Stipends for College Athletes

It’s about time: Stipends for College Athletes Imagine being a college football star and finding out that a jersey representing your school with your name and number on the back is not only selling for $110 in stores nationally, but it is profiting higher than some professional sports jerseys. Now, imagine that you as that student-athlete will not be making a single penny off your institution using your name for monetary profit. Why you ask? Because according to the governing body of collegiate sports, the National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA, this would be considered an act that would bring an athlete out of his amateur status.Yet, it is okay to exploit that athlete’s talents as if he or she were a professional athlete and not compensate him or her. The NCAA started off as a small organization whose first objective was to solve an injury crisis in college football. However, with a growing governing power came more change. In 1852, Collegiate competition or â€Å"sport† made its debut in the form of a regatta race between Harvard and Yale (â€Å"Intercollegiate History of NCAA† 1). Soon after came the establishment of baseball and collegiate football.In the beginning, competition and funding was organized through student-run campaigns, and school officials had very little control over the intercollegiate sports movement. However, in 1905, after a number of deaths and serious injuries occurred to students playing collegiate football, a group of school officials were summoned together to make a Kastel 2 series of rules that would emphasize safety within the sport. Just five years later in 1910, this group became established and came to be known as the NCAA (â€Å"History of Intercollegiate Athletics† 1).As the years progressed, the NCAA established sanctions not just for football but all sports. Most notably in 1950, the NCAA established that â€Å"Students could be awarded scholarships based on their athletic abili ty, but the funds had to be administered by the financial aid office, not the athletic department. The amount was limited to tuition and fees, and payments from sources outside the university (e. g. , alumni boosters) were banned. † (qtd in â€Å"History of Intercollegiate Athletics† 2).NCAA officials wanted to stress that there was a clear line that needed to be drawn between a student athlete’s main goal of pursuit towards higher education and the distracting blue elephant in the room of their college sports teams operating like that of a professional organization. Hence, the term â€Å"amateurism†. On amateurism, the NCAA stated that â€Å"student-athletes shall be amateurs †¦ and should be protected from exploitation by professional and commercial enterprises,† ( â€Å"2011-12 NCAA Division I Manual† 1).Although the original intentions of this bylaw were to make sure professionalism in sport didn’t deter athletes away from hig her education, too much has changed within intercollegiate sports for the same standards to apply today. The NCAA’s goal was too make sure these young players continued along their famous â€Å"amateurism† tagline, but we see them featured as unstoppable super heroes throwing down monstrous one handed dunks or making bone crushing tackles in commercials advertising for games as if they were professionals. The very Kastel 3 rganization controlling college sports has in itself become the exploiter of athletes in its own commercial pursuits. With this exploitation comes a very large elephant in the room spraying water at the American public from its trunk. The huge discrepancy between the monetary value of a scholarship the NCAA provides players with and the actual profits it generates from the player’s efforts is astounding. Although the profit rapidly increases with college sports popularity, the benefits student athletes receive stay constant.The largest financi al rewards a student athlete can receive for their athletic contributions are the benefits of free room and board, tuition, and a food plan. If we take the cost of these factors over the student athletes’ time at their institution, compared to the hundreds of billions of dollars generated in revenue from the NCAA we see something similar to Nike and their illegal sweatshop industry. It’s time for change to take place, college athletes should be rewarded like the professionals in the NCAA and conferences across the country market them to be.College athletes should receive stipends because there is a large discrepancy between what college athletes are worth and how much they are given, because athletic scholarships do not cover the full cost of living, and because the operation, money, and industry associated with college athletics is too great to still be titled â€Å"amateur†. The popularity of college sports and its value to entertainment is skyrocketing. The N CAA is the head organization in control of a hundred billion dollar industry.The disgusting disparity arrives at the difference between what Kastel 4 college athletes are rewarded with and the actual revenues the NCAA is collecting. For this discrepancy college athletes need to be rewarded for their effort and should be given stipends. Television broadcasting contracts, shoe and apparel deals, and commercial advertising rake in billions of dollars for the NCAA because of the participation of college students in sports. Last year alone, the NCAA’s total revenue was $777 million.Although the NCAA claims that 98 cents to every dollar is redistributed back into schools athletic programs for things like student services for athletes and athletic funding, it just so happens that there was a $29 million surplus which was claimed by the NCAA as â€Å"reserve† in 2010 (â€Å"Expenses vs. Revenue† 1). Apparently, saving up your change is beneficial. I never knew two-cent increments could lead to tens of millions of dollars. Such revenue comes from things like its newly acquired 14 year/$11 billion dollar deal with CBS-Turner over broadcasting rights for the NCAA tournament (O’Toole 1).It is kind of like a major motion picture company producing one of the highest generating films in history and letting its actors know that they won’t be receiving a financial reward for their contributions, but the work experience they are receiving should suffice. In no other industry or job field in this country would such a compensation to revenue ratio be considered acceptable. They serve the title â€Å"amateurism† to American college athletes on a big plate of propaganda.In 2008, the NCAA teamed up with IMG College to lease its rights out to video game king Electronic Arts, making games such as NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball using the likeness of players they sold over 2. 5 million copies (Branch 1). The student athletes that were feature d on these games had their Kastel 5 numbers reflected accurately, their physical attributes like race, hair style, and even their athletic prowess such as their speed, strength, passing/blocking/catching abilities all accurately associated with their real abilities in order to ensure players of the video games could maneuver round the field like their favorite college superstar. There isn’t anything â€Å"amateur† about exploiting college student athlete’s likeliness in a video game for profit; the double standard is disgusting. However, the NCAA isn’t the only one caught with their arm elbow deep in the cookie jar. Such conferences such as the SEC, ACC, and the BIG 10 are generating billion dollar contracts for individual television networks while student-athletes are being kept in the dark for their contributions.For instance, the SEC conference will be earning $55 million over 15 years from a CBS deal, and a 15 year deal with ESPN that cashes out to $1 50 million (â€Å"Winners and Losers† 1). Despite the players being the ones who are generating the audiences, none of these profits from the NCAA or the conferences are being returned back to the students directly. In fact, if we were to try to mathematically calculate the value of how much an athletes room and board fees come out to divided by the amount of time they actually put into being an athlete most are living just above, if not below, the poverty line.For example, a recent study found Duke University basketball players based upon their generated revenue for the school to be worth $1,025,650 . Yet, after calculation (scholarship value / number of hours each puts in) they were found to be living just $732 above the poverty line (â€Å"Research-NCPA† 1). After being worth over one million dollars to their university, they are only rewarded approximately a $200,000 education. Kastel 6 Current college athletes and those from the past are starting to realize this e xploitation more and more especially as profit from television deals and sponsorships become more lucrative.Almost every month the American public is presented with a new story of how a college athlete unfairly received either a monetary reward or a free service because of his athletic talents. We get mad at the young athletes and criticize them for such actions but can we really blame them? They are superstars generating attention, money, and huge popularity to their institutions and they aren’t receiving anything different than the kid slapping together the cymbals after every touchdown.College athletes are taking gifts and money because they are becoming aware of the NCAA’s exploitation and on top of that most of their scholarships don’t even cover their full cost of living. In the perfect world, when watching our favorite college athletes on TV we like to imagine that they came from strong households with parents who paid for their training and had all the o pportunities to be successful. We would like to think the tattooed face of a little girl on our favorite college point guard’s arm is just his little sister not his daughter who he thinks about trying to send enough money too every week.Fact of the matter is, college athletes across the country have a variety of circumstances that consume any opportunities for extra money. Things like coming from broken home families, having children at home, or coming from a low economic neighborhoods cause many student athletes to stress over where their next dollar could come from. Things like clothes, gas, toiletries, amenities, fun activities, extra food for the room, or a meal away from dining hall are all things that Kastel 7 are essential to have money for in college.However, college athletes can only be awarded a scholarship. It bewilders America when we hear of cases of college athletes accepting sums of money under the table in what is becoming an increasingly large black market. H owever, this happens all the time. We only hear about the ones who get caught. Yet, the players aren’t the ones to blame. According to a study conducted by Drexel University Department of Sport Management, the average scholarship shortfall, or what the average student athlete had to spend out of his own pocket in 2010-11, was approximately $3,222 (â€Å"Research-NCPA† 2).When the scholarships we have don’t cover the student-athletes full cost of living how do we expect them to be able to pay for the necessities of living? If a player has been out of gas for three weeks and is out of toiletries can we really blame him from accepting cash in a handshake from a booster? College athletes’ time is consumed by their sports. According to a survey conducted with 21,000 Division I, II, and III athletes, â€Å"Football players in the NCAA's Division I Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A) said they spent an average of 44. hours a week on their sport â €” playing games, practicing, training and in the training room — compared with a little less than 40 hours on academics† (qtd. in Wieberg 1). This staggering statistic reveals that college athletes are actually spending more of their time on their sport then their actual school work. It is even more staggering when the NCAA’s bylaw requires that student athletes only spend 20 hours a week on their sport. With these types of time commitments and dedication to their sports, college athletes don’t have time to have a job. This dilemma intensifies the problem of Kastel 8 aving a scholarship shortfall. If there are necessary things to pay for and athletes don’t have the necessary time to work where is the money supposed to come from? College athletes should receive a stipend of $2,500 a semester to ensure that any necessary cost outside of their scholarship can be covered. By introducing this stipend the number of NCAA infractions relating to athlet es taking money will dramatically decrease due to the fact that they won’t need to anymore. One might say that this would anger regular students who do not receive such benefits.However, according to one statistical survey taken by 458 college students, 58% of them believed that college athletes deserved to receive stipends (â€Å"College Students Perceptions† 1). This study demonstrates that not only would regular students not be upset by college athletes receiving the reward they deserve, but in fact they recognize the need for it. By offering something to college athletes (scholarship) which still requires them to spend such a large sum out of their own pockets we are basically tempting them to fall into the illegal activities of the black market and potentially jeopardize their academic futures.Stipends must be rewarded and reform is necessary now. The NCAA cannot expect a player with a hungry child at home to refuse money from a booster, just as it cannot place th e term â€Å"amateurism† around an industry it exploited to be so focused around money. The NCAA suggests that if we were to provide college student athletes with stipends it would take away the â€Å"wholeness† that college sports still represent by replacing their â€Å"amateur† title with that of â€Å"professionalism†. However, college sports which once symbolized the unselfish competitive spirit of America and were Kastel 9 nce run by student led organizations with no influence from school officials or corrupt institutions have already become a capital venture. This is not because of the introduction of a stipend reward system, but rather because the money, operation, and industry the NCAA created around college sports has made it too professional in its financial pursuits to be considered â€Å"amateur†. The term â€Å"amateurism† is no longer fit to represent college sports but rather a propaganda add by the NCAA to allow them to cont inue their exploitive efforts.One of the largest indications of the pursuit of this commercial enterprise is the unbelievable amount of money that college coaches are being paid. In 2010, Alabama coach Nick Saban committed to a contract that would pay him $4 million dollars a season (Low 1). Most FBS Division 1 institutions athletic departments have a hard time generating any profit at all, but the NCAA allows schools to present astonishing contracts to coaches in order to point their team in the right direction. Yet, the NCAA sees a student athlete receiving a small stipend more of a venture towards professionalism than this?Another indication that college sports can no longer be placed under the â€Å"amateur† title is apparent in the evolution of college stadiums. Today the illustration of a new corporate sponsorship is apparent in almost every stadium with things like â€Å"Ohio State University’s new $105 million Schottenstein Center, 110 luxury boxes at Neyland Stadium (University of Tennessee), and the University of Michigan spending $7. 4 million to renovate Michigan Stadium† (qtd. in â€Å"College Student’s Perceptions† 2). The NCAA isn’t keeping the industry around college sports simple with basic venues and humble salaries for their coaches.Instead they Kastel 10 create something that is slowing resembling that of professional sports environments. For these exploitations the NCAA can no longer hold college athletics today to a standard of remaining â€Å"amateurism†. The industry surrounding it has far surpassed that point and it is time we reward our college athletes like the professionals we market them to be. Many people argue that even if the NCAA does come to its senses and passes a law regulating stipends for Division I institutions, Title IX implications would make it almost impossible to implement stipends.Those critics argue that if stipends were approved, Title IX would then regulate all stu dent athletes at the school to receive stipends due to equal opportunity. The sum of money required to be able to provide every student athlete with this, critics say, would be impossible for even successful athletic departments to afford. It is correct that such a reward would be possible for schools to afford. Stipends should only be given to the top three sports that are generating the most revenue. It would create more of an incentive for programs to be successful, and it would reward student athletes of the teams who were having the greatest success.Title IX cannot be applied to the stipend system because it is outdated and needs to be reformed. Title IX was originally created for the racial movement in order to encourage what, at that time, was a change that needed to be enforced (â€Å"In Defense† 1). Today, many schools athletic departments actually lose money by trying to comply with the outdated law. In order to equally match the number of guy to girl scholarships a university might be forced to eliminate a men’s revenue generating sport such as hockey and instead Kastel 11 add a women’s sport that loses money ( â€Å"In Defense† 2).Title IX is outdated and if a stipend system is established, the top 3 revenue generating teams should receive a stipend. Whether the NCAA wants to accept it or not, their exploitive actions in pursuit of commercial profit have eliminated any sense of college sports today seeming â€Å"amateur†. Because of this exploitation it is time for college student athletes to finally receive the proper reward they have deserved for a good amount of time. College athletes should receive stipends because there is a large discrepancy between what college athletes are worth and how much they are given.This is because athletic scholarships do not cover the full cost of living, and also because the operation, money, and industry associated with college athletics is too great to still be titled â€Å"am ateur†. By affording these stipends to college athletes, maybe just maybe, when that athlete walks into the store and sees that jersey with his name on the back he might be financially secure enough with his living expenses to be able to purchase it. Works Cited â€Å"2011-2012 NCAA Division I Manual (August 2011). † NCAA Manual. NCAA. org. Web. 09 Nov. 2011. Branch, Taylor. The Shame of College Sports – Magazine – The Atlantic. † The Atlantic — News and Analysis on Politics, Business, Culture, Technology, National, International, and Life – TheAtlantic. com. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. â€Å"College Students' Perceptions On The Payment Of Intercollegiate Student-Athletes – Statistical Data Included – Page 2 | College Student Journal. † Find Articles | News Articles, Magazine Back Issues & Reference Articles on All Topics. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. â€Å"History of Intercollegiate Athletics and the NCAA. † World Scientific P ublishing Co. , 12 May 2009.Web. â€Å"In Defense of Collegiate Athletics: The Case Against Paying Student-Athletes – Garnet And Black Attack. † Garnet And Black Attack – For South Carolina Gamecocks Fans. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. â€Å"Intercollegiate History of the NCAA. † NCAA Public Home Page NCAA. org. Web. 09 Nov. 2011. Low, Chris. â€Å"Nick Saban Commits to Alabama Crimson Tide through 2017 Season – ESPN. † ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. O'Toole, Thomas. â€Å"NCAA Reaches 14-year Deal with CBS/Turner for Men's Basketball Tournament, Which Expands to 68 Teams for Now. News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U. S. & World – USATODAY. com. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. â€Å"Research | National College Players Association. † Home | National College Players Association. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. â€Å"Revenue Vs. Expenses. † NCAA Public Home Page – NCAA. org. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. Wieberg, S teve. â€Å"Study: College Athletes Are Full-time Workers – USATODAY. com. † News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U. S. & World – USATODAY. com. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. â€Å"Winners and Losers In SEC TV Deal. † College Gridiron 365. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.

Advertising does not affect me or other people, so they should always be allowed Essay

A husband comes home from work earlier than usual and finds his wife in bed. He finds it awkward so he thinks she is sick and then suddenly a phone with the same ring tone as his starts ringing. A naked man strangely comes out of the closet and answers his phone ignoring them and then goes back to the closet and of course the husband is shocked and frustrated with his wife. This is a funny TV commercial for Comviq company. But as hilarious, stupid and entertaining as it seems, it stills sends a message to the viewers about the Scandinavian mobile phone operator Comviq showing why they invented the silent mode on your cell phone. I disagree with the statement in that adverts have large impact on affecting the viewers in both positive and negative ways, therefore I am going to discuss why it should be allowed sometimes to and to some extent restricted. Ads are mainly known for promoting products, marketing goods and selling new products. Some advertising techniques used to promote commercial goods and services can be used to inform, educate and motivate the public about non-commercial issues, such as political ideology, energy conservation and others. Take for example Guinness, it is one of the most successful beer brands in the world, being exported worldwide. It has a long history of marketing campaigns from award winning television commercials to beer mats and posters. Some advertisements also promote â€Å"images† for companies for example most cigarette companies for example Marlboro Man has the message: â€Å"smoking cause lung cancer† written on its packet. Smirnoff a brand of Vodka also has advertisements informing viewers of the risk of drinking too much while driving. Both of these companies in a way are trying to show a positive side of them in showing that they care about the lives of their customers even though their products are more of a menace. Educating and entertaining viewers are also the affairs of adverts. Some adverts that are used to sell products for example condoms are used to motivate people to buy them by informing about the dangers of HIV/AIDS. While some ads’ main purpose is just to educate the viewers, for example opposing of selling of drugs to youth and informing why it is dangerous to their health. To capture the viewers’ attention the ads must be entertaining. Entertaining in the sense that they are funny, thrilling or captivating. These ads helps viewers a lot for example in spicing up their lives, daily conversations and humorous ones provides them with lots of laughs. Therefore helps us to fight stress. However there are times when ads should be banned for every good thing has a negative side of it. In the process of advertising some ads should be alert of who they are broadcasting to. They should be prudent to their gender, class, age and should also consider time, when the ads should be shot out. Personally I get irritated when I am watching the most fascinating part of the movie and commercial emerges on the screen or during meal times disgusting ads show up and you suddenly loose your appetite. Like I mentioned earlier the class of the viewers should also be reflected on in that some ads makes some unhappy wanting what they don’t have. This is especially the poor because of course the upper class will be happy with new products or fashion that they can afford. Some people may also be disheartened or depressed by some ads for example ads featuring beautiful or handsome models make many people who feel they are not good looking enough or beautiful bodied discouraged and they end up turning to dangerous things like drugs especially the youth for comfort. In spite of that some ads pollute our eyes and ears everywhere we go. They pollute our eyes in the sense that they show obscene pictures and videos in the course of advertising. People who have corrupted minds don’t really mind but some do especially parents who don’t want their children to be brought up in a â€Å"contaminated† manner. These ads don’t usually come a long way because some people are sued and therefore they end up getting banned from being broadcasted on t.v, internet, e.t.c. Commercials on radio may also end up getting banned especially when a lot of irritating vulgar language is used. Some ads let us realize that the world is full of lies and teaches us to be careful. Many people do watch and read ads but most of them do not believe them maybe because of an awful past experience. There are some cases when ads have been sued because of manipulating the viewers for example The Dr. James slimming pills, an American product was banned, the company was fined and the buyers of the product were refunded. Exaggeration is also another thing that is unpleasant to viewers because of the way it influences them especially small children who cannot judge lies and will only beg for things. They are simply brainwashed and end up disturbing their parents by crying and pleading for the things that they have just seen even whether they are manipulating or not. They might even try to do what their role models in the ads are doing which is very dangerous for example like dinking â€Å"red bull†, an energy drink which contains alcohol just to fly like superman. I must conclude that ads have much more positive than negative influences. Ads make many people’s life easier in that it reduces stress, entertains. They also help people with various different business firms to sell their products, market goods and also promote their organizations. However there are some special cases when ads should be careful for example who, when and why they are targeting. I belief that in this world, we cannot do without advertisements. It plays a major role in communicating between many different groups e.g a retailer and a consumer. For that reason I would call to action that instead of banning ads we should improve them by excluding exaggeration or manipulation, and vulgar language or obscene videos featuring in ads and all would be well.

Personal Statement for entry to faculty of law Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

For entry to faculty of law - Personal Statement Example I got involved in activities that dealt with the rights of children. The activities made me realize that children need to be protected from the dangers they face in life. Therefore, I intend to get empowered by pursuing a law degree, and becoming their advocate. I appreciate the immense leadership skills I have acquired over time. Leading my high school basketball team for a year helped me gain extensive skills as I got to know how to integrate different personalities to accomplish given goals. Being a student leader in college also strengthened my leadership skills. I represented my school in assemblies, and this promoted my confidence. The communal activities also strengthened my leadership skills as I served as a program leader in various activities. This accelerated my advocacy skills, and encouraged me to pursue an education that would allow me serve the community in a better capacity. I am committed to academic excellence as proven by my performance in secondary school, where I was the top student for two consecutive years. More to this, I believe in education as the most powerful tool of change. I concur with Rury (2013) that education improves the state of life, and provide one with opportunities to better their life. Consequently, I want to pursue Law, given the additional knowledge I shall acquire, leading to greater empowerment. My policy in life relates to ensuring that I balance all areas of my life. Therefore, apart from doing excellently in class, and participating in making my community a better place, I always set time to exercise. I pioneered the development of a community basketball team late last year, and I have successfully led the team to date. The team allows youths in the community to participate in a sport that uses their energy productively. Consequently, the youths get less time to engage in non-productive activities, such as drugs and crime. I also take the opportunity to

Analysis of Semiotics and Archeology Research Paper

Analysis of Semiotics and Archeology - Research Paper Example It then goes ahead to systemize the signs and phenomena into different theories and models, and this is known as theoretic semiotics and finally tries to apply the knowledge gained to find practical solutions which are known as applied semiotics. The study of semiotics can, therefore, be applied in many contexts, one of which being in archeology. Archeology can be understood to be a science that carries out attempts to understand the past through the use of the physical evidence that is available. This evidence may include written material as well as other symbolic artifacts. In their work, it is important for archeologists to have an understanding of different symbolic behaviors and the different symbols that they come across in their work. According to Preucel (8), the field of semiotics has undergone a transformation in the recent past. This transformation means that semiotics has changed its traditional focus which was studying sign systems and classifying the signs to include th e study of how these signs are produced and their meanings as they occur in a social context. The basic premise in semiotics is, therefore, that meaning can only be derived from the social context in which the symbols or interactions are occurring. This has become important in the application of semiotics to archeology as the different signs or symbols that are to be found within the archeological exploration and process. The knowledge of symbols, signs, codes, and cons can, therefore, be applied in archeology. The understanding of the arrangement or organization if the material objects that are found into codes to give them meaning are, therefore, an important process. It is important to realize that unlike in the linguistic sentences the interpretation of material culture is a more complex process. As such, there is a need for archeologists to come up with a system that effectively structures and interprets the different aspects of material culture. This marks an important aspect of the relationship between semiotics and archeology. The relationship between semiotics and archeology is said to have begun in the 1960s when the linguistic model was first applied to studying archeological data. This was however only applicable to the study of Paleolithic and historical archeology and was therefore limited in its scope and area of study. The introduction of a theoretical framework for the combination of linguistic structuralism and processual archeology by Ian Hodder, however, marked the beginning of more formal and reliable use of semiotics in linguistic interpretation. The importance of semiotics in the study of archeology was emphasized by the fact that it is impossible for the material culture to produce meaning without the consideration of the context of this culture. In the understanding of the role that is played by semiotics in archeology, it is important that the concept of structuralism is explained. Structuralism refers to the approach that considers t he world to consist of structures that ate composed of different single entities that are mutually dependent.  Ã‚  

Social and environmental sustainability v financial sustainability Essay

Social and environmental sustainability v financial sustainability - Essay Example Such is a sustainable society (Schaltegger, Bennett and Burritt, 2006). Therefore, sustainability refers to an ideal towards which we strive and against which we weigh our proposed plans, actions, expenditures and decisions. Sustainability is a means of looking at a society in the broadest sense possible in terms of space and time. Every community has its different social, economic and environmental systems that make the pursuit of sustainability a local endeavour depending on the systems surrounding the particular community. Every society has its unique concerns and needs, and the quantity, quality, balance, and the importance of these matters is unique. The term sustainability can be defined differently depending on the context and the discipline in which the word is being used. In a more general dimension, sustainability can be taken to refer to the endurance of processes and systems (Del Bo and Bignami, 2014). Therefore, social and environmental sustainability refers to the persistence of the social and environmental systems and processes. Financial sustainability refers to the persistence of the economic processes and systems as applied to the business environment. The sustainable development forms the organizing principle for sustainability. The movement towards sustainability presents a social challenge that involves national and international law, transport and urban planning, individual and local lifestyles alongside ethical consumerism. There are varied ways in which corporations and individuals strive to live sustainably (Staicu and Feleaga, 2013). These may take the form of reappraising the economic sectors, reorganizing the living conditions, the use of science to create technologies, reappraising o work practices and the adjustment of individual lifestyles. Despite the increased use of the term sustainability, the attainment of environmental

Is it Morally Acceptable to Illegally Download a Hollywood Movie Essay

Is it Morally Acceptable to Illegally Download a Hollywood Movie - Essay Example Most of the information found on the internet is copyrighted. Therefore it is illegal to share information without the permission of the owner. The violation of this law has often been associated with the internet users who often download and share copyrighted information without the owner’s knowledge. Internet users are supposed to pay for the use of online books, music, movies, software and many forms of intellectual properties.   Most copyright owners are supposed to restrict the use of their work to avoid the sharing of their work without their permission. With the presence of such online information, internet users often worry about the imposed rules concerning copyright. Restrictions may hinder the evolution of technology. One such online threat is piracy, which is defined by Hunnewell as â€Å"the illegal duplication and distribution of sound recordings†.Commercial pirates use the Internet to transfer movie files from one country to another for download and sub sequent duplication and counterfeits in other markets. As Waterman wonders, â€Å"no one can be certain whether Hollywood’s worst case scenario of movie revenue decimal due to p2p file sharing will materialize† (2009, p. 261).   It is a fact that the markets for Hollywood movies do not only belong to the English speaking people but also many others natives across the world America, a copyright’s aim is included in the constitution. It is meant to promote the progress of science.

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca - Essay Example Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca landed on the shores of Cuba. Next, the Spanish sailor traveled by sea towards the sunny beaches of Florida. Next, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca’s reached the shores of the Mississippi river. Next, the sailor landed in Galvestan, United States. Finally, the famous sailor slowly but surely reached Mexico and Veracruz, as expected, the sailor’s voyage was wrought with dangers. Hurricanes were a normally sight. Many of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca’s sailor died while trying to prevent the hurricanes from capsizing the boat. An estimated 13 sailors were able to make it to Land. The sailors landed on the shores of the Colorado River. The few survivors were able conquer the harsh nature of the rapid waters of the Colorado River. As expected, only four men remained alive during the travel. The four survivors included Alonso Maldonado and Cabeza de Baca. The other survivors included the Estevanico and Carranza. While in the United States, the Spanish travelers were able to see the huge American buffalo (Adorno 11) While in the United States, the group was able meet the other Spanish group in Culian Can during the adventurous year of 1536. The group was converse with the Mexico City officer, its governor. The sailors conversed with the Indian residents in the place. After several years, Cabeza de Vaca was able to travel back to his native land, Spain. Upon arriving in his native country, Cabeza de Vaca focused his attention to writing books. With his writing prowess, Cabeza de Vaca was able to inspire other fellow Spanish sailors to travel abroad. The other Spanish sailors included Hernando de Soto as well as Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (Pautz, 4). Upon reaching the United States, Cabeza de Vaca was able to write a very popular book (Favata 43). The book was entitled seven cities of Cbola. Cabeza de Vaca wrote about the life in the Indies. When he was in his Indies, he would love travel form one community to

Trust Can Make or Unmake Organizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Trust Can Make or Unmake Organizations - Essay Example Hong Kong had been a bastion of capitalism for so long, hopping and prospering in a nearly unbridled free enterprise system that it looked at mainland China as untrustworthy as the new lord and master of a freedom and fun-loving group of people. China was of course known for its regimented economic and political life as well as its severe, heavy-handed style of communist rule. Their minds made up on the undesirability of Chinese control, many business interests fled Hong Kong before the Chinese took over. But just as many companies stayed - and found that the earlier fears and feelings of distrust by the others were unfounded. The Chinese let the former British colony live the way it used to and in fact opened up mainland China to fresh winds of reforms. What happened in Hong Kong was an example of how lack of trust and full understanding of how trust operates can blindside people and in the process erode the level of economic activity and the quality of life desired for everyone. This is one of the reasons why the formal study of trust is attracting a lot of interest among scholars in the fields of international relations, political science, psychology and sociology, management and economics, and conflict analysis. Results of the initial studies confirm that people suspect or mistrust others based on surface impressions. More important, they cannot work together as a group without each appreciating the value of trust. Tr Trust Trust is a key enabler of cooperative human actions (D'Amico, L., 2003). The intensified studies on trust in many relevant fields in effect recognize the importance of cooperative behavior to the success of any human endeavor and, consequently, to the success or failure of an organization. It was found that trust leads two other basic mechanisms by which such cooperation can be achieved in human behavior, the other two being power and the market. These mechanisms come into play through three types of trust: Type A - The relationship between two parties is based on a system of sanctions or incentives, which could be economic (fines, rewards, etc.) or social (black listing or alienation), put up to ensure that one does not abuse the trust of the other. Type B - Confidence is based on personal relations or trust. Thus, John would not abuse Joe's trust because to do so would damage their friendship and John believes that Joe values such friendship. Type C - The relationship is hinged on abstract systems (money tokens, for example) and social institutions (professional and trade associations) and hence avails of market forces. Lewis & Weigert define trust as "a complex and multidimensional phenomenon that extends to both the personal and impersonal, and to situational and across-situational contexts." This means that trusting or depending on another is based on a given situation, such that the decision to trust is formed tentatively and conditionally until the other person or institution proves to be unworthy of the trust. The other way around happened to the companies that opted to stay in Hong Kong despite earlier misgivings about the fair-mindedness of Chinese decision-makers. In time, China proved worthy of said companies' trust . In the concept of trust set by Harrison, et al. trust can be a behavior, an expectancy, an attitude, a confidence, a belief or set of beliefs, and a situational, dispositional, structural or interpersonal variable. To trust

The Difference Between Efficiency And Effectiveness Essay

The Difference Between Efficiency And Effectiveness - Essay Example Performance is usually a measure of whether a target has been reached or not. In the case of effectiveness, performance is enhanced as it measures the degree to which an organization meets its target objectives, while efficiency measures that which are used in the achievement of the objectives. In both instances, there is no measure of performance and hence none is more important in such a perspective. Performance is mainly attributed towards the result rather than the process used in realizing the results. In an instance in which minimal resources are used and no objective is met then the performance is reduced, and additionally, if the target is not met regardless of the effectiveness of the process, the performance is low. One aspect of significant importance in both instances is that organizations, managers can improve both simultaneously. Managers usually work towards attaining certain goals for profitability while at the same working on minimizing the associated resources such as time and costs. It is evident that a manager can improve both efficiency and effectiveness simultaneously. In the current business world, numerous ethical issues are experienced ranging from simple to complex issues. One of the greatest issues is that of inversion of privacy, a contribution of technology and communication, which has become an integral part of organizations towards achieving their objectives. In order to understand an ethical issue, it is best to find out the moral obligation behind it.  

Simulation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Simulation - Essay Example For any kind of simulation, a different model has to be developed. There are two such models, namely, Agent based simulation and Monte Carlo simulation. In this paper, an attempt has been made to review to scholarly articles where the above mentioned simulations have been applied in real life situations. For agent based simulation, a case study of non-pharmaceutical strategies to combat influenza has been selected. For Monte Carlo simulation, improving the reliability and performance of the transportation network of Istanbul under earthquake has been selected. The idea is to review the case study to understand the problem faced and how simulation helped solved the issue through its unique characteristics. Agent Based Simulation Agent based simulation is an approach whereby agents are used to note the extent to which the project is a success for a certain kind of simulation. In the paper by Mao, the non-pharmaceutical strategies to combat influenza were considered under agent based si mulation. ... These agents were taken from Buffalo, New York and they were further categorized into different locations as well as timings. It was assumed that these agents met a variety of people when socializing and travelling and thus could be good agents of carrying and transporting the influenza virus. In order to kick start the study, five agents were introduced in the case study already carrying the influenza virus and thus spread the virus within the state. These agents were asked to resume normal day activities and socialize also so as to create an accurate study (Mao, 2011). The results of the survey showed that when flu was extended to two more days, it is expected to minimize the seasonal influenza’s disease attack rate. With a three day extension, more desirable results were to be found as the spread of the disease is further curtailed. This was because when people limit their interactions with others, the spread of the virus is also limited. This strategy was thus found to be quite practical since individuals can easily take a day off when they have caught the seasonal flu. Such a strategy can be advantageous in countries that do not have access to proper vaccination and pharmaceutical medicines (Mao, 2011). Monte Carlo Simulation – Case Study of Istanbul’s Transportation Network Ordinarily, during natural or man-made disasters, chaos ensues. This makes it difficult to effectively develop a disaster response as transportation is the most impacted area of the disaster. For rescue and relief operations to be carried out effectively, transportation system of water, energy, communication should be effective. In order to deal with this complex issue, the study conducted by Gunnec

Financial Analysis of Cadbury Schweppes Essay Example for Free

Financial Analysis of Cadbury Schweppes Essay The capital structure of Cadbury Schweppes based on its 2006 balance sheet shows that the company uses more debt than equity to finance its operations. The company’s debt to total stockholders equity ratio of the company is more than fifty percent, while its debt to equity ratio is at 1. 30. A high debt to equity ratio means that the company relies heavily in debt financing. A high debt to equity ratio does not necessarily mean that the company has poor financial leverage because there are industries that are capital intensive which requires companies to incur large amounts of debt to finance its operations. One such industry is the automobile industry, where a debt to equity ratio of two is still considered acceptable. In the case of Cadbury Schweppes, the company is engaged in manufacturing candy, chocolate and drinks. It is an industry which is not as capital intensive as the car manufacturing industry so its debt to equity ratio maybe too high. The company has been undergoing changes in its operations over the years. It has gradually moved out of its investments that do not fall within its core business which is confectionery and beverage. While it disposed of some of its incompatible businesses, it continued to expand its confectionery and beverage operations. These acquisitions, particularly those made in the United States can be the reason for its large debt. Debt is used by the company to increase its operations and, as a consequence, increase its profits. The company’s performance has been increasingly growing every year, so it is possible that the company has determined that the cost of expending the operations which is in the form of interest payments is much lower than the benefits incurred in the form of increase in sales. Having a large amount of is extremely detrimental to the company if it is unable to recoup the cost of the debt; this is not the case of Cadbury Schweppes. The dividend yield ratio measures the amount of income received by each share of stock with the cost of such share. The dividend yield ratio necessarily varies over time because the market value of share changes as it is traded. A comparison of dividend yield ratio over time can be used to gauge if the performance of the company is improving, but this ratio should not be analyzed on its own. It must be analyzed together with other factors such as the market value of the share. A company with a low dividend yield can mean that the company’s share is priced highly by the market and does not necessarily mean that the company is unable to make dividend payments. On the other hand, high dividend yield can mean that the company’s share has a very low market value and not because it is able to give its shareholders large amounts of dividends. The company has a dividend yield of 2. 30% and it share has a market value ranging from 51. 5 to 51. 6. Based on this figures, it is apparent that its dividend yield is not because of the extremely high or low market value of its share. The price/earnings ratio of the company, on the other hand, is seen by investors as a gauge of how much the market values the company’s share. In this company’s case, it has a price earning of 24. 22. This number is very close to the industry’s average. This means that the company is competitive with other members of the industry and is generally viewed by the investing community as a good investment. Based on its dividend yield and price/earnings ratio, the company is able to compensate stockholders despite its large debts. This is probably because the earnings of the company is divided by a smaller number of shares than if the company chose to finance its operation by equity rather than debt. The large shareholders of the company are Franklin Resources, Inc. and Legal and General with shares ownership amounting to 4. 01% and 3. 47%.

Macro Environmental Factors Affecting The Industry Marketing Essay

Macro Environmental Factors Affecting The Industry Marketing Essay 1.0 Introduction This report shall examine Coles Supermarket, Western Australia Based, Australian grocery retailer, and its position in the Australian supermarket industry. Through examination of Coles internal operations it is hoped that a better understanding of Coles s strategy, and subsequent success, can be gathered. Hence recommendations for future sustained competitive advantage can be formulated based on the findings from an examination of the external environmental factors affecting the industry. 1.1 Coles Supermarket The focal grocery retailer of this report is Coles Supermarket, specifically, its food and retail grocery business. Coles operate 742 stores across Australia, has taken its total sales to $30 billion in 2010, a rise of 4.2%, and now controls around 35% of the industry. Hence, Coles is the second place in the market leader, with its leading competitor, Woolworths controlling 40% of the market (Westfarmer Annual Report 2010). However, with major environmental changes on the horizon it is debatable if Coles can increase such numbers in future. C:UsersMuiAppDataLocalTempmsohtmlclip11clip_image001.png C:UsersMuiAppDataLocalTempmsohtmlclip11clip_image001.png Figure 1, Coles full financial year revenue2008-2010, and Coles Operate stores (Westfarmer Annual Report 2010). 2.0 External Analysis Significant trends in macro-environmental dimensions will be discussed, specifically socio-cultural and economic trends and how they will impact Coles profitability in future. The Porters five forces model may be utilized to assess the state of the competitive environment, and finally the attractiveness of the industry to Coles in the future shall be examined. 2.1 Macro-Environmental factors affecting the Industry Socio-Cultural Factors: One major social trend is the increasing consciousness towards health and well-being, reflected in a movement towards organic produce and healthy alternatives. This trend offers an opportunity for Coles, as currently there are few players in the market offering organic foods, and sales of organic foods are set to rise over the long-term (IBIS, 2011). It also constitutes a potential threat in that farmers markets and niche supermarkets which specialize in such produce will thrive in the environment. Another social trend would be the increasing number of consumers who are time-poor. Consequently, there is a higher demand for time convenience. i.e. the ability to patronize a store when consumers have the time. The ability to provide fulfill this need has been possible by extending in trading hours. In addition, Coles is providing further convenience through expansion of its product range as much as possible, and created new business such as Coles Express. Economic Factors: The current economic climate has resulted in lower spending levels, especially with flexible goods. Hence, consumers are switching to private label brands for cost savings. Subsequently, supermarkets are increasing their private label offerings. This enables them to compete on the basis of price while realizing the higher margins. Provision of private labels also enables supermarkets to compete on the basis of choice convenience, i.e. offering a low-cost alternative. 2.2 Porters five Forces Analysis In this section, the attractiveness/profitability of the Australian supermarket industry in current times shall be assessed. This will be followed by an examination of Coles relative position in said industry. Threat of Substitutes: The threat of substitutes is high, as Coles laces many indirect competitors, such as convenience stores, specialist grocery stores, and farmers markets. Evidence suggests these indirect competitors are viable substitutes to Coles and cause serious threats in the future: Convenience stores have also experienced an expansion in product offerings and would he competing directly with supermarkets in the provision of choice convenience and wide product range. With the increasing trend towards healthy alternatives, Farmers markets selling organic produce are also poses a potential future threat. However, the threat posed by specialty stores is perceived to be minimal with the rise of increasingly time-poor consumers. Rivalry amongst Existing Competitors: A high degree of rivalry exists in the land is a direct result of the small number of major players in the market and their lack of perceivable differentiation due to the generic nature of the services and products provided. Therefore, competition is primarily based on price, but other competitive factors include product choice and store location. Three main drivers of an increase in future rivalry are the private retailer IGA, Actions and Woolworths which in the leading position. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers used to be very low. With Woolworths and Coles controlling more than 75% of the market (Fenner, 2011), many local Australian producers have an extremely limited selection of intermediaries to choose from (McKinna, 2011).Therefore, in many cases, Coles or Woolworths is the major purchaser, perhaps even the only purchaser, of a producers production. Even major international brands such as Kellogs and Nestle do not dare to upset either retailer; such is the power of their market-share (Wade, 2002). However, this is set to change, with the existing of the Action supermarket and the expansion of IGA, along with the Federal Government and The Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions (ACCC) recent push to lower competition barriers in the Industry (Hewett, 2011). Thus, the bargaining power of suppliers is set to be moderate in future due to a potentially larger selection of intermediaries to consign to. Bargaining Power or Buyers: Whilst low, the buying power of consumers is also set to increase in future. Once again, the aggressive push by the Federal Government and ACCC to lower competition barriers and allow new competitors to enter the market is set to increase consumer choice (Hewett, 2011), consequently increasing consumers bargaining power. Further driving the increase of consumer bargaining power would be the rise of price comparison websites such as grocery.bestpricedirectory.com.au which enables consumers to compare prices and choose the cheapest alternative. Both factors are set to bring consumers future bargaining to a more moderate level. Threat of New Entrants: The threat of new entrants is very low, and is set to remain unchanged. An insidious combination of local zoning laws and leasing agreements with landlords has resulted in an artificial scarcity of grocery store sites (Hewett, 2011). As such, this has deterred many new entrants from entering the market, especially overseas players interested in the Australian grocery industry. This is further aggravated by preferential treatment for Coles and Woolworths by landlords, due to their enormous pulling power in terms of consumer traffic (McKinna, 2011). Furthermore, potential entrants to the Australian grocery market must compete with Coles and Woolworths incredible economics of scales. Thus the investments in infrastructure, and facilities would be massive, and the expertise to manage them all would be specialized and rare. Thus, very few firms have the expertise or resources required for such a significant undertaking, and only a few players such as IGA and Action are able to do so (McKinna, 2011). 2.3 Comparison of industry attractiveness for Coles From the Porters Five-Forces analysis in the previous section, the Supermarket industry until a few years ago presented moderately high to high attractiveness for Coles, the most important reason or which was the high barriers to entry and weak bargaining power of suppliers and buyers. Hence profitability would be high for Coles at that point of lime. However, future environmental changes are set to change the attractiveness of the industry to Coles to moderate. Hence, Coless profitability is set to decrease from high to moderate in future as well. The main reasons for this would be the increase in bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, along with the greater intensity of firm rivalry with Woolworth, Action and expansion of IGA.C:UsersMuiAppDataLocalTempmsohtmlclip11clip_image001.png Figure 2, Attractiveness and Profitability of Industry to Coles in near future As such, the ability to outperform its rivals and maintain its competitive edge rests on Coles resources and capabilities, and more importantly how those resources and capabilities are utilized in the future, when industry attractiveness and profitability has decreased from previous levels. 3.0 Internal Analysis This section will begin with an assessment of Coless position in the food chain (i.e. extended value system) the firm participates in. It will be followed by an examination of the significant functions within Coles Value Chain that delivers the most value to the firm. Finally, Coles most significant resources and capabilities shall be identified and discussed in detail. Coles 3.1 Examination of the Food Chain Coles participates in C:UsersMuiAppDataLocalTempmsohtmlclip11clip_image001.png Figure 3, Coles Food Chain From the above diagram, it can be observed Coless function in the food chain is to provide producers with a channel to reach end consumers. This is because the producers Coles works with concentrate solely on production, hence those producers require to go-between with retailing expertise and infrastructure. For many of Coles suppliers, Coles is a major buyer, if not the only buyer of their produce. Thus, Coles exerts great influence over many of the small local producers and can state things like farm sizes, crop type, agricultural methods and prices the producers receive, which are based on Coles product and process quality specifications (wade. 2002). 3.2 Value Chain Analysis of Coles Coles mission statement specifies how Coles Down Down, Prices Are Down and Quality food costs less at Coles. Thus, all the value-creating activities of Coless business are all geared towards delivering the above promises (Westfarmer Annual Report 2010). The three main value-creating functions involved in delivering the firms promises are: 1. In-Bound Logistics: Coles is essentially a retailer. Hence it does not produce the products it sells. Instead, it controls the distribution network of its products. Within this function there are two significant activities which contribute to the firm: Procurement and Logistics: C:UsersMuiAppDataLocalTempmsohtmlclip11clip_image001.png Figure 4, In-bound logistics summary (Coles Supplier, 2011). Coles produce goes directly from producers to a national or regional distribution centre, where it is certified for quality then transported directly to stores. In addition, Coles owns and operates of all the trucks and distribution centers involved in its distribution network. This puts it in a better position to prevent worker strikes and enables greater control in ensuring punctuality of shipments. Moreover, operating the distribution centers (DCs) and trucks in its supply chain puts Coles in a better position ensure optimum distribution efficiency and product quality (Coles Supplier, 2011). 2. Operations: This involves two primary activities that ensure customer convenience and value, Quality Assessment and Inventory Management: C:UsersMuiAppDataLocalTempmsohtmlclip11clip_image001.png Figure 5, Operation Summary (Coles Supplier, 2011). From the time the stock arrives at the retail store to when the products are put on display, constant checks are made to detect and remove defective products. Furthermore, for each stock unit there is a Minimum Presentation Level (M.P.L)'. Sophisticated Point of Sale (POS) technology keeps track of the number of stock units sold for a particular product, and once stock levels fall beneath the M.P.L, a re-stocking order is dispatched to the relevant distribution centre (Coles Supplier, 2011).In addition, Coles utilizes an advanced forecasting program to forecast future changes in demand due to environmental factors such as seasonal changes or economic trends. 3. Marketing and Sales: Two main activities are involved in increasing sales and enabling Coles to compete effectively, In-store Promotions and Organizational Dynamism: C:UsersMuiAppDataLocalTempmsohtmlclip11clip_image001.png Figure 6, Marketing and Sale Summary (Coles Supplier, 2011). Coles holds weekly specials to boost short-term sales of certain products where prices of certain items are reduced by a large percent (Coles Supplier, 2011). This is supplemented by the distribution of sales catalogues informing consumers of the weekly specials. Highly effective in boosting short-term sales and inventory turnover, an example would be how Coles would normally sell $2000-$3000 worth of toilet paper per week, but that amount increases to around $8000 during its weekly special (Coles, 2011). A significant capability of Coles would be its ability to keep up with consumer trends and environmental changes, enabling the formulation or new strategies to compete effectively (Coles, 2011). For instance, to keep up with current consumer lifestyles and preferences, Coles introduced its selection of easy to prepare meals under its Coles Quality Food brand in conjunction with its monthly online interactive Coles Feed Your family Recipe guide which provides recipe suggestions and nutritional advice for healthy living (Coles, 2011). 3.3 Assessment of Coles Significant Resources and Capabilities Coles adopts an integrated competitive strategy, i.e. it utilizes a combination of both cost leadership and differential elements to compete, with its efficient supply chain to minimize costs, and its brand image to differentiate itself based on quality. In addition, strategic factors such as minimization of future threats and keeping the firm flexible in wake of environmental changes are also critical to Coles survival. Thus, with the above factors in consideration, Coles three most significant resources and capabilities are: Highly Effective Supply Chain: Coles efficient distribution network is both a resource and a capability in its in-bound and out-bound logistics. The end of tangible and intangible assets such a technological capabilities and supplier relationships, it is highly valuable as it was the significant cost- savings achieved throughout its entire logistics network that enabled Coles to come closer to Woolworths (McKinna, 2011). The level of cost saving benefits provided is non-substitutable by any other resource. It is also difficult o copy as the level and scope of the technological capabilities involved is highly specialized and staggering. However, should Coles posses an unfavorable public image or sell products undesirable to consumers, possessing an efficient distribution network would be irrelevant. Thus, by itself an effective supply chain is insufficient as a distinct competency, and must be supported by other competitive advantages. Brand Reputation: Coles reputation as quality food was built over many years. This was done via positive consumer experiences with its products which can be attributed to its stringent quality assessment procedures throughout its supply chain (Urban, 2007), as well as its Quality Food Cost Less at Coles advertising campaign. Hence, this brand reputation is valuable, as it provides meaningful differentiation to its competitors, and has directly contributed to higher levels of customer satisfaction. It is also non-substitutable, as the benefits provided cannot be matched by any other resource. However, it is neither rare, nor hard to copy, with most of its rivals also claiming to sell fresh and Quality food. More importantly, fresh food and quality products have come to become a basic expectation of consumers. Thus, this reputation is not a distinct competitive advantage; rather it is a point of parity that Coles must possess in order to compete. Effective Top Management: Despite recessionary pressures and rising inflationary rates, Coles is still able to achieve growth rates at higher than. This can be attributed to Coles effective top management, in particular CEO John Fletcher (Fenner and Raja. 2011). Further, the relations within the Coles Group top management is a significant factor perceived as enabling Coles to compete effectively with AGI in future and the main competitor such as Woolworths (Fenner. 2011). Thus, the capability of top management in steering Coles through the current economic climate and continuously achieving high growth rates makes it a valuable resource. As such, it is non-substitutable by any other resource, and is hard to copy as it is difficult to obtain capable and effective senior managers. However, it cannot be considered rare: as Due to the mature nature of the sector, most of the companies operating in the Australian Grocery Industry also have capable senior management. Therefore, effective t op management is not a distinct competitive advantage, but a point of parity that is utilized in conjunction with other factors such as efficient supply chain to enable Coles to outcompete its rivals. 4.0 Recommendation The recommendations presented by this report are classified into short-term and long- term recommendations: Short-term Recommendations: In the short-term, Coles should invest more in advertising. More specifically, Coles should create advertisements representing how their Coles Quality range of healthy meals to go fits into consumers everyday routines. This would heighten brand recall of Coles in consumers minds, which increases purchase likelihood. More importantly, by creating advertisements linking Coles to healthy, easy to prepare meals that are conveniently available at reasonable prices, this would increase the chance of making Coles identical with convenience and healthy consumption, a valuable point of differentiation in a market where Quality food cost less are now points of parity. Long-term Recommendations: It is recommended for Coles to focus more on convenience and an enjoyable shopping experience in the long-term. Coles current program to refurbish stores should be supplemented by measures to improve store atmosphere, such as the inclusion of relaxing music and having cheerful, enthusiastic and helpful staff to create an enjoyable shopping experience. More importantly, in the long run it is recommended for Coles to invest in more profitable industries and businesses. As mentioned earlier, the attractiveness and profitability of the Australian supermarket is set to fall in the future. Thus, Coles should focus in new businesses in which sales growth are projected to rise over the long term, such as Coles Express and Coles online shopping. 5.0 Conclusion Coles Supermarkets business strategy has been analyzed in this report which base in Western Australia. Examination of Coless external environment such as socio-cultural trends as well as the deteriorating economic climate had been conducted to gain understanding of current industry trend. The industry attractiveness was found to have declined in recent times, due to difference factors such as a rise in supplier and buyer bargaining power, greater intensity amongst rivals and higher threats from substitutes. Internal operations it is hoped that a better understanding of Coles s strategy. Coles control of the distribution network of its products helps ensure quality and distribution efficiency. Coles three most valuable resources and capabilities were found to be its highly efficient supply chain, its brand reputation and its effective top-level management. With recommendations for short-term and long term strategies may perhaps ensure sustainability of Coles supermarkets future.

Media Misrepresentation and Emotive Writing

Media Misrepresentation and Emotive Writing COOKING UP DRAMA When reporting on an issue as serious as methamphetamines, its important not to lose your head, writes Matt Cramb Wheres the statistician? Image: ABC AUSTRALIA IS UNDER SIEGE, or at least, thats how ABCs 2017 docu-drama series Ice Wars frames the ever-lurking issue of crystal meth; against dramatic music and flashing imagery of so called ice dens and their denizens, cooks and ice monsters. This hyperbolic name-calling helps nobody, especially not those already embroiled in the stigma surrounding methamphetamines, serving only to further polarise pundits. This leads to similarly overly-authoritative articles such as that from Harm Reduction Australia (HRA), published on February 12, five days after the first episode aired. In their Huffington Post article, titled The ABCs Ice Wars Is Exploiting Vulnerable Addicts, HRA calls for the entire series to be pulled from the network due to a segment following the life of a schizophrenic man addicted to ice. Both texts were written poised to make a positive difference in the community, but are loaded with murky pathos and blinding octane action which topples their ambitions. Information is set into the background, with emotion taking centre stage. It remains to be seen whether this appeal to emotion will propel a stronger community response against the drug, but without the armaments of solid facts to equip it, such a response cannot hold. The Riot Squad, complete with perfectly-angled dashcam. Image: ABC Ice Wars Appeal to Emotion Professor Nicole Lee summed it up when she wrote, Most of what is reported in [Ice Wars] is not incorrect, but it lacks nuance and context. For example, when Ice Wars reports a figure of 1.3 million for Australians who have tried ice, it passes this exaggeration off as a shocking revelation, following with, friends and members of your family would have to have tried ice. This is a perfect example of the shows extreme lack of effort to reconcile facts with on-screen action, over-representing the most shocking and dramatic aspects of Australias campaign (not war, mind you) against ice. Not only is the figure quoted above actually lower, as the Australian Drug Strategy Household Survey conducted in late 2015 reported closer to 850,000 Australians who had used crystal methamphetamine, it doesnt accurately represent the number of regular users at all. Per Lees figures, part of her article on the topic titled Ice Wars Message is Overblown and Unhelpful, a miniscule 0.25% of the population over 14 years uses methamphetamines regularly. Despite the evidence, Australians are prone to overestimating the scale of ice use, found an online survey conducted by the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC). They reported that almost 50% of survey respondents thought 30-100% of Australians had tried ice, with only 14% correctly estimating the figure. The misinformation and misrepresentation left throughout ABCs Ice Wars can only serve to further decrease this figure. Ice Wars, in this regard, is more Highway Patrol than hard-hitting documentary. And the NCPIC, who were responsible for bringing this information to light, despite their usual focus on cannabis? Defunded in December of 2016, the Department of Health citing the release of the National Ice Action Strategy as a major contributing factor. Where is Cannabis Wars, seeing as over 8.3 million Australians have tried the drug? Surely at this figure, friends and members of your family would have to have tried cannabis? Professor Jan Copeland, the former director of the now-defunded NCPIC, said of the research; The most worrying aspect of this is that it normalises ice use in the minds of those who may be thinking of trying it. Ice Wars glosses over these vital statistics, instead foregrounding the more photogenic drug raids and silencing all the above sources. Emotional quotes such as, You lose your soul. You lose everything, are given more time and focus than all of the research conducted on this topic in recent years. Shaky and over-exposed camera angles of barred house fronts with an overlaid narrator talking about the dangers of ice addiction may be more aesthetically appealing, but when Ice Wars employs this and similar visual techniques to heighten the tension and drama and backgrounds crucial information, it does nothing to advance the cause they are championing. It definitely shows something when a hazmat-suited police officer counting numbers off while sorting evidence baggies is better television than an explanation as to what those numbers actually mean. Attempts at fearmongering fall flat trying to leap over the gaps presented in this supposedly educational series. Very interestingly, one of the visual techniques the show uses to fearmonger are several eye-in-the-sky camera angles taken via drone to present an authoritative documentary tone, a tone Harm Reduction Australia unwittingly emulates in their own article. Theres a lot of myths about methamphetamine. Image: ABC The ABCs Ice Wars Is Exploiting Vulnerable Addicts Appeal to Authority Boldly emblazoned, just underneath the catchy head- and by-line of the Huffington Post article, The ABCs Ice Wars Is Exploiting Vulnerable Addicts, are the names and qualifications of the two authors, Gino Vumbaca and Tony Trimingham, president and vice-president of Harm Reduction Australia respectively. For context, Harm Reduction Australia is an organisation dedicated to increasing practices in Australian drug policy which focus more on lessening the impact of drug use in cases where the user is unable or unwilling to stop [using]. Their article, or at least the article co-penned by their president, condemns the ABCs brief focus on an ice user and schizophrenic. When they begin their article with the phrase; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦we believe there is no option but to call for the rest of the series to be halted from broadcastingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ its unclear whether the we is Vumbaca Trimingham or HRA itself. Later, they attest that It is the policy of NSW Healthà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, and end their article with a quote from Dr Marianne Jauncey, quick to point out her position as Director of the Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre. The quote itself is largely irrelevant to the rest of the article, exploring a tangent they only lightly touched upon; the issue of misrepresentation. Theres a lot of myths about methamphetamine, she is quoted as saying. Perhaps it is fitting that this quote is used to conclude an article written by people intentionally and artificially exaggerating their status, because stapling her quote to the end of the article does exactly that. This contradiction is exemplified in the following quote: The public have no reason not to believe this [information provided by the ABC] is true given the authoritative nature of the source from which it came. However, it is simply untrueà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Simultaneously rebuking the ABC for an authoritative tone while adopting that very same tone further highlights the emphasis and citations leveraged by Vumbaca Trimingham to promote their ideology. The article discredits sources which discuss statistics, such as ABC Breakfast who claims that it takes 18 months to get off methamphetamine, while heroin only takes 10 days, which while in context was appropriate to Vumbaca Triminghams point, also effectively silences all data surrounding the issue. The ABC series appears to be failing badly on reporting the evidence, posits the article, after itself claiming, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦investment in treatment and support provides far better economic, health and social outcomes than policing, courts and prisonsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ while omitting all evidence. The audience is not given baseline knowledge on the issue but is led to believe the text is an authority on said issue, only muddying the waters further. Granted, this may have been done deliberately to promote Vumbaca Triminghams organisational agenda or to draw in a more engaged audience. However, it does nothing to help their contention or the ice user whose plight they bemoan. Interviews with these people, those directly involved in the science and numbers, would have been much appreciated. Image: ABC Both texts are filled with their own flaws and misrepresentations, including Ice Wars use of emotion over reason, and Harm Reduction Australias authoritative tension, but both silence or omit important data and statistics to their detriment. By coaxing and corralling specific emotional responses from the audience, the texts hinder the change they are trying to action. While they are trying to help, without preparing their audiences with accurate facts and relevant data, the issue will become more nebulous and difficult to tackle. And its already bad enough. Bibliography: Author/s Unknown 2016, National Drug Strategy 2016-2025, Intergovernmental Committee on Drugs, accessed 22/2/17, http://www.nationaldrugstrategy.gov.au/internet/drugstrategy/Publishing.nsf/content/73E3AD4C708D5726CA257ED000050625/$File/draftnds.pdf Author/s Unknown 2017, Harm Reduction Australia, Harm Reduction Australia, accessed 20/2/17, http://www.harmreductionaustralia.org.au/ Author/s Unknown 2017, Whoops!, National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre, accessed 22/2/17, https://ncpic.org.au/ Fogarty, S 2016, Cannabis addiction support centre to close doors after government cuts funding, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, accessed 22/2/17, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-04/cannabis-support-centre-to-close-after-funding-cut/7994558 Ice Wars 2017, television program, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Sydney, 8 February Lee, N 2017, Ice Wars message is overblown and unhelpful, The Conversation, accessed 20/2/17, http://theconversation.com/ice-wars-message-is-overblown-and-unhelpful-72719 National Drug Alcohol Research Centre 2015, Australians are overestimating meth use, University of New South Wales, accessed 22/2/17, https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/news/australians-are-overestimating-meth-use Trimingham, T Vumbaca, G 2017, The ABCs Ice Wars Is Exploiting Vulnerable Addicts, Huffingon Post, accessed 20/2/17, http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/tony-trimingham/the-abcs-ice-wars-is-exploiting-vulnerable-addicts/

A Tale of Two Cities Essay: Vengeance and Blood :: Tale Two Cities Essays

Vengeance and Blood in A Tale of Two Cities In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens depicts how pointless the revolution becomes when the original goal of equality becomes lost when the anger, frustration, and desire for revenge of the third estate is finally discharged. The trial of Charles Darnay, the words and actions of Madame Defarge, and use of symbolism and foreshadowing show how anger drove the revolution to a state of pointlessness. One major reason the revolution became out of hand was due to unscrupulous people running the courts and the imprisonment of innocent people for no reason. Charles Darnay happens to be a character in dire trouble, when he finds himself being imprisoned and tried before an unjust tribunal. Darnay was a wealthy man who left France, but returned to help a former servant and " was accused by the public prosecutor as an emigrant, whose life was forfeit to the Republic, under the decree which banished all emigrants on pain of Death" (413). One way to impose revenge on the higher classes was to sentence them to death for little or no reason, which was the case with Darnay. At his second trial Darnay realized that " before the unjust Tribunal, there was little or no order of procedure, ensuring to any accused person any reasonable hearing. There could have been no such Revolution, if all laws, forms, and ceremonies, had no first been so monstrously abused, that the suicidal vengeance of the Revolution was to scatter them all to the winds" (457). The chaotic and murderous atmosphere within the courts reflected the frenzied state that lay outside of its dreaded doors. Another example of revenge can be seen in the character Madame Defarge. Madame Defarge represents the people in France who gave in to hate to satisfy the hurt and pain that had churned inside of them for so long, and is finally released in murder and acts of revenge. She was a woman without pity and virtue. For " it was nothing to her, that an innocent man was to die for the sins of his forefathers; she saw, not him, but them. It was nothing to her, that his wife was to be made a widow and his daughter an orphan; that was insufficient punishment, because they were her natural enemies and her prey, and as such had no right to live" ( 524). Many people showed this same type of vindictiveness, which created a curtain that blocked the original goal of the third estate. A Tale of Two Cities Essay: Vengeance and Blood :: Tale Two Cities Essays Vengeance and Blood in A Tale of Two Cities In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens depicts how pointless the revolution becomes when the original goal of equality becomes lost when the anger, frustration, and desire for revenge of the third estate is finally discharged. The trial of Charles Darnay, the words and actions of Madame Defarge, and use of symbolism and foreshadowing show how anger drove the revolution to a state of pointlessness. One major reason the revolution became out of hand was due to unscrupulous people running the courts and the imprisonment of innocent people for no reason. Charles Darnay happens to be a character in dire trouble, when he finds himself being imprisoned and tried before an unjust tribunal. Darnay was a wealthy man who left France, but returned to help a former servant and " was accused by the public prosecutor as an emigrant, whose life was forfeit to the Republic, under the decree which banished all emigrants on pain of Death" (413). One way to impose revenge on the higher classes was to sentence them to death for little or no reason, which was the case with Darnay. At his second trial Darnay realized that " before the unjust Tribunal, there was little or no order of procedure, ensuring to any accused person any reasonable hearing. There could have been no such Revolution, if all laws, forms, and ceremonies, had no first been so monstrously abused, that the suicidal vengeance of the Revolution was to scatter them all to the winds" (457). The chaotic and murderous atmosphere within the courts reflected the frenzied state that lay outside of its dreaded doors. Another example of revenge can be seen in the character Madame Defarge. Madame Defarge represents the people in France who gave in to hate to satisfy the hurt and pain that had churned inside of them for so long, and is finally released in murder and acts of revenge. She was a woman without pity and virtue. For " it was nothing to her, that an innocent man was to die for the sins of his forefathers; she saw, not him, but them. It was nothing to her, that his wife was to be made a widow and his daughter an orphan; that was insufficient punishment, because they were her natural enemies and her prey, and as such had no right to live" ( 524). Many people showed this same type of vindictiveness, which created a curtain that blocked the original goal of the third estate.

Humanity and Reason in Othello Essays -- Othello essays

Humanity and Reason in Othello  Ã‚  Ã‚      In Othello Shakespeare probes deeply into the human condition by creating characters, who, by their inability to think rationally, surrender what sets them above animals. Before he succumbs to Iago's poisonous innuendoes, Othello himself expresses his clear understanding of this role of the human intellect. He initially refuses to listen to Iago's suggestions that Desdemona cannot be trusted, "Exchange me for a goat/When I shall turn the business of my soul/To such exsufflicate and blown surmises" (3.3.194-96). Othello feels that he would be acting like an animal if he became irrationally jealous because someone would say "my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company" (3.3.198). He tells Iago that he will not blindly fall into jealousy, especially when he never has had reason to suspect Desdemona, "I'll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove;/And on the proof, there is no more but this--/Away at once with love or jealousy" (3.3.205-07). Othello is at this point a confident man, both in his wife's faithfulness, and in his ability to think rationally. However, Shakespeare shows that this confidence is often not enough. In his Sonnet 129, Shakespeare describes lust as another force that destroys the ability to reason effectively. The poet depicts lust as desire that is Past reason hunted, and no sooner had, Past reason hated as a swallowed bait On purpose laid to make the taker mad: ... All this world well knows, yet none knows well To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell. (7-8,15-16) In his sonnet, Shakespeare laments that even when we know that lust is dangerously irrational, most people cannot resist falling under its spell. Othello finds the same to be true ab... ...mplete Works of Shakespeare . Ed. David Bevington. 4th ed. NY: Longman, 1997. Soellner, Rolf. Shakespeare’s Patterns of Self-Knowledge . N.p.: Ohio State UP, 1972. OUTLINE Thesis Statement: When the characters in Othello cease to use reason they lose their humanity and are associated with animal imagery. Roderigo Irrationally in love with Desdemona Wants to drown himself like "cats and blind puppies" Iago calls him a snipe Iago Irrationally jealous of Othello and Cassio Equates love with animalistic lust Encourages others to "be a man" A man is decisive A man looks out for himself A man loves himself Roderigo calls him an "inhuman dog", Lodovico a "Spartan dog" Emilia implores him to tell the truth "if thou be'st a man" Othello Irrationally jealous of Desdemona and Cassio Equates lack of reason with animals Refers to himself as a dog.

Hello? - Original Writing :: Papers

Hello? - Original Writing The women slid into the luxurious crumpled white leather sofa and let the tide of cushions envelop her. Bathed in the subtle light she sat, gazing mindlessly into her TV. Inside the spacious living room, the large mirror hung majestically over the ornate stone fireplace and the traditional rug from South Africa was stretched out on the glossy, wooden floor; well positioned ornaments were placed around the room, giving it soul and life. And a soothing snug sound from the grandfather clock floated around the room. Warm-hearted pictures of friends, family and of her husband gave the room a familiar character. The TV flickered and fuzzed and a smart, well spoken, serious looking newsreader began with the bad news as usual, but this time, it was much more significant. The women immediately sat up, with an uneasy look spreading over her face. She leaned forward and listened carefully to the incoming news report. The man strode forward through the bushes, as he passed he brushed aside the leaves and felt the soft squelch of mud under his boots. As he reached the path the gravel crunched, and ground as the stones gnashed together. Catching a stone from the new red brick wall it shattered into fragments. The light from the street lamp glinted off his watch which he quickly covered up, stopping on his way to scratch his thick, dark, grainy stubble; he made his way to the house. The last rays of light had fallen and now the dark had completely covered the ground. The eeriness crept in, and like some unsure sign, it made itself known but not visible. There was something there, and she could feel it. She walked to the front door looking left, then looking right as she took each step, and with every glance she expected to see something she did not want to. Her keys jostled and echoed in the high ceiling hallway and with her slightly quivering hands she found it hard to place the key in the lock, but just as the

HP Case Study †Strategy Essay

Hewlett-Packard’s personal computer (PC) division operates in a hyper-competitive, highly-commoditized industry subject to dynamic shifts. The PC industry is driven by technological advancements requiring continuing commitment to research and development to capture the ever-changing PC market. For most of the past five years, Hewlett-Packard led the PC industry in terms of market share. However, Hewlett-Packard’s market share is currently declining and recent industry reports indicate that a Chinese low cost PC manufacturer, Lenovo, is now the market share leader. Over four primary sections, we performed an analysis of Hewlett-Packard’s strategy in the PC industry. First, we performed an external industry examination to obtain information on the current conditions of the market, including industry trends, buyer and supplier marketplace power, and emerging market concerns, such as the threat of PC substitutes. Second, we conducted an internal analysis to determine Hewlett-Packard’s top resources, assets and liabilities, and potential capabilities from its value chain. Third, we documented Hewlett-Packard’s current strategic position within the PC industry. Fourth, we examined and scrutinize Hewlett-Packard’s current industry strategy of returning to its core competencies while consolidating aspects of its PC manufacturing and sales. From the information in these sections, we conclude that if Hewlett-Packard is to sustain (or regain) its place as the market leader in the PC industry, it must leverage its brand recognition, economies of scale advantages, and product integration features to capture market value while producing technologically competitive products. Introduction This analysis is focused on the personal computer (PC) segment of Hewlett-Packard (HP). For clarification, HP’s PCs segment includes desktop, laptop, and notebook / netbook computers. Hardware devices falling outside of the PC category are mobile personal computing devices, such as tablets and cellular phones. HP’s PC sales for fiscal year 2012 were $41. 5 billion, which represents 26. 5% of HP’s $120 billion total revenue from all products and services. HP’s PC sales captured a 16% share of the total PC market (Trefis, 2012). From an analytical standpoint, HP has made many significant moves over the past three to four years, including numerous changes in company leadership and distinct shifts in business strategy. As a result, the ultimate effectiveness and success of HP’s strategies discussed has yet to be seen. Therefore, some of the conclusions we draw regarding HP’s forward strategy will be measured by whether HP’s strategic decisions align with its competitive advantages and obligations to stakeholders. External Analysis The global PC industry is led by a small number of large scale manufacturers who are homogenizing products and looking to capitalize on low cost labor resources. Industry demand is driven by technological developments, disposable consumer spending, and corporate spending cycles (First Research, 2012). Although global demand for PCs has increased, profit margins are decreasing, creating an industry focused on price rivalry and little differentiation (MarketLine, 2012). In addition, PC substitutes are a major threat to the PC industry (Indigo, 2012). The traditional PC industry, with its focus on desktops and laptops, is in the mature or declining stage of its life cycle. Our external analysis examines the significant factors influencing the current PC environment, including potential market threats and opportunities during the next five years, and how HP is performing relative to its industry competitors. Exhibit One illustrates the forces currently affecting the PC industry. Threat of New Entrants Overall, the threat of new entrants is low because any new entrants face numerous competitive obstacles in order to obtain industry relevance. The PC industry has significant fixed entry costs and the challenges to compete with the economies of scale of major companies would be exceedingly difficult for potential entrants to overcome. Brand recognition creates another distinct entry barrier because PC consumers have high brand awareness (MarketLine, 2012). With that mentioned, Microsoft and Intel are powerful industry suppliers so the threat for forward integration is reasonable. In addition, the oversaturation of basic PC component suppliers in Southeast Asia poses an additional concern for potential entrants to the industry. New firms could originate in Southeast Asia by leveraging the low cost labor force and avoiding expensive supply chain expenditures. Buyer Power Differentiation: The industry trend is to move manufacturing abroad in order to capture low cost labor efficiencies. There also has been a trend to homogenize products across the industry (Krabeepetcharat, 2012). In order to drive manufacturing costs down, most basic components used in the PC industry are standardized and lack significant differentiation (MarketLine, 2012). The exception differentiators are memory size, processor speed, and product form features (Bradley, 2012). Overall the industry has moved toward commoditization, which strengthens buyer power. Network Effect / Brand Recognition: Regardless of particular PC brand, consumer brand awareness is high in this focal industry. Apple has carved out a unique and loyal customer following largely because its users have higher switching costs than other PC users due to Apple’s specific computer operating system. If Apple consumers were to change to a non-Apple computer, they would be required to learn a new operating system. Apart from Apple computers, the majority of the other PCs run on Microsoft Windows-based operating systems. Consumers of PCs operating on Windows have lower switching costs overall, allowing more independence in switching brands. Despite this, brand awareness is still high among consumers of Windows-based PCs, thus contributing to an overall moderate buyer power rating. Supplier Power Microsoft and Intel are two powerful suppliers to the PC industry. Intel is the leading manufacturer of the processors inside all PCs. Intel’s brand name carries significant brand recognition to end-level consumers providing Intel with a powerful industry position. Similarly, Microsoft’s widely-used Windows operating system provides Microsoft a powerful industry position as well. As mentioned earlier, the manufacture of most basic component PC parts is being outsourced to Southeast Asia to capitalize on low cost labor. Since Southeast Asia is replete with component suppliers competing with one another, major PC manufacturers face low switching costs when deciding on basic component suppliers. Therefore, supplier power in the PC industry is divided between powerful suppliers, such as Microsoft and Intel, and basic component suppliers with relatively little power. However, any examination of supplier power must acknowledge a growing socio-cultural concern regarding working conditions in low-cost labor regions that may factor into business decisions. Substitutes The PC industry has been significantly impacted by the threat of substitutes in recent years. Emerging mobile technologies, such as smart phones and tablets, now account for 61% of total PC market volume (MarketLine, 2012). While smart phones and tablets are strong substitutes for consumer PC purchasers, up to this point mobile devices have not had the same impact on business-end users, who generally chose the robust functionality of traditional PCs over less powerful smart phones and tablets. It is important for PC manufacturers to leverage these capabilities to diminish the functionality gap between PCs and PC substitutes. Degree of Rivalry Market Value Forecast: Future PC sales are projected to generate slimmer profit margins than the current 3. 8% industry average (Krabeepetcharat, 2012). As major manufacturers leverage manufacturing efficiencies abroad, product costs are lowering, creating a degree of rivalry and a focus on end-level costs. Manufacturers are essentially looking to cut costs and offer cheaper products to gain market share (First Research, 2012). Since products within the industry lack differentiation, price competition becomes the default battleground, resulting in ever-shrinking profit margins (Porter, 2007). This is very apparent in the PC industry market forecast (exhibit two), which projects a 10% decrease between 2011 and 2016 (MarketLine, 2012). Apple’s position in this analysis is noteworthy. Apple is the only pure hardware/software integrator, which has allowed Apple to create an incredibly strong position that is unique to the PC industry. Apple’s five-year rolling profit margin average is approximately 23%, significantly higher than the PC industry (exhibit two) at large (YCharts, 2012). Large Scale Manufacturers: Computer manufacturing is labor intensive. Major industry participants have moved manufacturing abroad to take advantage of low cost labor and geographic proximity to electronic component manufacturers (ECMs) in Southeast Asia. This close proximity to ECMs contributes to low switching costs for PC manufacturers (Krabeepetcharat, 2012). Shifting production of PC manufacturing to low cost labor regions and having access to numerous component suppliers creates economies of scale advantages for these large PC manufacturers. HP’s Performance Relative to PC Manufacturing Competitors Since 2007, Hewlett-Packard held the market share leader position (MarketLine, 2012). However, in the fourth quarter 2012, Lenovo, Chinese PC manufacturing firm (formerly IBM’s PC division), overtook the market share leader position (Gaudin, 2012). HP’s brand still carries superior brand integrity in the PC industry. The integration of multiple HP products, such as laptops seamlessly linking to HP printers, help differentiate an HP consumer’s experience. Additionally, HP’s ancillary products and services are still a strong differentiator (Bradley, 2012), and HP was able to capture a 5. 6% profit margin in 2011 (Hughes, 2011), a margin higher than the industry average of 3. 8% (MarketLine, 2012). Exhibit two captures HP’s competitive advantage over top rivals in regards to profit margins. In the United States, HP remains the largest domestic PC manufacturer (MarketLine, 2012). With the high degree of rivalry in the industry, the maturing/declining PC industry is shifting manufacturing to low cost regions abroad. Since the United States is the second-largest PC consuming country in the world, HP must continue to delicately balance its outsourcing activities (Krabeepetcharat, 2012). Once considered a technological leader in the PC industry, HP now struggles with competition from PC substitutes such as tablets and phones. Looking forward, it is critical that HP retains market share and re-establishes profitable growth in the PC industry by being first-to-market with new technologies or higher performing capabilities (First Research, 2012). Internal Analysis As a whole, the PC industry is currently in the mature or declining stage of its life cycle. During the six-year period spanning 2005 to 2011, HP’s unfavorable strategic decisions caused a refocusing and restructuring of its PC division. Listed below are HP’s top resources from its VRIST and top capabilities from its value chain. Comparing these resources and capabilities against HP’s past and current weaknesses allows an analysis of whether HP is propitiously positioned to regain its former status as the world’s leading PC manufacturer. HP’s PC Resources and Capabilities R&D / Intellectual Property Trusted Brand / Profit Margin Interoperability Market Share HP’s PC Weaknesses Acquisitions Substitutions Market Share Trends PC Revenue Trend Value Chain In the Technology section of HP’s Value Chain, HP is returning to one of its long standing core competencies by increasing investments in its Research & Development department (R&D). According to exhibit three, prior to 2004, HP’s R&D budget was more than $3. 7 billion. But after Mark Hurd became CEO in 2005, the R&D budget was reduced to as little as $2. 8 billion in 2009 (Y-charts, 2012). As shown in the lag metrics for new products over the past two years, this significant decrease in R&D correlates directly to the middling success of HP’s recent product launches. HP’s initial launch into the smart phone and tablet market offers tangible evidence of mediocre product development as both the Palm webOS and touchpad were subsequently discontinued. In 2010, HP started to increase its R&D budget again and the reporting for calendar year 2012 shows the R&D budget is over $3. 4 billion through November. This increased financing and refocus into technology development is a promising indicator, but any resulting intellectual property will take time to build back up. VRIST Analysis HP continues to be a trusted PC brand name (FTSE, 2012). Next to its intellectual property, HP’s brand name is its most valuable extraordinary resource. HP manages to earn higher profit margins than the rest of the leading hardware PC manufacturers based in part on this brand awareness (MarketLine, 2012). HP’s trusted brand image is a competitive advantage that it must sustain. Through brand recognition and interoperability with other products across its platform, HP is able to charge consumers a slightly higher premium over other leading PC manufacturers. Interoperability HP expects the interoperability of its Ultrabooks, ElitePad, and smart phones with other HP products and solutions, such as ePrint Cloud Services, to be its distinguishing competitive advantage (video link). HP’s next generation Ultrabooks boast stylish form features, low power consumption, world-class security features, and preserve mainstream price points. HP and its partners anticipate that these features will differentiate its PCs from its competitors (Bradley, 2012) and could one day be an extraordinary resource much like it is for the Apple brand. Since the PC market is facing continued encroachment from tablets and other PC substitutes, HP is marketing its enterprise tablet (ElitePad 900) in early 2013. Additionally, HP’s managers feel its enterprise tablet has the opportunity to differentiate with other products HP offers by providing interplay between the physical and digital worlds (Bradley, 2012). Overall, the size, scale, and connection that HP products have will enable customers to create, store, consume, and share information safer than before (Bradley, 2012). Market Share Since 2007, HP was the leading global PC manufacturer (MarketLine, 2007). But in the fourth quarter of 2012, Lenovo, a Chinese PC manufacturing firm overtook HP and now leads all manufacturers in global PC sales (Gaudin, 2012). Furthermore, China is now the largest global PC consumer market (Dauod, 12). HP faces substantial difficulty regaining its prior spot as market leader because Lenovo’s is a Chinese company with greater access to the China’s PC market; the largest and quickest growing PC market in the world. HP currently manufactures 16% of all PCs shipped worldwide, however that market share has declined since 2010 (MarketLine, 2012). Once a technological leader, HP is now an industry laggard and must develop new marketable technology to maintain its market share position in this hyper-competitive market. Acquisitions HP recently made some costly acquisitions with the goal of reaching product segments with higher profit margins (Krabeepetcharat 2012). Autonomy, a British software firm which specializes in â€Å"unstructured data† or human information, was purchased for nearly $11 billion dollars. HP is now accusing Autonomy of overvaluing its financial records and has taken an $8. 8 billion write-off against its balance sheet for this acquisition (Rushe, 2012). HP also purchased Palm in 2010 for $1. 2 billion with the hope of capitalizing on the emerging tablet market. But consumer sales of HP’s new tablet, the TouchPad, failed to support the product line, and the TouchPad was discontinued less than a year after product launch (Panzarino, 2012). Beyond these noted questionable acquisitions, HP made numerous other eyebrow-raising acquisitions under past CEOs that were not in line with HP’s core competencies. Internal Analysis Conclusion In August 2011, HP’s last CEO announced that HP planned to divest of its PC division (Krabeepetcharat, 2012). However, HP’s current CEO, Meg Whitman, has stated a renewed commitment to the PC segment. Part of HP’s internal strategy is to rebuild the balance sheet through the newly formed Printer and Personal Services (PPS) division in order to accommodate acquisition-related charges (Thacker, 2012). This is part of the CEO’s five-year plan to rebuild HP (Whitman, 2012). While multi-billion dollar write-offs are staggering hurdles for any company to survive, if HP can return to its core competencies and re-brand itself as the company of innovation (as it was once known), then HP can remain a dominant participant in the PC industry. Current HP Strategic Position Our strategy diamond analysis, shown in Exhibit five, determines that HP plans on implementing the following five strategies in the PC industry: (1) Focus on R&D (vehicles) (2) Pursue emerging markets (staging) (3) Reduce SKU’s offered (arenas) (4) Integrated products & services (differentiators) (5) Economies of scale & Consolidation (Economic Logic) Vehicles HP’s primary strategy vehicle is a commitment to R&D in order to re-establish HP as a technologically focused hardware company (Times, 2012). Exhibit 2 illustrates HP’s changing strategy regarding R&D investment. Starting in 2005, HP’s investments in R&D steadily decreased. After reaching its lowest figure in 2010, the R&D budget was increased. In 2011, HP invested $3. 25 billion on R&D, a significant improvement from 2009, when HP invested just $2. 77 billion in R&D (Yarrow, 2012). Interestingly, the bottom chart on Exhibit 2 shows that Apple spent less on R&D than HP but delivered technologically superior products. This exemplifies how R&D spending does not always equate cleanly with results. R&D is critical to generating a pipeline of intellectual property. Intellectual property is critical to HP’s growth because it is one of HP’s extraordinary resources. Strong R&D investments are often a good leading indicator of well-received future products. On the other hand, the lag metrics arising from HP’s previous R&D slashing indicate numerous problems. Of most concern is the failed WebOS that affected both HP’s initial smart phone and tablet touch pad releases (Davis, 2011). After the poor reception of HP’s WebOS, it became open-source software available to the general public to freely use and modify. HP is currently working on developing its own WebOS but is opening the system to the free market to encourage outside development of mobile applications. Staging Pursuing emerging markets such as China will enable HP to produce and distribute PCs more cost effectively. In fact, China is the future hub of both HP’s manufacturing and distribution plan (Bradley, China, 2012). HP’s executive team is aware of China’s increasingly vital role in consumer PC sales. China currently accounts for 20% of the market and is expected to double the United States’ PC consumption by 2016 (Bradley, Shanghi summit, 2012). HP is acting early by building PC manufacturing facilities in China, both to act as a distribution hub for other Asian suppliers and to distribute PCs directly to the Chinese market. Since HP began this strategy two years ago, HP seems to have been correctly following leading indicators and should see a beneficial pay-off over the coming years as China’s market surpasses the United States’ PC market. Arenas HP intends to reduce the number of its PC and printer stock-keeping units (SKUs) by 25% and 30% respectively by 2015 (Bradley, Newsroom, 2012). The maintenance cost of servicing over 2,100 types of laser printers is neither sustainable nor conducive to continued growth and profitability. Instead of divesting the PC division, as considered in 2011, HP now intends to re-invent its existing product line by focusing on quality innovation over quantity of product offerings. Geographically, HP will also be building a Chinese-based manufacturing facility which will help them operate more cost effectively in that emerging market. Differentiators HP expects to differentiate itself from other PC manufacturers by integrating products with services solutions, a process HP has already begun. In March 2012, HP combined its Personal Systems Group (PSG) with its Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) to form a new segment named Printing & Personal Systems (PPS) (Bradley, 2012). According to a HP director, merging the two groups into PPS â€Å"was a key strategy to provide consumers and business customers with better products and solutions that are seamlessly integrated with each other. † For example, upon purchasing a HP laptop, a consumer can expect his or her new laptop to wirelessly find and automatically connect with any of the consumer’s HP printers or other products. In addition, by integrating internal supply chain processes between the old PSG and IPG, and having a single HP sales person selling both PCs and printers, HP can keep the prices of its products and services competitive. It is business strategies such as these that show HP is still forward-thinking and seeking innovative or cost effective technologies. Refer to Exhibit 3 to view one of HP’s marketing videos (HP marketing, 2012). Another example of how the newly-formed PPS group integrates products can be seen in their â€Å"Exstream† product, which has been put to use by Humana and saved millions Humana millions by integrating static and dynamic content for easier communication with clients (HP marketing, Humana, 2012). Economic Logic Economies of Scale: As HP seeks to differentiate its PPS group to drive product innovation, there will be significant cost-saving effects due to increased economies of scale. Essentially, HP will save money by manufacturing more products directly in emerging markets like China. With China’s consumer PC market expected to double that of the United States, HP is ideally situated to take advantageous benefit of China’s emerging market through manufacturing plants and distribution channels located within China. Consolidation: By consolidating its PC and Printing groups, HP strengthened its position in many ways, including lowering costs in the supply chain. In addition to consolidating its supply chain functions, HP is also streamlining its sales teams and reducing its functional support organizations (Bradley, 2012). HP’s current PC strategy of consolidation is a direct byproduct of both a planned decrease in SKUs and the PC manufacturing and consumer sales reaching the ending stage of their lifecycles. If HP can successfully set new standards for PC and printing synergies through consolidation, then HP can create a viable path to maintaining its history of premium pricing via product features. HP Strategic Implementation Based on our analysis, the facets of HP’s strategy diamond are internally consistent. HP’s analyzed strategies are both interconnected and overlapping. For example, being focused on China provides HP with a strong arena given China’s anticipated growth in the consumer PC market. But a presence in China also validates HP’s economic logic by producing lowered costs. Overall, HP’s PC strategy is sound because HP is returning to its core competencies, such as hardware innovation. On a larger scale, HP’s renewed focus on R&D coupled with the creation of the PSG division supports HP’s current desire to grow organically rather than through mergers and acquisitions. One weakness that continues to hamper HP is operating with over $20 billion in debt derived almost entirely from acquisition costs related to fruitless assets. Looking back, HP could have benefited from smarter business plans, including a balanced scorecard, prior to some of these acquisitions. With such information, HP would have had a more realistic chance to make each acquisition profitable, or perhaps it would have had enough qualitative metrics to realize that the acquisition may not integrate with its core processes. Since change in the PC industry is highly iterative, HP must continually adjust the implementation of its forward strategy. Fortunately, HP appears to be taking the necessary steps to address its past failures and to capitalize on future opportunities. Since HP still has industry-wide brand name recognition, its return to market dominance is entirely feasible. But as technology progresses and markets shift, HP’s ability to maintain sustainable growth will depend largely on whether HP’s new PC business strategy can capture value while simultaneously producing competitive, cutting edge products.