing practices. Standards of marketing are not strictly governed by codes of ethics, as compared to other more regulated professions like law, medicine, accountants etc. the American marketing Association. [AMA] is attempting to bridge the gap but can only make code binding upon some members. An underlying question is will any rigorous code of ethics improve marketing practices of business behaviour? The first consideration must be enforcement; only if you can make people obey the code of ethics does it become worthwhile. Starbucks have attempted to place ethics high on their value chain. This starts off with the coffee production and dealing with Fair Trade Coffee that ensures planters and their staff are treated in an equitable manner and receive proper financial rewards that are commensurate with their efforts. This has also seen a move towards organic coffee production. It is often difficult to keep a check on all that takes place in your supply chain but is is important to avoid scandals like that of Nike who found themselves at the centre of a human rights scandal on the exploitation of child labour. Information Technology Starbucks has always taken Information Technology very seriously in its business operations. In March of 2012 they announced the appointment of two new Executives to be responsible for the way Starbucks uses technology and innovation relative to servicing its customer base. Starbucks have embraced the digital revolution in supporting digital networks within its stores. Starbucks has made significant investments in point of sale management systems, sophisticated inventor control systems and provision of computer technology in its supply chain. Leadership Practice The leadership style in Starbucks is very focused towards that of the democratic leadership style. This form of leadership style promotes delegation amongst assigned staff and given them the authority in which to complete tasks by using their own methods but adhering to corporate standards and guidelines. This motivates the staff because it promotes initiative and makes them feel more inclusive in the decision making. Delegation of responsibility does not however make the Manager less accountable for achieving the end results. The Manager is accountable for the end result. There is a danger that staff does not carry their weight and rely upon others to carry them. The Situational Leadership Model by Blanchard and Hersey is an important contribution because it has created a relatively simple matrix in order to explain a complex subject. Managers in larger Corporations are able to examine their directive and supportive leadership styles and determine where they are portrayed on the Model. By adjusting, the dynamics of their leadership style that can fine-tune the behavioural stance of leadership to be more supportive or more directive as the occasion demands. Hersey pointed out that this is not a theoretical concept but that of a leadership model. This is because the model is more application oriented and may be modified or adapted to meeting various situations as opposed to theoretical considerations that are normally more fixed. The negative side of traditional leadership models is that it has been more inwardly focused upon personal leadership styles as opposed to taking a more holistic viewpoint in terms of looking who leadership serves and how best to gain the optimum outcomes for the organization i.e. managing customer relationships and ensuring the business objectives are driven and focused towards meeting these needs. Positive attributes are that it has promoted group dynamics within the organization and helped in business transformation and change management. Starbucks have also adopted more of a servant leadership style at the store level. This is a relatively new concept that is finding a lot of support where high customer centric support is required. Servant Leadership may be defined as a leadership style that influences, models and supports how people learn to serve others first. It encourages the concept of speed (efficiency) and integrity in the way people interact and negotiate in a business setting. The concept covers both an internal and external focus. The approach works on the basis that in meeting peoples legitimate needs one gains more influence as a leader. This builds trust within the organization and is seen as dedication and commitment by customers. The qualities of servant leadership can be seen in individuals that:- Have Empathy they are good listeners Empowered They encourage others to lead by active delegation Positive attitude They promote a positive outlook in the organization Desire They have honesty and integrity and work on building trust Problem Escalation They will resolve issues or problems in an expedient manner Serve Excellent provision of customer service Pros of Servant Leadership Seeks and encourages open and honest feedback from others Helps people to progress and develop to their optimum capability levels Meets the legitimate needs of other people and aspires to the highest levels of trust Prepares for the future by careful succession planning Above all provides excellence in customer service by open, honest and transparent communications with an emphasis on service and quality Cons of servant leadership Not applicable to all situations e.g. The Military Changing the leadership view from one style to that of servant leadership can prove difficult unless very carefully handled Leading is different from managing personal and organizational styles need to be carefully aligned Importance of servant leadership Servant leadership has become an extremely popular approach in modern business. In a difficult financial climate competition for business increases and a good customer, relationship management team becomes of paramount concern. Good servant leaders bring about a very positive approach in the development of internal resources by promoting them, coaching and encouraging them, whilst equally motivating them towards a sense of community building. People will follow such leaders because they portray a selfless and generous demeanour and concerned about the welfare of others. This style is very paternalistic and encourages others not to be selfish but consider what they can do to help others. It was John F Kennedy that immortalised the saying Ask not what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your country. The style treats employees more as business partners as opposed to helpless drones of a slavish and subordinate mentality. Equally, the customers will look at the positive internal dynamics that are being generated. Customers will see this as indicative of the manner they will be treated i.e. with equality, respect, personal concern and a willingness to achieve a high quality product or service. (M.McCrimmon, 2012) Social Responsibility An excellent video link illustrating the Social responsibilities of Starbuck can be viewed at this location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nly_OdvORQY . This is a very interesting video clip that illustrates both the ethical and social responsibility of Starbucks on a global basis. Essentially all business organisations have reward systems for their employees. Without these being in place the employees would not complete their job functions. Executives tend to regard this as compensation but in reality it extends far beyond the simple concept of pay. Modern organizations tend to view reward in terms of a strategic framework and this considers the overall vision and mission of the organization. For example, how will the business be successful and as such how the people that drive the business is both rewarded and incentivised. As such this rests upon a number of different perspectives i.e. Financial, Sociological, Psychological, Environmental, Hygiene etc. This falling within the general concept of Maslows Hierarchy of needs. (Bussing-Burks, 2009) SECTION 4 SWOT Analysis of Starbucks Strengths: There are a lot of very strong positive forces at play within Starbucks and this is what positions the firm as a Fortune 100 Company and a global player in this field. Large Market share capitalization They have the financial clout! Strong Brand Image The brand is recognized world wide Large store network Huge distribution of global stores Committed workforce A highly motivated workforce Highly profitable A highly profitable global business Global presence They continue to expand international presence Strong ethical values They have maintained a strong ethical stance Fortune 100 Company Recognition as an American Corporate giant High customer loyalty The customers are very loyal to the brand Quality products- Consistent quality over all their stores. Weaknesses: There are some issues with Starbucks but these are offset by the very strong profile the business projects. Premium company, as such can be undercut by low quality brands High dependency on coffee need for increased product diversification Very focused on US domestic market This is changing Could use more Free Trade Products This is being addressed and improving Seen as loyal American Global brand Despite this it is extremely well respected globally Fairly high costs to maintain standard of excellence You always pay for quality! Opportunities Starbucks have a very proactive marketing department and are always looking forwards to areas for improvement. . They are planning to open 150 new stores in 2009/10. At this moment in time Starbucks are represented in more than 15,000 locations worldwide. Emerging international markets like China Starbucks has now been in China for 12 years and has 400 stores on the mainland and 800 stores in greater China. The firm has stated that China Advancements in Technology Constant innovation spearheaded by two senior executives of the firm Product range diversity Constant ongoing improvements in this area Licensing its Name to open up market channels This will be done carefully in order tom protect quality standards and the brand image Improved marketing initiatives Constantly exploring new marketing opportunities Increased green initiatives Part of marketing initiatives . Starbucks also recommend people bring their own coffee cup nowadays, while one customer bring their own cup, they could own ten cent discount for their order. This campaign encourages customers to be more environmentally friendly. Threats: A saturated coffee market possibility of too many new market entrants Activists criticise Starbucks fair trade practices They are improving though Recession may mean less people purchase daily coffee- Temporary setback Increased costs of raw materials May need to be offset in pricing model Increased costs of operational overheads- May need to be offset in pricing model SECTION 5 Personal Reflection Starbucks is a hugely successful global American company and has a very loyal customer following, particularly in the USA and Canada where the coffee shops provide a focal meeting place for social meetings and connecting with the internet. There is no reason why the firm cannot continue its global expansion aims, particularly in China. Starbucks have been instrumental in helping to increase the popularity of Coffee in China. The CEO has said that it plans to start and grow coffee in Yunnan province of China. This essentially will make a strategic commitment to help strengthen and develop the Starbucks brand in China. Yunnan province coffee already has a well-developed reputation in China for the production of high quality coffee beans. Starbucks have indicated that they would like to export Yunnan coffee beans throughout its world-wide distribution of retail stores. (Gilbert, 2008) SECTION 6 Recommendation In todays difficult financial climate it appears that Starbucks are doing most things right. They have a customer centric approach, place quality control high on the agenda, they address the needs of a young discerning market place and have the right hygiene and environmental factors that support the business. Perhaps less reliance on coffee and increased diversification in their stores may help to consolidate their position further.

Brain Drain :: essays research papers

Brain Drain   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The topic I have chosen is the â€Å"Brain Drain†. Is this a brain drain or a brain gain for Canada? Canadians believe it is a brain drain for them. The United States is also losing some of their students to Canada. This is a real issue facing Canadians; they are losing many of their highly educated students each year. â€Å"The issue of â€Å"brain drain† is a political hot potato in Canada†. (Quoted by Wayne Kondro). Many of these students are moving to the United States because they are being paid a lot better. This so called â€Å"brain drain† south was particularly dramatic in the mid- 1990’s. There are many knowledgeable Canadians heading South of the border. Our low Canadian dollar is part of the reason why people chose to move to the States. Canadian’s are being paid much more working in the US than they are being paid in Canada. High taxes are another reason Canada is driving people into the states. Another main reason why so many Canadians are leaving to live in the U.S. is the North American Free Trade Agreement. The so called brain drain is actually a brain gain. The ratio is 1:4, for every Canadian going to the U.S., Canada is gaining four U.S. educated students. Immigrants are three times more likely to hold a master’s degree, doctoral or medical degree than the Canadian born population is. Therefore, this says that people who are immigrating into Canada are keeping more of their degrees, than people immigrating to the states. In the end not all the people moving to the states stay there, there is a small percentage of them moving back. Maybe because in the states they aren’t getting all the benefits Canadians are getting. For example medical care. The facts state that this is a brain drain. There are more than one hundred thousand skilled Canadians moving out of Canada each year. This includes graduates and people who are being offered better paying job. A recent poll said that eight out of ten Canadian’s have considered moving to the U.S. Eighty one percent say that the biggest lure is the higher pay. â€Å"Just over 4,600 post-secondary graduates from the class of 1995 were living in the United States as of the summer of 1997. By the time of the survey in March 1999, about 830 (18%) of these graduates had moved back to Canada†.

Penn foster exam Essay

I want to inform you of a position here at INK. My boss, Daniel Smith, is looking for a personal assistant and I know that you would be perfect for the position. Your background in sales and cashiering lend some qualifications to the job, but it is your outgoing personality and attention to detail that are sure to win him over. The Job Requirements include: -Preparing coffee every morning -Creating speeches for Mr. Smith’s many public appearances -Joining Mr. Smith at weekly conferences -Keeping a detailed log of Mr. Smith’s contacts with business and community members including personal information about their families, likes, dislikes, and hobbies -Managing Mr. Smith’s business account and petty cash funds. With your background as a cashier, I have no doubt that you will excel at managing the books. I have always noticed your ability to organize any situation to run smoothly, so I am assured that you can also handle Mr. Smith’s many public appearances and conferences. Your success as a sales clerk is surely due to your bright and positive personality- in fact I have rarely seen you without a smile for everyone. Mr. Smith can be a bear in the mornings without his coffee, so your upbeat attitude and your ability to roll with the punches, so to speak, will be a huge asset in that regard. I also know that in our family, you are the one who remembers everyone’s birthday’s, so as far as making Mr. Smith’s guests and associates feeling welcome, you are the best person for the job.

The article being reviewed in this essay, Essays

The article being reviewed in this essay, Essays The article being reviewed in this essay, Essay The article being reviewed in this essay, Essay The article being reviewed in this essay, ‘Land Tenure Insecurity and Inequality in Nicaragua’ by Rikke J Broegaard, was written in September 2005 as a research paper for the Danish Institute for International Studies. It represents the continuance of research work carried out by Broegaard in this field. Indeed, it was the capable country of his PhD research. Indeed, in my sentiment, the most interesting facet of this survey is to compare the development of both methods and thoughts from Broegaard’s earlier work. Subsequently in this essay, I will be looking at an article carbon monoxide written by Broegaard in 2002, and will be looking more closely at how his work has developed. To decently reexamine this article, it is necessary to to the full understand the historical context of this research, and I will seek to make this briefly at the beginning of this paper. At the nucleus of this issue is the land expropriated under the Sandinista authorities jurisprudence that declared a piece of belongings abandoned if the proprietor was off for six months or more, three months if the proprietor went to the USA. The Sandinista authorities made land ownership for the hapless a precedence through the 1980’s, and under their land Torahs, land was parcelled out to 200,000 of the country’s poorest households by the manner of 30ft ten 15ft secret plans. Unfortunately, the authorities failed to supply rubrics to the land. When the Sandinista authorities fell in the 1990 elections, the full system crumbled. Previous landholders, who had fled Nicaragua, returned to the state to repossess the belongingss which they had abandoned. The authoritiess who have followed the Sandinistas into power have wholly failed to decide the land issues. Indeed the state of affairs appears to hold become more helter-skelter than of all time. As has been stated by Carol Hartman, â€Å"Nicaragua’s long term stableness could depend on deciding this thorny issue.† ( 1 ) This has non happened. Harmonizing to Mark Everingham: â€Å"The triumph of Arnoldo Aleman and the broad confederation in October 1996 raised optimism among 1000s of claimants who were disappointed with the Chamorro government’s willingness to suit Sandinista objectives.† ( 2 ) This optimism was short lived. New Torahs on belongings statute law introduced in February 1998 fell into pandemonium when the Supreme Court found that the authorities bureau had authorized the return of belongingss already titled to other parties. Claimants were forced to prosecute their instances entirely through the tribunals. The state of affairs was competently described by Mark Everingham in his article: â€Å"The sudden convergence of electoral democracy and neo-liberal rules thrust the establishment of belongings into a competition between resurgent confiscated involvements and embattled Sandinist constituents.† ( 3 ) The state of affairs has non truly changed to this twenty-four hours. Over shadowing this whole procedure is the issue of the legality of publishing rubrics without holding compensated the former landholders. Within this historical context, Broegaard has written this article to show and compare the sensed land term of office state of affairss of husbandmans within different legal term of office state of affairss. The survey was carried out in three neighboring small towns in south western Nicaragua. In entire 349 families were studied utilizing a combination of quantitive and qualitive methods. The group chosen to analyze were selected to stand for a widespread group of land term of office state of affairss and populating conditions. The survey included small town leaders, co-op leaders, leaders of the farm workers brotherhood, local spiritual leaders and the few affluent and powerful landholders in the country. I was ab initio uneasy with the thought of including these groups in the survey, seeing a potency for the consequences of a little survey to go deformed. But with the benefit of hindsight, I realised that Broegaard was seeking to understand this issue from all positions within the community and he was hence right to include these subdivisions within his survey group. On the web site of the ‘Danish Institute for International Studies’ , this article is introduced in the undermentioned footings: â€Å"A big group of husbandmans in the instance analyze country perceive their term of office state of affairs as being insecure despite the fact that they posses a legal rubric to their land. The article argues that more attending must be paid to facets such as inequalities of wealth and power, deficiency of enforcement and deficiency of nonpartisanship on the portion of the formal establishments when turn toing term of office security in an institutionally unstable puting, such as that found in Nicaragua.† ( 4 ) Broegaard has sought to accomplish these consequences by understanding the complexness of the issues in topographic point, and has moved off from the conceptual model of land term of office security which was developed chiefly by economic experts. Broegaard states that: â€Å"Over the decennaries a re-conceptualization has emerged through the integrating of findings from ( legal ) anthropologists and history.† ( 5 ) He goes on to province that: â€Å"The re-conceptualization brings into the argument the thought that a deficiency of single land rubrics does non needfully intend that the land term of office is insecure, and that single formal rubrics may non significantly strengthen term of office security.† ( 6 ) This re-conceptualization is discussed at great length by Broegaard within this article and is really much at the nucleus of the treatment countries and his decisions. This new conceptual model has allowed him to acknowledge that â€Å"corruption, high costs of land rubrics and a really expensive legal system preclude effectual and equal enforcement of land rubrics, particularly for hapless, little graduated table farmers.† ( 7 ) It has besides allows an accent to be placed upon differences of wealth and power between family, and the development of the thought that rubrics can supply tenure security to some families but non to others. As a remark against what Broegaards describes as econometric surveies, he stated that â€Å"this focal point sidestepped the fact that ; in many contexts, title ownership is non needfully equated with holding a high degree of term of office security.† ( 8 ) This re-conceptualization represents a ample displacement in accent from old articles by Broegaard, and in peculiar, an article co-written in 2002. The article entitled ‘Property Rights and Land Tenure Security in Nicaragua’ took a much more economic position of this relationship, something which is non surprising, sing the support organic structure. In this survey, Broegaard used what he called arrested development analyses. He states that: â€Å"Regression analyses is used to research channels through which belongings rights influence socio-economic results. It is found that formal land paperss cut down term of office insecurity, heighten the value of land, promote consumption of perennial harvests and thereby hike harvest outputs. Formal rubric workss are superior to set down reform paperss. Land rubric has no consequence on recognition, contrary to common premises. Support for land titling appears justified on both equality and efficiency grounds.† ( 9 ) In their decisions to this article, Broegaard, Heltberg and Moller assert the followers: â€Å"The advantage of formal land paperss is that they cut down term of office insecurity and heighten the value of the land. They besides provide better inducements to put in the land and prosecute in long term land usage such as turning perennial harvests, including java. All this consequences in higher end product. Lack of formal rubric and term of office insecurity adversely affect smallholders, and chiefly the poorest among them. There are hence strong statements on both efficiency and equity evidences for intercessions to clear up rights.† ( 10 ) The inquiry must hence be how or why did Broegaard move from a place of comparative certainty sing the benefits of land titling in the 2002 article, to his place of comparative ambiguity in the article under reappraisal? It could be the consequence of a complete alteration of point of view in the three old ages between the two articles, but I do non believe this to be the instance. There is a brief intimation of what was to come at the very terminal of the 2002 article, when he concludes the followers: â€Å"However, the reply to tenure security should non be limited to reforming the land disposal. There is besides a demand for effectual and impartial struggle declaration, and enforcement of belongings rights, for greater stableness and legitimacy of authorities establishments, and for improved governance.† ( 11 ) I believe that the reply to our inquiry lies in the methodological analysis used for the two articles. The displacement from an economic method of looking at statistical informations for accounts, to an anthropological and history based method of field research has been mostly responsible for this alteration in analyses. It is this methodological analysis which forms the anchor of this article and is its great strength. The re-conceptualization procedure that Broegaard has gone through has led to a interrupting down of what defines term of office security. It is no longer what we believe tenure security to be, but the husbandmans ain perceptual experiences and appraisals of their term of office state of affairs which become of import. In specifying his footings, Broegaard states that: â€Å"It will be assumed that husbandmans assessment of their term of office security degree will be influenced by their subjective apprehension of their legal term of office state of affairs, their general outlook sing authorities enforcement and equality of the jurisprudence, every bit good as their appraisal of their entree to the authorities establishments they might necessitate in instance of a conflict.† ( 12 ) He goes on to province that: â€Å"By using the construct of tenure security as seen from the position of the landowners, this survey attempts to supply a broader apprehension of the elements involved in procuring entree and claims to set down, than that which is possible with a purely legal approach.† ( 13 ) I believe that this is a really different, and an highly of import attack to this annoyed inquiry. The attack is justified by Broegaard with the position that it is the sensed term of office state of affairs which is the footing for a landowner’s determination devising, a position I entirely concur with. Where I must go with Broegaard is in relation to the statement which followed: â€Å"The chief ground for this is that people do presume that moral or socially defined rights exist and hey behave consequently, irrespective of whether these are in conformity with formal rights.† ( 14 ) I must state that in a state with the history of Nicaragua, I find it really hard to believe that people truly do posses these premises. I believe that Broagaard is in danger of enforcing west European values and thoughts upon a people who live in a state where corruptness in authorities and within establishments has become the norm. The single narratives of Roberto, and Patrona and Arnofo help to make a image of life in rural Nicaragua, a life where force and menaces are used to act upon belongings minutess, and where the legal position of the land has become irrelevant in making security. We see a image of extremely unequal degrees of information, instruction and acquaintance with formal systems, and a state of affairs where wealth can be seen as the chief beginning of term of office security. Harmonizing to Broegaard, without money it is impossible to utilize the legal system to implement 1s belongings rights. The article shows illustrations of people corrupting functionaries to acquire consequences. Broegaard reflects that: â€Å"The fact that such patterns are mentioned openly shows that they are common and quashi-legitimized in today’s Nicaragua.† This image created by Broegaard non merely provides a valuable penetration into the issues of land term of office in Nicaragua, but besides helps to paint a image of life in the state as a whole. Whilst it is the position of Broegaard that this survey of a peculiar part can be seen as representative of the whole state, I would hold preferred to see the survey being conducted in different parts of the state to see if different forms emerged. This is a little point and non one which should take away from the value of this article as a valuable portrayal of life in this Cardinal American state. Footnotes: Carol Hartman – Who Owns Nicaragua? Madison Land Tenure Centre – State Journal Mark Everingham – Agricultural Property Rights A ; Political Change in Nicaragua in ‘Latin American Politics and Society’ autumn 2001 Ibid Danish Institute for International Studies – web site Rikke J Broegaard – Land Tenure Insecurity and Inequality in Nicaragua Ibid Ibid Ibid Rikke J Broegaard, Ramus Heltberg A ; Nikolas Malchow-Moller – Property Rights and Land Tenure Security in Nicaragua. Research paper for University of Copenhagen Centre for Economic and Business Research. Page 2 Ibid Page 25 Ibid Page 26 Prev cite Broegaard Ibid Ibid

Coursework Business Economics Essays

Coursework Business Economics Essays Coursework Business Economics Essays Coursework Yana Galiyeva Business economics Question 1 1) Why do many firms use cost-plus pricing for supply contracts The cos-plus approach to pricing is an alternative approach by using a general formula for setting a price adds a mark-up to the cost base. Cost-plus prising approach is calculated by the average of total cost (variable and fixed costs), which is a cost base, and the mark-up. One of the methods to calculate the mark-up is to set a target rate on return on investments. The mark-up on full product costs are much lower than on variable manufacturing costs. The reason for that is that when you calculate mark-up based on variable costs you assume that you should generate profit and to recoup fixed costs and other costs, such as R&D, distribution and marketing. The mark-up on full costs is lower because these costs are already include all costs incurred to sell the product ( Bhimani A. Horngren C.T, Datar S.M, Rajan M.V 2012, chapter 12, ‘Management and Cost Accounting’, p386). Because this technique calculate average full costs, the cost base includes a fixed costs and there are some advantages of including fixed costs per unit for pricing decisions. Three main advantages are: full product cost recovery, price stability and simplicity. The logical reason of using cost-plus pricing is that if you charge a full cost plus mark up as a selling price you will break even and because companies are tend to produce a percentage increase in wealth it seems logical (Peter Atrill, Eddie McLaney, 2007, Management Accounting for Decision Makers). Another reason for using cost-plus prising method is that it makes calculations easier and provides clear and objective formula for the calculations. Because of the simplicity of the calculations, it is easy to justify price with the changes in cost (increase of labour costs in our example). Last reason for applying this method is that according to the market structure and the competitions, managers of the company can set target return and the target sales volume. Is the market closed and not competitive, they can set highe r prices and earn more. 2) What potential problems do you envision with cost-plus pricing? In a book The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: a guide to profitable decision making by T.Nagel 1994 author’s define following problem of cost-plus pricing: ‘The problem with cost-plus pricing is fundamental. In most industries it is impossible to determine a product’s unit cost before determining its price. Because unit costs change with volume. This costs change occurs because a significant portion of costs are ‘fixed’ must somehow be allocated to determine the full unit cost. Unfortunately, since there allocation depend on volume, which changes in price, unit cost is a moving target. ’ Another problem of this strategy is that market not always agrees with the price. Cost-plus price model is not taking to account a price sensitivity of customer and ignore the demand for the product. This model is not taking to account the marked demand function and it could lead to reduction in sales, because market will not buy at the price, which was set by the cost-plus price. This model may work only if the company is a prise maker, not a price take. In other case, if company is a price taker it could lead to zero sales. It is important to remember, that non-cost factors are relevant in price setting and this model is not taking them into account. Another problem is that because this pricing model is very simple and consist only of cost factor and mark-up, this model is not focused on reducing firm costs and it leads to an increase in price, which consumers will pay ( in our case an increase of 3$ according to increase of labour costs). 3) Should Gina contest the price increase? Explain. According to the given information and taking into account that Rich Manufacturing Company and Bhagat have signed the contract, it means that Gina could not argue with the contract. We know